Does Venezuela have Political Prisoners?

Richard Blanco, a Caracas city administrator and an opposition party leader has been ordered to stay in prison by the Venezuelan court while waiting for his trail to begin. He is accused of hurting a police officer during a protest this August.

Relatives of Blanco and opposition leaders are saying that he is one of two-dozen political prisoners while Chavez denies that there are any political prisoners at all.

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Ahmadinejad-Chavez Relations Grow

Ahmadinejad visited Venezuela during his tour of South America aimed at strengthening ties with countries such as Brazil, Bolivia and Venezuela.

Upon meeting president Evo Morales in Bolivia, Morales and Ahmadinejad spoke about the right of nations to have a peaceful nuclear program.

So far 270 agreements have been signed between Ahmadinejad and Chavez concerning agriculture, industry, energy and technology. However Adolfo Tayllardhat (the former deputy foreign minister) said that these accords are personal relations and the only connection between Venezuela and Iran is the fact that both of these countries are members of Opec.

Brazil’s Lula de Silva, who is seen as the “neutral” mediator of South America, said that Iran should not be isolated over its nuclear ambitions but Iran should be open to cooperation with the West.

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Latest on Venezuela-Colombia: Venezuelan Soldiers Destroy Bridges

Venezuelan soldiers blew up two pedestrian bridges on the border with Colombia, claiming that, illegal militia and drug traffickers used these bridges. Also Venezuela defends itself by saying these bridges were not included in any international treaty.

Colombia thought declared that this is a breach of international law and Gabriel Silva, Colombia’s defense minister, said that he will file a complaint with the UN and the OAS (Organization of American States).

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Confrontations between Uribe and Chavez Consolidate their Rule at Home

(Monday, November 16^th) The “level of confrontation” between Colombia’s president Alvaro Uribe and Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez helps their popularity in their respective countries and also consolidates their rule is the observation by Mexican writer Jorge Volpi.

Chavez popularity has recently been decreasing due to Venezuela’s economic problems, such as the electricity and water rationing, the high inflation rate and the high crime rate.

Volpi, also said that even though throughout the whole region the U.S military bases are seen as an “inconvenience”, Chavez needs to tone down his political rhetoric in order for the situation not to escalate.

Also he added that Venezuela would not like a confrontation with Colombia, who has a better army and better mobilization capabilities. Source

What Effect do the U.S Military Bases in Colombia have on the Region?

Last week in an article published for The Hill, Berndardo Alvarez, Venezuela’s ambassador to the U.S expressed his concern over the U.S military bases in Colombia as he pointed out how they will contribute to only further regional instability that even U.S agencies have confirmed. He also said that the military strategy in recent years to solve the illegal drug trafficking and their internal conflict has had serious consequences such as refugees immigrating to neighboring countries and this agreement will only further deteriorate the crisis.

Alvarez also pointed out that the concern over the agreement also extends to the region as it was evident this August when 11/12 member states belonging to the Union of South American States (UNASUR) expressed dissatisfaction with the agreement. The agreement does not exactly guarantee that the operations from the bases (such as regional intelligence operations) won’t violate the sovereignty of any of the neighboring countries.

For more see: Source

Uribe: "Unbreakable Affection" between Venezuela and Colombia

Colombia has released the four members of Venezuela’s national guard detained on Friday, on what Colombia claims was their territory. However Venezuela’s National Guard General Orlando Mijares said that the rivers are international and fall under an agreement made between these two countries.

This is the latest concerning the disagreement and accusations between these two countries and if one simplifies Chavez wants the U.S military bases to move out of Colombia and Uribe accuses Chavez of being involved with the FARC.

Uribe said that sending the troops back was a message of “unbreakable affection” between these two countries whose relationship keeps worsening. Source 1 Source 2

Chavez to "Bomb Clouds"

Due to a serious drought in Venezuela caused by El Nino phenomenon, Venezuela’s government has had to impose water and electricity rationing. Venezuela uses hydroelectric projects to produce electricity. Cubans are due to arrive in Venezuela and help to fly the airplanes over the Orinoco river in a procedure known as clouds seeding (firing silver iodine at clouds). How effective this method has been so far in other places is up for debate. Chavez’s government has been criticized for imposing water rationing in Caracas and bad planning. However Venezuelans should feel safe with such a thoughtful president who has a plan as on Saturday he said: “I’m going in a plane; any cloud that crosses me, I’ll zap it so that it rains.”

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Is Venezuela experiencing the “resource curse”?

If Venezuela has the largest oil reserves outside the Middle East and the strongest hydroelectric system then how come, this country is facing serious electric and water shortages?

In the last two years Venezuela has experienced 6 nationwide blackouts and power failures, which have lasted for hours in both rural and industrial cities. Recently water rationing has had to be implemented in Caracas.

Instead of being serious Chavez has mocked the people’s water wastage and has given advice such as taking 3-minute showers. It seems that it is always easier to blame the oligarchs for their habits too.

Venezuela has coal deposits, natural gas and oil reserves but as Venezuela’s public services has stated perhaps the issue is the: “resource curse”, which is the theory that countries with so much potential and resources are held back by political disagreements, and inefficiency by the government.

For more see:source

How Can a Leader Avoid Dealing with Serious Domestic Issues? Chavez has the Answer!

In his weekly “Hello President” show this Sunday on the violence and military buildup along the Colombian-Venezuelan border Chavez said: “Let’s not waste a day in our main aim to prepare for war and help the people prepare for war.” Chavez is know for his controversial and undiplomatic rhetoric at home as well as anywhere really but how serious is this last statement?

Issues between Colombia and Venezuela:

• In the last five years in South America arms purchases have doubled, and reached $ 50 billion last year.
  
• Venezuela and Colombia have a trade relationship worth $ 7 billion. In August Chavez closed the border to Colombian manufactured goods.
• There has been deaths on the border from both sides, accused spies arrested and Chavez has started to massively deport Colombians home even though more than 2 millions of Colombians live in Venezuela.
• Alvaro Uribe, Colombia’s president and Chavez don’t trust each other, as not only do they occupy opposite political spectrums but also issues such as Venezuela’s relationship with FARC, and the U.S military bases in Colombia are main issues blocking a functional relationship between these two neighbors.

Perhaps the U.S hasn’t handled the military base agreement well with the rest of the countries in the region, as Venezuela is not the only suspicious country. Chavez has used the U.S presence in Colombia (acting as a proxy) for arms build up and since 2005 has bought 5-7 billion dollars worth of equipment from Russia.

Especially with this recent statement, it is fairly obvious that Chavez is trying to take attention away from the serious problems plaguing his country such as the high inflation likely to reach 30% this year, the high crime rate, water shortages and electricity rationing.

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What is behind the Venezuela-Colombia Border Closure?

Two international bridges, Simon Bolivar and Francisco de Paula Santader in central-west Venezuela are still closed. There have been reports that residents and merchants were confused about what was going on and there were brief clashes between guards and residents.

Venezuela is blaming Colombian paramilitary and Venezuela’s vice president Carrizalez has called this the “paramilitary phenomenon,” that has been created in Colombia and has filtered through the border into Venezuela. He has also accused the Colombian government of being unconcerned about this paramilitary activity, which is aimed at destabilizing Venezuela. This august, relations started worsening when Colombia accused Venezuela of giving weapons to FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Venezuela).

For more see: Source

Chavez views the U.S and Colombia’s agreement which allows U.S personnel at the seven military bases to be an “act of war” with the aim to destabilize his socialist government. Chavez’s opposition to U.S presence in Colombia does make sense partly because it is believed that the U.S was behind a coup against him in 2002. Even former president Jimmy Carter has said that “there is no doubt that in 2002, the United States had at the very least full knowledge about the coup, and could even have been directly involved. "

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Another important and pertinent advice which can be applied to both Colombia’s and Venezuela’s accusations over the border violence and accusations, can be summed up by Carter who said that: "international relations would be better if he [Chavez] would stop his attacks and insults against the United States". In this case concerning the deteriorating relationship between Colombia and Venezuela, cooperation instead of accusations and petty games should be on their political agenda.

Latest on Venezuela's and Colombia's Border Violence

On Tuesday, November 3^rd Venezuela sent soldiers to block the main border crossing with Colombia after Chavez said that on Monday paramilitaries shot two Venezuelan soldiers. These paramilitaries have originally been set up to fight Colombian guerrilla groups and they operate on the border, as well as Colombian rebels and well as criminal gangs. The closing is not formal however measures had to be taken, as lately there have been quite a few incidents on the border. Last week 10 dead bodies were found identified by Venezuela as Colombian paramilitaries. Venezuela also charged three men (two Colombians and one Venezuelan) for spying for Colombia’s government.

For more see: Source