The people of Haiti stand for justice, but they are against the misuse of the justice system for political persecution. That is why they have come out by the thousands in support of former President Aristide.

Haitians’ love is boundless for Jean-Bertrand Aristide, their first democratically elected president and the only president they ever had who cares about his people. Knowing they deserve good leadership, they constantly resist the U.S./U.N. occupation and the sweatshop regime of Martelly. This banner reads “Persecuting him is persecuting us” at the top and at the bottom, “The more you persecute him, the more we love him.”

Members of Haiti’s most popular political party, Lavalas, as well as international supporters, view this “invitation” as the latest effort in what has been an ongoing assault against Haiti’s grassroots democratic movement and its principal leader. The Haiti Action Committee includes itself amongst those who denounce unequivocally these attacks.

Since his return two years ago from forced exile, President Aristide has reopened the University of the Aristide Foundation’s Medical School (UNIFA). On Sept. 26, 2011, the medical school once again opened its doors, seven years after the school’s forced closure by the U.S.-orchestrated coup in 2004. Currently over 200 future Haitian doctors are in attendance at the school. Now a nursing school has opened as well. This is just the beginning of an initiative to improve healthcare for all Haitians.

Ever since Aristide and his family returned to Haiti, he has been a particular target of Michel Martelly – who assumed the office of president in March 2011 as the result of fraudulent elections – and the occupation-installed Martelly administration. Two months ago, Aristide was summoned to court in two separate cases.

In Haiti, it is implicit that these ridiculous allegations are attempts to discredit President Aristide’s reputation and delegitimize his current work. The efforts to link him in any way to the assassination of Jean Dominique – a journalist beloved by the people for his unbending criticism of U.S. interference in Haiti – are equally outrageous.

Thousands of Haitians, undeterred by the rain, surround Aristide’s car, guarding him against any harm intended by authorities who “invited” him to court. Reportedly, he got out of the car and walked part of the way to share his love with the people he has heroically served all his life.

Yet, as ever, grassroots organizations throughout Haiti have a clear understanding of the repressive nature of the May 8 summons. This attack against Aristide represents an attack against the entire democratic grassroots movement.

Nevertheless, they accepted the “invitation” on their own terms and planned full-scale support of Aristide today, when thousands joined him at the Judicial Palace. Refusing to be intimidated, the organizations announced peaceful actions today, which they have chosen to mark the beginning of a sustained campaign for the people’s full participation in the running of their country.

The Haiti Action Committee stands in solidarity with the people of Haiti as they struggle to regain national sovereignty, rebuild their democracy and end the U.S./U.N. occupation.

Contact the Haiti Action Committee at www.haitisolidarity.net and on Facebook or by email at action.haiti@gmail.com.

We, Afro-descendants of Venezuela, meeting in the city of Caracas, express our condemnation of the rise of fascism and racism led by Henríquez Capriles Randonski and leaders of the Venezuelan far right in not accepting the results of the April 14 elections that led to the victory of the candidate of the homeland, Nicolas Maduro Moros.

Hugo Chávez, shown with his chosen successor, Nicolas Maduro, was the first president in Venezuela's history to claim and honor his Indigenous and African ancestry. In an interview with Amy Goodman of Democracy Now! in 2005, President Chávez said: “Hate against me has a lot to do with racism – because of my big mouth, because of my curly hair. And I’m so proud to have this mouth and this hair, because it’s African.”

By attacking the symbols of social progress of the Bolivarian process, including the CDI (dental clinics), the health care centers of Barrio Adentro Missions, MERCAL (stores selling subsidized food and basic goods) and the offices of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), they are expressing the vilest and basest intentions of rolling back the gains made by the Venezuelan people during the 14 years of the Bolivarian process led by President Chavez.

The losing candidate’s refusal to accept the results of the April 14 election is proof of the undemocratic spirit which refuses to comply with the decision of the Venezuelan people to elect Nicolas Maduro as president of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. A true democrat abides by the popular mandate. His refusal shows contempt for the people, an attitude that corresponds to his fascist, classist and racist character, an enemy of life and love.

We call on organized nuclei and to the people in general of Afro-Venezuelan and Afro-descendant communities across the country to defend the gains of the Bolivarian process and reject the fascist and racist aggression led by Primero Justicia, Alianza Bravo Pueblo, Democratic Action, COPEI (a Christian democratic party) and other members of the MUD (Democratic Unity Roundtable).

At the same time, we urge all the leaders of the Bolivarian process to involve themselves in community work, abandon bureaucratic positions, and to restructure the Venezuelan state in order to deepen and develop participatory democracy with three specific mandates: government efficiency, anti-corruption measures and implementation of micro-missions (projects to give more power to the people and make government more efficient), as called for by President Chavez in October 2012.

Long live democracy! Long live the Bolivarian Revolution!

For a country free from racism and fascist terrorism!

With Chavez always, Maduro is the president!

To reach the Afro-Venezuelan Movement Against Racism and Fascism, email Jesus Chucho Garcia at jesuschuchogarcia@hotmail.com.

Victory to the ongoing Bolivarian Revolution: US imperialism hands-off Venezuela!

by the Black Left Unity Network, in response to the statement by the Afro-Venezuelan Movement Against Racism and Fascism

The Black Left Unity Network (BLUN) salutes the victory of Nicolas Maduro Moros as the new and democratically elected president of Venezuela.

About a million Venezuelans – like this multi-generational family – are Afro-descendants, and under Hugo Chavez, they were encouraged to organize against the racism common to all countries in the Americas where Africans were enslaved. Today in Venezuela , the month of May is recognized as the Month of Afro-Descendants, May 10 is the national day of the Afro-Venezuelan and May 25, the Worldwide Day of Africa, is the culmination of the month.

The struggles and voices of Afro-Venezuelans represent the deepest sentiments for democracy and social transformation and were critical to this victory and the ongoing Bolivarian Revolution in Venezuela that was led by Comrade President Hugo Chavez.

We will never forget the immediate response by the Venezuelan people led by President Chavez to the tragedy triggered by Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf Coast and the offer of major aid to assist the survivors remaining in the disaster area and those dispersed to all corners of the U.S. The U.S. government’s refusal of this aid and the aid offered by revolutionary Cuba, pointed out clearly how the U.S. government will sacrifice the lives of African descendants and poor people, before it will recognize the good deeds of governments that are anti-imperialist, truly democratic and building a society that benefits the needs of the majority, not the capitalist elites.

Even with the major changes and improvements made by the Venezuelan revolutionary process, the forces of counter-revolution are still part of the economic and racist elite in Venezuelan society. Their ties to U.S. imperialism make them a major threat to the revolutionary process. Combating and defeating their maneuvers remains part of the ongoing revolutionary process until this class is defeated.

A banner shows the enthusiasm in Venezuela for micro-missions, an initiative announced by President Hugo Chavez last October to give more power to the people and make government more efficient.

The revolutionary struggle in Venezuela is critical to the revolutionary direction of building and expanding socialism throughout the Americas in the 21st Century. The organization and struggles of the Afro-Venezuelans as an identifiable and integral part of the Venezuela revolutionary process represents the further advance for socialism.

Through our efforts to rebuild a revolutionary Black movement in the U.S. we will ensure that African descendants in this country understand the common historical and political ties that bound our peoples together. For us there is no question that African descendant’s in the U.S. must be part of the defense of the Bolivarian Revolution in Venezuela, as U.S. imperialism assumes its historical role as a central force supporting and or initiating counter-revolution in Venezuela.

The BLUN commits to educate the Black working-class and to call on the activists and organizations in our network, to mobilize in defense of the Venezuelan Revolution as it is connected to the struggles of All African descendants against the impacts of the colonial, neo-colonial and imperialist past and present, and to further shaping the direction for a revolutionary social transformation throughout the Americas.

Victory to the ongoing Bolivarian Revolution!

To reach the Black Left Unity Network Continuations Committee, contact Ajamu Baraka at ajamubaraka2@gmail.com.

Six term congresswoman, ‘08 Green Party presidential candidate and international peace activist Cynthia McKinney has been that rare voice in the halls of the U.S. Congress and wherever the people need her who is willing to risk her life to represent for Black people, fearlessly investigating such hot issues as Katrina, Haiti, the Congo, the opening of the FBI files on Tupac’s assassination, the invasion of Libya and more. Currently pursuing a doctoral degree, she is writing her dissertation on the life of the late President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and attended his recent funeral in Caracas.

Hear Cynthia McKinney in person during her April 21-25 California speaking tour, which begins in San Diego and Los Angeles and concludes in the Bay Area.* On Wednesday, April 24, she’ll speak on the campus of Laney College in the Forum, 900 Fallon St., Oakland, at 6:30 p.m., and on Thursday, April 25, at the Arlene Francis Center, 99 Sixth St., Santa Rosa, at 7 p.m. The tour is a fundraiser for the SF Bay View newspaper and Block Report Radio.

Come meet this great leader of our time, a woman as warm as she is courageous, and exchange a word with her as she signs your copy of her new books, the autobiographical “Ain’t Nothing Like Freedom,” just released in time for this tour, and “The Illegal War on Libya,” released last fall. Hear Cynthia McKinney in her own words in this interview for Block Report Radio.

MOI JR: Our next guest is six time congresswoman and 2008 Green Party candidate and international peace activist, the one and only Honorable Cynthia McKinney. How are you?

CM: I’m doing great, JR. How are you doing?

MOI JR: I’m good. I know we are only days away from your upcoming California tour, where you’ll be helping the San Francisco Bay View newspaper to raise money for its very much needed services to the community. But you will also be profiling your new book, “Ain’t Nothing Like Freedom.” Can you tell the people a little bit about what’s going on at this tour that will stop on April 24 at Laney College and will also go to the Arlene Francis Center in Santa Rosa on April 25. Can you tell the people a little about what you’ll be talking about?

CM: Well, of course. I’ll be talking about the contents of both of the books, the Libya book, which came out while the bombing was still going on in Libya. I took a group of journalists there so that we could tell the truth about what was happening on the ground rather than what the propagandizing media were saying to the world about what was being done in Libya.

People who seek the truth know they will hear it from Cynthia McKinney. This audience packed historic Riverside Church in New York City on Sept. 30, 2011, to hear her speak about her personal observations on Libya as a witness to the NATO invasion.

So I guess you could say that “Ain’t Nothing Like Freedom” is a recounting of my experiences inside Congress and things I think could make the Congress more responsive to the issues of the people – and how I felt just as a human being, as a person going through a smear campaign, multiple redistricting, the things that people said about me, the “soft repression,” I call it now: the stigmatizing, the ridiculing and ultimately now the silencing that I’m experiencing because I dare to speak out. And that’s interesting phraseology in and of itself: You speak out and so you get silenced, you know.

And I’ll be talking not only about my experiences but how I felt, because at the end of the day I have feelings just like everybody else. And so even though maybe I am a public person, I’m not supposed to have feelings? But my mother and my father’s hearts were broken by the treatment that I received. My mom still shudders at the idea of me going out in public and having to be viewed through the prism of the local news, because she knows they have a special interest and they are just not going to get it right; and I’ll end up looking like a caricature of myself.

I would like people to come out so they can experience me as a person – not as a product, not as a politician, not as a public persona – but me as an average American person just trying to make a difference.

“Ain’t Nothing Like Freedom” is a recounting of my experiences inside Congress and how I felt just as a human being, as a person going through a smear campaign, multiple redistricting, the things that people said about me, the “soft repression,” I call it now: the stigmatizing, the ridiculing and ultimately now the silencing that I’m experiencing because I dare to speak out.

MOI JR: No doubt about that, and we support you. Can you tell the people a little about the content of your NATO book, or your book that deals with Libya?

CM: Well, we were fortunate enough to have people who contributed to the book who were there in Libya as the bombing took place, so we have that perspective. We also had the perspective of people who either lived in Libya or visited Libya prior to the bombing, and they gave that perspective. And then we had people who had an interest in Libya, had never been there but recognized the importance of this move by NATO, representing the White world supported by segments of people of color, so they had a particular view to present as well, and that was all there.

Cynthia McKinney’s latest book, “Ain’t Nothing Like Freedom,” is literally hot off the press. Here is Amazon’s description: “Elected six times to the House from the state of Georgia, Cynthia McKinney cut a trail through congressional deceit like a hot ember through ash. She discovered legislators who passed laws without reading them. Party leaders who colluded across party lines against their constituents’ interests. Black-skinned individuals shilling for the white status quo. She excoriated government lassitude over Hurricane Katrina, uncovering dark secrets. She held the only critical congressional briefing on 9/11, introducing counter-testimony of scholars, investigators, former intelligence agents. As a member of the House Armed Services Committee, she held (Defense Secretary) Rumsfeld to account for malfeasance by military contractors and missing billions in the Pentagon’s budget. Then she hammered him on the reasons for the failure of NORAD air defenses on 9/11. She read truth into the Congressional Record, held town halls and hearings, led protests, showed up while others played along to get along, took the side of the people against the will of the party. And when she got too truth seeking and speaking, the Republicans rigged the Democratic primaries to boot her out, leaving behind a trail of achievements mostly won singlehandedly. But McKinney rose again like a Phoenix, answering the call to run as 2008 Green Party candidate for President, challenging the corrupt two-party stranglehold on American democracy. Then it was on to the Freedom Flotilla to Gaza, to be seized on the high seas and imprisoned in Israel. On to Tripoli, to serve as witness to the NATO terror bombing of Libya. On to Malaysia to serve on the War Crimes Commission ... Often introduced as the Sojourner Truth, the Harriet Tubman of our age, McKinney reflects here on the Biblical figures of Esther, Deborah and Naomi. This is the Cynthia McKinney saga as it stands to date – what she saw, what she learned and how she fought for change.” Adds Nobel Laureate Mairead Maguire, “Cynthia McKinney’s passion to bring about social and political change through peace and politics is very inspirational to all who have the honor, like myself, of knowing her or will come to know her by reading something of her life in this challenging book.”

The numbers are staggering when you think about 100 million people being stripped out of a continent. It’s staggering to think about, to see this kind of destruction. So when Africans say, OK, you’ve made my home an intolerable place to live so I’m going to go to your home and live. Then that’s when you can see the apartheid inside the European countries. Through my travels, I have come to view this global apartheid.

And then what is the function of NATO? NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, was created as an outgrowth of World War II, which saw as its purview the preservation of “democracy” as opposed to communism or socialism in the Western European countries. While I was in Congress, I was one of the persons who voiced my opposition to the extension of NATO into areas in Eastern Europe.

Actually, NATO is an anachronism now. It was created to thwart the drive of the Soviet Union into Western Europe, and now we see NATO all over the world. It’s in Afghanistan, it was in Libya; it’s gone from Western Europe to Africa and Asia. And why is that?

What are the policies that are being protected by this military onslaught against people of color? Clearly the interests that are being protected are not the interests of the people in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Libya and other interests. We have to look at this, and I kind of just stumbled on this as a result of my travels and the glaring inequalities – glaring apartheid-like status of people of color in European countries – and then the sort of obverse of that in the countries that are populated by people of color. So I’m just putting voice to that now.

MOI JR: You recently traveled to Caracas, Venezuela, and attended the funeral of the late great freedom fighter and president of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez. Can you tell the people a little about that experience as well as the counter-revolution that the United States has been trying to implement? You know, what’s going on on the ground in Caracas and in Venezuela?

CM: Well, first of all I have to state that I have always had a sense of solidarity with the peoples of Latin America, but that sense of solidarity was never really fully expressed. I have to say a word of thanks to my professor – I’m doing work on my Ph.D. and I am making great progress and great strides, and at the proper time I intend to invite everybody to come to my graduation – but it was one of my professors who suggested that I spread my wings and expand my territory beyond that which I knew. I do not speak Spanish; I do speak French, and so as a result of the similarities of the romance languages I am able to understand a bit of Spanish although I can’t speak it.

So I decided to get into some research on the U.S. policies, for example, with the Puerto Rican independence movement and the counter-intelligence program that operated against the Puerto Rican independentistas. From there my interest and my solidarity has grown such that I am now doing papers on Venezuela and Hugo Chavez.

Venezuela is in the midst of having elections after having lost its charismatic and transformative leader, so there is a lot of public sentiment that Nicolas Maduro will win the election. Now there’s some – I think a replay of what happened in Iran is under consideration – because of course the efforts of the United States government, which is against the values and the policies of the Bolivarian Revolution, are to thwart the victory of Nicholas Maduro and to taint the election process.

Cynthia McKinney and another guest at the funeral stand before an enlarged photo of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez hanging at the place of his burial.

MOI JR: Right. How do you feel about what was going on in the streets? Did you see the people calling Hugo Chavez a dictator like you do on mainstream news in the United States, or did you see the people supporting the Bolivarian Revolution as I saw in a lot of the alternative press that was also covering his passing?

CM: Well, there were millions of people in the streets; in fact, there were so many people who were at the military academy where he lay in state that I couldn’t even get close. The second time I went – I just came back maybe a week and a half to two weeks ago – I was there with an international delegation and they had to close the place off. We originally were scheduled to go in the morning, and we couldn’t go because there was still a crush of people there.

I saw people wailing in the streets. People were crying, people were angry, people were defiant, people were accusatory. I saw a full range of emotions there. And the interesting thing is I really have to question a person who puts the values and interests of another country ahead of their own country. We see that happening here in the United States as well. Those of us who hold fast say that there ought to be primacy of the rule of law and the protection of the Bill of Rights ought to be extended to every U.S. citizen. Yet we have people who stake their loyalty out for other countries and then follow what’s determined to be the interests of the other countries.

That is what the case is in Venezuela: You have a very small population of people who look to the United States for leadership and guidance. If this means that their fellow Venezuelan citizen has to suffer, then so be it, because they tie their identity so closely to that of the United States that they forget about the interests of their fellow Venezuelans, and I find that peculiar and sad.

MOI JR: For those who are just tuning in, you are listening to the voice of international peace activist Cynthia McKinney right here on the Block Report. Ms. Cynthia McKinney, can you compare Hugo Chavez – Venezuela under Hugo Chavez – to Qaddafi’s Libya? What exactly were the two leaders about and what were their countries about under their leadership, as well as what is the similarity in how they were attacked and removed? Some say that Hugo Chavez was assassinated; we know that Qaddafi definitely was assassinated. Can you talk a little bit about the attacks on them and their countries by the United States as well as the similarity of their accomplishments?

Cynthia McKinney reports from Libya.

Another president comes to mind in that region who was very close to Hugo Chavez and that’s President Aristide. After the Haitians defeated the French empire and declared a republic in 1804, Haiti was forced to pay reparations for their freedom to France. And President Aristide said it’s time for us to get our money back. We need to get our money back. France needs to pay us reparations.

And so Aristide began to turn the Haitian state around to invest in the Haitian people. When I was there, there was an effort to address the abysmal statistics on adult literacy, on sanitation – just the things we take for granted. I was there not too long ago where people were celebrating the fact that they had their first road coming into the town. For these kinds of investments, the administration in Haiti was derided. It accepted thousands of doctors from Cuba and petrodollars from Venezuela to build those roads and to uplift the people.

We saw what happened with President Aristide: He was kidnapped and kicked out. And the same thing happened to Hugo Chavez. Now what is it that he was doing? He was investing in the Venezuelan people for literacy. In fact, it’s so amazing: I just got back, as I said, and the people brag about reading. Can you imagine people bragging in the United States about reading? It doesn’t happen.

People brag in Venezuela about reading. They love their Constitution, they vote the Constitution, and so they love their Constitution. And they read and they read and they read because Hugo Chavez told them to read – to become a reading society. There are tens of thousands of Cuban doctors there. The petrodollars are being used to build schools and provide health care. Every neighborhood has a community garden where they have organic food. So their quality of life was being raised for the average Venezuelan in the Bolivarian Revolution.

Cynthia McKinney’s “The Illegal War on Libya” as described by Amazon: “In 2011, former congresswoman and 2008 Green Party candidate for president, Cynthia McKinney, took a delegation of observers to Libya to monitor NATO’s purported humanitarian intervention. Prefaced by Ramsey Clark, this collection of essays includes scholarly and legal analysis, as well as personal accounts by witnesses to the NATO assault on a helpless civilian population it had a U.N. mandate to protect and the massive propaganda campaign that made it possible. It responds to the many questions left unanswered by a complicit mainstream media, such as: Why Libya, not Bahrain, Yemen or Egypt? What was life in Libya like under Qaddafi? What is the truth about the so-called ‘Black mercenaries’? What was the role of Western NGOs and the International Criminal Court? What about Africom’s plans for Africa? What did it have to do with Liby’a independent central bank, its oil, its plans for an African currency, its efforts to free African states from the coils of the Bretton Woods Institutions (the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, or IMF)? Cynthia McKinney and other contributors to this volume were in Libya during the period of the NATO bombardment of Libyan cities and were among the few independent voices to report on the tragedy.”

The quality of life was measurably better for the average Venezuelan, the average Haitian, the average Libyan. The statistics from the United Nations indicate that Libya had the highest standard of living on the entire African continent. Not any longer. The subsidized education, subsidized housing, actually free education, free health care, subsidized food, free farming utensils if you wanted to start a farm.

Every so often there was a debt jubilee: People would charge up their credit cards buying Western things, and so there was a jubilee on that and people would be relieved of that debt. When was the last time that happened here?

You know, what we are experiencing, particularly in Latin America now, is a different vision for a different way of living and a different way of being, a different way of being human, and it’s about our humanity to each other, it’s how we treat each other, how we live with Mother Earth, how we live with each other. I met a U.S. citizen when I was there this last time in Venezuela, and she chose to leave the U.S. – a Black woman chose to leave the U.S. – and live in Venezuela. She’s been there for seven years now.

She said to me something that I still to this day reflect on and find very interesting. She said to me, “Cynthia technically I’m poor, but I have health care, I’m a teacher – I teach English and so I provide education for people – I have all the food that I need to eat, and so I question how they could call me poor.” And she went on to say that she found the materialism and the focus on consumption in the United States appalling and it just reached the point that she had to leave, so she left.

She said that there were seven other U.S. people who left with her. They were all men, and they all eventually returned to the United States. She said she recently reached out to all of them; to a person, every one of them is sorry that they returned to the U.S., because now they understand that quality of life doesn’t mean how many cars you have parked in your driveway and how big a driveway you have and how many houses you accumulate and what the square footage of your house is. That’s not an indication of your quality of life.

I think back to the King of Bhutan (a kingdom in the Eastern Himalayas), who said that the indicators for success for Bhutan were now going to be an indication of happiness: gross national happiness instead of gross national product. It’s all in the way we look at how we are supposed to relate to each other and to relate to earth. Mother Earth is not a commodity. Mother Earth is what sustains and gives us life.

MOI JR: For those of you just tuning in, you are listening to the voice of the international peace activist Cynthia McKinney, who is on her way to the Bay Area. Wednesday, April 24, she will be speaking at the Laney College Forum at 6 p.m. And the next night, Thursday, April 25, she will be speaking at the Arlene Francis Center in Santa Rosa at 7 p.m. Ms. Cynthia McKinney, how can people stay in touch with you if they would like to hear more about what you’re talking about and they’re not able to make it to the tour?

CM: Well, I hope everyone will come to the tour. At least come see me, give me a hug, give me a high five, because it’s hard really to go on. There’s a friend of mine who says people don’t understand how hard it is to be Cynthia McKinney, so I’m going to unveil myself. I’m just going to be a regular ordinary person and I’d like to experience regular ordinary folks who want to talk about real things.

Cynthia McKinney accepts a bouquet of flowers from a supporter during her 2008 campaign for president. Come meet her at Laney College in Oakland April 24 or in Santa Rosa April 25. – Photo: © Danny B!

MOI JR: As well as they can buy the two new books.

CM: Oh yes, of course; they can buy the books. Clarity Press makes them available on line, or you can send someone to buy them in person and I’ll sign them. (Editor’s note: Both books will be available at every event on the tour. Cynthia will sign them for you on the spot.)

MOI JR: Well, we can’t wait to have you here on the West Coast, and we will talk to you soon.

CM: OK, I can’t wait to get there, JR.

*Tour dates

• Sunday, April 21: The World Beat Center, 2100 Park Blvd, San Diego, 6 p.m.
• Monday, April 22: Chuco’s Youth Justice Coalition, 1137 E. Redondo Blvd, Inglewood, 6:30 p.m.
• Tuesday, April 23: The Kaos Network, 4343 Leimert Blvd, Los Angeles, 6:30 p.m.
• Wednesday, April 24: The Laney College Forum, 900 Fallon St., Oakland, 6:30 p.m.
• Thursday, April 25: Arlene Francis Center, 99 Sixth St., Santa Rosa, 6:30 p.m.

The People’s Minister of Information JR is associate editor of the Bay View, author of “Block Reportin’” and filmmaker of “Operation Small Axe” and “Block Reportin’ 101,” available, along with many more interviews, atwww.blockreportradio.com. He also hosts two weekly shows on KPFA 94.1 FM and kpfa.org: The Morning Mix every Wednesday, 8-9 a.m., and The Block Report every other Friday night-Saturday morning, midnight-2 a.m. He can be reached at blockreportradio@gmail.com.

Chavez mural in Quito, Equador – Photo: Jonathan Nack

The Bolivarian Revolution is just that important.

A surprise upset by the candidate of the Venezuelan right would be a stunning blow to the left which would reverberate throughout Latin America. Conversely, and far more likely, a victory by the man who represents the political legacy of President Hugo Chavez will continue to drive the momentum of the Latin American left.

Presidents Fernando Lugo of Paraguay, Evo Morales of Bolívia, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brasil, Rafael Correa of Ecuador and Hugo Chávez of Venezuela celebrate unity in 2008.

Why is Venezuela so important? Why does it lead the way?

There’s no getting around it: An awful lot of it is because of the tremendous oil wealth Venezuela has.

Oil is one commodity that the developed world cannot do without, that capitalists will pay dearly for; and the huge revenues the Venezuelan government derives from it form a large part of the funding for the projects and social benefits of the Bolivarian Revolution.

The oil wealth is the beginning of the story, but far from the end. The late President Chavez declared many times that the Bolivarian Revolution aspires to regional liberation, to unite Latin America and the Caribbean against the powers of corporate capitalism and the U.S. empire. To give birth to something new Chavez called “Socialism for the 21st Century,” not just for Venezuela, not just in the Americas, but for the world.

The words of President Chavez were matched by deeds. Many countries, first and foremost Cuba, received generous long-term deals for the purchase of Venezuelan oil on very favorable terms, even including some barter agreements.

Nicolas Maduro

Venezuela also launched, with the assistance of ALBA nations and also Brazil, an international Spanish language news network called TeleSUR. Based in Caracas, TeleSUR provides 24-hour international news coverage – an antidote to CNN en Espanol, and the many corporate capitalist owned Spanish language networks.

In 2007, Venezuela was instrumental in the creation of UNASUR, the Union of South American Nations. In 2011, CELAC, the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, was officially founded in Caracas.

All this is at stake in tomorrow’s election. All this, because of the premature death of President Hugo Chavez, who had just won a resounding re-election last October, defeating the very same Capriles who is the opposition candidate in tomorrow’s election.

On March 28, a child studies a mural in Caracas depicting the impact of President Hugo Chavez on Latin America. Chavez died March 5. – Photo: Juan Barreto, AFP

Nicholas Maduro, the acting president, who was vice president under President Chavez, and the man Chavez selected as his choice to succeed him, is running a strong campaign. Militants have rejuvenated the rank and file of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) and other revolutionary groups in support of continuing the Bolivarian Revolution.

Maduro is no Hugo Chavez, as the right-wing opposition candidate Enrique Capriles is fond of pointing out. True, Maduro doesn’t have Chavez’s charisma and, in fact, his personality is really quite different and reserved by comparison, but he does bring a lot to the table.

Maduro was a longtime and trusted member of Chavez’s inner circle. Before becoming vice president, Maduro spent years as foreign minister. In that position, Maduro made contacts with all kinds of international leaders and became an accomplished diplomat and statesman.

Nicholas Maduro is a second generation socialist. As a young man he tried his hand in music, singing protest songs. He turned to bus driving to make a living. Maduro eventually rose to become president of the bus drivers’ union. Then he joined Chavez’ political project.

While President Chavez was from the military, was provocative, passionate, entertaining and inspiring, Maduro is a civilian, a labor leader, a diplomat and a statesman, who speaks in serious tones.

Venezuela’s acting president and leading presidential candidate Nicolas Maduro salutes the crowd at his closing campaign rally in Caracas on April 11, ahead of Sunday’s presidential election. – Photo: Luis Acosta, AFP

The right has put its money behind Enrique Capriles in the hopes of defeating Maduro. Because socialist ideas are so popular in Venezuela, the Venezuelan oligarchy and its backers can’t openly campaign for their real corporate capitalist neo-liberal agenda.
Instead, the Venezuelan right hides behind candidates who claim to be moderate socialists. Such is the case with Capriles, who claims that he’ll continue programs for the poor while governing in a more moderate socialist style he claims will resemble that of former President Lula of Brazil.

Unfortunately for Capriles’ campaign rhetoric, President Lula is still alive and has been actively campaigning in Venezuela for Maduro. Lula recorded a TV spot for Maduro in which he derided Capriles’ phony claims, proclaimed his strong friendship and solidarity with President Chavez and said, “Chavez’s great work was the transformation of Venezuela into a more just country … and I’m sure that Maduro as president will be capable of fulfilling the goals of Chavez.”

Underscoring the importance allied countries attach to tomorrow’s election, Presidents Rafael Correa, Evo Morales and Christina Kirchner have all visited Venezuela to express strong support for Maduro.

Nicholas Maduro is a man who chooses his words carefully. He has made clear that he understands that his challenge will be to live up to the legacy of President Hugo Chavez. Tomorrow, Venezuelan voters will almost certainly give him the opportunity.

Oakland-based activist and journalist Jonathan Nack, who has visited Venezuela twice and recently returned from Ecuador, can be reached at jnack@igc.org.

by Abayomi Azikiwe

The day after President Chavez died, the streets of Caracas were nearly deserted as the population gathered to mourn and comfort each other outside Military Hospital. – Photo: AFP

Chavez championed socialism, national liberation and international solidarity. He reaffirmed the indigenous and African roots of Venezuelan and Latin American culture and society.

This recognition of the African and indigenous heritage of the people of South America opened new avenues for solidarity with the Caribbean, the African continent and the African American people of the U.S. After the consolidation of the revolution in Venezuela, the people of Bolivia elected Evo Morales, the first openly and proud indigenous leader within South America since the advent of independence in the 19th century.

The identification and recognition of the non-European character of South American societies is a key element in the cultural revolutions that must permeate all genuine movements for independence and sovereignty. It will be essential in developing alliances with Africa and the African Diaspora as well as other indigenous communities throughout the Western Hemisphere.

On learning of Hugo Chavez’ death, Bolivian President Evo Morales told his people at a March 5 news conference he felt “destroyed” at the news. “It hurts, but we must stand united in this process of liberation, not only of Venezuela but of the whole region.” – Photo: Juan Karita, AP

The Second Africa-South American Summit was held in Venezuela on Margarita Island on the Caribbean from Sept. 26-27, 2009. At this gathering there were heads of state representing 61 countries, 49 of them from the African continent, and an additional 12 leaders came from South America.

This summit on Margarita Island was held under the banner of “Closing gaps, opening up opportunities.” The summit on Margarita Island came in the aftermath of the United Nations General Assembly in New York and the G20 Summit in Pittsburgh.

President Chavez delivered the opening speech of the summit where he stated: “This is the beginning of the salvation of our people. The 21st century won’t be a bipolar world; it won’t be unipolar. It will be multipolar.”

Chavez continued, noting, “Africa will be an important geographic, economic and social pole. And South America will be too.”

President Chavez delivered the opening speech of the summit where he stated: “This is the beginning of the salvation of our people. The 21st century won’t be a bipolar world; it won’t be unipolar. It will be multipolar.”

The then Libyan leader and chairman of the African Union, Col. Muammar Qaddafi, addressed the summit on the necessity of developing greater unity among developing regions of the world. Qaddafi had just spoken before the United Nations General Assembly as the African Union chairman who demanded that Africa, Latin America and other regions of the world be given permanent seats on the Security Council.

Qaddafi said before the General Assembly: “The world isn’t the five countries on the Security Council. The world’s powers want to continue to hold on to their power. When they had a chance to help us, they treated us like animals, destroying our land. Now we have to fight to build our own power.”

Qaddafi said before the General Assembly: “The world isn’t the five countries on the Security Council. The world’s powers want to continue to hold on to their power. When they had a chance to help us, they treated us like animals, destroying our land. Now we have to fight to build our own power.”

At the Africa-South America Summit on Sept. 26, 2009, Muammar Qaddafi and Hugo Chavez, two leaders who used their countries’ oil wealth to eliminate poverty, waved to supporters. – Photo: AP

Venezuela and solidarity with the nationally oppressed in the U.S.

The Venezuelan Revolution also sparked hope and greater identification with Latin America among the oppressed nations inside the U.S. In March 2006, a Venezuelan Solidarity Conference was held at George Washington University in Washington, D.C.

This conference was attended by over 400 people from throughout the country and Canada. The conference was co-sponsored by numerous organizations including the Alliance for Global Justice, All-African People’s Revolutionary Party, Artist Network of the Americas, Antonio Maceo Brigade, Campaign for Labor Rights, National Lawyers Guild, No War on Cuba Movement, Ocean Press, People’s Hurricane Relief Fund, Rochester Committee on Latin America, International Action Center, Iranian Cultural Association Inc., Latin American Solidarity Coalition, Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, Hands Off Venezuela, Global Exchange, Global Women’s Strike, National Immigrant Solidarity Network and many others.

The gathering brought out that the National Black Legislative Conference had adopted a draft bill which called for the U.S. government to respect the independence of Venezuela. This bill had been presented to the Michigan Legislature by Lamar Lemmons III; but, due to the political composition of the body, it did not pass.

“I give you a replica of liberator Simon Bolivar’s sword. For you who, like Bolivar, took up arms to liberate your people. For you who, like Bolivar, are and will always be a true freedom fighter,” said Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe in 2004. He added, “[Mugabe] continues, alongside his people, to confront the pretensions of new imperialists.”

House Resolution No. 145 also stated: “Whereas, all democratic countries must abjure any state-sponsored activities to destabilize Venezuela’s economy and/or national sovereignty. Further, all public and private American-based entities are conjoined for the sake of international social order and domestic tranquility to vigorously oppose the unconscionable low-intensity war that is being waged against the people and national sovereignty of Venezuela since the inception of the Chavez Frias administration.”

The keynote speaker for the second day of the conference was Antonio Gonzalez, who was director of the Southwest Voter Registration and Education Project. He stated: “We followed the examples of African Americans and were inspired by Malcolm X and Martin Luther King. African Americans are always first in all things good in the struggle for social change. Our movement is not going to get smaller but better.”

Hugo Chavez was wildly popular with the poor in his own country and far beyond. Here he speaks at a rally in 2007.

There were over 30 workshops at the conference. One took up the question of Venezuela and the African Diaspora and featured Bob Brown of the All-African People’s Revolutionary Party, Nellie Hester Bailey of the Harlem Tenants Council and Dr. Alberto Jones of the Caribbean Children’s Foundation. A group called the People of African Descent in Solidarity With Venezuela (PADSV) was formed.

In addition, a workshop entitled “Indigenous Rights in Venezuela and the Native American Connection” was also held. This workshop involved Native activists from the U.S. and Canada.

The Venezuelan government over the years through its state-owned oil company CITGO provided home heating oil for poor and oppressed communities throughout the U.S. Diplomats from the Venezuelan embassy and consulates have visited numerous cities to speak before community organizations.

In the aftermath of the passing of President Chavez, the Black Left Unity Network set up a blog page that published statements of tribute, sympathy and solidarity with the people of Venezuela. Statements have come in from various organizations throughout the country.

Hugo Chavez honors Jesse Jackson with a sash at a ceremony at Miraflores Palace on Aug. 29, 2005. Rev. Jackson spoke at Chavez’ funeral. – Photo: AP

Under President Chavez, the Venezuelan government passed laws banning racial discrimination and including the designation of African heritage in the national census. In 2005, during the aftermath of the devastating impact of the Katrina hurricane, the Venezuelan government offered to send energy and other assistance to the Gulf where millions of Africans and other people were suffering due to the incompetence and racist neglect of the Bush administration.

Although the Bush administration rejected such assistance along with similar offers from the Republic of Cuba, the gesture was well received and served to expose the racist character of the U.S. government in the 21st century. Hundreds of thousands of Africans were removed from the Gulf region and most have not been able to return, representing one of the worst cases of ethnic cleansing and genocide in modern history.

In 2005, during the aftermath of the devastating impact of the Katrina hurricane, the Venezuelan government offered to send energy and other assistance to the Gulf where millions of Africans and other people were suffering due to the incompetence and racist neglect of the Bush administration.

Janvieve Williams Comrie, executive director of the Latin America and Caribbean Community Center based in New York City, wrote on the Black Left Unity website: “Under his 14-year leadership, Chavez was able to guide unprecedented government initiatives that led to programs and policies that resulted in significant progress toward combating the historical legacy of racism and discrimination that historically plagued the country. Chavez also provided similar parallel support to other nations with predominantly Afro-descendant populations, where their governments were not willing to make it a priority. President Chavez was able to institute many reforms to ensure African descendants in Venezuela could have full and equal access to social, economic and cultural rights.”

David Comissiong – Photo: FP

Mumia Abu-Jamal, longtime political prisoner and former member of the Black Panther Party, issued a commentary in honor of President Chavez. At the funeral in Caracas, the Rev. Jesse Jackson of the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition was present and offered a tribute to President Chavez.

These acts of solidarity over the years have contributed immensely to the anti-imperialist struggle in both the U.S. and Latin America.

Abayomi Azikiwe, editor of Pan-African News Wire, where this story first appeared, can be reached at panafnewswire@gmail.com. Pan-African News Wire, the world’s only international daily pan-African news source, is designed to foster intelligent discussion on the affairs of African people throughout the continent and the world.

Belize has had a land dispute with Guatemala over where the Belize border is. Guatemala has traditionally claimed Belize as part of Guatemala. Now it is proposed that the matter be settled at the International Court of Justice. Guatemala and Belize are holding referendums in both countries in October to decide whether or not the matter should go to the ICJ.

Wil Maheia and the Belize Territorial Volunteers

“Those areas are covered in thick jungles. We can’t go cut that with machetes; that’s thick jungle,” said Elrington on Channel 7 News. “I do appreciate that some people believe – genuinely believe – that it is an act of nationalism. I could understand people being nationalistic, but I think it’s a dangerous way of showing their nationalism – dangerous for yourself, for the nation – and to that extent we advise against it.”

Nevertheless, this group of concerned Belizeans, who live mostly on the south along the border, went to the border and did do some clearing. They are concerned about incursions into Belize; Guatemalans come across the border into Belize and cut timber and plants, pan for gold and conduct other illegal activities. So making a clear line is not such an absurd idea. Their campaign is called “Clear Our Borderline.”

Hugs exchanged on Belize-Guatamala border

On March 2, the Belize Territorial Volunteers (BTV), spearheaded by Wil Maheia of PG TV and the People’s National Party (PNP) – a legendary Belizean social activist – met at Belize’s border with Guatemala to carry out a cleanup campaign to clear vegetation on Belize’s side of the border. The group, consisting of 150 volunteers, began the work at Container Hill from sunrise to late afternoon.

Their campaign is called “Clear Our Borderline.”

The contingent had representation from various social groups, including Citizens Organized for Liberty through Action (COLA), the University of Belize, the Belize Coalition for Justice, BelizeCan, a non-partisan, non-governmental organization established as a “watchdog group” to strengthen the Democratic principles and social justice in the nation of Belize, Belize Grassroots Youth Empowerment Association, various media representatives, along with Belizean men, women and children.

Wilfred Elrington

“As we walked along the road, we met up with Guatemalans who had with them the presence of a representative from the Organization of American States (OAS), who confirmed, after verifying his GPS coordinates, that the Guatemalans were indeed on Belizean soil.”

After a conversation with the Guatemalan neighbors, Maheia stated, “Rather than being arrested at the border as Foreign Minister Wilfred Elrington had indicated, there were hugs instead.”

The Belize Territorial Volunteers plan to continue clearing Belize’s side of the border. Cayo and Orange Walk volunteers are now set to plan their individual campaigns and clear border lines along their districts. “We just want to clean up our country. To clean the overgrown vegetation on our side of the border,” stated Maheia.

After a conversation with the Guatemalan neighbors, Maheia stated, “Rather than being arrested at the border as Foreign Minister Wilfred Elrington had indicated, there were hugs instead.”

“This is not the first time such an initiative is being carried out. The same exercise has been conducted many times peacefully before without incident or conflict. We simply now will carry out the job that has been neglected for so long.”

Former San Franciscans George and Candy Gonzalez live in Belize, where they are leaders in movements for human rights and environmental justice and many of the other worthy causes they championed in the U.S. They can be reached at geocanbz@gmail.com. The Bay View salutes and thanks them for their long and very strong support over the years. To contact Wil Maheia and the Belize Territorial Volunteers, email pgwil@pnpbelize.org.

by Selma James and Nina López

The funeral of President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela took place on International Women’s Day – a fitting day of departure for “the president of the poor” who was loved by millions, especially by women, the poorest.

Women reach out lovingly to touch their president, Hugo Chavez, in 2009. – Photo: Prensa PSUV, EPA

Chávez soon learned that the revolution he led depended on women, and said so: “Only women have the passion and the love to make the revolution.” He acknowledged that the “missions” – the new social services which were at the heart of his popularity and which the state funded but did not run – were mainly created and run by grassroots neighborhood women.

In 2006, when announcing the partial implementation of Article 88 of the new constitution recognizing caring work as productive – a breakthrough worldwide – Chávez said: “[Women] work so hard raising their children, ironing, washing, preparing food … giving [their children] an orientation … This was never recognized as work yet it is such hard work! … Now the revolution puts you first. You too are workers, you housewives, workers in the home.”

Chávez was not the first movement leader who went on to head the government, to have understood women’s centrality to creating the new society they were striving to build.

Half a century ago, Julius Nyerere, leader of Tanzania’s independence struggle and its first president, aimed his program for development at the elimination of two ills: women’s inequality and poverty. He said: “Women who live in villages work harder than anyone in Tanzania,” working “in the fields and in the homes.”

“The truth is that in the villages the women work very hard. At times they work for 12 or 14 hours a day. They even work on Sundays and public holidays.” Whereas the village men “are on leave half their lives.”

Hugo Chávez stops to speak with a young mother.

Encouraged by Nyerere, in one region, 17 ujamaa villages created a communal society based on equity among women and men, children and adults – all contributed what they could and all shared equally in the wealth produced. Their extraordinary society was destroyed by Nyerere’s power-hungry colleagues against his will, but it showed us what is possible.

Closer to Venezuela, women gained recognition under Jean-Bertrand Aristide, Haiti’s first democratically elected president (1990 and 2000). Determined to tackle extreme poverty and injustice, Aristide created a Ministry of Women’s Affairs, appointed women to ministerial posts, supported girl domestic workers, and survivors of military rape. As in Venezuela, women were the main organizers and beneficiaries of literacy and health programs; the rise in the minimum wage benefited them especially – sweatshop workers are mainly women.

Young people’s love for Aristide is legendary, but women’s devotion has been as constant. Two months after the devastating 2010 earthquake, women collected 20,000 signatures in three days demanding President Aristide’s return from exile – they needed him for reconstruction. A year later he was back, not as president but as educator, reopening the medical school he had founded for poor students, which the coup had closed.

In Bolivia, indigenous women were recognized as central to the mass mobilizations which propelled Evo Morales into the presidency. These included the “water wars,” which drove the multinational Bechtel out of Bolivia. Bechtel had privatised the water and criminalized people who collected rain water.

In 2008 the women were prominent in surrounding Congress for several days while the new constitution was debated; the white parliamentary elite intended to absent themselves to prevent a vote. The blockade forced them to sleep in the building ‘til the vote was taken. That constitution heralded a new level of power for women – from pay equity to recognition for the economic value of caring work.

Emotions ran high in Caracas the day of Chavez’ funeral – from the joy of remembering to the pain of losing him. The rest of the city was nearly deserted. – Photo: Luis Acosta, AFP

The Mothers and Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo, who led the 1983 overthrow of the dictatorship and who had long campaigned for justice for the thousands the dictatorships raped, murdered and disappeared, have long paid tribute to Chávez – a most unusual military man.

They, like women all over South America and beyond, will be watching anxiously to see that the gains of the Bolivarian revolution are not undermined.

Selma James is founder of the International Wages for Housework Campaign, international coordinator of the Global Women’s Strike, a network of grassroots women and author of “The Power of Women and the Subversion of the Community.” She is the widow of C.L.R. James, author of the classic history of the Haitian revolution, “The Black Jacobins.” Nina López, from Argentina, founded Legal Action for Women and is joint co-ordinator of the Global Women’s Strike. This story first appeared in the Guardian of London.

Revolutionaries throughout the Americas and the Caribbean owe a great debt to Hugo Chavez. His selfless struggle for the advancement of the masses of poor and oppressed in Venezuela – and throughout the Americas and the Caribbean – occupied him 24/7. Like so many before him, he was not given a breathing space.

The Empire pursued him unrelentingly, in a constant attempt to undermine and destabilize his program for liberation. The U.S. imperialists and their allies never missed an opportunity to demonize this great freedom fighter, and he lived with constant threats to his own life and to the sovereignty of Venezuela.

The external pressure, combined with the huge undertaking of transforming a nation of almost 30 million people, meant that he was forced to put his personal life and health on the back burner. The terrible truth is that the vast majority of Venezuelans lacked all the basic necessities of life prior to his presidency, and rebuilding this country, which had been destroyed by more than two decades of neo-liberal policies, was an overwhelming task.

For those who are not familiar with Venezuela’s ethnic mix, the country has a large African population. Before the Bolivarian revolution, the two institutionalized political parties, Democratic Action and COPEI, ensured that Africans remained marginalized – second class citizens in every way.

Race is a very powerful dynamic in Venezuela and for that matter throughout the region. There is a racist dimension to the politics of the Castilian elites, who of course vehemently opposed Chavez’ plan to empower the masses and in particular Black Venezuelans.

The Castilian elites vehemently opposed Chavez’ plan to empower the masses and in particular Black Venezuelans. After 14 years of Hugo Chavez’ leadership I can assure you that Africans have come in from the cold.

After 14 years of Hugo Chavez’ leadership I can assure you that Africans have come in from the cold. This is a new Venezuela and an amazing accomplishment in a country with such a rabid bourgeoisie, who were so used to their own position of white privilege that they could not imagine life any other way.

So it was with sheer determination and a lifetime of struggle that this great champion of the oppressed, Comandante Hugo Chavez, led a revolution that provides us with a working example of what he termed “21st century socialism,” where people of all ethnicities have a place under the sun.

Socialism Venezuelan style

Following the collapse of the Eastern Bloc or what was referred to at the time as “actually existing socialism,” the World Mathaba hosted an international gathering in Tripoli – the aim being to examine the implications of this historical moment and the way forward. Revolutionaries from all over the world, including Venezuela, attended this gathering.

At that time, some of those in Europe and throughout the world who had promoted Soviet style communism and described themselves as Marxists-Leninists were disillusioned. They had lost direction and, as a result, some of them abandoned socialism altogether.

However, many saw the collapse as something to be expected, since we had witnessed the limitations of Soviet style communism. We had seen firsthand failed attempts to mechanically replicate Soviet style communism across the Global South. Furthermore, we rejected the idea that “socialism” was primarily a European product and somehow synonymous with European-Soviet expressions of socialism. We understood socialism as a universal principle that pre-dated Marxism and found expression in all cultures.

Hugo Chavez and Muammar Qaddafi are two heads of state who showed the world how oil wealth can be used to eliminate poverty and empower the people. Who will have the courage to follow in their footsteps?

According to Qaddafi, what had collapsed in the Eastern Bloc was not socialism as we understood it but a form of “bureaucratic collectivism.” He went on to say that, outside of the Jamahiriya, he believed that the struggle for and implementation of the “new socialism,” which would truly lead to power, wealth and arms in the hands of the people, would occur in the coming years in South and Central America.

That was in 1990, nine years before Chavez’s electoral victory and the path-blazing journey he embarked on. It was a journey which laid the foundation for a regional movement of socialist oriented and anti-imperialist governments.

Like the socialism of the Jamahiriya, which was inspired by an Islamic theology of liberation, the socialism Chavez spoke of was grounded in the theology of liberation borne out of the extreme poverty and social deprivation in the barrios of South and Central America. Revolutionary theologians such as Gustavo Gutierrez, Juan Segundo and Jose Miranda proclaimed that the message of Jesus Christ was incompatible with neo-liberal capitalism and was in fact revolutionary and socialistic to its core.

In the words of Chavez, “Capitalism is the way of the devil and exploitation. If you really want to look at things through the eyes of Jesus Christ – who I think was the first socialist – only socialism can really create a genuine society.”

This was an idea close to the hearts of the people of Venezuela, but which earned Chavez the wrath of the establishment’s clergy.

Like Qaddafi, Chavez rejected the left/right dichotomy. Both saw it as meaningless and obsolete, since it failed to encapsulate their realities. Chavez himself said he was “neither left nor right” and made it clear that the PSUV, the party of the Bolivarian revolution, was not Marxist-Leninist.

In the words of Chavez, “Capitalism is the way of the devil and exploitation. If you really want to look at things through the eyes of Jesus Christ – who I think was the first socialist – only socialism can really create a genuine society.”

He acknowledged the great contribution made to socialist theory and practice by Marx, Lenin, Trotsky and Mao Tse-tung; however, he knew that if socialism was to be successfully implemented in Venezuela and throughout the Americas and the Caribbean, it had to be a socialism rooted in the experiences and traditions of the peoples of the Americas.

Homegrown

Drawing on the example of Jesus Christ and the legacy of Venezuela’s own revolutionary hero, Simon Bolivar, Chavez’s Bolivarian revolution resonated throughout the region, not least of all because it was homegrown. The indigenous character of all the programs and policies meant that they were implemented with tremendous success.

Venezuela, under Chavez, became a shining example of a viable alternative to the failed neo-liberal model, which has brought nothing but despair and devastation. The communitarian socialism of Evo Morales of Bolivia is in the same tradition – indigenous and homegrown.

In the words of one Venezuelan woman, who was weeping in the street upon hearing the news of Chavez’ death: “Chavez is alive! We are all Chavez.”

Hugo Chavez’s contributions to the region and the entire Global South are far too many to catalogue here. Perhaps one of the most important was his insistence that if socialism was to be built in the 21st century, it must be the people, the masses, organized at the base level in the “communal councils,” actively and consciously shaping their destiny, rather than being dictated to by a so-called revolutionary vanguard.

This was the very cornerstone of the Libyan Jamahiriya. Revolutionary committee members were facilitators, not a vanguard. Like the Libyan Jamahiriya, Chavez’ bottom up revolution gave the world an example of a rare and genuine transfer of power and wealth to the people.

Chavez was a great orator and thinker but, most importantly, a man who walked the talk. Putting the idea of people’s empowerment into practice, in just 14 years he took Venezuela from a neo-colony – a landscape of poverty stricken barrios, quite literally stretching as far as the eye could see – from a nation where the majority of the population lived in disgraceful conditions alongside a tiny minority of parasitical elites who enjoyed all of the benefits of Venezuela’s vast oil wealth to an example of a “people’s revolution.” The real international community salutes you, brother.

If socialism was to be built in the 21st century, it must be the people, the masses, organized at the base level in the “communal councils,” actively and consciously shaping their destiny, rather than being dictated to by a so-called revolutionary vanguard.

In the words of one Venezuelan woman, who was weeping in the street upon hearing the news of Chavez’ death: “Chavez is alive! We are all Chavez.”

The life and times of Hugo Chavez will continue to inspire all those who fight for a world free of racism and imperialism. Like his hero, Bolivar, Chavez will be forever etched into the world’s collective memory because he changed the world. Be assured that the great sacrifice he made has led to the kind of transformation from which, in his words, “there is no turning back.”

Gerald A. Perreira is international secretary of the Black Consciousness Movement Guyana (BCMG). He lived in Libya for many years, served in the Green March, an international battalion for the defense of the Libyan revolution, and was an executive member of the World Mathaba based in Tripoli. He can be reached at mojadi94@gmail.com.

Mérida, Feb. 15, 2013, Venezuelanalysis.com – The Venezuelan government has released the first photographs of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez since his cancer operation last Dec. 11.

All three photos were taken Feb. 14, 2013, of a smiling Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez in his hospital bed in Cuba, tended by his two daughters, Maria Gabriela, left, and Rosa Virginia. The photos are a Valentine for the Venezuelan people. – Photos: Prensa Presidencial

Chavez had not been directly seen or heard from since his operation, communicating through government ministers and official documents.

Private media outlets, particularly Spanish papers ABC and El País, had been increasingly speculating over the state of Chavez’s health, including the publication by El País of a photo purporting to be Chavez undergoing treatment, which turned out to be false.

Official sources have recently shown themselves to be optimistic about Chavez’s recovery, while repeating that the Venezuelan president is undergoing “complex and difficult” treatments, after what was his fourth cancer operation in 18 months.

In an official statement released with the photographs, Communication Minister Ernesto Villegas reported that while Chavez had now moved out of the post-operatory phase, “Chavez currently breaths through a tracheal tube, which temporarily makes it difficult for him to speak.”

Venezuelanalysis.com has translated the full statement below.

Statement

The government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela informs on the evolution of President Hugo Chavez’s health, following the surgical intervention undergone in Havana, Cuba, last Dec. 11.

After two months of a complicated post-operatory process, the patient (Chavez) is conscious, with the integrity of his intellectual functions, in close communication with his governmental team and at the head of the fundamental tasks inherent to his position.

As was opportunely informed, the respiratory infection which emerged in the course of the post-operatory treatment was controlled, although a certain grade of (respiratory) insufficiency persists.

Given this circumstance, that is being duly treated, President Chavez is currently breathing through a tracheal tube, which temporarily makes it difficult for him to speak.

The medical team is applying an energetic treatment for the base illness (cancer), which is not exempt from complications.

The patient is cooperating with the treatment and rehabilitation in close coordination with his medical team.

The government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela thanks the Venezuelan people for the love, serenity, maturity and integrity in which they have accompanied President Chavez in this battle and invites them to continue praying for his health.

This year, when the bicentenary of the Admirable Campaign is celebrated, this example-setting attitude of the Venezuelan people confirms that this is about, in effect, the same admirable people who fought with our Liberator Simon Bolivar for the cause of independence.

The Bolivarian government ratifies, likewise, its gratitude towards Fidel Castro and President Raul Castro, to the medical team and the whole Cuban people for the love and care offered to our president.

We trust, together with the Venezuelan people and the other peoples of the world, that President Chavez will overcome, sooner rather than later, these delicate circumstances, to then accompany his people in the path to new victories in the construction of the good homeland.

Long live Chavez!

Venezuelan Ministry of Communication

Ewan Robertson is a writer, journalist and activist based in Venezuela, who writes for Venezuelanalysis.com, where this story originally appeared. Follow him on his Twitter account.

The Eighth Annual Citgo-Venezuela Heating Oil Program was launched at Night of Peace Family Shelter, Baltimore, by CITGO and Citizens Energy on Jan. 31.

This year, this life-changing gift has a heightened sentiment as it comes at a time when Venezuelans and many in the world pray for the health and prompt recuperation of President Hugo Chávez, who has supported this initiative since its creation eight years ago.

“The CITGO-Venezuela Heating Oil Program has been one of the most important energy assistance efforts in the United States. This year, as families across the Eastern Seaboard struggle to recover from the losses caused by Hurricane Sandy, this donation becomes even more significant,” said Granado. “This energy assistance program is an integral example of the humanitarian principles endorsed by the CITGO ultimate shareholder, Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PDVSA), the national oil company of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.”

Today, it has become a humanitarian symbol of unity between the people of Venezuela and those in need in the United States.

Over the years, the program has helped more than 1.7 million people stay warm during the coldest months of winter by donating more than 200 million gallons of heating oil worth more than $400 million. It is estimated that this year the program will help more than 100,000 families in 25 states plus the District of Columbia, including members of more than 240 Native American communities and more than 200 homeless shelters.

“CITGO invests relatively more than any other major oil company in social responsibility projects. As a matter of fact, our percent of revenue spent in social programs has been five times more than those of other much larger, vertically-integrated competing global brands. It is a core principle of our business to use the strength of our resources to help people in need,” Granado said.

This year the program will help more than 100,000 families in 25 states plus the District of Columbia, including members of more than 240 Native American communities and more than 200 homeless shelters.

Since the program’s creation, CITGO has partnered with Citizens Energy Corp., a non-profit organization created in 1979 by former U.S. Rep. Joseph P. Kennedy II. Citizens Energy Corp., which has used successful ventures in the energy and health care industries to finance charitable programs in the U.S. and abroad, has provided energy assistance to families in need for more than 30 years.

“We are so grateful for this generous donation from the people of Venezuela and CITGO Petroleum Corp. After eight years and more than 200 million gallons of heating oil distributed within the U.S., the burden of another difficult winter threatens the livelihood and safety of senior citizens and low-income families,” Kennedy said. “It is critical that we continue to support American families through this program. Thanks to this partnership, we will help more than 400,000 people stay warm and safe this winter.”

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, of Indigenous and African descent, is truly a man of the people, and people, especially poor people, in Venezuela and all over the world pray for his speedy and complete recovery.

Kennedy emphasized the commitment CITGO has made to American communities. He said that he has approached major U.S. oil companies and oil-producing nations to ask them to assist the poor in bearing the burden of rising energy costs. “They all said no,” he said, “except for CITGO, President Chávez and the people of Venezuela.”

Congressman Elijah Cummings of Maryland, who also spoke during the event, reiterated the importance of helping those in need. “I commend CITGO and Citizens Energy Corp. for launching the Heating Oil Program this year. This program is literally life-saving for so many whose resources are already stretched thin in tough economic times. I stand with the many Baltimore and Washington recipients who thank both CITGO and Citizens for their commitment to helping our communities,” he said.

 Former U.S. Rep. Joseph P. Kennedy II said that he has approached major U.S. oil companies and oil-producing nations to ask them to assist the poor in bearing the burden of rising energy costs. “They all said no,” he said, “except for CITGO, President Chávez and the people of Venezuela.”

Echoing those sentiments, Venezuela’s Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs for North America Claudia Salerno Caldera addressed the plight of poor people and why humanitarian assistance is so vital. “The vision of social responsibility in the energy policy of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela has allowed us to assure that our profits benefit the neediest people in our country. Just as the government of President Hugo Chávez has made significant efforts in the fight against poverty and in the promotion of social justice in Venezuela, this program demonstrates that our commitment to the poor transcends all boundaries, ideological and geographical,” Salerno said.

Families struggling to pay for home heating oil can call Citizens Energy Corp. at 1-877-JOE-4-OIL (1(877) 563-4645), to see if they are eligible for heating oil assistance. Once approved, the household will receive an authorization letter with details for arranging a one-time delivery of 100 free gallons of oil.

Just as the government of President Hugo Chávez has made significant efforts in the fight against poverty and in the promotion of social justice in Venezuela, this program demonstrates that our commitment to the poor transcends all boundaries, ideological and geographical.

For more information about the program, go to http://venezuela-us.org/live/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/01-31-2013-Citgo-Venezuela-Heating-Oil-Program.pdf.

More about CITGO and Citizens Energy

CITGO, based in Houston, is a refiner, transporter and marketer of transportation fuels, lubricants, petrochemicals and other industrial products. The company is owned by PDV America, Inc., an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A., the national oil company of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. For more information, visit www.citgo.com.

Beginning in 1979 with oil-trading ventures in Latin America and Africa, Citizens Energy has used revenues from commercial enterprises to channel millions of dollars into charitable programs in the U.S. and abroad. Whether heating the homes of the elderly and the poor, lowering the cost of prescription drugs for millions of Americans, or starting solar heating projects in Jamaica and Venezuela, Citizens Energy creates social ventures as innovative as the businesses that finance them. For more information, visit www.citizensenergy.com.

This story was sent to the Bay View by the Embassy of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela in the U.S. and first appeared on their website, Venezuela-US.org. 

Words only communicate some of the articulated ideas and thoughts; our entire body is required to engage in dialogue, understanding and to share one’s struggles with another. The “Third Seminar on Reflection and Analysis: Planet Earth … Anti-Systemic Movements” from Dec. 30 through Jan. 2 in Chiapas, Mexico, was a moment that made that dialogue possible.

On Dec. 21, at the turning of the Mayan calendar and what they call the beginning of the Mayan era, 40,000 Mayan followers of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) marched in silence across Mexico’s southern state of Chiapas.

Hosted by CIDECI (Indigenous Center of Integral Learning) and Universidad de la Tierra Chiapas, indigenous movements from all across Latin America shared their ongoing battles against state-imposed violence, repression and displacement as well as how they are creatively constructing their own autonomous community spaces and centers, organizing to collectively address the issues present in each community.

‘We must eliminate the necessity of the current society’

Our society, currently organized around destruction and violence, is largely maintained by a logic of profit and exploitation. Across Mexico, the “War on Drugs” imposed by the highest levels of government has caused “over 100,000 dead, 18,000 reported disappeared, not including those missing but unreported, 50,000 kidnapped, half a million displaced – it is now the most violent conflict in the world,” writes Gustavo Esteva in “Recovering Hope: The Zapatista Example.”

This is the current society that exists – everyday violence, systemically corrupt and broken institutions, legalized environmental destruction. There is a blur between the legal and the illegal processes; impunity persists and is justified through the legal apparatuses.

“Mexico is no longer considered a democratic society; there is persistent fraud, the purchase of votes, and the party system has decomposed. Corruption affects every level of government. Despotism and authoritarianism have destroyed our faith in this regime,” declares Esteva.

Zapatistas marching through San Cristobal, Chiapas, on Dec. 21 were not deterred by pouring rain from their determination to win “democracy, freedom and justice.” Those were the demands listed by Subcomandante Marcos in a communiqué, which began: “Did you hear? It is the sound of their world collapsing.” – Photo: EZLN News

The prison population in the United States has grown tremendously since the 1980s. Currently over 70 percent of those incarcerated are people of color. Additionally, what Angela Davis tracks as the expansion and rise of the “punishment economy” includes the increased privatization of prisons that actively manage the continual “exploitation of prison labor” as free labor for corporate control and profit.

She also takes up the task of reminding us that there are currently “more African American men under correctional control today… than were enslaved in 1850” (Davis, “Are Prisons Obsolete?”, 2003). Incarceration has ever-intensifying effects, as communities are broken and support is inaccessible to families that are struggling to make ends meet.

The incarceration is not just limited to prisons, but immigrant detention centers also play a large role in this web of institutionalized relations. It is also important to situate the high numbers of incarceration in conjunction with the increased numbers of Blacks and Latinos killed by racially motivated vigilantes, police officials and border patrol agents who are also increasingly made invisible and silenced by the media. The intensification of gang injunctions, community-policing apparatuses, increased militarization, and record numbers of deportation rates legitimate a criminalizing discourse against these communities.

‘The only valid and effective way to resist is to create an alternative’

The solution must exist within our form of struggle. We must not separate the means from the ends, says Gustavo Esteva. The resistance currently resonating across Latin America is not just saying “No” to what they do not want, but at the same time constructing what it is they want to see. They say it is no longer enough to be against a system of exploitation and domination, because we have the power to create the alternative.

“Hope is not a conviction that something will happen in a certain way … it is about a hope that converts into action; in movement we can change things. Otherwise, hope may convert into the illusion that something good will happen. The only way to resist is to create an alternative. We have to do something.”

The reverberations throughout the week were about the importance of learning from the Zapatistas and the world they have been constructing for over 20 years. On Dec. 21, over 40,000 Zapatistas marched in silence across Chiapas, displaying collective strength and also that they have not disappeared but have only been listening to the world speak. Our hope must lie in action, but our actions must be towards the construction of a different way of addressing our community issues.

It is no longer enough to be against a system of exploitation and domination, because we have the power to create the alternative.

Gustavo Esteva has further suggestions on how we do it: “We change the nouns for the verbs. If we say ‘education,’ we submit ourselves to someone educating us, but if we change to the verb ‘learn,’ we recover our ability, for it is we who learn. We need to find the way that we can all learn, and give away our dependency. So, health becomes healing; how do we heal ourselves?”

In the same sense, justice must be seen as a verb – as an act and a process, not as standardized book of laws that can be applied universally. If we think about community safety, as opposed to police in our community, an opportunity opens up for further dialogue and understanding.

Zapatista justice and safety are not organized as an external apparatus or institution but are part of the everyday tasks that the community must undertake. Through community dialogue, consciousness and reciprocity, assemblies are key to facilitating the conversation and collectively developing a punishment for a crime, understanding that each incident must be taken up individually and discussed by the communities.

People’s Community Medics joined hundreds from across California at the Chowchilla Freedom Rally Jan. 26 to demand freedom for thousands of women prisoners who are eligible for release.

They have not constructed an institution that exists external to the everyday community tasks but have a shared understanding that their only alternative to the injustices, legal corruption and violence that exist is that they must take up the tasks of safety in their community. Finally, I think they understand that this is not possible individually and that this process did not happen overnight, but throughout years of dialogue and building trust and relationships from family to family, neighborhood to neighborhood.

In Oakland, California, the Peoples Community Medics are a key illumination of a project that struggles to “reweave the social fabric” by switching from nouns to verbs. Through the facilitation of free emergency medic training, active sharing of emergency medical resources and redistributing food to local community members, they invite and urge community members to take matters of health and safety into their own hands.

They understand the limitations of the health care systems and, though they have not replaced it in its entirety, they are actively working to heal their community members through responding to emergencies and also by engaging in community dialogue and documenting the systematic police violence present in our communities. There is a shared understanding that healing does not just happen physically, but emotionally and spiritually as well. The effects of systemic racism that Black and Latino communities face on a day-to-day basis can only be healed collectively as in active resistance.

My attempt to reflect on the “Third Seminar on Reflection and Analysis: Planet Earth … Anti-Systemic Movements” was to briefly situate and highlight struggles that we are facing on a global scale. Though violence and destruction is widespread, during this space of encounter, there was an understanding that we are doing the difficult work of also spreading our resistance and our hope.

The effects of systemic racism that Black and Latino communities face on a day-to-day basis can only be healed collectively as in active resistance.

Resistance to the incarceration and violence our communities are facing cannot exist only in opposition to the political and corporate forces that are reproducing it. As groups all over the world are doing, silently and slowly, we must also be constructing the alternative.

Armando Carmona, a graduate student at the California Institute of Integral Studies studying prison activism with Anthropology Department Chair Andrej Grubacic, can be reached at armando2k7@gmail.com.

[In this video, titled “Une Grande Confrontation Inevitable,” the crowd is initially shown protesting on Jan. 9 outside the Port au Prince courthouse. From 2:47 minutes in, they begin to march to President Aristide’s home, harassed by the police as thousands more join in along the way. – ed.]

Not well reported by the mainstream media, on Wednesday, Jan. 9, there were MASSIVE demonstrations throughout Haiti to support former President Aristide, who the Martelly-Lamothe government summoned to court on frivolous and specious charges his supporters see as political persecution. People came out in huge numbers in Port au Prince, Cap Haitian, Gonaives, Central Plateau, Hinche, Les Cayes, other cities and even in the Island of La Gonave to tell the government that putting Aristide on trial is the same as putting the Haitian masses on trial.

Apparently the people flowing into the streets forced Martelly Prosecutor Lucmane Delille to back-peddle on his court summons, calling Aristide to beseech him not to leave home, saying Delille would come to his house to meet with him and his lawyers.

Many folks who took to the streets yesterday indicated that even if shot down or killed by the U.N. or police, they will not allow the “internationals” to escape accountability for the theft of over $7 billion in charity dollars meant for homeless earthquake victims. Three years after the earthquake, Haitians will not be distracted by the “Aristide-is-corrupt-and-without-support” card to prolong the corruption and tyranny. “2013 will not be the same as 2004,” the year of the coup that forced Aristide into exile, they say. – Ezili Danto, Haitian Lawyers Leadership Network (HLLN), Jan. 10, 2013

by the Haiti Action Committee

Supporters of former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide chant and display signs outside the courthouse in Port au Prince on Wednesday, Jan. 9. When they learned that the prosecutor, Lucmane Delille, had gone to Aristide’s home to question him, a river of tens if not hundreds of thousands of people marched to his home, surrounding it protectively as they had when he returned to Haiti. – Photo: Swoan Parker, Reuters

Since his return, President Aristide has done exactly what he promised to do – reopen the University of the Aristide Foundation’s Medical School. On Sept. 26, 2011, the medical school once again opened its doors – this time to a new group of 126 future Haitian doctors. Seven years after the school’s forced closure by the U.S.-orchestrated coup in 2004 and four months after the return of former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide to Haiti, medical education resumed at UNIFA. Just this fall, UNIFA began accepting candidates for a new nursing school. And this is just the beginning of a determined initiative to improve health care for all Haitians, particularly critical with the ravages of the cholera epidemic sweeping the country.

Yet President Aristide is again under attack. He has been summoned to appear in court this Wednesday, Jan. 9, as part of an investigation into Lafanmi Selavi, a home for street children that Aristide organized in 1986. Some former residents of the home now claim that Aristide owes them money, among other unfounded and fabricated charges. The prosecutor in this current investigation was a key member of the GNB, the right-wing network that helped direct the 2004 coup against Aristide’s democratically elected government.

Thousands surround the home of former President Aristide – affectionately called Titid by the people – while he is questioned by prosecutor Lucmane Delille. – Photo: Swoan Parker, Reuters

This is no surprise. The Haitian government of Michel Martelly came to power after a staged “election” in which Fanmi Lavalas, the most popular political party in Haiti, was banned from participation. Martelly has embraced Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier, the brutal former dictator, who lives freely in Haiti and has just been granted a diplomatic passport. Human rights organizations estimate that Duvalier and his father, Francois “Papa Doc” Duvalier, ordered the deaths of 20,000 to 30,000 Haitian citizens during their 29-year rule. While Duvalier has been “cleared” by the Haitian government of human rights charges, Aristide and the Lavalas movement remain targeted.

Enough is enough. We call on the Haitian government to withdraw the summons against President Aristide and to free the 21 activists now jailed in Haiti. We also call on the United Nations occupying forces in Haiti and the U.S. State Department to cease their attacks against President Aristide and the Lavalas movement.

How you can help

Contact the following officials:

Minister of Justice and Public Security Jean Renel Sanon, 18 avenue Charles Summer, Port-au-Prince, Haïti, secretariat.mjsp@yahoo.com (Salutation: Monsieur le Ministre/Dear Minister)

Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, United Nations, New York, NY 10017 USA, (212) 963-5012, fax (212) 963-7055, ecu@un.org

Speak out against the Red Cross on the third anniversary of the earthquake in Haiti on Friday, Jan. 11, 4:30-5:30 p.m., outside Red Cross headquarters, 3901 Broadway, near MacArthur BART, Oakland

To mark the third anniversary of the earthquake that devastated Haiti, actions in a number of countries are calling the U.S. government and NGOs (non-governmental organizations) on their rape and pillage of Haiti.

Tens of thousands of people have been demonstrating in Haiti for months. Three years after the earthquake, despite billions donated by a generous public, hundreds of thousands of people are still struggling to survive in tent cities, surrounded by rubble. They are still without clean water or food security or income, still fighting the cholera imported by U.N. troops. And now they face the further devastation of Hurricane Sandy, which destroyed 70 percent of the crops – though only its impact on the U.S. got publicity. See “Disastrous Relief“ in the London Guardian.

Haiti has more NGOs per square mile than any other country in the world, yet it is the most impoverished in the Western Hemisphere. The NGOs have stolen millions intended for earthquake survivors. And joining in the stealing, the corrupt Martelly government, put there by the U.S., represses the mass protests of a people who refuse to be defeated.

Global Women’s Strike protested NGO corruption in Haiti with a “Stop NGO Pillage” rally in London May 1, 2012

Some of us spoke out outside the London Red Cross in May 2012. It was one of the biggest beneficiaries of public donations: at least $479 million to the U.S. Red Cross alone – whose CEO earns $600,000 a year. Hardly any of these millions have reached the survivors. Instead the Red Cross is using some of it to build a luxury hotel and conference center in Haiti. We must protest this grand theft. See http://globalwomenstrike.net/content/protest-red-cross-theft-haiti.

Western governments and NGOs have used natural disasters as their opportunity to destroy Haiti’s agriculture and impose sweatshops. At this moment almost everywhere in the world there seems no limit to the plunder by the elites. The burden and the trauma are falling especially on women – the first carers, the poorest and the hardest workers – the main breadwinners in 70 percent of Haitian families. In protesting the rape of Haiti, we refuse the rip-off we are suffering everywhere by the same elite.

What you can do:

• Bring your networks to the speakout.
• Circulate this call widely. Even those who don’t come will be informed.
• Contact your local media, especially radio stations.
• Invite a GWS speaker to your school, college, community center, church or organization.
• Pledge a regular donation to the Haiti Emergency Relief Fund, www.haitiemergencyrelief.org. HERF is led by Haitians and every bit goes to those it is intended for, particularly women’s self-help survival initiatives and food co-operatives – there is no overhead.

Visit the Haiti Action Committee at www.haitisolidarity.net and on Facebook. The vigil is called by Global Women’s Strike (GWS) and Women of Color in the GWS and endorsed by the Haiti Action Committee. To contact GWS, call (415) 626-4114 or email sf@allwomencount.net.

Tens of thousands of people have been demonstrating in Haiti for months. Three years after the earthquake, despite billions donated by a generous public, hundreds of thousands of people are still struggling to survive in tent cities, surrounded by rubble. They are still without clean water or food security or income, still fighting the cholera imported by U.N. troops. And now they face the further devastation of Hurricane Sandy, which destroyed 70 percent of the crops – but only its impact on the U.S. got publicity.

School children protest outside Red Cross headquarters in New York City on March 22, 2010.

In London, a speakout will be held for the second year outside the Red Cross. It was one of the biggest beneficiaries of public donations: at least $479 million to the U.S. Red Cross alone – whose CEO earns $600,000 a year. Hardly any of these millions have reached the survivors. Instead, the Red Cross is using some of it to build a luxury hotel and conference center in Haiti. We must protest this grand theft.

Haiti has more non-governmental organizations (NGOs) per square mile than any other country in the world, yet it is the most impoverished in the Western Hemisphere. The NGOs have stolen millions intended for earthquake survivors.

Western governments and NGOs have used natural disasters as their opportunity to destroy Haiti’s agriculture and impose sweatshops. At this moment almost everywhere in the world there seems no limit to the plunder by the elites. The burden and the trauma are falling especially on women – the first carers, the poorest and the hardest workers – the main breadwinners in 70 percent of Haitian families. In protesting the rape of Haiti, we refuse the rip-off we are suffering everywhere by the same elite.

What you can do

• Organize and attend a speakout.
• Contact your local media.
• Invite a speaker to your school, college, community center or church.
• Pledge a regular donation to the Haiti Emergency Relief Fund at www.haitiemergencyrelief.org. HERF is led by Haitians and every bit goes to those it is intended for, particularly women’s self-help survival initiatives and food co-operatives. There is no overhead.

To learn more, go to http://globalwomenstrike.net/content/protest-red-cross-theft-haiti. To reach GWS in the San Francisco Bay Area, email sf@allwomencount.net.

President Martelly-appointed Haitian Prosecutor Lucmane Delille, a former member of the GNB (Balls Up Your Butt) movement that worked to oust Aristide in 2004, has arrested 21 Lavalas members and summoned countless others into court. When Delile summoned Aristide himself, Haitians surrounded his house and the courthouse to protect him.

Aware that the present Haitian government has ordered the arrest of 21 members of Lavalas following large demonstrations on Dec. 16, 2012, against Martelly’s rule, the Haitian people have cause to suspect the political motivation behind attempts to bring Dr. Aristide to court without charge. Additionally, other Lavalas leaders, protesting the arrests, have themselves been called into court arbitrarily.

The masses of the Haitian people are outraged at this latest conspiracy to both tarnish the reputation of Dr. Aristide and further marginalize Fanmi Lavalas, the most popular political party in Haiti, from the electoral process.

In fact, it is the opinion in Haiti that this latest attack is an attempt on the part of the U.N. MINUSTAH forces to mask their failure to improve the lives of the Haitian people, which have deteriorated significantly under the aegis of the U.N., U.S., Canada and France. Thus it is more convenient to again blame their wrongdoing on Dr. Aristide.

The latest word is that court proceedings were postponed until Wednesday of next week, due to the massive numbers of Haitian people at the courthouse and around Dr. Aristide’s home.

Listen to an in depth discussion on Flashpoints broadcast by KPFA and dozens of other stations around the country on Jan. 1:

In an escalation of the ongoing witch hunt against former President Aristide and Fanmi Lavalas, Haiti’s largest political party, President Martelly’s prosecutor trumped up charges against Aristide himself. When thousands of supporters surrounded the courthouse, the police attempted to block them with fire trucks and barricades. But the people swarmed over them and kept coming until the court agreed to postpone the proceedings. – Photo: Swoan Parker, Reuters

U.S. issues Haiti travel warning: How dare they!

by Malaika Kambon

In the wake of the Obama administration’s gaffe in their attempt to replace the bloodied hands of Hilary Rodham Clinton with the bloodied hands of Susan Rice, comes now another historic and cruel irony.

According to a recent Associated Press article, “State Dept. warns Americans about Haiti travel,” the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Consular Affairs has now issued a travel warning “to inform U.S. citizens traveling to or living in Haiti about the current security situation.”

Contrary to U.N. and U.S. propaganda, Haitians have always resisted oppression. On Sept. 21, masses of Haitians marched across Haiti against “the corruption of the Martelly regime,” but not a single mainstream U.S. news outlet filed a story in English. The demonstrators were dismissed as “merely burning tires” by U.S. Ambassador to Haiti Pamela A. White. – Photo: Radio Caribe

The absolute nerve of them! How dare they!

Robbery? Lawlessness? Disease? What poor medical facilities? What “security” situations?

When President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the twice democratically elected president of Haiti was in power, there were only 3,500 policemen in the entire nation of Haiti and there was virtually no crime.

But since U.S.-Canadian-French usurpation of Haitian sovereignty, Haiti has suffered not only from a lack of national security in the sense of borders and territorial integrity but also an ongoing crisis of human security, the right of each person to live in peace and with the guarantee of basic rights.

Aristide, through two terms in office – both of which he was deposed in the middle of – was sabotaged at every step by the U.S. CIA, USAID, the European Union, the Canadian government, the IMF, and the World Bank.

Why? So the U.S. government could blame everything that was “wrong” with Haiti on anyone but itself. This century it chose Jean-Bertrand Aristide to be its scapegoat.

Because the U.S. government cannot stand the thought of grassroots democracy and cannot stand the fact that the achievements of Afrikans who defeated entrenched slavery are of monumental significance to Black people in the Diaspora – and that Black people have the right to take and to define our place in the world without requesting anyone’s sponsorship and without needing anyone’s approval.

Haitian struggle and resistance has taught the world these facts, much to the chagrin of the U.S. State Department. So now, in retaliation, the U.S. State Department seeks to criminalize Haiti. Again.

But since U.S.-Canadian-French usurpation of Haitian sovereignty, Haiti has suffered not only from a lack of national security in the sense of borders and territorial integrity but also an ongoing crisis of human security, the right of each person to live in peace and with the guarantee of basic rights.

After perpetrating a reign of superpower terrorism that includes 33 coups d’etat, financing right wing para-militarism, the terrorizing, abduction and murder of human rights activists, the hijacking of loans meant to establish sources of clean, potable water, hospitals, and clinics, dismantling the democratic election process, forbidding the existence of the largest political party in the country, Fanmi Lavalas, and fomenting the spreading of disease, starvation, mass murder and U.S. hegemony via the Monroe Doctrine, many Haitians believe that the U.S. State Department is now in firm control of the monster it has created.

Not only that, but it is also believed that the U.S. is playing a cruel game, running people against their very own monster. It is a classic game of the criminal blaming the victim.

Thus, in 2012 the U.S. continues to spread the contempt of Haitians held by the Anglo-Saxon power structure. Reminiscent of the views expressed by Woodrow Wilson’s Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan so long ago when he said, “Imagine! Niggers speaking French!” the State Department has begun its “official,” for-sound-bite-use-only pogrom, couched in a “travel warning” to America.

However, this pogrom is liable to bite Anglo-Saxon hegemony in the ass, even when it has an Obama face, because the idiots don’t realize there are more Afrikans with a command of the French language than those whose limited command is of English alone.

That being said, it is now evident by this little noticed State Department “travel warning” to Haiti that their U.S. trained U.N. MINUSTAH occupation forces cannot handle the popular opposition of the Haitian people to the current lawlessness of U.S. imposed puppet, Michel Martelly.

For, in the finest traditions of semper fidelis and the 1915-1934 invasion, occupation and racketeering of Haiti led by Gen. Smedley Butler and the U.S. Marine Corps, Michel Martelly is robbing the people and the Haitian treasury blind. Just like old times, making Haiti safe for the National City Bank boys – or whatever bank is fashionable nowadays – to collect revenues in.

And the illegal U.S. inspired coups d’etat of 1991 and 2004 that robbed Haitians of their twice democratically elected President Aristide, were transparent as U.S. instigated regime changes in Haiti.

This doesn’t inspire belief in a law-abiding U.S. State Department.

Not when considered in light of Michel Martelly’s receipt of “more than $2.5 million in bribes for providing non-bid reconstruction contracts to companies in the Dominican Republic,” working in consort with Bill Clinton to force U.S. born businessman Laurent Lamothe into the post of prime minister despite Lamothe’s lack of qualification for the post, and Martelly’s blatant and arbitrary alteration of the 1987 Haitian Constitution, re-establishing laws to limit the basic human rights of Haitian citizens.

And especially not when former U.S. President and current U.N. Special Envoy William Jefferson Clinton legitimizes the s/election of Michel Martelly as president of Haiti by less than 16 percent of the vote and embraces former dictator for life Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier at a ceremony held nearly one year ago, on Jan. 14, 2012, to “commemorate” the second anniversary of the Jan. 12, 2010, earthquake.

The ceremony was held in Titanyen near Port-au-Prince. Duvalier couldn’t leave Port-au-Prince while awaiting trial for human rights violations and crimes against humanity. The trial didn’t happen. And the Martelly-Clinton-Duvalier presence at Titanyen was a travesty and an insult, for Titanyen is the burial ground of earthquake victims and has been for decades the dumping ground of the bodies of Haitians murdered by the infamous Ton Ton Macoutes and other Haitian death squads commanded by Duvalierists, approved by the U.S. State Department, and trained and financed by the U.S. and the CIA.

They kill you and then dance on your grave?

President Michel “Sweet Mickey” Martelly and his wife greet former Haitian dictator Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier at the Jan. 12, 2012, earthquake commemoration ceremony – legitimizing Duvalierists – at the dump site in Titanyen, where the vicious U.S.-trained death squads dumped bodies of Haitian citizens they killed, and where bodies of victims of the 2010 earthquake have been laid to rest. – Photo: Haiti Information Project.

Haiti’s occupation was instigated and engineered by the U.S., Canadian and French governments. U.N. MINUSTAH forces now maintain that occupation. U.N. Special Envoy William Clinton’s embrace of Baby Doc Duvalier and Michel Martelly is greatly illustrative of a U.S. State Department’s design to turn back the clock on democratic progress and the people’s participation in the process of democracy in Haiti established by the twice democratically elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

No wonder the U.S. State Department now wants the world to view “travel” to Haiti as fraught with “robbery, lawlessness, infectious disease and poor medical facilities.” They’ve implemented and now practice what they preach: robbery, lawlessness, the spread of infectious disease and the destruction of proper medical facilities to destroy any hope of democracy in Haiti.

Whatever is the State Department to do but to increase their attempts to re-criminalize Black Haitians?

It might do to remember, on this first day of January 2013, that 209 years ago in 1804, Haiti celebrated its independence by crushing chattel enslavement of Afrikan people everywhere.

On this day a victorious Jean-Jacques Dessalines specifically de-criminalized Black people. This scared then president Thomas Jefferson to death.

Perhaps now, hushed State Department dinner conversation analysts will try to subvert the feelings of the Haitian masses about U.S. attempts to return the brutal, Papa Doc military to power, but the terrorist ploy won’t work.

The nearly 700,000 people still living under old sheets since the 2010 earthquake will speak out on the lawlessness of an Obama regime that sends a U.S. military invasion force to occupy injured, starving, homeless Haitians after a 7.2 earthquake instead of sending doctors, food and medical supplies.

This is the same regime that controls the U.N. occupation forces and is backing Martelly’s forced eviction of earthquake survivors from refugee camps in 2012.

No wonder the U.S. State Department now wants the world to view “travel” to Haiti as fraught with “robbery, lawlessness, infectious disease and poor medical facilities.” They’ve implemented and now practice what they preach: robbery, lawlessness, the spread of infectious disease and the destruction of proper medical facilities to destroy any hope of democracy in Haiti.

If this was Obama’s prep for the U.S. armies being sent to 35 Afrikan countries in 2013, who knows – maybe the Marines will again be sent to Haiti to quell the cholera infected and those injured from the lack of infrastructure after Hurricane Sandy. After all, most of those poor medical facilities could use that $20,000 per day per diem that Washington’s pet buffoon, Michel Martelly, gets daily when he travels, don’t cha think?

And I don’t know, do you think that maybe the populace could appear on TV with Martha Stewart and show the world how to bake mud cookies?

For those who do not know the recipe, read the following: First get some special clay containing calcium and other nutrients from near the town of Hinche in the Central Plateau. “Combine” it with salt and vegetable shortening. Then dry the result in the sun and eat.

Do you think Ms. Stewart would wanna make Haitian mud cookies a dietary staple of her customers? No? No “cooking with Crisco” this time around, in the finest tradition of that old American idiom for making everything run smoothly?

Well then, consider the crucial question asked by the great Jamaican columnist John Maxwell: “Is Starvation Contagious?” That is the issue that must be addressed when the country whose enslaved labor kept all of Europe fed before the Haitian Revolution is reduced by soaring food prices and globalization to eating mud!

And maybe during a commercial break, folks could be quizzed about how it feels to eat, sleep and take care of their young while standing “at home” in 2 feet of dirty flood water with no food, in their tent cities paid for by starving Haitians instead of said people having access to billions of mismanaged post-earthquake funds that find their way into U.S. government pockets and into the pockets of overseers Bill Clinton and George Bush – overseers, I might add, who were specifically placed in Haiti by Barack Obama.

Yes, the U.S. State Department’s lawlessness knows no bounds. And apparently financing Martelly’s corrupt government is one of the more creative and innovative ways that France and her U.S. allies have used the $22 billion France extorted from Haiti for having thrown off chattel enslavement, thus “depriving” Europe of its entire source of income.

U.N. Special Envoy William Jefferson Clinton, shown in the previous photo with jaw agape as the Martellys greet Duvalier, recovers his composure, follows his instincts and extends his hand, too, to the former dictator-for-life in a clear gesture of legitimization. – Photo: Haiti Information Project

The AP should also tell American travelers to Haiti that they’re not likely to be shot while brushing their teeth in their swank hotels or on the way to work, because the latest U.S. puppet, Martelly, will personally see to it that they survive to be robbed or killed by his – and only his – staff.

After all, ‘tis the season to be jolly, and the U.S. State Department and their quislings are some of the happiest killers on the planet, din’t cha know?

Yeah. The U.S. State Department should indeed warn Americans about the dangers of spending “Christmas in Hell: Or A Dread of Black Freedom,” where the coins of exchange are a history of resistance to oppression and naked U.S. engineered aggression, terrorism, starvation, disease and death.

But this article is a call to action.

There are political prisoners in Haiti, people who have been put in jail for saying “Enough!” of the thefts of our land and money, enough of the massacres, enough of the starvation and death. And recently, there are 21 newly imprisoned young men and women – seven young women and 14 young men – who have been imprisoned for nothing more than speaking out against the brutality perpetrated against Haiti by the U.S.-Canadian-French triad, by the U.N. MINUSTAH forces, by Brazil, the European Union and by the Haitian elite.

This is what has been going on in Haiti.

It is time for Euro-America and its allies to break with the legacy of rape that has marked their relations with Haiti. Haitians have always resisted. It was Haiti who broke the chains of slavery.

This latest demonization of Haiti is part of what has happened since the days of Haitian independence, when slavery advocates and slave owners designed the U.S. foreign policy that continues to be followed to this day.

And that needs to be changed.

Malaika H Kambon is a freelance photojournalist and the 2011 winner of the Bay Area Black Journalists Association Luci S. Williams Houston Scholarship in Photojournalism. She also won the AAU state and national championship in Tae Kwon Do from 2007-2010. She can be reached at kambonrb@pacbell.net.

“Haiti may have many problems but until 2010 cholera was not one of them. In fact, the country had no known history of the disease at all,” the Al Jazeera host explains. In October 2010, the first of now 8,000 Haitians died of cholera introduced to Haiti by U.N. peacekeeping troops from Nepal and the U.N.’s negligence in allowing their untreated waste to poison a major river.

The U.N. plays the role of both arsonist and fireman in Haiti’s cholera epidemic. At a Dec. 11, 2012, press conference, the U.N. announced a rehashed 10-year plan for clean water that is unfunded. U.N. plans for Haiti are not solutions. The U.N. is the problem.

Calling it a “new initiative to help eliminate cholera in Haiti and the Dominican Republic,” Secretary Ban Ki Moon launched the U.N.’s grand 10-year water and sanitation money laundering, no, its fundraising scheme to harm, oops no, to “aid” Haitians. This water project is just a re-hashed initiative launched nearly a year ago.

The $2.2 billion initiative is unfunded. The $215 million from bilateral and multilateral donors the U.N. claims is available as newly added money is mostly previously pledged earthquake money pledged seven months before U.N. cholera ever hit Haiti but not given. Also, the U.N. refuses to set up a claims commission under the Status of Force Agreement with Haiti. It still doesn’t accept responsibility for the cholera epidemic it caused and gives no verifiable legal assurances to the Haitian people that their raw sewage is not still being dumped in Haiti’s waterways.

Cholera, unknown in Haiti until U.N. peacekeeping troops infected with the disease dumped their untreated sewage into a major river supplying drinking water to millions, has now killed 8,000 and sickened 620,000, with a surge in infections since Hurricane Sandy.

The new monies to be raised will go into the same hands, to the same USAID/U.N./NGO subcontractors with no public accountability to the Haitians, bolstering an international system that has failed in Haiti for over 50 years.

The grand announcement is another theatrical press gambit and waste of monies. The U.S. and U.N. internationals act as if their meeting equates to “doing something” solid and urgent to address the disease they imported. This multi-pronged attack is about using the image of the U.N. as the arbiter of human rights and justice, a claim that cannot actually be born out, but it’s their image.

It’s about using this unearned credibility to raise more funds, not to “save the poor Haitians” but to tighten the stranglehold, elevate the “poor Haiti” narrative, have more future occasions to give themselves more titles, awards, jobs, more luxury hotel stays.

Listen as Dennis Bernstein of Flashpoints interviews Kevin Pina on the U.N.’s talk about ending cholera.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon states the “new initiative will invest in prevention, treatment, and education. The main focus is on the extension of clean drinking water and sanitation systems – but we are also determined to save lives now through the use of an oral cholera vaccine.”

Six months ago when the Pan American Health Organization and World Health Organization at the U.N., not the secretary-general, was unveiling this very same bogus 10-year U.N. plan to end U.N. cholera in Haiti, world renowned cholera expert Professor Renaud Piarroux maintained that the cholera epidemic in Haiti could be gone in months, but that Paul Farmer’s cholera vaccines are ineffective and a waste of money.

“If that is so,” we posted, “this would cast great suspicion on the NGOtocracy’s settling in for this opportunistic 10-year, far future – 2022 – plan, as the PAHO/U.N. Millennium Development-type proposed declarations and their signers seem to be maintaining.” It’s brazen greed, outrageously dishonest and fraudulent.

The fake humanitarians create the problem, use the shock doctrine and disaster capitalism to occupy Haiti, disenfranchise the people, de-legitimize elections, then with the complicity of the mainstream media and white saviors both from the Left and Right duopoly, they put a Black neocon Haitian, Laurent Lamothe, up front for publicity purposes to sell the world their 10-year “solution” to cholera as a legitimate Haiti-led initiative.

Then, when one year later in December 2012, the U.N. “unveils” its repackaged request for more funds for itself and its subcontractors in Haiti and calls this “eradicating cholera,” this travesty is capped off for public consumption by having the fraudulent progressives and justice-seekers speaking on behalf of Haitians, declaring “success.” For instance, Mark Weisbrot’s op-ed, “More Pressure Necessary to Get Desperately Needed Clean Water to Haiti,” trumpets the suspect U.N. cholera plan as at least “a beginning,” a showing of the capacity of the U.N. to what? judge itself fairly? provide what? money to private NGOs with no public accountability to Haitians?

Oh, this cholera eradication plan from the cholera importers in Haiti is “incremental justice to Haiti,” seriously opine the Leftist intellectuals from the West. No joke.

The aim, of course, of most foreign aid to Black countries is to keep them in perpetual poverty, ill health, chaos by design, dependency, and so disenfranchised and desperate they are compelled to do Western biddings.

The Haitian Lawyers Leadership Network (HLLN) repeatedly points out the false benevolence, the basic Haiti rights repealed, the harm, the glorification of disenfranchisement and sweatshops, the conflicts with the industrial paternalistic, condescending white folks in Haiti vis-a-vis Haitian best interests, justice and sovereignty.

“Nicholas Kristof’s reason for perpetuating the Tarzan idiocy for his New York Times audience is self-indulgent, harmful, narcissistic and as racist as it is lazy and cowardly. What’s the point of Kristof’s white saviors – his bridge character – helping the victims of rape, cholera or hunger in the Congo, Darfur or Haiti when it’s U.S. taxpayer monies and U.S. corporate welfare and the agricultural subsidies to U.S. corporatocracy that supported their agent rapists, U.N. partisan presence or corrupt government clientele states to come to power or for them to maintain power and the rapes and disenfranchisement of the African masses?

“Mr. Kristof ought to teach that U.S. citizens of every culture, race or national origin, who care about Haiti and Africa should study U.S. foreign policy, then go try to change the duopoly in Washington before they impose themselves on Haiti or Africa through the NGOtocracy. Some bridges ought to be artifacts in old museums.” – Ezili Dantò’s comment on “NY Times Columnist Nicholas D. Kristof Answers Questions,” Nov. 28, 2012

No Caucasian typifies the white savior tool of imperialistic Black oppression and trajectory more than Paul Farmer.

Paul Farmer runs Partners in Health, which distributes the U.N. supported oral cholera vaccines. His partner, Jim Yom Kim, now runs the World Bank. Farmer is the U.N. special deputy envoy to Haiti, a long time board member of Brian Concannon’s Institute of Justice and Democracy in Haiti (IJDH) and now he’s also the special appointed advisor for the U.N.’s 10-year cholera eradication plan that dodges liability for the U.N. bringing in cholera to Haiti and denies justice to Haiti victims.

Yet, Brian Concannon’s IJDH with Paul Farmer on its board and obvious conflicting interests claims to be legally representing the Haiti cholera victims, sending a demand last November 2011 that’s oftentimes, for fundraising purposes, billed as a lawsuit, asking the U.N. to judge itself guilty and apologize to the victims!

This is an inside job. It’s definitely the fox guarding the chicken coop. These “bridge” characters crowd out most Haiti-led relief, use exploited Haiti fronts to legitimize their fundraising junkets, build bridges for white supremacy and cultural hegemony death crossings while watching each other’s backs from their various spheres and beltway platforms.

A Haitian with symptoms of cholera is transported in a wheelbarrow in the slums of Cite Soleil in Port-au-Prince a month after the outbreak began in October 2010. – Photo: Eduardo Munoz, Reuters

“While we are still a long way from implementation, there are important lessons to be learned from this experience. Perhaps most importantly, it shows that organized political pressure can work. The Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti went to the U.N. to file for damages and reparations. Many other groups and individuals kept the issue in the news and wouldn’t let it go away …

“Newspaper editorial boards such as those of the New York Times and the Boston Globe called on the U.N. to take responsibility for the disaster that it caused. As a result of grassroots organizing, the majority of Democrats in the U.S House of Representatives signed a letter to the same effect …

“Bill Clinton, U.N. special envoy to Haiti, admitted that the U.N military mission was responsible for the deadly outbreak, but the organization maintains its denial.

“Tuesday’s announcement by the governments of Haiti and the Dominican Republic, together with the U.N., of a 10-year plan to eradicate cholera from the island shared by the two nations is a step forward and a result of all the pressure that has been brought to bear over the past two years. Better late than never, but it is still just the beginning,” wrote Weisbrot in “More Pressure Necessary to Get Desperately Needed Clean Water to Haiti.”

The rescuers have mostly been hard at work re-imaging the Haiti occupation, giving a civil face to the Duvalierists, opening Haiti up for business in the time of cholera, fragmenting Haiti’s voices, denying the horrible evil and international crime scene that Haiti is.

They have been denying the masses’ struggle for fair elections since 2004, obfuscating the main issue, which is that Haiti is illegally, unjustly occupied by the U.S. and Paul Farmer’s NGOtocracy; that Western aid is MEANT and STRUCTURED to fail; that the Haiti majority must take back their sovereignty; that Haiti’s mineral and oil wealth must stop being denied and pillaged.

The U.S. corporatocracy and NGOtocracracy occupation behind U.N. proxy guns MUST end. Vicious U.S. imperialism in Haiti, its outright aggressions and uses of the U.N. peacekeepers to cover this up, its uses of Americans like Bill Clinton at the U.N. and the Paul Farmer NGOtocracy as its tool of mayhem, of oppressive Haiti decision-making and rule cannot be discounted, ignored or denied.

U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations Ambassador Susan E. Rice has put the whole matter in context:

“The truth is, the U.N. Security Council can’t even issue a press release without America’s blessing. The U.N. depends entirely on its member states, not the other way around. When the U.N. stumbles, it’s usually because its members stumble – because big powers duck tough issues in the Security Council or spoilers grandstand in the General Assembly. As one of my predecessors, the late Richard Holbrooke, was fond of saying, ‘Blaming the U.N. when things go wrong is like blaming Madison Square Garden when the Knicks play badly.’”

Haitians in a Port au Prince tent camp are given bleach and water purification tablets on Dec. 11, 2012, in an effort to prevent cholera. Why, nearly three years after the earthquake that killed over 300,000 and displaced millions, has the money initially donated not been spent to build and repair housing and supply clean water? – Photo: Logan Abassi, UN MINUSTAH

They share liability for the U.N. bringing in cholera, for slaughtering innocent Haitians in the populous neighborhoods en mass, for the raging impunity of their re-imaged death-squads and neoDuvalierists’ civilian fronts and for the rotten child molesting and other crimes perpetrated against defenseless Haiti civilians. There can be no Haiti justice outside of this Haiti context and narrative. Period, no comma.

The U.N., its Haiti policy-making member states and its other neocolonial partners are attempting to collect $2.2 billion more misery funds on imported foreign misery to Haiti while planning to further privatize clean water to dodge public accountability. Yet this blatant money laundering scheme is seen by the U.N. apologists as “some” justice, an authentic good for Haiti and the cholera victims?

The U.N. keeps talking to raise funds for their peacekeeping presence in Haiti, keeps cunningly and repeatedly “unveiling” their privatization plans for Haiti water and no justice for Haiti.

Back in March 2010, Bill and Hillary Clinton held a similar champagne pledging party at the U.N., where numbers in the billions were blithely cast about for a first 10-year relief and reconstruction plan to “rebuilt Haiti back better.” This was after the earthquake and seven months before cholera hit Haiti in October 2010. The same funds pledged then that went uncollected are part of the $215 million being re-pledged for the U.N.’s newest 10-year initiative in Haiti. This is U.S.-Euro pillage in Haiti, masking as humanitarian aid.

The mainstream media and humanitarian progressives willingly swallow the manipulative lies, ignore that foreign aid is about creating jobs for foreigners and selling foreign products and services abroad. Life worsens for Haitians in Haiti when the world’s people are made to believe these high-tech money laundering schemes are about “helping Haitians.” Justice deferred is justice denied.

Just days after the October 2010 U.N. cholera deaths began, HLLN pointed out, in an interview with broadcaster Yves Point Dujour, that “the accused U.N. cannot investigate itself … The genocide going on in Haiti is obvious … We’re looking at the evil but we don’t want to compute it.”

It’s not surprising to Haitians that the U.N. continues to deny liability for their gross and criminal negligence, for bringing death to Haiti. We know about the Ottawa Initiative. We live with the fear of the immigration deportations and unequal immigration policies.

We deal each and every nightmarish day of this hidden U.S. occupation with why there is a U.N. Chapter 7 peace-enforcement mission in Haiti for nine years – a country not at war, without a peace agreement to enforce and with less violence than most countries in the Western Hemisphere.

Their imported disease provides the opportunity to accidentally kill 8,000 Haitians, infect over 620,000, raise and launder more taxpayer and donor country monies, sell more Paul Farmer pharmaceuticals, write more Nicholas Kristof/Tracy Kidder white savior partisan pieces, experiment on the sick as guinea pigs with never-before-used-in-an-epidemic cholera vaccines, stay in Haiti for their 10-year plan to capitalize on cholera: playing arsonists and firemen.

Resources

[ezilidanto] Request to peruse and comment on proposed 10-year plan, June 22, 2012

[ezilidanto] 10-year international plan to PRIVATIZE clean water (funding NGOs) in Haiti unveiled June 29 in Washington, June 30, 2012

U.S. failed aid and false benevolence in Haiti

The Plantation called Haiti: Feudal Pillage Masking as Aid

The White Savior Industrial Complex

Haiti’s Gold Rush – an Ecological Crime in the Making

The U.N. has requested $2.2 billion to battle a cholera epidemic in Haiti that has killed nearly 8,000 people since 2010.

Unease over U.N. bid to eradicate Haiti cholera

Audit: USAID Haiti work ‘not on track’

Haiti: Ezili Dantò on Washington Post cholera editorial

Paul Farmer is not a God but the face of the U.N./U.S.AID/World Bank

Ezili Dantò, award winning playwright, performance poet, dancer, actor and activist attorney born in Port au Prince, Haiti, founded and chairs the Haitian Lawyers Leadership Network (HLLN), supporting and working cooperatively with Haitian freedom fighters and grassroots organizations promoting the civil, human and cultural rights of Haitians at home and abroad. Visit her at www.ezilidanto.com, where this story first appeared, or www.open.salon.com/blog/ezili_danto.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has made a commitment that every Venezuelan family must have a dignified home by 2019 “whatever it costs.”

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, in a televised meeting with his Council of Ministers Nov. 8, announced that 417,000 new homes are currently under construction. – Photo: Prensa Miraflores

Launched last year, the program is an ambitious attempt by the Venezuelan government to construct over 3 million homes by 2019 to close the country’s housing deficit, measured in a 2011 national survey.

Chavez confirmed that 137,106 houses have been constructed under the mission so far this year, including 1,704 new houses handed over to Venezuelan families last Thursday. In a televised meeting with ministers, he explained that there are 417,000 houses currently under construction across the country, and that a special program was being implemented to ensure 80,000 of those were finished by the end of the year.

The Venezuelan head of state added that this would ensure the government would meet its target of 200,000 houses constructed in 2012. “If we finish 80,000, we’ll then be at almost 220,000 [houses]. We’ll be above the target. I’m sure we’re going to achieve it,” he affirmed.

Investments

President Chavez also announced an increase in the housing construction target for 2013 and 2014 from 300,000 each year to 380,000 and 400,000, respectively. To reach these goals, he pledged a minimum investment into the program of $11.6 billion for 2013.

The government invested $19 billion in the program in 2011-2012, while Minister for Finance and Planning Jorge Giordani estimated that $10-$15 billion would be required annually to meet construction targets.

Chavez emphasized the importance of grassroots efforts for the success of the GMVV. “Without the participation of popular power, these [housing construction] numbers would not be reached. Because of that, this needs to be brought to other social, political, economic and industrial spheres. There is huge potential in popular power,” he said.

Under the Integral Transformation of Habitat and Substitution of Shanties for Houses programs, communities have taken on a key role in housing construction in Venezuela. Almost 50 percent of houses built in the first eight months of 2012 were undertaken with the participation of local communities.

The Venezuelan president also pointed to the GMVV as pioneering his administration’s new emphasis on greater efficiency in government programs. Speaking directly to his vice-president, Nicolas Maduro, he said, “This is an example that we and all other missions and non-missions in all areas should demonstrate the efficiency that the Venezuelan Housing Mission is demonstrating.”

Chavez further declared that the progress of the GMVV so far “deserves special recognition” and is “one of the great successes of the Bolivarian revolution.”

Construction boom

The Great Housing Mission is driving a boom in the Venezuelan construction industry, officials have confirmed, forming part of a general upswing in the economy.

Minister of Industries Ricardo Menendez reported to the press last Friday that this year Venezuela has broken its record for the annual production of cement, a key construction material.

Venezuela has built 265,000 since undertaking the Great Venezuelan Housing Mission last year. “Venezuela is the only country that has built more than 200,000 homes in a year,” said private builder Carmelo de Estéfano Ramírez. “No country has been able to do something like that. The best have built around 70,000, if that, in a year.”

The Chavez administration introduced price controls on cement in 2003 and nationalized the industry in 2008 in order to increase production and ensure supply for domestic construction needs. In part due to the GMVV, production has been rising sharply from 2010, when it was 7.1 million tons.

Menendez also announced a fresh investment of $1.3 billion by the Venezuelan government in the cement industry to construct new factories and production lines. This will increase Venezuela’s maximum production capacity of cement from 9.1 million to 13 million tons annually, the first increase since the 1940s.

Menendez further argued that this information reflected Venezuela’s growing “productive sovereignty” in the area of construction.

Meanwhile, the Venezuela-Belarus Joint Venture for Production of Construction Materials, a brick factory in Guatire state, has reported the production of 6 million bricks in the last five months, ahead of their December target.

The factory was constructed with the aid of Belarusian technicians and uses French and Belarusian machines. It is aiming to produce 25 million bricks in the coming year, estimated at supplying the bricks for 12.1 percent of new housing in 2013.

Environmental brigades and five community councils play a monitoring role in the factory, in which 142 women and men from the local community work. Social programs and children’s activities are also organized in the factory’s premises.

A further eight projects under the Venezuela-Belarus Joint Venture are in the pipeline, which will produce planks, floors and ceiling parts for housing construction.

The Venezuelan Central Bank states that Venezuela’s construction sector has grown for the last four quarters, including by 17.6 percent in the second quarter of 2012.

BCV president Nicolas Merentes further revealed in October that Venezuela’s third quarter figures for gross domestic product (GDP) were showing “important growth” and highlighted that this could “especially” be seen in the construction sector.

The Central Bank official continued by explaining that Venezuela’s continued economic growth was due to the Chavez government’s “policies of social investment that have allowed social productivity to increase and the population’s standard of living to improve.”

This story previously appeared on Correo del Orinoco International and Venezuelanalysis.

The family of Haitian President Michel Martelly – Olivier, Malaika, First Lady Sophia, Yanni and Sandro – stand tall for his inauguration in May 2011. Since then, during their frequent travels, the per diem they are paid by the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere is $20,000 for Martelly, $10,000 for his wife, $7,500 for each of his children and $4,000 for others in his inner circle daily, according to Sen. Moise Jean-Charles. – Photo: Bossip

That in itself is enough to garner distrust among the majority of Haitians. Martely warmly welcomed the January 2011 Haitian return of Baby Doc, one of the most brutal dictators of the 20th century, after the despot’s decades of luxurious exile in France.

The demobilization of the widely feared Haitian military was probably the most popular act of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who was twice ousted in U.S.-backed coups which Martelly supported. Martelly’s announcement in September 2011 that he intended to bring back the Haitian military was the first of many unpopular moves. Martelly also sang the praises of well armed paramilitaries who emerged in militia camps in early 2012.

In October 2011, Martelly ordered the arrest of a sitting member of Parliament, Arnel Belizaire. The president targeted Belizaire after a verbal altercation. Two of Martelly’s government ministers roughed up Port-au-Prince airport security employees after an unauthorized entry into a high-level security area during Belizaire’s arrest, in a manner reminscent of Duvalier’s Ton Ton Macoute death squad. The illegal arrest and violence resulted in popular opposition which forced Martelly to let Belizaire go free.

In early February 2012, just before carnival, Martelly marched with a band in the streets and then decided to crash an international conference at the State University’s Ethnology School. Denied entrance, Martelly’s thugs attacked students, arresting and wounding several. University property was also damaged.

Martelly’s announcement in September 2011 that he intended to bring back the Haitian military was the first of many unpopular moves.

In early 2012 popular sentiment grew against the announced reinstatement of the military, along with opposition to forced evictions of earthquake survivors in refugee camps. In the community of Jalouzi, impoverished people who had been living in the neighborhood for generations were given notice to leave in order to create a more pristine view for a new luxury hotel. Opposition to bulldozing of these residents led to a number of demonstrations between May and July of 2012.

Also in July 2012, veteran activists with MOLEGHAF (Movement for Liberty and Equality by Haitians for Fraternity), an organization spearheading Port-au-Prince demonstrations, were arrested on dubious charges. One of the activists was subsequently transferred to the extremely overcrowded and inhumane national penitentiary.

Martelly compounded these insults to free speech with his behavior toward reporters. In a September 2012 report, the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti documented “intimidation, threats, destruction of their media equipment and retaliation by President Martelly and his administration against progressive journalists for critical reporting, which has created an atmosphere of fear and a chilling effect on journalists’ freedom of expression.”

Haitians have been on the march to show their opposition to current President Martelly and their support for former President Aristide.

When travelling, which he does often, Martelly’s entourage receives an outrageous per diem from the Haitian government. According to Sen. Moise Jean-Charles, Martelly gets $20,000 a day, his wife $10,000 a day, his children $7,500 and others in his inner circle get $4,000 daily.

Questionable new taxes have also fed controversy. A $1.50 tax on money transfers and a 5 cent per minute tax on phone calls to Haiti are alleged to support education, but the poor majority continue to face unaffordable school fees and critics say no money from this tax has gone to schools. Moreover, Haitian teachers have been marching to demand back pay. Martelly’s new taxes were not ratified by or presented to Haiti’s Parliament, making them illegal. Critics also charge that these funds are being managed by a firm owned by Martelly and his close associate, Haitian Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe.

Combined with popular outrage at Martelly’s proposed changes to the Haitian consitution and the oppressive cost of living, strikes and other actions spread throughout Haiti in September and October of this year. On Sept. 30, the anniversary of the 1991 coup d’etat against democratically elected President Aristide, large crowds took to the streets in protest against Martelly’s policies and his support of that coup.

On Oct. 10, Haiti Liberte reported, “Large crowds are now calling on President Martelly to step down, accusing his government of embezzlement, waste, corruption, nepotism, drug trafficking, lying, bluffing and failure to keep its promises.” Cap Haitien, Gonaives, Nippes, Jeremie, Les Cayes, Petit Goave, Trou-du-Nord, Fort-Liberte, Belladere and Port-au-Prince all experienced anti-Martelly demonstrations, some swelling to thousands of protesters, in early October.

One such action occurred Oct. 4 in Petit Goave, when President Martelly inaugurated 1 km of road funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). Martelly’s security guards clubbed protestors, burned motorcycles and fired tear gas, which killed an octogenarian Haitian.

Haiti Liberte reported, “Large crowds are now calling on President Martelly to step down, accusing his government of embezzlement, waste, corruption, nepotism, drug trafficking, lying, bluffing and failure to keep its promises.”

More recently, in reaction to the government’s lackluster aid after widespread damage from Hurricane Sandy, activists in Grand Goave barricaded roads to show their outrage. The Movement for Liberty and Equality by Haitians for Fraternity has been holding weekly demonstrations for social justice in front of the Ministry of Social Affairs.

On Thursday, Nov.8, that group joined four other grassroots organizations – Platform de Employees des Enterprises Publique, Fanm Geto Leve, Rezistans Neg Geto and Debats Jeunes – in staging a mass protest against the Martelly government. The demonstration brought thousands into the streets of Port-au-Prince.

Protestors demanded an end to waste and corruption, rehiring of public employees sacked through privatization of state run enterprises, and “aba gran gou woz” or “down with pink hunger’’ – pink being the color of Martelly’s political party, hunger being the chronic state of Haiti’s masses. The protesters united in marching against the entire neoliberal agenda, which Haitians have been calling “the death plan” since the late 1980s.

While anti-Martelly demonstrations have rocked Haiti, right wing pressure on human rights activists has escalated.

Mario Joseph heads the International Lawyers Office (Bureau des Avocats Internationaux) in Haiti.

An Amnesty International alert called Joseph “a prominent human rights lawyer who is involved in sensitive judicial cases such as proceedings against former dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier, complaints against the U.N. for their alleged involvement in spreading the cholera epidemic in Haiti, and cases of forced evictions of people made homeless after the earthquake.” The Amnesty report continues, “As head of the International Lawyers Office (Bureau des Avocats Internationaux), he addressed the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights last July, requesting to visit Haiti to investigate human rights violations.”

When a Haitian judge dismissed political violence charges against Jean-Claude Duvalier on Jan. 30, 2012, Attorney Joseph held a press conference denouncing the judge’s order as legally baseless and politically motivated. After the press conference, which was attended by many journalists and widely reported in Haitian media, Joseph received regular violent threats on his telephone.

The caller never gave identifying information, and always called from lines that could not be traced. The caller said, “We are going to kill you,” “We are going to put a bullet in you,” “We are going to burn down the BAI office” or similar threats.

While anti-Martelly demonstrations have rocked Haiti, right wing pressure on human rights activists has escalated.

Joseph is now the leading lawyer for victims in the prosecution of Duvalier. The Duvalier regime killed or imprisoned tens of thousands of political opponents, while stealing hundreds of millions of dollars designated for development of Haiti’s infrastructure and economy. When Duvalier returned to Haiti in January 2011, Joseph began representing victims of Duvalier’s bloody regime and working with international human rights groups to develop international support for the prosecution.

Duvalier still has many supporters in Haiti, some of whom are armed and have a history of killing political opponents. Many Duvalier victims contacted by Joseph and his colleagues, even some living in the U.S., refuse to testify out of fear of retaliation. In September, a group of the former dictator’s supporters and lawyers closed down a press conference in Port-au-Prince, where Joseph’s clients and other Duvalier victims were scheduled to speak in support of an Amnesty International report calling for Duvalier’s prosecution.

Saint Juste and Michel are, with Joseph, among the most outspoken critics of the Martelly administration. They have also been targets of death threats at their homes and offices.

On Oct. 17, Michel, representing 77 grassroots organizations, wrote to the U.N. peacekeeping head, Mariano Fernandez, denouncing the presence of the U.N. mission in Haiti. The letter read that the 1987 Constitution has been put on hold “because the presence of U.N. troops is a hindrance to its application.”

Michel and Saint Juste recently traveled to Washington to describe the situation in Haiti to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.

Haitian human rights attorneys Newton Saint Juste and Andre Michel testify in the U.S. to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in October.

Saint Juste and Michel have been key figures in attacking alleged schemes by which Martelly set up his wife and son as head of projects syphoning off large amounts of state monies and over which the Haitian Senate has no jurisdiction. Saint Juste has sued the Martelly family, saying they are wasting government money without any accountability.

Pierre Labossiere of the Haiti Action Committee told me: “Our sisters and brothers in Haiti need international solidarity as they stand up to continued attacks on popular democracy. The Martelly regime has shown what it is about, and, as the Occupy Movement would put it, the 99 percent in Haiti have had enough of the 1 percent elites around Martelly.” Labossiere urged concerned readers to stay in touch via www.haitisolidarity.net.

Ben Terrall is a San Francisco writer who works with the Haiti Action Committee. He can be reached at bterrall@gmail.com.

Stop the attacks on attorney Mario Joseph and other human rights advocates in Haiti

by the Haiti Action Committee

The Haiti Action Committee denounces the attempts to silence and threaten Mario Joseph, Newton Saint Juste and Andre Michel, three Haitian attorneys who have been outspoken in their defense of human rights.

Mr. Joseph, Mr. Saint Juste and Mr. Michel have been targeted for arrest by the Minister of Justice in Haiti and have received numerous death threats at their homes and offices. We fear for their safety.

As Haitians stand up to demand food, decent housing and an end to the inhumane conditions within the tent cities still dominating the landscape of Port-au-Prince, the government’s response has been repression and threats.

As Haitian children face the prospect of losing a year of school while public funds are diverted to support the extravagant lifestyle of the president and his family, the government responds by trying to silence opposition. And when human rights attorneys defend the right to peaceful protest, they are faced with death threats and government attack.

The United States government and the United Nations occupying force (MINUSTAH) bear great responsibility for this situation. Both the U.N. and the U.S. State Department put their weight behind a farcical, illegitimate electoral process that propelled Martelly into the presidency while denying the right to participate of Fanmi Lavalas, the most popular political party in Haiti. Now we see the bitter fruit of that undemocratic process.

Mr. Joseph, Mr. Saint Juste and Mr. Michel have been targeted for arrest by the Minister of Justice in Haiti and have received numerous death threats at their homes and offices. We fear for their safety.

The Haiti Action Committee stands with attorneys Mario Joseph, Newton Saint Juste and Andre Michel at this critical moment. We urge you to do the same.

Please send letters or emails to the following Haitian authorities:

1. Minister of Justice and Public Security (Ministre de la Justice et de la Securité Publique) Jean Renel Sanon, 18 Avenue Charles Summer, Port-au-Prince, Haïti, secretariat.mjsp@yahoo.com
2. Chief Prosecutor of Port-au-Prince (Commissaire du Gouvernement de Port-au Prince) Me Gerald Norguaisse, Parquet du Tribunal de Première Instance de Port-au-Prince, Palais de Justice, Boulevard Harry Truman, Port-au-Prince, Haïti, parquetpap@yahoo.fr

Please send a copy of your email or letter to Haiti Action Committee at action.haiti@gmail.com.

This story first appeared on Haiti Solidarity.

On top of an earthquake nearly two years ago that killed over 300,000 and brought in its wake a new U.S. effort to colonize Haitians, who won their freedom in the world's only successful slave rebellion, now Haiti must cope with Hurricane Sandy's floods and its destruction of 70 percent of their crops.

At the same time, while all our attention is focused on New York, there are a few things to keep in mind: First New York has vast resources and lots of contingency plans. The eyes of the world are upon her and thus, as bad as Sandy has been, the path to recovery will be certain and it will be swift.

What many of us, including folks in New York, may want to do is note that natural disasters know no boundaries and so our collective attention should be on all those who have been impacted by Hurricane Sandy.

Her fierce winds and waves wreaked havoc in Haiti, which was already beleaguered with hundreds of thousands of folks still living in tents two years after the 7.5 earthquake. Sandy wreaked havoc in Cuba, Dominican Republic, Jamaica and throughout the Caribbean. More than 60 people have been killed in those neighboring countries. Haiti has lost her crops. Over 200,000 are left homeless with far fewer resources to rescue and restore what was lost.

An example of Haitians making a way out of no way, these little ones in Port au Prince are safe and dry despite their flooded home. – Photo: AP

I hope the rest of us recognize the humanity in others beyond our borders and the narrow framing of corporate news outlets. We can’t say we recovered until the folks south of us have recovered. All lives are precious, not just ours in the U.S.

Listen to Davey D on Hard Knock Radio Monday-Friday at 4 p.m. and his Morning Mix show every Tuesday at 8 a.m. on KPFA 94.1 FM or kpfa.org. He can be reached at mrdaveyd@aol.com. Visit his website, daveyd.com, and his blog, Davey D’s Hip Hop Corner, where this story first appeared.

by Gloria La Riva

A triumphant Hugo Chávez speaks during a press conference with a portrait of independence hero Simón Bolívar in the background. – Photo: Miguel Gutierrez, EPA

Of the 80.91 percent of registered voters who went to the polls, 7,444,082 people voted for Chávez and 6,151,154 people voted for Capriles.

Since Hugo Chávez’ first election in 1998, he has led a pro-socialist revolutionary process that has made remarkable gains for the majority of Venezuelans.

Massive support could be seen in a huge rally two days prior to election day, on Friday, Oct. 5, with 3 million people dressed in bright red, who packed seven main avenues of the capital.

Before Chávez’s presidency, Venezuela – with one of the highest oil and natural gas reserves in the world – suffered from deep poverty affecting at least 66 percent of the population. Despite enormous natural and industrial wealth, the two dominant capitalist parties, Copei and Acción Democrática, ran government to benefit both the Venezuelan elite and U.S. and British oil companies.

In 1989, then-president Carlos Andrés Pérez ordered the National Guard and army to repress a mass uprising against sudden fuel and food price hikes, massacring up to 3,000 people in an attack known as “the Caracazo.” Washington did not condemn this massacre by Pérez, nor criticize its “democratic ally” for human rights abuses.

Hundreds of thousands of red-clad supporters rallied for Chávez on Oct. 3, two days before the election. – Photo: Rodrigo Abd, AP

The best Venezuela in 200 years

Speaking in the evening before a gigantic multitude of supporters who gathered at the Miraflores presidential palace after the official vote call, Chávez spoke to thank the people, saying: “We dedicate this victory to the women, the students, the workers, the peasants, the Indigenous peoples of our land, to the intellectuals … It is everyone’s victory.

“The next period of government won’t begin Jan. 10 [inauguration day]; the new cycle of the Bolivarian government begins today. We have to do things better, more efficiently, to meet the needs of the people. I repeat, I will be a better president each day.”

He twice made a call to the opposition to join in “national unity and to work for national peace … to not lend themselves to the destabilizing maneuvers that some were carrying out.”

To roaring cheers, Chávez said, “This is the best Venezuela we have had in 200 years. Never before did we have a Venezuela that we have today from a moral, social, political economic and cultural point of view.”

Victory for all Latin America

Messages of congratulations were sent immediately by presidents Rafael Correa of Ecuador, Evo Morales of Bolivia, Cristina Fernández of Argentina and Raúl Castro of Cuba, as soon as the official tally came in.

These leaders acknowledge the enormous importance for the whole continent. Morales said, “It is not only the triumph of the Venezuelan people; it is the triumph of the countries of ALBA (Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas), composed of Antigua and Barbuda, Bolivia, Cuba, Dominica, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Venezuela) and Latin America.”

Castro said: “On behalf of the government and people of Cuba, I congratulate you for this historic triumph, which shows the strength of the Bolivarian Revolution and its unquestionable popular support. … I reiterate to you our unbreakable solidarity and support.”

The vote percentage for Chávez in 1998 was 56.2 percent, 59.76 percent in 2000, and 63 percent when he was re-elected in 2006. After a nationwide referendum in February 2009, the two-term limit for president was eliminated.

But more important than Chávez’ percentage of votes is the radical economic and social changes that have come about under what his supporters call the “Bolivarian Revolution.”

Chávez transforms Venezuela with Cuba and ALBA

The unique development of Venezuela’s new society began with the inspiration that Chávez imparted, as he called for an end to the old COPEI-Acción Democrátic alliance that only made the rich richer and the poor poorer.

Youth from poor communities turned out in force for their president at the huge pre-election rally Oct. 3. – Photo: Rodrigo Abd, AP

The April 2002 fascist coup against Chávez was hatched and financed in Washington. But hundreds of thousands of people poured into the streets, surrounded the Presidential Palace and backed military forces loyal to Chávez.

Never before in Latin America had a president been restored by the people, and so dramatically!

The next blow was the oil sabotage by pro-imperialist management. Heroic efforts restored Venezuela’s oil industry.

Cuba then began to send, in April 2003, what is now more than 15,000 medical doctors to provide free health care to the people. Thousands of teachers were also sent, and soon made Venezuela the second country in the continent to wipe out illiteracy.

U.S. imperialism’s plans are not over

This is not the Latin America of yesterday, when U.S. imperialism was able to expel Cuba from the Organization of American States, invade Dominican Republic in 1965, overthrow Salvador Allende in 1973, defeat the Nicaraguan Revolution and terrorize the people of El Salvador.

Now there is a powerful anti-imperialist alliance of countries that have supported each other’s social development, sharing resources and building solidarity.

In previous elections during Chávez’s presidency, the right-wing opposition has received U.S. advice to abstain, to try to de-legitimize the elections. But that didn’t work.

This time the right-wing opposition tried to form a united coalition with MUD and present Capriles as a youthful opponent to Chávez.

Venezuela’s government and pro-Chávez masses face major challenges. The economic system is still capitalist, even though the oil and other industries are nationalized. The elite and large middle class have not abandoned Venezuela for Miami, like the Cuban capitalists after Batista’s overthrow.

Chávez and the Unified Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) are fighting to build socialism and extend solidarity to others in struggle worldwide. We in the Party for Socialism and Liberation fully support our sisters and brothers of Venezuela in their heroic struggle and for Chávez’s inspiring victory.

Gloria La Riva is U.S. coordinator for the National Committee to Free the Cuban Five and was the 2008 presidential candidate of the Party for Socialism and Liberation. This story first appeared on LiberationNews.org.

Danny Glover congratulates Venezuelans on elections: ‘Job well done’

by Olivia Burlingame Goumbri

Danny Glover, representing the U.S. as an international accompanier during the Venezuelan presidential election on Sunday, Oct. 7, is interviewed by the press. – Photo: U.S. Embassy of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela

“Both sides worked hard,” Glover said. “Any electoral process that creates so much transparency, so much engagement, is important for the Venezuelan people first. That means simply that they have faith that their vote, their voice, means something.”

Also present to witness the voting was James Early, a board member of the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) in Washington, D.C. According to Early, “Representatives of both candidates … in every instance have said that the process and procedures for voting are transparent and give them the utmost confidence that their choice for president will be cast with understanding, ease and without fear of fraud.”

Early said his activities included “attending presidential campaign rallies of both candidates, visiting polling sites to see and hear explanations of the voting process and the up-to-date automated voting machines and talking directly to residential voluntary election representatives of both candidates.”

Other U.S. accompaniers included representatives from the National Lawyers Guild, Rainbow Push Coalition, Trans Africa Forum and former Massachusetts Congressman William Delahunt.

Olivia Burlingame Goumbri is social outreach adviser for the Embassy of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, 1099 30th St., NW, Washington, D.C. 20007, (202) 342-6854, www.venezuela-us.org, where this story first appeared.

Update Sept. 30, 2012: For the past two weeks, massive demonstrations have rocked Haiti, protesting constitutional changes, the corruption of the Martelly government and the outrageous cost of living – a general strike in Les Cayes and demonstrations in Cap Haitien Sept. 21 and 27, in Gonaives Sept. 24 and on Sunday, Sept. 30, to commemorate the anniversary of the 1991 coup that overthrew the first Aristide administration, in Port-au-Prince and in cities large and small throughout Haiti.

Thousands of Haitians marched in Gonaives on Sunday, Sept. 30, in yet another demonstration against Martelly. This march commemorated the 21st anniversary of the Sept. 30, 1991, military coup d’état in Haiti against the Lavalas government of President Aristide. Gonaives, a city of 300,000 in northern Haiti, is known as Haiti’s City of Independence because it was there that Jean-Jacques Dessalines declared Haiti independent from France on Jan. 1, 1804. Haitians had won the world’s only successful slave rebellion, and their descendants demonstrate the same spirit today. Some of the marchers displayed small red cards; those are the language of soccer (called football in most of the world outside the U.S.): A yellow card is a warning, but when the referee hands a player a red card, he’s out of the game. The marchers are giving Martelly a red card.

Its goal was to protect the democratic gains of the movement that rose up against Duvalier, to prevent a powerful executive from ever gaining dictatorial control again, and to overturn some of the most repressive Duvalier era laws. Now, however, the democratic and participatory spirit of the 1987 Constitution has been subverted by the illegitimate President Michel Martelly, who announced new amendments on June 12, 2012, which concentrate executive power and herald the return of death squad Duvalierism to Haiti.

Martelly took office on May 14, 2011, in a flagrantly undemocratic (s)election process, in which Haiti’s largest and most popular party, former President Aristide’s Fanmi Lavalas, was not allowed to participate. The Provisional Electoral Council announced after the first round of voting that Martelly had finished third, thus not eligible for the run-off, but the OAS (Organization of American States), in a much criticized move, sent a commission to rule that he really finished second.

Hillary Clinton reinforced this decision when she flew to Haiti at the height of the Egyptian revolution to demand that Martelly be in the run-off. An anonymous supporter in Miami paid $6 million to the Spanish public relations firm Sola and Associates – who ran the Calderón campaign in Mexico and worked on John McCain’s – to manage the Martelly campaign, an enormous amount of money in Haiti.

The democratic and participatory spirit of the 1987 Constitution has been subverted by the illegitimate President Michel Martelly, who announced new amendments on June 12, 2012, which concentrate executive power and herald the return of death squad Duvalierism to Haiti.

Martelly won this fraudulent “runoff” with a voter turnout even lower than the first round’s 22.8 percent. The 716,989 votes cast for Martelly constitute only 15 percent of Haiti’s 4.7 million registered voters, according to the Congressional Research Service.

Martelly was a member of the Duvalier family’s death squad, the tonton macoutes, when he was 15 and a cadet in the former Haitian military academy as a youth. He supported both coups against President Aristide in 1991 and 2004 and was rumored to have accompanied the FRAPH death squads on their nightly raids after the first coup. A former musician, Martelly constantly demeaned and insulted Aristide in his stage performances.

Martelly welcomed the return of Duvalier to Haiti in January 2011. He socializes with him and has been openly photographed in his presence. He has not pursued any of the legal charges against Duvalier, and now his administration is beginning to look more and more like the despised Duvalier dictatorship. Martelly has brought many Duvalierists and members of Duvalierist families into his government in a variety of roles, including departmental Délégates (representatives of the president to the departments). Duvalier’s son is a close advisor.

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton meets privately with future Haiti President Michel Martelly a month before the March 20, 2011, “runoff” presidential election – a fraudulent election because of the exclusion of Lavalas, Haiti’s largest political party by far, and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s insistence on the inclusion of Martelly even though he had placed third in the primary election. – Photo: Allison Shelley, Getty Images South America

When previous President Preval left office, he and the parliament rushed through amendments, which were published the day before Preval’s term ended. However, both chambers of Parliament immediately protested that the published changes did not correspond to the language they had actually approved, and the distribution of Le Moniteur was suspended.

Martelly took office facing this crisis and after a few weeks published a decree suspending the amendments. He then established a commission to ascertain what had happened and make recommendations. All original written and audio-visual transcripts from the two-day debates in the National Assembly had disappeared – with no investigation and no one held accountable. The commission submitted its report to Martelly at the same time various sectors of Haitian society tried to mobilize against this whole process, warning Martelly of the anti-constitutionality of such a “revised” amendment process.

The new amendments published by Martelly ignore the amendment procedures mandated in 1987. They centralize power in the executive and revive several repressive and undemocratic Duvalierist period laws.

Secretary of State Clinton, the U.N., and the U.S., French and Canadian ambassadors now demand Martelly publish the amendments, as they revise the process for establishing a permanent Electoral Council, which these governments want before funding future elections or providing any more financial aid. When Martelly published the new amendments, for so called “material errors” made during the original publication a year ago, the president of the Senate once again claimed they are not what was voted on in 2011.

Following are some of the changes the Martelly amendments make to the 1987 Constitution:

The method of choosing a Permanent Electoral Council:

The 1987 Constitution allowed for the selection of the Electoral Council at a grassroots level, with nominations coming from equivalents of U.S. county and state level representatives. This grassroots participation has never been put into practice, however, and the selection has come from above, with limited diversity, to create Provisional Electoral Councils. The new Constitution changes this process so that the president (Martelly) the Supreme Court (with many members chosen by Martelly) and the legislature (mostly bought off) select three members each for a Permanent Electoral Council, completely undermining grassroots participation and centralizing control from above.

This top down selection helps guarantee “demonstration elections,” which are a public relations instrument to create the illusion of democracy and provide a civilian face to the U.N. occupation that has been in place since 2004. (See http://sfbayview.com/2010/haitis-election-circus-continues-and-wyclef-jean-wont-take-no-for-an-answer/.) They act as a camouflage for the ongoing quest of the U.S., France and Canada to undermine and defeat Haiti’s grassroots movement.

The method of choosing the prime minister, presidential succession and the budget:

The 1987 Constitution requires Parliament to ratify the president’s choice for prime minister. The new amendments allow the president to appoint the prime minister after merely “consulting” the heads of the two chambers of Parliament.

The 1987 Constitution provides for the president of the Haitian Supreme Court to assume the presidency and organize new elections in all cases of “presidential vacancy.” The new amendments make the prime minister the provisional president, without any need for parliamentary ratification, and require the provisional president to organize new elections within four months.

The 1987 Constitution requires that a retiring president skip four years before running for president again, so there is no immediate succession. The new amendments stipulate that the four months the prime minister serves as interim president count as a full term, thus a president such as Martelly could resign during the fourth year in office, transfer the presidency to the prime minister he or she has appointed, then run again when the term ends without waiting four years, increasing the threat of a tyrant gaining dictatorial power.

The 1987 Constitution requires the president to submit a detailed – line item – annual budget and the previous year’s expenditures report for parliamentary ratification, and gives Parliament the power to refuse to legislate on any matter until these financial requirements are adequately filed by the executive. The new amendments provide that a “general budget” and a “general expenditures report” will suffice, thus limiting parliamentary oversight of the budget.

The return of Duvalier era laws:

The new amendments abrogate Article 297 of the 1987 Constitution, which specifically addressed the most egregious violations of human rights under Duvalier:

“1987 Constitution, Article 297:

“All laws, all decree laws, all decrees arbitrarily limiting the basic rights and liberties of citizens, in particular:

“a. The decree law of Sept. 5, 1935, on superstitious beliefs (thereby banning Vodun once again);

“b. The law of Aug. 2, 1977, establishing the Court of State Security (Tribunal de la Sureté de l’État);

“c. The law of July 28, 1975, placing the lands of the Artibonite Valley in a special status (thereby negating the fledging national efforts at agrarian reform);

“d. The law of April 29, 1969, condemning all imported doctrines (thereby attacking freedom of thought and expression, political association of freedom of association);

“Are and shall remain repealed.”

Violation of these new laws can result in even the DEATH PENALTY. The 1987 Haitian Constitution had eliminated the death penalty.

Some of the marchers in Gonaives Sept. 30 displayed small red cards; those are the language of soccer (called football in most of the world outside the U.S.): A yellow card is a warning, but when the referee hands a player a red card, he’s out of the game. The marchers are giving Martelly a red card.

To confuse matters further, Congress voted and the Martelly government published these amendments only in French. The 1987 Constitution recognized Haitian Kreyol as an official language, and Parliament approved both French and Kreyol versions of the 1987 Constitution. Many Haitians now feel there exist two contradictory constitutions if these amendments were to stand.

There is huge opposition in Haiti to these new amendments, and they are much discussed in the media, although little information has reached the U.S. public. Jean-Sébastien Roy, whose father helped write the 1987 Constitution, says that those who oppose the amendments are asking Martelly again make a decree to suspend the June 12 amendments.

If this is not done during the next 12-18 months they will call for a new constitutional process to amend the 1987 Constitution and reconcile the two different versions. He says leaders of grassroots organizations throughout Haiti are beginning to network on this issue.

The danger of these amendments becomes more clear when understood in the context of Martelly’s campaign promise to restore the hated Haitian army, disbanded by Aristide before he left office in 1995 in one of the most popular actions of his administration. Since Martelly became president, former army personnel have occupied their former bases and are seen wearing new uniforms and armed with new weapons.

Under the command of a president who can control the electoral process, name their successor and administer the death penalty to those who protest, the restoration of the army strikes terror in most Haitians and brings back memories of a past they thought they had buried 26 years ago.

Charlie Hinton is a member of the Haiti Action Committee, P.O. Box 2040, Berkeley CA 94702, www.haitisolidarity.net/. He may be reached at ch_lifewish@yahoo.com. He would like to thank Jean-Sébastien Roy, a Haitian whose father helped write the 1987 Constitution, for much of the information for this story. He was interviewed on KPFA’s Flashpoints.