ENGLISH EDITION/The artillery of ideas INTERNATIONALFriday, December 14, 2012 | Nº 139 | Caracas | www.correodelorinoco.gob.ve

President Chavez returned to Cuba Monday in order to undergo a fourth surgical interven-tion for cancer he has suffered in his pelvic zone since June 2011. The Venezuelan President came out of the surgery successfully and is now undergoing a lengthy and difficult recovery, just as his nation heads to the polls Sunday to elect governors in the country’s 23 states. For Chavez’s party, the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), winning the majority of states is critical to ensure stability and unity of the Bolivarian Revolution. Page 2

Regional Elections Sunday

Venezuelans prepare to return to the ballot this Sunday to elect governors in 23 states across the nation. With President Hugo Chavez in recovery after surgery for cancer in Cuba, candidates from his United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) are hoping to sweep the elections, taking back states won by opposition parties four years ago. The National Electoral Council (CNE) is expecting a large voter turnout. page 3

Economy

New Metro Cable Car Inaugurated

The innovative transport will ease commutes for those in poorer, harder to reach areas. page 4

Social Justice

Education Advances for IndigenousTextbooks and materials to be printed in indigenous languages. page 5

Interview

Venezuela at DohaClaudia Salerno talks climate change and market economy. page 6

Analysis

Chavez names civiliansuccessor to ensure unity page 7

Opinion

Chavez,he appeared page 8

President Chavezin complex recovery

T/ Agencies

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is in delicate condi-tion after his latest surgery for cancer, the government said on Wednesday.

In an address to the nation the day after Chavez’s six-hour operation in Cuba, Vice President Nicolas Maduro urged Venezuelans to unite in prayer for the 58-year-old President and keep faith he would return soon.

“Yesterday’s operation was complex, difficult and delicate, so the post-oper-ation process will also be a complex and tough pro-cess”, Maduro said, flanked by ministers who flew in to Caracas overnight after accompanying Chavez in Cuba.

A close ally, Ecuador’s President Rafael Correa, sought to put a more positive spin on the news, telling re-porters in Quito that Chavez was doing all right.

“He is fine, even though the surgery was complex”, Cor-rea said, but he added that the future was not certain.

“If the gravity of his ill-ness meant he could not con-tinue to lead Venezuela, the revolutions must continue, in Venezuela, in Ecuador, in Argentina, in Bolivia”.

Maduro, whom Chavez has named as a preferred succes-sor should he be incapaci-tated, urged Venezuelans to stay hopeful.

Information Minister Er-nesto Villegas said in a state-ment that Venezuelans should view Chavez’s situation like that of an ill relative and have faith that he will return.

“If he doesn’t, our people should be ready to under-stand. It would be irrespon-sible to hide the delicate na-ture of the moment we are currently living”, he wrote.

The President is due to start a new, 6-year term on January 10 after his October re-election.

Venezuelans to elect governors as Chavez recovers from complex surgery

South American SolidaritySouth American presidents have expressed their

well wishes for President Hugo Chavez’s health and his quick recovery in this difficult time, said a statement from the Union of South American Na-tions (Unasur).

Ecuador’s President Rafael Correa traveled to Havana on Monday to visit the Venezuelan leader.

“We come to give him an embrace in the name of the Ecuadorean people”, Correa said upon arriving in Havana.

The statement by Unasur also mentions the words of Argentine President Cristina Fernandez, who in a public event prayed for Chavez’s health and expressed her hope that he would recover soon.

“We Argentines are here in good faith wishing for your quick recovery”, Fernandez said, speaking at the Plaza de Mayo in Buenos Aires in an event to commemorate Human Rights Day.

Bolivian President Evo Morales said he was up-set by the news of Chavez’s health, and insisted that he would soon recuperate and continue to struggle to defend Latin America’s resources.

“Commander Chavez’s struggle is not just that of Latin America, but a global one” Morales said.

The artillery of ideas2 Impact | Friday, December 14, 2012

Chavez recovers in Cubaamidst outpouring of solidarityT/ COIP/ Presidential Press

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez departed for Cuba in the early hours of Mon-

day morning after announcing a recurrence of the cancer that first appeared in the socialist head of state in June 2011.

“Given the circumstances that we’re confronting, I’m go-ing once again to Havana full of optimism. We’re warriors of life, full of light, faith in Christ as well as in ourselves so that we may continue fighting and overcoming”, Chavez said be-fore boarding his plane that left Simon Bolivar Interna-tional Airport at 1:45am.

The Venezuelan President informed the nation of his health status on Saturday eve-ning during a televised meet-ing with his executive cabinet.

Since explaining his condi-tion, a wave of domestic and international solidarity has made itself felt in support of the recently re-elected leader.

Prayer sessions were held in all the major Venezuelan public squares all week where hundreds of thousands ap-pealed to God to provide the 58 year-old President with the re-

of the Southern Cone nation to pray for the Venezuelan head of state during a televised mes-sage on Saturday evening.

During her speech, Fer-nandez referred to Chavez as someone “who has always supported us” and she called on Argentines to ask God “to improve the health of dear Venezuelan President, Hugo Chavez”.

Ecuador’s President Rafael Correa flew to Havana, Cuba on Monday to see Chavez be-fore his surgery was set to begin. In declarations to the press, Correa said the Ven-ezuelan President was “opti-mistic” and ready to take on this new challenge. Correa also called Chavez a “historic President” and a “great leader of our times”.

Social Networks have also been abuzz with wishes for Chavez’s quick recovery.

Slogans such as “Now more than ever with Chavez” and “Good vibes for Chavez” and “Peoples of the world are with Chavez” have flooded Twitter and Facebook since Saturday.

TRUST IN THE PEOPLEBefore departing on Monday

morning, the socialist leader

affirmed his faith in the ma-turity and capacity of the Ven-ezuelan people to maintain the security and peace of the na-tion during his absence.

“I am completely confident in the people who have dem-onstrated on various occa-sions the capacity to confront conspiracies and destabilizing movements that have come from outside and inside the country”, he said.

In speaking to the military high command, the head of the South American country said that he was “completely sure...that the homeland would be safe” during his time in Cuba.

On Sunday afternoon, Chavez swore in the nation’s new Admiral in Chief and Min-ister of Defense, Diego Molero who had been announced as the head of the nation’s mili-tary in October.

“Of all the people of the homeland, it is the job of the soldiers to make sure that this free country is never again hu-miliated as it had been for so many years”, Chavez said of 20th century Venezuela dur-ing the swearing in ceremony.

The President’s stay in Ha-vana is for what he called an “absolutely necessary” sur-gery and his absence from Venezuela was granted unani-mously by the nation’s con-gress during a special session, also held on Sunday.

A timetable for his return has not been established al-though the recently reelected President is scheduled to be sworn in for a third term as Venezuelan President on Jan-uary 10, 2013.

In the event that Chavez is unable to continue with his duties as head of state, the Vice President will be sworn in as head of state to complete the current term. After Janu-ary 10, 2013, the presidency will be passed to the president of the country’s congress, the National Assembly, with new elections to be convened with-in 30 days.

On Saturday, Chavez raised the possibility of stepping down in which case he expressed his desire to see Nicolas Maduro, current Vice President, elected as the nation’s new President.

“My firm, absolute and irre-vocable opinion is that in the scenario that new presiden-tial elections need be held, you should vote for Nicolas Maduro as president of the republic”, Chavez, as head of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), told his followers on Saturday evening.

Maduro, a former bus driver and union leader, has been

Chavez’s Foreign Minister since 2006. Before that he was president of the National As-sembly, and earlier, an elected lawmaker of the same legisla-tive body.

The Venezuelan opposition, for it’s part, has rejected calls to name Maduro what they themselves have termed “a successor”.

“Let this be clear: In Ven-ezuela there is no succession”, said opposition leader Hen-rique Capriles last weekend.

The opposition has also been critical of what they esteem to be a lack of details regarding Chavez’s exact health status, claims that the ruling social-ists have rejected.

“It’s a tremendous manipu-lation to say that Chavez hasn’t spoken clearly [of his condi-tion]”, said Diosdado Cabello, President of the Venezuelan congress on Sunday.

Many government sup-porters have also expressed their incredulity over some statements made by political leaders of the right who have articulated their desire for a Chavez recovery.

Solidarity comments aside, members of the PSUV appealed to the country to be on alert and called for unity and discipline during the coming weeks.

“A message for the people: patience, wisdom, and faith. Don’t fall into the trap of prov-ocations”, Cabello said of po-tential destabilization efforts by the Venezuelan right.

OPERATION SUCCESSFULOn Tuesday, Venezuela’s Min-

ister of Communication and In-formation, Ernesto Villegas, in-formed that President Chavez had undergone the surgical intervention as planned in the morning. By that evening, as Venezuelans were anxious for news of their President’s status, Vice President Nicolas Maduro gave an emotional speech from the presidential palace broad-cast on live national television.

“The President’s operation has concluded and he is now in post-operative recovery, which could take several days. The necessary exams will be done on him during this period as he recovers. The surgery was long, more than 6 hours, and compli-cated. There were moments of tension”, he explained.

Maduro thanked the strong outpouring of solidarity and messages of support, showing unconditional love towards the popular Chavez. “Thanks to the immense signs of love and support, this operation was able to conclude success-fully”, he stated.

siliency to overcome this new health challenge.

Slogans such as “Coman-dante Chavez, we love you and we’re with you” decorated hand made signs in the differ-ent Plaza Bolivars around the nation on Sunday.

“It affected me emotionally and left an impact”, said Luis Murray, a Chavez supporter from Caracas. “But it also made me realize something: If we have already spent 14 years in this process of revolutionary change... then we must be pre-pared for anything and dem-onstrate that we believe in the idea that we’re working for”.

Messages of solidarity have also poured in from govern-ments all over Latin America and the world.

“In the name of the Bolivian people, we want to express our solidarity, admiration, respect and caring for our brother Pres-ident [Chavez]. We are telling you that we are and always will be with the Venezuelan people and it’s President”, wrote Boliv-ian head of state Evo Morales.

Similar messages have been received from Ecuador, Mexi-co, and Chile.

Argentine President Cristi-na Fernandez asked the people

The artillery of ideasFriday, December 14, 2012 | Politics 3

Venezuelans preparefor regional elections this SundayT/ COIP/ Agencies

Electoral activity in the 23 states that comprise Ven-ezuela came to an end on

Thursday as the nation pre-pares to head to the polls for the second time in little over two months.

Up for grabs this Sunday will be all the Governorships in the republic.

For the candidates of the rul-ing United Socialist Party of Ven-ezuela (PSUV), the momentum is clearly on their side as the pro-gressive aspirants are riding on the convincing victory of Hugo Chavez in the nation’s presiden-tial elections on October 7.

While it is unclear how recent news of re-emergent cancer in the socialist President will affect the election results, the 23 PSUV candidates feel confident that their party has a strong chance for victory in every race.

One of the most closely watched races is in the central

state of Miranda where former Vice President of Venezuela, Elias Jaua, is running against defeated presidential candidate for the opposition and current incumbent Governor Henrique Capriles.

Miranda is the second most populous state in Venezuela and a socialist victory against

the most visible leader of the nation’s opposition would be a severe blow to the country’s rightwing Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD) coalition.

Polls have shown the race as tightening with some surveys giving the advantage to the former Vice President of the Chavez administration.

T/ COI

Taking it’s place as a full member in South Amer-

ica’s most important com-mercial alliance, Venezuela participated last Friday in the 44th Summit of Heads of State of the Common Market of the South (Mercosur) held in the Brazilian capital of Brasilia.

The meeting of presidents focused on a range of issues including the trade policy requirements necessary for Venezuela’s continued incor-poration into the organization and the increase of the manu-facturing capacity of member nations.

Rafael Ramirez, Venezu-ela’s Oil Minister, represented the Caribbean country in the meeting alongside Brazilian head of state Dilma Rouss-eff, and presidents Jose Mu-jica and Cristina Fernandez of Uruguay and Argentina respectively.

Bolivia, Ecuador, Chile, Co-lombia, and Peru were also

Venezuela advances incorporationin Mercosur trade alliance

represented at the summit as invited nations.

Venezuela was first granted membership into Mercosur in July after Paraguay was tem-porarily expelled from the bloc following the impeachment of its former president Fernando Lugo.

The conservative Paraguay-an congress, which has been ac-cused of implementing an “in-stitutional coup” against Lugo, had blocked the admittance of Venezuela to the alliance for 6 years prior to July.

With the suspension of Para-guay from Mercosur for its vi-olation of the democratic prin-ciples of the organization, the door was opened for Venezuela to enter as a full member of the group.

Venezuela’s admittance, ac-cording to a declaration re-leased at the close of Friday’s summit, will “strengthen the strategic positioning of the bloc on a global level as a space for social, political, energy, agri-cultural, and productive inte-

Key to Jaua’s platform has been the linking of national social programs with the needs of the local population of Miranda.

“The people of Miranda have only been given poor treatment and have been neglected by the loser of October’s presidential elections [Henrique Capriles]. That’s why on December 16 we, the Bolivarians, are going to ar-rive at the Governorship of the state of Miranda and we’re go-ing to strengthen the projects of the working class sectors”, Jaua said during a campaign rally at the end of November.

Other states where the PSUV feels that it has an advantage over incumbent opposition members include Bolivar, Car-abobo, Lara, Miranda, Tachira and Zulia.

ELECTORAL INFRASTRUCTURE READY

More than 17.4 million Ven-ezuelans are registered to vote and the country’s National

gration from Patagonia to the Caribbean”.

The declaration also high-lighted the deeply democratic nature of Venezuelan society and congratulated the country for the success of its presiden-tial elections last October.

For the only Caribbean coun-try that belongs to the group, the focus has now shifted to adjusting its tariff policies to accommodate the regulations of the trade alliance.

Venezuela will be given un-til April 5 to implement 28 per-cent of the organization’s tar-iff requirements with further undefined adjustments tak-

ing place until 2016 at which time the nation should be in complete compliance with the bloc’s uniform tax policy.

The OPEC member state will also begin to participate in Mercosur’s Structural Con-vergence Fund (Focem), which is designed to finance develop-ment projects in the organiza-tion’s affiliate nations.

Venezuela’s contribution to the fund, which has been es-tablished to reduce disparities between members, has not yet been determined.

During her speech at the summit, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff welcomed

Venezuela as the bloc’s new-est member and highlighted the need to convert Merco-sur into a “supplier of man-ufacturing”.

Focusing on the need to maintain social policies de-signed to reduce inequality, Rousseff emphasized the po-tential of the organization to increase exports that go be-yond energy and food items.

According to the Brazilian President, Mercosur “has to integrate itself more and more through commerce, through productive chains, and through an improvement of its competitiveness”.

With the inclusion of Ven-ezuela, the trade bloc now encompasses more than 275 million people and boasts a combined GDP of $3.3 tril-lion, the fifth largest econo-my in the world.

“The continued presence of the global [economic] crisis shows us once again the im-portance of our integration. It’s something that will make each one of us stronger and better prepared to confront turbulence in the interna-tional market”, Dilma stated on Friday.

Electoral Commission (CNE) has affirmed that all the neces-sary steps have been taken to make sure that this Sunday’s contest is carried out with the kind of efficiency and order that has characterized elections in recent years.

“All of the technical, logistic and operational elements are ready”, said Carlos Quintero, Technical Director of the CNE after an audit of the nation’s voting machines earlier this week.

According to Quintero, .5 percent of the more than 36,000 voting machines that will be in use on Sunday were tested by the electoral commission and verified by members of the dif-ferent political parties partici-pating in the contest.

CNE officials have confirmed that more than 84,000 workers will be on hand to facilitate the voting process in over ten thou-sand polling places while 344 back-up points will be installed to transmit election results in the case of a technical problem at any of the stations.

“In order to guarantee that everything is in order, we will continue to do tests from the contingency and voting centers to ensure the effective function-ing of the elements involved in the transmission of data”, Quintero assured on Sunday.

The artillery of ideas4 Economy | Friday, December 14, 2012

T/ Paul DobsonP/ Agencies

One the same day that Chavez flew to Cuba, and in the midst of the shock

that gripped the nation at the news of his urgently needed surgery, the inauguration of yet another major public proj-ect of the government showed that the revolution continues to advance, and will continue to be committed to improving the quality of life of the poorest sec-tors of society regardless of the state of the President’s health.

The first stretch of a major new cable car system was inau-gurated by Vice President Ma-duro in the Mariche sector of metropolitan Caracas, located within the state of Miranda. It is estimated the new transport system will benefit some 93,000 men, women, and children.

The cable car, which has taken one year to build, and has cost over $380 million, is comprised of two sections: an express line, which was inaugurated this week that connects the princi-pal station of Mariche with the Caracas Metro-link station of Palo Verde; and a parallel lo-cal line, to be inaugurated next year, connecting the same two stations but with three stops in

between (Guaicoco, La Dolori-ta, La Dolorita Bloques).

Speaking at the inauguration, President of the Caracas Metro, which oversees and links to the cable car systems, Haiman El Troudi, explained, “One year after we formally started this work, today we are inaugurat-ing it”. The express line of the cable car underwent successful security tests last November.

Vice President Maduro told an emotional crowd, clearly still feeling great sorrow at the news of the President’s health, that “this was a dream of the President”.

“These are the resources of the people, which have been re-cuperated by President Chavez, to be able to attend to the poor-est people”.

The neighborhoods of Mariche and La Dolorita, which set to most benefit from

the cable car, are made up of 90% type E and D in the socio-economic stratum (A being the most wealthiest, E the least). It is estimated that 90% do not own their own vehicle.

This is just the latest in a se-ries of mass public transport systems that are being con-structed all over the country. As Venezuela recently explained in the United Nations COP-18 summit addressing global warming, mass public trans-port is one of the many ways in which the South American nation is trying to reduce car-bon emissions and take care of the environment. Such systems are also directed at the poorest sectors of overcrowded cities, to people who maybe cannot afford a car and have to travel through steep uphill, weaving roads and stairwells to arrive to their homes. Such cable cars

will have particular benefit for the elderly, pregnant women, and commuters.

The new express line of the Mariche cable car has a total of 144 cabins, with a capacity of eight persons per cabin, and with an overall capacity to transport 3,000 people per hour. The local line when finished will have 158 cabins, of equal capacity.

The opening ceremony was also presided over by the Min-ister for Land Transport, Juan García Toussaint, and United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) candidate for the posi-tion of Miranda Governor this upcoming Sunday, Elias Jaua.

This public project will great-ly benefit some of the poorest people in metropolitan Caracas, who previously spent up to three hours travelling by road, taking two separate buses, to get to the Caracas Metro station of Palo

Verde. With the new cable car, transit time will be just 17min-utes on the express route and 25 minutes on the local route, having a very real affect on the day-to-day lives of the people who live in the sector.Vice Pres-ident Maduro highlighted the link between the nationaliza-tion of the country’s resources, particularly oil wealth, and the real changes in people’s living standards. “Here we can talk about the recuperation of the petrol sovereignty, the recuper-ation of sovereignty to manage Venezuelan public resources, which have been administered by the President. For this rea-son, in each and every cabin of the Cable Car, we can see the re-sources of all Venezuelans”.

The project has stimulated over 200 direct jobs, and 250 in-direct ones. It, as all public proj-ects must by law, has given em-ployment preferences to workers from the sector that will directly benefit from the project, and in-cludes the technological trans-fer to allow the local population and organized communities to participate in the construction and maintenance of the project. Maduro went on to explain that this “is a product of the labor of Venezuelan workers, because each tower, each space, each ca-ble was put up by a humble, local worker”.

The Caracas Metro website highlights that, with respect to the new cable car systems, that “each new public project, as much in its design as its execu-tion, is the product of the inter-action with the organized com-munities through Communal Councils, which have convert-ed the infrastructural works of the Chavez government into catalysts for the explosion of People’s Power, one of the basic proposals of socialism”.

El Troudi went on to announce that there are similar cable cars planned for the Caracas regions of Antimano and Petare South, both of which are very poor sec-tors of the capital, which were previously ignored and aban-doned by the neoliberal govern-ments previous to Chavez.

The funding for these upcom-ing cable cars was approved by Chavez four months ago, and their construction is due to begin shortly. All of the Ca-racas cable car networks are incorporated into the Caracas Metro network, and hence have the same solitary price: 1,50bsf ($0.38) for any one-way journey.

These sectors of Caracas pro-vide Chavez with some of his most fervent support, and have seen their quality of life great enhanced by socialist policies in the past 14 years.

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The artillery of ideasFriday, December 14, 2012 | Social Justice 5

Educational advancesfor indigenous peoples

T/ Paul DobsonP/ Agencies

Starting in January 2013, the Ministry for Educa-tion in Venezuela will

print educational textbooks and materials used in the school system not just in Span-ish, but also in indigenous lan-guages. The resources will be for use in areas with high in-digenous populations, signal-ing a further step towards the full inclusion of the indigenous population into the revolution-ary process that is transform-ing the nation.

“With the support of the Ministry for Indigenous Peo-ples we are working on the translation of school texts into original languages”, explained Education Minister Maryann Hanson. “In January 2013 we will be giving out the first translated books in the yakua-na, wayuu and pemon lan-guages”. The first texts to be completed will be for primary and secondary schools.

While firmly respecting the cultural education that indig-enous communities give to their own youth, it has been the firm policy of the Chavez administration to grant them full access to the complete pub-lic educational system the rest of the country benefits from.

United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) candidate in the state of Amazonas for the upcoming governor elec-tions on December 16, and ex Minister for Indigenous Peoples, Nicia Maldonaldo, stressed the importance of inclusion for indigenous peo-ples. “It is fundamentally our agenda to advance towards an educational system that al-lows the strengthening of the Indo-American cosmology, for the harmonious development of our peoples. This is why the national government makes a permanent effort to guarantee the participation and inclusion of indigenous peoples”.

In similar news this week, University Education Minister Yadira Cordova, inspected the ongoing construction of the first ever Amazon University, which is currently being built in the Picatonal sector of the Venezuelan Amazonian capi-tal of Puerto Ayacucho.

The first stage of the univer-sity is set to be inaugurated between January and March of next year and will attend to over 12,000 students.

Currently in construction are the student residences, laboratories, classrooms, the reception, and some adminis-trative areas. The university

will, apart from the standard university population, house the university level education program Mission Sucre for. Its construction is estimated to cost a total of $56 million.

Minister Cordova explained that the university was being built “within the concept of

inclusion that the Chavez ad-ministration promotes, which contemplates the inclusion for the first time of our peoples who were excluded for many years, as well as students who are the product of solidarity exchanges with other peoples of the world”.

As the indigenous communi-ties celebrated these advances in the educational sector, the entire nation commemorated December 8 as National Day of Guaicaipuro and of the Chiefs of Resistance. This occasion was in remembrance of Chief Guaicaipuro, an indigenous

warrior and General who led the indigenous peoples to vic-tory alongside the forces of independence hero, Simon Bo-livar, during the war of inde-pendence against the Spanish colonialists.

The indigenous communities have long been excluded from national politics and were for many decades treated as third class citizens, or savages. However the current admin-istration has granted many benefits to these communi-ties, culturally, economically, educationally, and politically. Some of these initiatives in-clude the creation of the Min-istry for Indigenous Peoples and the Indigenous Peoples National Assembly, aimed at bringing them, as equals, into the debates which shape the nation.

Currently, Venezuela has 51 indigenous communities, and in the 2011 National Cen-sus, 725,128 indigenous people were registered, mainly in the eastern States of Bolivar, Mon-agas, and the Delta Amacuro, as well as Amazon State to the south, and in the Guajira sec-tor of Zulia State, on the Co-lombian border.

The biggest indigenous pop-ulation is the Wayuu tribe, who make up 58% of the total indigenous population of the country. After them come the Waraos community who make up 7%, the Kariña community 5%, Pemon community 4%, Jivis community 3%, Cumana-gotos 3%, Añu 3%, Piaroa 3%, Chaima 2%, Yupka 2% and the Yanomami 1%.

T/ Ewan Robertsonwww.venezuelanalysis.comP/ Agencies

Venezuela has abolished entrance visas for Pales-

tinian visitors among a set of new agreements with the Middle Eastern country. Venezuela has became the first country to eliminate visas for Palestinians car-rying civilian or diplomatic passports as part of talks this week in Caracas be-tween representatives of the two countries. Venezuela also agreed to build a new hospital in Palestinian terri-tory and entered into new ac-cords in the areas of health, education and tourism.

Venezuela eliminatesentrance visas for Palestinians

“We’re sending the world a very important message, be-cause from Caracas a new stage is beginning for Palestine”, said the Palestinian foreign minis-ter, Riad-Al-Maliki.

Al-Maliki forms part of an official Palestinian delegation visiting Venezuela this week. The delegation is seeking to strengthen relations between the two countries following Pal-estine’s successful bid to have its diplomatic status upgraded to ‘non-observer member state’ by the United Nations General Assembly last Thursday.

Venezuela is the first coun-try to be visited by a delegation from the new Palestinian en-tity, after the Chavez govern-ment showed strong support for

Palestine’s UN bid and backed it during Israel’s recent “Pillar of Cloud” military assault on the country.

In 2006, the Venezuelan gov-ernment froze relations with Israel in protest of the war against Lebannon and with-drew its diplomatic staff from the Middle Eastern state. In

2008, the Chavez administra-tion formerly expelled Israeli diplomats from Venezuela, protesting attacks on Gaza and the Palestinian people. President Chavez has been very outspoken in favor of a Palestinian state and against Israeli occupation of Palestin-ian territories.

The artillery of ideas6 Interview | Friday, December 14, 2012

T/ Democracy NowP/ Agencies

The following is an interview conducted by US journalist

Amy Goodman from Democ-racy Now, with Venezuelan Vice Minister for Foreign Af-faris and Chief Climate Ne-gotiator, Claudia Salerno and Heherson Alvarez, climate delegate from the Philippines

Amy Goodman: Claudia Salerno, you are the chief climate negotiator for Ven-ezuela here. You are fa-mous for, three years ago in Copenhagen, hitting your fists against the table to get attention, to be recognized, and bloodying your hand. Talk about what’s happen-ing today, and take it back to three years ago in Co-penhagen, why you were so distressed.

Claudia Salerno: I said that I strongly consider that the things that we are living and facing now in this process in 2012 are the consequence of what happened exactly three years ago. Three years ago, one state actually said they were going to take the lead to transform the whole system and the whole regime of cli-mate change, because it didn’t fit them. So, one single coun-try—

Amy Goodman: That country?

Claudia Salerno: Being the United States, the only coun-try that is not party to the Kyoto Protocol, because it didn’t fit them. They needed to destroy the whole thing to try to accommodate the re-gime to what would be nice for their economies, their argu-ment being always not which countries are going to do what, but which economies. This is an economic negotiation. The first thing that countries need to understand when they want to succeed in this process is to understand that this is not an environmental process. This is a process that is going to have impact in economics, so that is why it is so difficult for devel-oped countries that are doing well economically, or even do-ing bad, to make the necessary changes in their economics.

Amy Goodman: What is happening now? What are the key issues that aren’t being addressed? And is there going to be an agree-ment at the end of today or tomorrow? Clearly, the talks are going later than was planned.

Claudia Salerno: I think in the previous two years, we al-ready learned that presidents do always the best to try to have an agreement and a clap-ping situation. They were even saying last year that decisions were making by ovation and not by consensus. So we know that some kind of deal is going to be produced. The question now is, what kind of deal? The main is-sue for developing countries is ensuring a second commitment period for the Kyoto Protocol—now, having the text in our hands since this morning, our main concern is that we are go-ing to have an unmeaningful second commitment period, an empty one.

Amy Goodman: Which means?

Claudia Salerno: Which means that the commitments that are there are not suffi-cient to keep the temperatures stopping from escalating. So we are actually heading to-wards an area of 4 or 6 degrees of temperature, even when in

Cancun we agreed on a global goal and a global target for ev-erybody to reach, at the most, two degrees.

Amy Goodman: Talk about the significance. Two degrees is what people were aim-ing for, which is 3.8 degrees Fahrenheit, and the World Bank came out with a report that said we could be leading to a 4 to 6 degree increased temperature world by the end of the century, which is 7.4 degrees—is 7.2 degrees Fahr-enheit. The issue of markets, Claudia Salerno?

Claudia Salerno: The issue of markets is the worst part of this whole package. What we have seen lately is this tendency of actually trying to convert and to transform what it was created in Kyoto at the beginning as a way to help de-veloped countries to achieve their commitments. Now it be-came actually mechanisms to take profit of a certain kind of pollution that is profitable for developed countries. So what they consider now a business that is interesting is actually to keep a climate regime that will allow them—that’s what they are intending, the whole two weeks—that will allow them actually to make trading of whatever is called rights to pollute. So what we are seeing

with a lot of concern is this ca-pacity that they want to create of mechanisms that will allow them to buy the right to pollute to a certain level and then to exchange, among them, their rights to contaminate the land.

Amy Goodman: Venezuela is perhaps the largest oil pro-ducer in the world. You’re a member of OPEC.

Claudia Salerno: Yes, we are. And we are also—we have been recognized by OPEC last year as having the largest proven reserves in the world. And that creates for us a huge respon-sibility. But I have to say that even with those large numbers and large quantities of exporta-tion, our country only repre-sents 0.48 percent of the total emissions in the world, because Venezuela is also an Amazoni-an country, so we do have more than 50 million hectares of vir-gin forests that we are—and they will remain untouched for us, so we are extremely green country with a very old tradi-tion of ecology and very re-spectful approach towards the environment.

Amy Goodman: Your as-sessment, both of yours, in 30 seconds of the role of the United States here right now, beginning with He-herson Alvarez.

Venezuela’s Doha Climate delegate talks:“Rich countries profit from pollution”

Heherson Alvarez: Well, the United States, on elect-ing a president like Obama, gave some signs that atten-tion would be given to climate change. But that was not done. There were some big prob-lems, so they said, about their economy, and Obama attend-ed to priorities. But, of late, he said that he’s going to situate one of the three pillars of his forthcoming administration, situate that he’s going to pro-vide for a safe world, referring to climate change manage-ment policy for the American generation, for American people. We’re awaiting that signal. And we’re also hopeful that there are signs from the business community to band together in the manner of a foundation, addressing prob-lems of climate change, for we have many setbacks. The intervention methods alone that is being defined, and no matter how clearly, by the organized community of the world, led by the United Na-tions, is insufficient. The bu-reaucracy is too slow. There is too much debate. And even when the science is clear, the science is not being applied with determination.

Amy Goodman: And Claudia Salerno?

Claudia Salerno: I will be very quick. I think that nego-tiators here from the US dele-gation seem not to be aware of the Obama statement when he took power after the elections. He actually mentioned climate change after the Sandy hurri-cane, and it seems like there is a gap between the promises made by the president and the kind of behaviors that his del-egates are acting out here.

Amy Goodman: Well, I want to thank you both for being with us. We’ve been speaking with Heherson Alvarez, climate delegate from the Philippines and member of the Philip-pines Presidential Climate Change Commission, and Claudia Salerno, Ven-ezuela’s Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs for North America and special presi-dential envoy for climate change here in Doha.

The artillery of ideas Friday, December 14, 2012 | Analysis 7

T/ Humberto MarquezP/ Presidential Press

Nicolas Maduro, the Ven-ezuelan Vice President and Foreign Minister, has

been announced by President Hugo Chavez as his political successor. Many analysts view this as a specific call for party unity, and a preference for a civilian over a former military leader.

For the first time the 58-year-old Chavez, who had his fourth surgery for cancer this week in Cuba, has designated a politi-cal successor, 20 years after he first came to public attention by leading a military uprising. Since then he has spent 14 years as President, and a year-and-a-half fighting cancer.

“It’s a nomination that make sense”, analyst Jose Vicente Carrasquero, a professor of postgraduate political science courses at the Simon Bolivar University in Caracas, told IPS. “Maduro understands Chavez and he has a great deal of experience; he was president of the legislature, then foreign minister for six

years, and now he is the Vice President”.

“Chavez is choosing a civil-ian to leave in his place, dis-tancing himself from the per-ception that his government is militaristic, a criticism that would have been made if he had named one of his sup-porters from within the armed forces”, he said.

Another political science pro-fessor, Gabriel Reyes, told IPS that Chavez’s entourage and the leadership of his United Social-ist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) are made up of several groups that are divided basically into two main sectors, civilian and military.

Among the retired members of the military, the most notable figure is Diosdado Cabello, who was a lieutenant in 1992 and second-in-command to Chavez, then commander of a parachute battalion, in his failed attempt-ed coup. At present Cabello is Vice President of the PSUV and president of the legislature.

When Chavez made his an-nouncement to the country that his cancer had recurred and he would be having another op-

eration in Cuba, he appeared on television flanked by Cabello and Maduro, a powerful symbol of unity, according to his sup-porters.

Chavez “must have calcu-lated that, as they are both in positions of power, they would counterbalance each other”, Reyes said.

The 49-year-old Maduro was a young activist in the now defunct leftwing group Liga Socialista. He worked as a bus driver for the Caracas Metro, where he was a trade unionist, and later joined the movement created by Chavez to take part in the 1998 elections, in which the President first came to power.

Maduro also formed part of the 1999 constituent assem-bly that rewrote the country’s constitution; he presided the legislature; and in 2006 he was appointed Foreign Minister, a post he retained when Chavez designated him Vice President two months ago (in Venezuela the Vice President is appointed, not elected).

“If something happens that incapacitates me, Nicolas Ma-

duro should not only serve out the period (2007-2013) as the constitution requires, but my firm opinion…irrevocable, absolute, total, is that in that scenario, which would require new presidential elections, you should elect Nicolas Maduro as President of Venezuela”.

“I ask this of you from my heart”, Chávez said on national radio and television broadcasts on Saturday, December 8.

Chavez was reelected on Oc-tober 7 with 55 percent of the vote, for a six-year term that starts January 10.

Henrique Capriles, who lost the elections with 44 percent of the vote, said along with most opposition leaders that new elections would be called soon if Chavez did not beat his illness.

“It should be quite clear that there is no succession in Ven-ezuela. This is not Cuba, nor is it a monarchy where a king designates the next king. No, in Venezuela when a person steps down from a position, the last word always belongs to the people”, Capriles said.

Under the constitution, if the president elect cannot take of-fice for any reason, new elec-tions are to be called within 30 days of the start of the new term. In the meantime, the acting head of state will be the president of the single-chamber legislature, at present Cabello.

If an incumbent president dies or is incapacitated within the first four years of his or her

Chavez names civilianheir for sake of unity

term, new elections must also be called.

In this case it is the Vice President who becomes act-ing President until the ballot takes place, as he or she also does if the presidency becomes vacant in the last two years of the six-year term.

The constitution gives the following reasons for the presi-dency becoming vacant: death, resignation, dismissal by a de-cision of the Supreme Court, physical or mental incapac-ity certified by a medical board designated by the Supreme Court and approved by the leg-islature, desertion declared by the legislature, or revocation of mandate by a popular vote.

So far, parliament has only been called on to give its formal permission for Chavez to leave his post, and the country, for more than five days, for health reasons.

President Chavez’s health cri-sis, the countdown to the Janu-ary inaugural ceremony and the announcement of his politi-cal heir have come on top of the upcoming elections for 23 state governors and regional legisla-tures, on Sunday December 16.

Until now, analysts and poll-sters assumed that Chavista candidates would win in the majority of districts, continu-ing the October PSUV victory, while the opposition vote would decline.

“But earlier surveys become irrelevant with the appear-ance of this new unforeseeable element. It will have an im-pact”, Luis Vicente Leon, head of the polling firm Datanalisis, told IPS.

According to Leon, “voter turnout may be higher. The President’s sympathizers may come out to vote in greater num-bers if they perceive the revolu-tion to be in danger, while the opposition, still in mourning because they thought Chavez was going to govern for another six years, will see their aspira-tions and hopes revived”.

Expressions of support for Chavez as well as good wishes for his health are already pour-ing in. On Sunday December 9, the PSUV organized rallies in the main squares of cities and towns to pray for their leader. The presidents of neighboring countries have also sent mes-sages of solidarity.

The Defense Minister, admi-ral Diego Molero, sent a com-muniqué to Chavez saying that the armed forces “are loyal to his person, to the revolution and to the people. During his absence the soldiers will de-fend the socialist homeland with their lives”.

Editor-in-Chief Graphic Design Pablo Valduciel L. - Aimara Aguilera

INTERNATIONAL Friday, December 14, 2012 | Nº 139 | Caracas | www.correodelorinoco.gob.ve

T/ Eva Golinger

The first time I met Hugo Chavez was at the United Nations in New York in

January 2003. He asked me my name, as if we were chatting between friends just getting to know each other. When I told him “Eva”, he responded “Eva, really?”1 “Yes, Eva”, I said. “My brother is named Adan”, he said, adding, “My mother wanted me to be a girl so that she could call me Eva, and look, I appeared!” He smiled and laughed with that laugh of his, so pure and sincere it’s contagious to all those near.

He appeared. Chavez, who even underestimated himself.

This man appeared, larger than life, with an immense heart full of his people, pueb-lo, beating with homeland, patria. A human being ap-peared, with a great capacity to persist and stand defiantly in the face of the most power-ful obstacles.

Hugo Chavez dreamed the impossible and achieved it. He

assumed responsibility for the grandiose and difficult tasks that remained undone from the time of independence, those that Simon Bolivar couldn’t at-tain due to the adverse forces against him. Chavez fulfilled those goals, turning them into reality. The Bolivarian Revolu-tion, the recovery of Venezu-elan dignity, social justice, the visibility and power of the peo-ple, Latin American integra-tion, national and regional sov-ereignty, true independence, the realization of the dream of the Patria Grande, and much, much more. These are Chavez’s achievements, the man who ap-peared just like that.

There are millions of people around the world who are in-spired by Hugo Chavez. Chavez raises his voice without trem-bling before the most power-ful, he says the truth – what others are afraid of saying –, he kneels before no one, he walks with firm dignity, head held high, with the people, el pueblo, guiding him and a dream of a prosperous, just and fulfilled

nation. Chavez has given us the collective strength to fight in-equality, injustice, to build na-tions and to believe that a bet-ter world isn’t just a dream, it’s an achievable reality.

Chavez, a man who could spend time in the company of the world’s richest and most powerful, prefers to be with those most in need, feeling their pain, embracing them and find-ing ways to improve their lives.

Chavez once told us a story, or told it many times as he often does. He was driving in his mo-torcade, out in the Venezuelan plains, los llanos, on those long roads that seem to continue infi-nitely. A dog suddenly appeared at the side of the road, limping with a wounded leg. Chavez ordered the motorcade to stop and went out to get the dog. He hugged the wounded animal, saying it had to be taken to the vet. “How can we leave it here alone and wounded”, he asked. “It’s a being, it’s a life, it needs to be cared for”, he said, demon-strating his sensitivity. “How can we call ourselves social-

ists without the lives of others mattering? We need to love, we need to care for all, including animals, which are innocent beings. We can turn our backs on no one”, he recalled.

When he told that story I cried. I cried because of my love for animals and the widespread mistreatment they suffer, and how necessary it was for some-one like him, Chavez, to say something like that to awaken consciousness about the need to care for those who share our planet. But I also cried because Chavez confirmed something in that moment that I already knew, something I felt in my heart, but was unsure of in my mind. Chavez confirmed his simplicity, his sensitivity and his capacity to love. He con-firmed he is a man whose heart feels pain when he sees a wound-ed animal. A man who not only feels, but acts. That’s who he is.

When Chavez assumed the presidency of Venezuela, the country was limping. He had seen its wounds and knew that he had to do all he could to help.

He took Venezuela into his arms, embracing it closely, soothing and seeking how to make it better. He gave every-thing he had in him - his sweat, soul, strength, energy, intel-ligence and love – to change Venezuela with dignity, growth, sovereignty, and na-tion-building. He looked after it day and night, never leaving it alone. He found its beauty, its strength, its potential and its greatness. He helped it to grow strong, beautiful, visible and happy. He led its rebirth and filled its pulse with force and passion, with people’s power and a dignified homeland.

Chavez has given every-thing he has and asked for nothing in return. Today, Venezuela grows and flour-ishes, thanks to his commit-ment and vision, thanks to his dedication and determi-nation, thanks to his love.

Thank goodness you ap-peared, Chavez.

1 “Adán y Eva” in Spanish is “Adam and Eve” in English.

Opinion

Chavez