Venezuela’s Referendum: Media’s Double Standards
Steve Rendall & Isabel Macdonald. Commondreams.org. February 14, 2009
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/02/14-6

With Sunday’s Venezuelan referendum on term limits, we can expect to hear a lot about Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez’s “plan to become president for life” and its reflection on “Venezuela’s battered democracy”–as the New York Times editors put it (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/01/opinion/01sat2.html) around the time of Venezuela’s last (failed) term limits referendum.But when Colombian President Álvaro Uribe’s efforts to change a constitutional prohibition barring a president from serving more than one term succeeded in 2005, the U.S. media took little notice, and Uribe’s reputation as the U.S.’s favorite ‘democrat’ in the region remained intact. While not identical, the two examples have some notable parallels. In Colombia, the amendment on term limits that Congress voted on in 2004, and the Supreme court upheld the following year, allowed Uribe to seek a second term in office, paving the way for his reelection. Uribe is currently pushing to amend the constitution to allow him to run for a third term. In Venezuela, Chavez is seeking constitutional changes that would eliminate term limits altogether.The change in Colombia’s term limits law was a big story in Colombia, in good part because the Colombian courts have sentenced the congress member who cast the deciding 2004 vote on the amendment to almost four years under house-arrest for taking bribes from Uribe aides (he knew nothing, of course) in exchange for her vote. And though Uribe supporters are collecting signatures to get him on the ballot for 2010 elections, the bribery affair has caused Colombian courts to raise questions about Uribe’s eligibility.Yet Uribe’s scandal-ridden term limits efforts were treated as far less newsworthy by U.S. editors than the Venezuelan government’s moves to put the question of term limits to the popular ballot. A search of “Álvaro Uribe and “term limits” in the Nexis database of U.S. newspapers and wires turns up 60 articles, in contrast to 1003 articles about Chávez and term limits. A spot check reveals that even the articles mentioning Uribe and “term limits” were often about Chávez’s efforts to lift term limits, not Uribe’s maneuvers.

Similarly, 286 articles mentioned both Chávez and “president for life,” while only 29 articles mention Uribe and that epithet–but virtually all of those 29 were again referring to Chávez’s perceived power grabs, not Uribe’s. (One Associated Press story (http://www.journalgazette.net/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080706/NEWS04/807060434/0/APS) did compare Uribe to Chávez, but didn’t quite apply the term to Uribe: “The wonkish, diminutive but tirelessly tenacious politician [Uribe], who turned 56 on Friday, has been cagey on that score. Those who oppose the idea [of Uribe running again] say it would put him in league with his continental rival, Hugo Chávez of Venezuela, who has been widely branded autocratic for doing his utmost to try to stay president for life.”)

This discrepancy reinforces the findings of a recent FAIR study (http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=3699), “Human Rights Coverage Serving Washington’s Needs,” which found that editors at major U.S. papers portray Colombia as a safer haven for human rights and democracy than Venezuela, despite Colombia’s vastly more dismal record.

It would seem the role of U.S. reporting and opinion on Venezuela (and Colombia) is less about informing the public about real threats to democracy and human rights in Latin America than it is about serving as a propaganda arm of U.S. foreign policy. One would be wise to remember this when reading about Venezuela’s referendum this weekend.

Steve Rendall is FAIR’s senior analyst and the co-author of FAIR’s February 2009 study, “Human Rights Coverage Serving Washington’s Needs: FAIR finds editors downplaying Colombia’s abuses, amplifying Venezuela’s.” Isabel Macdonald is the communications director at FAIR.

Clarification: An earlier version of this article was unclear with regards to the situation in Colombia; the article stated that Colombia’s amendment had “lifted term limits,” whereas it had actually changed the limit from one to two terms.
Steve Rendall is FAIR’s senior analyst and the co-author of FAIR’s February 2009 study, “Human Rights Coverage Serving Washington’s Needs: FAIR finds editors downplaying Colombia’s abuses, amplifying Venezuela’s.” Isabel Macdonald is the communications director at FAIR.

GRANMA
July 31, 2008

Petrocaribe Tackles Food Crisis

TEGUCIGALPA, July 30.— In an effort to guarantee regional food security,
representatives of the 18 Petrocaribe member countries are meeting in
Honduras as of Wednesday for a ministerial level summit on agriculture.
A newly created Petrocaribe Food Fund will begin with some US $500 million,
reported Prensa Latina.

The initiative came from Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to help reactivate
the agricultural sectors of the countries that benefit from the discount oil
sold to them by Venezuela and seeks to increase the supply of basic grains
and compensate for the high food prices.

The bulk of the start up funds will come from Venezuelan oil exports at a
rate of five cents for each barrel of crude oil sold.

The participants in the Petrocaribe agriculture summit will also create a
Council of Ministers of Agriculture to define procedures, statutes and
regulations. At the end of the meetings, an official statement is expected
to explain the accords reached.

The Agriculture ministers agreed that the food crisis, worsened by
skyrocketing oil prices, will not be resolved until the developed nations
change their current policies.

Atten ding the gathering are delegations from Petrocaribe member nations
Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Belize, Cuba, Dominica, Grenada, Guatemala,
Guyana, Haití, Honduras, Jamaica, Nicaragua, República Dominicana, San
Cristóbal y Nieves, Santa Lucía, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Surinam and
Venezuela. Attending as observers are representatives from Bolivia, Costa
Rica and Ecuador.

Petrocaribe en batalla contra carestía de alimentos

TEGUCIGALPA, 30 de julio.–– En un esfuerzo por garantizar la seguridad
alimentaria regional, representantes de las 18 naciones miembros de
Petrocaribe crearán hoy en esta capital un denominado Fondo Petroalimentos
cercano a los 500 millones de dólares, indicó (PL).

La iniciativa partió del presidente de Venezuela, Hugo Chávez, para
contribuir a que los países beneficiarios de Petrocaribe puedan reactivar
sus sectores agrícolas, sortear el desabastecimiento de granos básicos y
compensar la carestía de los alimentos.

El grueso de los aportes al Fondo procederá de las exportaciones petroleras
venezolanas, a razón de cinco centavos de dólar por barril de crudo.

Los asistentes a la Cumbre de Ministros de Agricultura de Petrocaribe
también crearán un Consejo Agrícola del grupo y definirán sus
procedimientos, estatutos y reglamentos. Al final de las sesiones, emitirán
una declaración oficial sobre los acuerdos que adopten.

Los ministros de Agricultura o equivalentes de varias naciones convinieron
en que el problema alimentario, agudizado por los altos precios del
petróleo, no tendrá solución hasta tanto las naciones desarrolladas no
renuncien a aquella política.

A la reunión asisten delegaciones de Antigua y Barbuda, Bahamas, Belice,
Cuba, Dominica, Granada, Guatemala, Guyana, Haití, Honduras, Jamaica,
Nicaragua, República Dominicana, San Cristóbal y Nieves, Santa Lucía, San
Vicente y las Granadinas, Surinam y Venezuela. Mientras, representantes de
Bolivia, Costa Rica y Ecuador lo hacen en calidad de observadores.

Madrid, July 26 — Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has recently
finished his European tour, which was the target of an adverse media
campaign that used lies and manipulation of reality as favorite weapons.

They launched 13 attacks and lies during Chavez’ tour of Russia, Belarus,
Portugal and Spain, said Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro during
an exchange with a group of journalists in La Moncloa, the Spanish
government’s headquarters, in Madrid.

They lie because the tour hurts someone, said the minister, before Chavez
and Spanish Head of State Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero announced important
agreements with this European country, especially in energy.

The MINCI (Venezuelan Information Ministry) had previously issued an
official communique to deny a wave of false press releases about Caracas
alleged buys of weapons for around $30 billion from Russia.

That plot was spread massively by international media and another false news
was spread later on the Internet, about Venezuela’s hypothetical willingness
to establish a Russian military base in its territory.

To the Venezuelan authorities, it was clear that des pite official denials
and clarifications, this large display of lies would be used to deceive
Venezuelans and as an extra tool for the constant imperialist campaign
developed against our motherland.

In the case of Spain, the last country in Chavez’ European tour, the largest
media have been leading a misinformation campaign since long time ago,
contrary to the nice atmosphere that marked his brief stay in Spanish land.

The Venezuelan President eased, in less than 10 hours, the tense atmosphere
that had been created about the state of relations with this European
country, regarding his peronal relations with King Juan Carlos and important
economic and political issues.

The visit was marked by an agreement for Venezuelan oil supply to Spain in
favorable conditions, interest in the presence of Spanish companies in the
Orinoco Strip, and a proposal for Latin America and Europe to begin talks
about the European Immigration Directive.

We have come to lend a hand, to work together with Spain to face up to the
problems and look for paths to progress and integration, President Chavez
told press in la Moncloa.

It was really an excellent visit, Information Minister Andres Izarra told
Prensa Latina.

(Prensa Latina)

By Eva Golinger

Interpol’s Creativity

Since 2002, the Pentagon has been seeking evidence that intimately relates President Chávez and his government with the FARC. Top secret documents from the Department of Defense (that we have desclassifed under FOIA) evidence that the Pentagon has been unable to find proof of a clandestine, subversive relationship between the Venezuelan government and the FARC. The sources used in some Pentagon documents that attempt to show such a relationship are completely unreliable, since they are mass media outlets from Venezuela and Colombia, such as Globovisión, Caracol, El Universal and El Nacional – all of whom are aligned with the opposition to Chávez. Read More

Caracas, April 30: Venezuela’s armed forces have discovered a camp set up by a Colombian militia group inside the country and arrested four of its members, Spain’s EFE news agency reported Wednesday quoting a top military official.

The secret camp of the outlawed United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, or AUC, was found last Thursday in the western state of Zulia near the Colombian borders, General Jesus Gonzalez said, adding that the camp was set up to train the right-wing paramilitaries.

He also said that several documents, 19 uniforms with AUC insignia, weapons, munitions, explosives and 80 kgs of cocaine were found from the site.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez had earlier warned about the infiltration of Colombian paramilitaries in his country, as part of a plan to destabilize his leftist government.

The AUC, blamed by the UN for 80 percent of the war crimes in Colombia’s internal conflict, demobilized more than 31,000 of its fighters between 2003 and 2006 amid negotiations with the administration of Colombian President Alvaro Uribe.

Made up of rural defense cooperatives formed more than 20 years ago to battle leftist rebels, most of the AUC militias degenerated into death squads, carrying out massacres of peasants, journalists and trade unionists suspected of having sympathy for the leftists.

Olivia Burlingame Goumbri

All is fair in love and war. No statement ever rang truer in describing the American media. From politicians to celebrities, and even on down to your average Joe; when the political pundits make their mind up about you, all bets are off. And as Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez can attest, the American media can be cruel and downright vindictive. Read More

Here’s the written evidence… and - please say it ain’t so! - Obama and Hillary attack Ecuador Read More

By Mark Weisbrot

This was published by washingtonpost.com on January 15, 2008.

It has had the makings of a telenovela - a Latin American soap opera: hostages held for years deep in the Colombian jungle, anxious anticipation and tearful reunions, and most spectacular of all, the boy: Emmanuel. Read More

Two Colombian women hostages freed by the Farc rebel group have been reunited with their families at an airport near the Venezuelan capital, Caracas.
Read More

The IAPA is not defending press freedom, but rather taking sides in a partisan struggle in a politically polarized country.

By Mark Weisbrot Read More