[Peace-discuss] Back from Venezuela

[Phil Stinard]

Hello,

Sorry that Julio and I have been out of touch for so long.  We went to 
Venezuela with a Global Exchange tour from August 10 to August 24 during the 
presidential recall referendum process.  We've been fairly quiet about our 
experiences there, because it was mostly negative.  The country was so 
highly politicized at that time--how you are treated is truly determined by 
whether you share the political beliefs of the person you are dealing with.  
Before the referendum, literally all of the polls forecast a Chavez victory, 
about 60% to 40%, and that is what ultimately occurred.  However, the media 
barrage was so intense that many members of our group were sure that Chavez 
would lose, and they were in despair up until the results were announced.  
Their despair was contagious.  Imagine that all of the private news channels 
are Fox News, and that the state-run public TV channel runs 1984-esque 
political propaganda in favor of Chavez.  What can you believe?  None of it, 
of course.  The pro-Chavez propaganda wasn't that bad, but it had a 
homophobic edge to it that could not be ignored or laughed off.  Some of the 
propaganda said that the male opposition leaders are faggots, cocksuckers, 
impotent, etc.  Pardon my language, but that's what they say.  Oh, the 
opposition says that Chavez is a monkey, disgusting nigger, etc., but I 
never heard his masculinity questioned, so it's six of one and half a dozen 
of the other whether you are racist or homophobic in your political attacks.

On substance, Chavez clearly had the upper hand.  Venezuelan social 
programs, funded by oil revenues, are a model for the world to follow.  
There is free medical care for anyone who wants it, regardless of income.  
The Barrio Adentro program has provided one doctor for every 1,000 people in 
the poorer neighborhoods, and free dental care.  We met with doctors and 
dentists in several locations, and they were impressive.  The literacy and 
education programs are top-notch.  There are housing, job training, and 
nutrition programs that put the US to shame.  It's because of the stellar 
social programs that Chavez won the referendum.

Social programs aside, there was a dark side to the Chavez government, and 
it's the same sickness that all Latin American governments seem to suffer, 
and that is a slow and inefficient justice system.  There are more people in 
prison waiting for trial than people who have been convicted of crimes.  
There aren't any political prisoners, but it seems that the people in prison 
are the people who are "easy" to capture and convict--those who are poor and 
have don't have good legal counsel--just like in the US, but magnified.  
People with connections are rarely arrested or convicted.

I dealt with three bureaucracies while I was there--the Ministry of 
Communications and Information (a propaganda office that I call the Ministry 
of Fear, after a Graham Greene novel), the Women's Institute, and the 
Ombudsman's Office.  All were inefficient, incompetant, and ineffective.  I 
asked high level representatives of the latter two offices about anti-gay 
violence and discrimination and received appalling responses.  The Women's 
Institute said that it was a forbidden topic that people dare not talk 
about.  The Ombudsman's representative, while somewhat sympathetic, said 
that it wasn't an important issue compared to child and spousal abuse, and 
that the Ombudsman himself is a homophobe.  At least he was honest!

Despite all of this, Chavez won, and deservedly so.  The opposition has no 
plan of government, and would have returned to a repressive right-wing 
dictatorship--they admitted as much.  At least Chavez is helping the poor.

What happened in the aftermath of the referendum was fascinating.  Voter 
participation was close to 60 to 70%, a record for Venezuela.  The voting 
machines worked flawlessly, and the OAS and Carter Center said that there 
was not, nor could there have possibly been, fraud.  Despite this, the 
opposition screamed fraud, and all of the private media said there was fraud 
and told stories about missing ballot boxes and malicious computer 
programming that later turned out to be false.  They said that the OAS and 
Carter Center had a conspiracy to support Chavez, etc.  Again, even though 
this information was false and malicious, it was so pervasive that it was 
demoralizing.  The media are powerful, and even though they are lying and 
deceiving, it wears you down.  In the light of the pressure, Chavez's 
victory was stunning--Venezuelans have a lot of fortitude.

Before the referendum, the US said that they would recognize the results of 
a clean and transparent election, fulling expecting that a) Chavez would 
lose or b) that fraud would be proven if Chavez won.  The Spanish newspaper 
El Pais reported a story about a CIA plot hatched from Chile for another 
coup should Chavez win--that was probably just wishful thinking on 
Ambassador Brownfield's part.  After the OAS and Carter Center validated the 
results, the US government rolled over and played dead, and the opposition 
was left blowing in the wind.  Chavez received international recognition as 
the legitimate president of Venezuela, and he is stronger than ever 
politically.

Overall, I'm glad that Chavez won, and I hope he is successful in rebuilding 
Venezuela in a way that can serve as a model for other Latin American 
countries.  Personally, though, the whole situation left me with a bad taste 
  in my mouth.  I can attribute some of that to the insane media pressure in 
Venezuela that is similar to what we experience in the US, but more intense 
and extreme.  If the opposition media are evil, the government media 
shouldn't use the same tactics.  I could put up with the government media 
for a longer period of time, but both were disgusting.  Another upleasant 
aspect was the politicization of everyday life.  After the Global Exchange 
tour, Julio and I went to the Andean city of Merida, set in a beautiful 
location with snow-capped mountains, forests, fresh air, etc.  We had two 
tour guides, both of whom were with the opposition.  They both said nasty 
things about Chavez without any prompting on our part, and one of them said 
that he would like to see Chavez dead.  The bureaucracy was a third negative 
aspect.  In some respects I wish we hadn't met them, but on the other hand, 
it's nice to get the whole picture--both good and bad.  It's just that we 
expected it not to be bad.  Finally, I place blame on myself for holding 
Venezuela and its government to "US standards."  Maybe there is no anti-gay 
discrimination or violence in Venezuela, or if there is, it's accepted by 
the gay community as a part of everyday life, since feeding oneself and 
having a place to live and a job are higher priorities.  That's what the 
bureaucracy wants you to believe, but I could not get at the truth.  From 
Julio's experience, mainstream Latin American culture is anti-gay in 
general, so he was not surprised, but he was disappointed, especially coming 
from representatives of a supposedly progressive government.  God bless the 
people of Venezuela, but to quote Emma Goldman, "If I can't dance, I don't 
want to be part of your revolution."

--Phil