+1

No one could say that how he was elected was a corrupt election. Beside anyone have the right to throw the choice of VENEZUELIANS PEOPLE. It's not the US choice,Dominican choici our French choice.

Rights group: Dozens of protesters in prison

By FABIOLA SANCHEZ (AP) – 19 hours ago

CARACAS, Venezuela — Over 2,000 opponents of President Hugo Chavez have gone to trial over the last seven years for crimes stemming from their participation in protests and dozens are currently in prison, a local human rights organization said Wednesday.

Alfredo Romero, a representative of the Venezuelan Penal Forum, calls the prosecution of opposition-sided protesters between 2002 and 2009 "political persecution." The rights organization has brought many of the cases to the Netherlands-based International Criminal Court, he said.

Over 300 of those arrested during that period were jailed, and 40 remain in prison, Romero said. Some have not been sentenced.

Attorney General Luisa Ortega denies prosecutors are singling out Chavez foes for prosecution, saying the those who have been arrested committed crimes such as disturbing the peace or assaulting police officers.

Romero countered that prosecutors are using "a regular judicial process, but with the objective of persecution."

The case against university student leader Julio Rivas clearly illustrates the crack down on dissidents, he said.

After his arrest last week, Rivas was charged with "inciting civil war" and "public disorder." Prosecutors are using as evidence video footage showing a person — allegedly Rivas — wearing a gas mask and using a sling shot to shoot objects at police officers during an Aug. 22 opposition protest in downtown Caracas.

Rivas was transferred on Sept. 14 to Yare Prison — a violent lockup on the outskirts of Caracas.

add fidel and raul to the list!

"But the government's channeling of oil income into government-run factories has done little for the manufacturing sector, and production declines played a big part in the country's 2.4% economic contraction in the second quarter."

A 2.4% economic contraction should be a cause for concern anywhere but to blame it on government policies alone doesn't jive with the 2.8% economic contraction that the IMF is forecasting for the ENTIRE global economy in 2009. In fact, the US economy contracted by 3.8% in the fourth quarter of 2008. As such, using the 2.4% figure as a leg to stand on to denounce Chavez's policies is more than disingenuous. Such contractions are occuring across the world under all forms of government. That's why it's called a GLOBAL recession.

I am not sure if this report is accurate ..I have numerous friends from Venezuela whom are now living in Costa Rica who were told to leave and not to return after they were involved in protest marches relating to the seizure of the oil companies. I am told most were detained and then told to leave the country .
However , this week I am playing here in la Romana in a golf tournament and there are many players from Venezuela and many are planning to leave their home land after having got as much capital out as they can because they do not know where the axe will fall next ..I think the exodus of brains and money will be a great problem for Venezuela for many years. Luckily they still produce the most beautiful women in the universe

Hunger Strikes Expose Hugo Chávez's Myths



One of Venezuela's most infamous prisons is located in the state of Miranda, southeast of Caracas. There, the Yare III facility, which occasionally garners headlines following one of its frequent deadly riots, is part of a prison system which is well known as one of the worst in Latin America, with 498 violent deaths in 2008.

Given the reputation of Yare III, it is understandable why there was widespread public outrage when the Venezuelan authorities decided to send the 22-year-old university student Julio César Rivas, who has never committed a crime in his life, right into the general population of hardened criminals. His only crime was participating in an August 27th protest against President Chávez's draconian Education Law, where he was arrested and later charged with, among other inventions, attempting to incite civil war.

The use of the justice system to punish César Rivas in such a public and disproportionate way is seen by many in the opposition as part and parcel of a new state policy to criminalize dissent. The message being sent to the youth of Venezuela, the majority of whom reject the president but operate outside the formal network of political parties, is that they can do anything to anybody -- and that no human rights oor mercy will stand in their way.

The response from fellow student leaders has been dramatic. Outside the Caracas headquarters of the Organization of American States (OAS), an impromptu tent city of protesters was established (filled with mattresses and banners like a refugee camp), where last Friday they initiated a mass hunger strike to demand his release, as well as a visit from a special commission of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) of the OAS to investigate the situation of political prisoners in Venezuela.

On Sunday night they were joined in solidarity by some of Venezuela's high profile political prisoners, many of whom are confined to the "Helicoide" in the center of Caracas, a building once designed to be a shopping mall, but which now houses the headquarters of Venezuela's much feared secret police, the DISIP. Eligio Cedeño, one of the hunger strikers and a political prisoner whom I represent, has been locked up there on false charges without a complete trial or conviction for more than two and a half years.

Very few could have predicted that the hunger strike would put so much pressure on the Chávez administration - even fewer foresaw the important victory they would obtain. On Tuesday, Julio César Rivas was finally able to leave the Yare prison unharmed on conditional release (now he will have to appear in person before a judge every 30 days, and is unable to leave the country, a repressive condition applied to hundreds of students). However the strike itself has continued, and with even greater numbers, until the IACHR responds to their requests for a delegation.

It is a rare thing to see so much government backpedaling. Gabriela Ramírez, the ironically state-appointed "People's Defender," has issued statements denying that there exists an "alleged State policy to deprive people of their liberty who exercise their right to protest." The attorney general Luisa Ortega Díaz is similarly denying any irregularities over the mass arrests of protesters, despite the fact that earlier this year she pushed through stiffer laws to imprison anyone who "disturbs the peace" in showing their dissent with the government. It is very rare to see this government stray from its script and actually respond to its citizens.

So why have the students been so successful in getting under Chávez's skin? How have they been so effective in breaking through the noise of the sometimes repetitive and cacophonous complaints of the relatively unorganized opposition? The answer, at least in part, is because they have honed in specifically on the government's weakest and most vulnerable points - the myths of progressive policies and social inclusion. And they have done so in a way that the clumsy and faux-pas prone opposition has often been missing.

In a new article published by the political scientist Javier Corrales in Washington Quarterly, it is argued that Chávez has created an intimidating illusion of strong social programs, which in many minds seem to trump all other concerns or abuses of citizens' rights. Few other countries in the region can stand up for human rights in Venezuela, Corrales writes, because "they fear that picking a fight with the patron-saint of the poor will enervate radical left-wingers at home, potentially destabilizing their governments. Chávez has crafted a coalition of the silent, even among those he annoys, and that is not a trivial victory."

But the existence of more than 50 hunger striking students on the steps of the OAS headquarters blows the smoke off the myth that Chávez is still some sort of social democrat who cares about his people. The wider world was willing to ignore all the other aberrant signs that this regime is very different than what it claims to be, such as $2.2 billion in additional Russian arms, open cooperation with Iran on procuring uranium for their nuclear program, and building a deep friendship with the genocidal president of Sudan.

Throughout history it is shown that you can't be a revolutionary for very long without the support of the youth behind you, and what is happening in Venezuela this week is making this change painfully visible. It is something I noticed during my visit to the country earlier this year, when Chávez was boasting about giving the children of Venezuela "a good dose of the gas" to break up their demonstrations, and it has continued even further with the Education Law and the decision to throw an innocent 22-year-old deep to the wolves in a high-security prison. This is what separates a revolutionary from a caudillo.

The brave students on hunger strike have shown what can happen when Chávez goes too far, and the fact that they are having success is the best news they have had in years. Mr. Jose Miguel Insulza, Secretary General of the OAS, the ball is now in your court.

A plague of anti-Semitism
BY DANIEL S. MARIASCHIN
www.bnaibrith.org

The world seems to be ignoring a dangerous partnership that threatens international peace and stability -- the Iran-Venezuela pairing that is having great success exporting its authoritarian model throughout Latin America.

The latest example of how the duo is permeating the region with hate comes from David Romero, the director of Radio Globo of Honduras and a staunch supporter of deposed President Manuel Zelaya. Romero used these shocking words on September 25:

``There are times when I ask myself if Hitler was or [was] not correct in finishing with that race with the famous Holocaust. If there are people that do damage in this country, they are Jewish, the Israelis.

``After what I have learned, I ask myself why, why didn't we let Hitler carry out his historic mission? Forgive me for the grotesque expression. But I ask myself after I have realized this and many other things. I believe it should have been fair and valid to let Hitler finish his historic vision.''

Romero's shameful comments came soon after Zelaya made a public statement that he was being subjected to mind-altering gas and radiation and that ``Israeli mercenaries'' were planning to assassinate him.

In the immediate aftermath of Zelaya's June 28 removal from office, conspiracy theories stating that Israel was involved started to proliferate in Honduras, along with false accusations that Israel had recognized the de facto government of Roberto Micheletti.

In an open letter, Zelaya did attempt to distance himself from Romero's clearly anti-Semitic statements. But the language used by Zelaya's followers and supporters often shrieks of raw anti-Semitism, and the small local Jewish community is understandably alarmed at the prevalence of anti-Semitic graffiti.

What explains this unfortunate phenomenon in Honduras? These episodes cannot be analyzed without taking into account the influence of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez in the region. The Chávez government has created a hostile atmosphere for Jews in Venezuela. Chávez and his supporters often refer to Israel as the ``murderous'' arm of the United States and compare Israelis to Nazis -- a comparison so absurd and grotesque that it cannot withstand any rational analysis.

The growing economic, financial and military ties between Chávez and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad explain this language.

As relations between Venezuela and Iran grow, the anti-Israel message delivered from Caracas to the region becomes stronger. The proliferation of conspiracy theories linking the state of Israel and the Jewish community to Zelaya's ousting are extremely alarming, especially given the political instability in the country and the potential for violence that the situation generates.

And it is not just the Venezuela-Iran connection that needs to be carefully watched. Chávez has also courted Libya and Syria, among other dangerous nations. Chávez is not only introducing Iran in the region but other rogue dictatorships as well, all of them anti-Israel and anti-Semitic.

Democratic, responsible nations in the Americas should all toil within the framework of regional organizations like the Organization of American States (OAS) and the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) to protect the democratic principles that governments within the hemisphere have worked so hard to achieve.

A potentially encouraging development took place recently: OAS Secretary General Jose Miguel Insulza called on the Venezuelan government to allow a visit from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR). Even though it is highly unlikely that Chávez will allow the commission to visit Venezuela (according to its statute, the IACHR can only visit a country at the invitation of the government in question), the secretary general's reaction could be a sign that the truly democratic nations in Latin America are finally getting serious about combating the authoritarian forces that plague the region. It's not much to cling to right now, but it's a start.

Miami Herald Makes Up Story On Zelaya...

Wayne Madsen
Online Journal
Tuesday, Sept 29th, 2009

WMR usually does not comment on propaganda masked as news emitted daily by the corporate media, but the September 24 report in the Miami Herald deserves to be panned for its flagrant attempt to portray ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya as a foolish “conspiracy theorist.”

After sneaking back into Honduras with the help of loyal elements in the Honduran military, Zelaya has been besieged by Honduran police and military forces inside the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa. The Honduran junta has sporadically cut off electricity, water, and food supplies to the embassy, a violation of international law on the inviolability of diplomatic missions.

The Herald reported on a telephone interview with Zelaya and said the Honduran leader said he was being subjected to “high-frequency radiation” from Israeli mercenaries who are supporting the Honduran junta. The paper also reported that Zelaya said that the Israelis were using “mind-altering” gas and radiation. In actuality, that is not what Zelaya stated in his conversation on September 24 with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who was attending the UN General Assembly session in New York. Chavez said he spoke to Zelaya by phone at 1:00 pm EDT and the Honduran leader said a piece of equipment on the rooftop of a neighboring home had been recovered and brought into the embassy by Zelaya loyalists. When Zelaya checked the gear’s serial number on the Internet, it turned out the equipment was a cell phone jamming device manufactured in Israel.

Miami Herald makes up story on Zelaya, Washington Post and New York Times spread it 230909banner1

What Zelaya stated to Chavez and presumably to the Miami Herald is that the junta and its Israeli private security company advisers were jamming the cell phones of those holed up inside the embassy. Zelaya never spoke of radiation death rays but that is the impression the Herald gave and it was quickly picked up by various neocon and Zionist-controlled media outlets, including the usual suspects that continuously debase this web publication, to describe Zelaya as an anti-Semitic lunatic. The same tactics by the neocon media have been used to mask propaganda as news in falsely reporting on comments and actions of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad, Libya’s leader Muammar Qaddafi, Bolivia’s President Evo Morales, and Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez. The neocon blogosphere and the George Soros-funded faux progressive outlets were all quick to claim that Zelaya’s “mental state” justified the military coup against him in June.

In a September 25 editorial, the Washington Post, controlled by neoconservative and pro-Israeli interests in the same fashion as the Miami Herald is controlled by right-wing Cuban exile interests, Latin American oligarchs, and Miami’s large Zionist Jewish community, deviously fed off the Herald’s unsubstantiated report on Zelaya’s comments by lending credence to the myth of Israeli “ray beams” and “poison gas.” The Post, echoing its co-ideologists at the Herald, wrote that Zelaya was “reduced to making hysterical accusations about being bombarded with radiation and toxic gases by ‘Israeli mercenaries.’” Zelaya and Chavez are constantly attacked by both papers while they hold up Colombia’s narco-terrorist President Alvaro Uribe as a shining example of democracy.

The New York Times also got into the act in a September 25 story in which it claimed Zelaya made his ”outrageous” statements about Israeli commandos planning to assassinate him and the Herald’s ”poison gas and radiation” canard in phone calls to the Radio Globo station in Honduras. However, the Herald’s contributing reporter told this editor in New York that Zelaya made his claims in two telephone interviews conducted exclusively with the Miami Herald. The reason for the difference between the Herald, Post, and Times reports is clear: the Zelaya statement is not true but a propaganda operation that resulted in different slants on the same concocted story about “poison gas and radiation.” El Pais of Spain also reported on an interview with Zelaya in which there was no claims made by Zelaya of mind-altering beams or poison gas.

The Herald also reported that Zelaya told them that he was being subjected to toxic gases. In fact, the Honduran military has used tear gas to disperse the crowds of Zelaya supporters outside the embassy grounds and the tear had wafted into the embassy through the windows and air conditioning system, resulting in breathing problems for Zelaya, the Brazilian diplomatic staff, and Zelaya’s family and supporters.

One of the Herald’s only true reports is from eyewitnesses outside the embassy who said that the Honduran military used a high-pitched sonic device on the embassy. Such sonic weapons have also been used by police and military forces against protesters at the G-20 summit in Pittsburgh.

It is also factual that an Israeli security company was hired by the coup leaders in June to train Honduran police how to handle pro-Zelaya protesters on the streets. The charge of Israeli involvement was made by Andres Pavon, the head of Honduras’s human rights committee. There are reports that the Israeli company operating on behalf of the coup leaders is Delta Security. Israeli military advisers have been in Honduras since the 1980s when they arrived in the country with the approval of then-US ambassador John Negroponte to train Nicaraguan contra guerrillas based in the country. The Israelis also trained Honduran military units, as well as paramilitary death squads. The Israeli Likud support for the Hondurans and contras earned the condemnation of Yitzhak Rabin, who would later become prime minister of Israel and the first Israeli leader to die from an assassin’s bullet — a Binyamin Netanyahu supporter’s bullet. Rabin told the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, ”What do we have with Honduras? , , , Israel’s military interference in Central America only complicates and damages her position, image, and her interests with the few friends she still has.”

Two Israeli companies — NetLine Communications Inc., headquartered on Menachem Begin Street in Tel Aviv, and Special Electronics Security Products — are leading manufacturers of cell phone jamming equipment used by police and military forces around the world. NetLine manufactures a remote-controlled cell phone jammer that jams all cell phone standards simultaneously, including GSM, CDMA, TDMA, and Nextel. There are reports that what was found on the roof of the building next to the Brazilian embassy was a C-Guard cell phone jammer manufactured by NetLine of Tel Aviv.

WMR can report that the Miami Herald story about Zelaya being subjected to “mind-altering” rays was the product of a New York-based Israeli propaganda network that acts in lockstep with the Israeli government on every occasion when Israel is caught involved in foreign adventurism and espionage. The Miami Herald, which employs a number of Spanish-speaking reporters, did not verify that Zelaya’s words were translated correctly from Spanish to English but the tactic being used against Zelaya is familiar Israeli propaganda. A Mossad front in Washington called the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) is well-known for mistranslating the comments of Arab leaders, as well as Iran’s Ahmadinejad and feeding the mistranslations to the corporate media, which avidly reports on the translations as factual news items.

Hola cibby still sourcing Al Jazeera I see

On Line Journal .....what rubbish from the far left