ENGLISH EDITION/The artillery of ideas INTERNATIONALFriday, October 12, 2012 | Nº 130 | Caracas | www.correodelorinoco.gob.ve

Chavez wins presidencyin landslide victory

Venezuela President Hugo Chavez has won a third term in office after 55% of voters swept him into the presidency for another 6 years. Opposition candidate Henrique Capriles earned an impressive 44% of votes, in a greater showing than any other politician has achieved when up against Chavez. Capriles immediately accepted the results, despite prior concerns he would contest the electoral results in the case of his defeat. Chavez won with 1.5 million votes over his contender, achieving more than 8 million votes, the largest victory ever in Venezuelan elections. page 2

Triple crownfor VenezuelanVenezuela is not just excelling in democracy, but also in international sports. Venezuela celebrated two major baseball hallmarks last week when Miguel Cabrera won the US American League Triple Crown and legendary shortstop Omar Vizquel retired after 24 years of major league service. Cabrera, who has posted phenomenal numbers his entire career, did something that no one in baseball has done in 45 years. page 6

Politics

Smooth electoral process Venezuela’s presidential elections were celebrated in a civil & transparent environment. page 3

Why Merida & Tachira were lostThe opposition candidate won in Venezuela’s two Andean states. page 4

Chavez officially proclaimed President for new term

Venezuela’s National Electoral Council proclaimed Chavez’s 2013-2019 mandate. page 5

UNASUR: No one can doubt the legitimacy of President Chavez

T/ AVN

The chief of the elections observer mission of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) Carlos “Chacho” Alvarez stated the October 7 presidential elec-tions proved to Latin Amer-ica and the rest of the world “the strength of Venezuela’s electoral democracy”.

“No one can doubt any lon-ger the legitimacy of President Chavez in Venezuela”, Alvarez stressed. The Unasur Mission chief insisted the elections im-pact “is even more transcen-dental because of the number of foreign journalists present and because the world’s eyes were on Venezuela”.

“I told Chavez’s opponents we are their best allies regard-ing transparency of process, because South America is not going to live with any kind of pro-coup tendency, nor a fraud-born government”.

Alvarez recalled upon ar-rival in Caracas, “urban legends and stories of what could happen were the order of the day”.

“All scenarios were de-scribed as catastrophic, that Chavez was not going to rec-ognize the results, that there were armed groups coming out before six in the evening, that groups of motorcyclists were roaring around voting stations to taunt voters”, he said.

“This meant a twofold chal-lenge, Unasur’s institutional debut before the electoral council and working with a high-voltage democracy”.

When referring to the National Electoral Council (CNE), he described it as “a highly reliable body with a group of directors who proved to be competent and indepen-dent arbiters”.

“The electoral system is reliable and the process was excellent”, he added.

Analysis

Chavez win showsincreasing support page 7

Opinion

Opinion: Mark Weisbrot: Why Chavez was reelected page 8

Ready for regional electionsNational Electoral Council Director Socorro Her-

nandez, informed that the process for December’s gubernatorial elections has already started, which she said will be very similar to the October 7 presi-dential elections.

“The deployment for regional elections will be si-milar to the presidential elections”, she said in an interview in local television on Tuesday night.

Friday, October 12, is the deadline to nominate for gubernatorial posts nationwide, Hernandez said. About 17,421923 voters will be able to elect governors for the country’s 23 states next month of December.

Caraas, the Capital District is excluded from the upcoming electoral process, she explained, “since there is no governor, only mayors and they will be elected next year”.

Socorro Hernandez stressed that people who were elected as polling officers shall continue wor-king on the electoral processes of December 2012 and April 2013.

The artillery of ideas2 Impact | Nº 130 • Friday, October 12, 2012

T/ COIP/ Presidential Press

Venezuelan presidential candidate Hugo Chavez convincingly defeated his

conservative opponent, Hen-rique Capriles, last Sunday in an historic election that saw voter turnout reach over 80 percent.

With 55.14 percent of the vote, the incumbent President won by more than 10 percentage points over Capriles and was granted a third 6-year term as head of the South American nation.

“Today we have demonstrated that our democracy is one of the best in the world and we’re going to continue to demonstrate it”, Chavez told his supporters gath-ered outside the People’s Balcony of Miraflores Presidential Palace Sunday night.

The results were announced just after 10pm by the country’s National Electoral Council, which applauded the Venezu-elan people for their participa-tion and maturity during the voting process.

No irregularities were re-ported by the electoral authori-ties and by all accounts, the vot-ing process was one of the most efficient and error free demo-

cratic exercises that the nation has seen.

While long lines due to mas-sive turnout led to increased waiting times for some, various polling places were kept open past the 6pm deadline to ensure that all votes were accepted.

STRENGTHENING OF SOCIALISMChavez’s win means that

his Bolivarian Revolution will remain in tact at the national level as the country heads into gubernatorial and mayoral elections in December.

If Sunday’s results are any indication of how the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) will fare in the coming regional contests, then Chavez supporters should be optimistic as the socialists won 22 of the country’s 24 states, including the capital district of Caracas.

The PSUV also holds a cur-rent majority in the country’s legislative body, the National Assembly, which will celebrate its elections in 2016.

While Chavez referred to his 5th electoral victory as “a per-fect battle” he also reiterated his expectation for the govern-ment to improve upon its re-cord and to make even greater

strides in pushing the country forward.

“Today begins a new stage for the Bolivarian government in which we must improve every-day to be more efficient and to respond with greater efficiency to the needs of our people. I am committing myself to becom-ing a better President with each day”, he said.

This means working with all sectors of society to advance the “construction of a Venezu-elan power” no longer beholden to the free-market interests of the United States.

“Venezuela will never re-turn to neoliberalism. We will continue on the path of So-cialism of the 21st Century”, Chavez affirmed.

OPPOSITION CONCEDESFor his part, the candidate

of the right wing Democratic Roundtable (MUD), Henrique Capriles, recognized the re-sults of the election soon after the CNE’s announcement and congratulated his opponent for the victory.

“In order to know how to win, you have to know how to lose”, the opposition candidate said in his concession speech.

The pronouncements were a change of direction for Capriles and the MUD, which had left doubts in the minds of many regarding their willingness to accept the election results.

Capriles called for his sup-porters to reject extremism while praising the Venezuelan people’s democratic character and affirming that despite his loss, “no Venezuelan should feel defeated” by Sunday’s results.

The move may mark a new direction for members of the country’s right-wing who have employed a number of violent and subversive tactics in at-tempt to remove Chavez from power over the course of the past 14 years.

The change may also be readily accepted by Chavez, who at a press conference ear-lier on Sunday, declared his intention to work with the op-position to reconcile differenc-es through dialogue and under the auspices of the Venezuelan constitution.

This message was repeated during his victory speech, at which point the President complemented Capriles for his attitude towards the election results and his disavowal of violence.

“I want to make another spe-cial acknowledgement to the opposition leader who has not assisted in destabilizing plans. That’s how things are in a de-mocracy!” he exclaimed.

The re-elected President also recognized the conduct of opposi-

tion voters “for their disposition and civic demonstration. Even if they are not in agreement with the Bolivarian proposal, they are in agreement more and more everyday with the Bolivarian Constitution, with the Magna Carta”, he said.

On Monday, Chavez held a brief telephone conversation with Capriles, inviting him and his followers to join together in national unity to work for the future of the country. Both the winning and losing presiden-tial candidates confirmed the conversation via Twitter: “@Chavezcandanga Believe me, I just had a pleasant conversa-tion with Henrique Capriles. I invite national unity, respect-ing our differences!” and “@hcapriles I received a call from President Chavez. In the name of 6,500,000 Venezuelans I made a call for unity and re-spect for all”.

INTERNATIONAL CELEBRATIONInternationally, messages

of support from other heads of state around Latin America were quickly forthcoming fol-lowing the election results.

“Congratulations to the Ven-ezuelan people for their exem-plary democratic effort, for their happiness and their peace. Love is stronger than hate”, wrote Ar-gentine President Cristina Fer-nandez in her Twitter account.

President Rafael Correa of Ecuador, also expressed his con-tentment over the Chavez victo-ry, which he considered a “mar-velous triumph of the people”.

“Chavez wins with nearly 10 percentage points of differ-ence. Long Live Venezuela! Long Live the Great Homeland! Long Live the Bolivarian Revo-lution!” Correa wrote.

Other declarations congratu-lating Chavez and the Venezu-elan people were forthcoming from Bolivia, El Salvador, Cuba, Colombia, Mexico, Panama and Costa Rica.

“The triumph of President Chavez is a triumph of democ-racy, not only for the Venezu-elan people but all countries of the Bolivarian Alliance for Our America (ALBA) and Latin America”, said Bolivian head of state Evo Morales.

US State Department Spokes-man William Ostick, on the other hand, chose to first align with the Venezuelan right-wing, asserting his desire to see Chavez “take into account” the Capriles voters in the wake of a socialist victory.

Ostick later congratulated the Venezuelan people in an email for the “high turnout and gener-ally peaceful manner” in which the elections were carried out.

Chavez wins third termamidst historic voter turnout

The artillery of ideasNº 130 • Friday, October 12, 2012 | Politics 3

T/ COIP/ AFP

Venezuelan voters demon-strated to the world last Sunday the efficiency and

maturity of the South Ameri-can nation’s democratic system during an election effort that was noted for its transparency and extremely high levels of participation.

“To participate in an elector-al process like this, in a democ-racy, is already a victory for all of the Venezuelan people. The entire country has won”, said Tibisay Lucena, President of the National Electoral Council (CNE) before reading the elec-tion results on Sunday night.

In her remarks, Lucena con-gratulated “all the political orga-nizations that participated... and the extraordinary effort of each one of the organizations that made this process possible”.

Venezuela’s voting process is based on electronic elections machines that are backed by paper ballots. This year, a new anti-fraud initiative that veri-fies the identity of each voter via a thumbprint registration was implemented without error.

The system was tested through two trial runs in the months leading up to election day and a random auditing of

the voting machines was suc-cessfully carried out at the end of September.

While the capturing of the thumbprints added an addi-tional step to the overall pro-cess, the total voting time once inside the polling place rarely took more than a minute to complete.

The lines outside the voting centers, however, produced a substantial wait for many as the election drew an 80.73 per-cent turnout, one of the highest in Venezuelan history.

Despite the wait time, citizens displayed patience and calm, making the job of the 329,000 security officers on hand less than strenuous.

“The patriotic feeling that every man and woman carries deep inside of them was mani-fested in the massive partici-pation that took place in each of the electoral centers”, said General Wilmer Barrientos, head of the voting day security operation, Plan Republic.

Referring to the vote as one that “will go down in Venezu-elan history”, General Barrien-tos confirmed the total normal-ity of the security situation and the rapid diffusion of any poten-tial problem.

“The day has been very posi-tive and the electoral transgres-

sions that have been registered are minimal. There has been no necessity to make any kind of arrests with respect to these violations”, said Victor Urbina, Plan Republic Director in the state of Aragua.

In addition to more than 95,000 electoral witnesses from different domestic po-litical parties on hand for to monitor the vote, 245 interna-tional observers were present to verify the normalcy of the process.

Among the observers was No-bel Peace Prize winner Roberto Menchu, Colombian ex-Senator Piedad Cordoba and Irish writ-er Hugh O’Shaughnessy.

Various legal experts and ex government officials from around Latin America and Spain were also on hand to monitor the day’s events.

“I’ve never seen a process like this, not even in my own country. In my country ev-erything is much more tied to the economy. Here, I’ve seen people getting involved... The maturity of this process is undeniable”, said the US ac-tor Danny Glover who par-ticipated in the international delegation.

“Here, you can see a democ-racy that includes real partici-pation”, Glover added.

Venezuelan vote markedby tranquility and efficiency

T/ Pablo Fernandez Blanco

According to the latest count, the margin of victory is

even bigger, with Hugo Chavez receiving 8,062,056 votes, and (opposition candidate Hen-rique) Capriles 6,468,450.

The secret to Chavez’s suc-cess was the following:

1. A project to build a coun-try which has seen results (even taking errors into ac-count) verses empty speeches full of promises. Lesson: Next time the opposition should construct discourse and its candidate should have some-thing to show for it (and Miranda [where Capriles was governor] is not really the best example).

2. Mobilization capacity: The Chavistas knew how to mobilize our people, how to get them to come out and vote until late at night. The oppo-sition went home at 2pm and didn’t vote any more.

3. Chavez supporters didn’t fall into the trap of trium-phalism, and instead went around seeking out the vote of those who were undecided. The opposition built up the idea of an unstoppable victory, and from there the strong and excessive disappointment in their ranks now is reflected in depression and verbal vio-lence (as they don’t have any-thing else).

4. The Chavista movement is strong in the countryside and in the working class or poorer sectors. The opposi-tion went after the vote, as usual, of the A and B [rich and upper middle class] sec-tors. That is, in the social mi-nority of the country. They didn’t reach the C,D, and E sectors [translator: the au-thor is referring to five eco-nomic categories commonly referenced in polling and surveys, where A is richest and E is poorest].

5. The candidate-president waged an admirable cam-paign, overcoming illness and taking care of his health to the utmost, he toured almost the whole country. The opposition always assumed that Chavez would wage his campaign from a distance, over the television...a serious mistake.

Ten strategic reasonswhy Chavez wonthe Venezuelan elections

6. The Chavista campaign knew how to prove the faults and regressions in the oppo-sition proposal. The people who have sufficient memory were clear that the “path” of the opposition was accel-erated retrocession, some-thing which directed many non-Chavista votes towards Chavez, under the logic of the “least worse”.

7. The emotional hook: the synergy that Chavez achieves with the masses wasn’t seen in the opposition ranks. The Chavistas voted for “love of Chavez, for the President, for the leader”... the oppo-sition in its majority voted “against Chavez, so that Chavez goes, for getting rid of Chavez”. In both cases the reference point was Chavez, not Capriles. And without a doubt, the grassroots empa-thy for the President is dif-ficult to beat.

8. Chavez’s campaign was within the barrios, in the street, the towns, mobiliza-tion of the bases. The opposi-tion’s campaign was within the media. They had too much confidence in the abil-ity of the media to generate tendencies. The error was not understanding that the peo-ple here don’t fall for rumors or for the television, nor for the newspapers or any other corporate media.

9. Projects with a high im-pact (such as the housing mission, the incorporation of thousands into paid pensions, etc), captured votes from broad sectors who have bene-fited from such social policies. The real threat of privatizing these processes or eliminat-ing them determined the vote of many people.

10. Lastly, and most im-portantly: the secret to the victory was been the demon-stration of a real readiness to attend to the problems of the people. Chavez won in 2012 because he has acted and shown since 1992 [that he genuinely cares about the people], and that’s a histori-cal record that is hard to con-front for a novice to politics whose main thing on his re-sume is a badly administered state government.

The artillery of ideas4 Politics | Nº 130 • Friday, October 12, 2012

Venezuela: Andean stateschoose opposition candidateT/ Paul DobsonP/ Agencies

With 97.65% of the votes counted, the only states in the country where oppo-

sitional presidential candidate and conservative right-winger Henrique Capriles Radonski won were the two Andean states of Merida and Tachira.

Tachira, a state situated on the Colombian border, is con-trolled by COPEI Governor Ce-sar Perez Vivas, and its 640,000 voters overwhelmingly voted 56.29% to 43.23% to support Capriles over Chavez.

Merida is governed by PSUV (Chavez’s party) Governor Marcos Diaz Orellana, but has traditionally been a bas-tion of opposition party Accion Democratica, and Chavez was narrowly beaten by 51.14% to 48.39% by the 471,000 voters who live there.

These two states stand out in sharp contrast to the national picture, where Chavez won a majority in all of the remain-ing 22 states, including opposi-tion strongholds such as Zulia, Carabobo, Miranda, and for the first time, Nueva Esparta.

Despite what seemed like a well-run and effective campaign in both states by the chavista forces, with significant resourc-es being directed to run their campaigns and spontaneous rallies for the visit of candidate Chavez which far surpassed ex-pectations, the level of Chavez’s loss in both states must be seen as a blow for his administration.

In both Merida and Tachira, which share similar demo-graphic and material condi-tions, the vast majority of the support for Capriles came from the principal cities, San Cristo-bal and Merida city.

In San Cristobal, the 168,000 voters condemned Chavez to a loss by 31% to 68%, and the city of Merida’s 140,000 voters equal-ly by 35% to 64%, which are the two heaviest defeats for the socialist candidate across the whole country. In both states, the majority of the loosely pop-ulated surrounding mountain-ous areas supported President Chavez, but the concentration of votes in the cities swung the states to Capriles’ benefit.

The state of Merida enjoys a high quality of life, and has a

sharp concentration of wealth in the capital city. It is one of the cities of Venezuela with the most powerful upper-middle class, and it also has one of the

most conservative universities in the country.

Tachira is a border state, with large immigrant Colom-bian communities, and a big

T/ Humberto Marquez - IPS

The landslide victory of Hugo Chavez, who was

re-elected as President of Venezuela on Sunday, could translate into an acceleration of his socialist project or a toning down of his program, which could help open up channels of understanding with the part of the country that has opposed him since he first came to power in 1999. Chavez took 55 percent of the vote, compared to 44 percent for Henrique Capriles, in an election that had the high-est turnout in the country in three decades – around 81 percent according to the Na-tional Electoral Council.

Chavez victory brings challengesfor 21st Century Socialism

Celebrating his triumph, Chavez said “Venezuela will never again return to neoliber-alism, and will continue moving towards democratic, Bolivar-ian, 21st century socialism”.

The 58-year-old President, who is recovering from cancer, congratulated the opposition for its “democratic stance” af-ter it recognized his victory, and said “I stretch out my two hands for us to work together for the good of the homeland”.

Capriles, the President’s 40-year-old rival, acknowledged his defeat, saying “the people have expressed themselves, and for us that is the sacred word”. He also called on the winner of the elections to show “respect and consideration for the near-

ly half of the country that does not agree with him”.

“Opening the doors to dia-logue and understanding is normal in any democracy after an election, but in Venezuela it is an extraordinary event”, Carlos Raul Hernandez, a pro-fessor of political science at the Central University, told IPS.

Since Chavez first took office in 1999, poverty has been re-duced to 28.5 percent, according to the World Bank, from at least double that. And the govern-ment introduced a broad range of social programs, known as “missions”, bringing health-care, dental care, education, subsidized food and literacy program to the poor, along with employment and housing plans. In addition, per capita GDP in-creased from 4,105 dollars to 10,810 dollars in 2011, according to World Bank figures.

“Now that he has won another term, Chavez has an opportunity

to start rectifying, and to call on all sectors to face up to these difficulties”, Hernandez said.

“Chavez’s challenge is to achieve an opening that im-plies overcoming the rentier economy of Venezuela, whose society and political class feed on oil revenue, and he can do that under the constitution of 1999, which is even more ad-vanced than his discourse”, Alexander Luzardo, a profes-sor of sociology, told IPS.

In his view, “Venezuela should put in place a good social security system, and education, which with this government has expanded in terms of inclusion, should now focus on achieving qual-ity and scientific and techno-logical value”.

In 2005, Venezuela was de-clared free of illiteracy by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Orga-nization (Unesco).

trader class that takes advan-tage of the relative economic differences between Venezu-ela and its neighbor Colombia to make money through ille-

gal gasoline sales. Although Tachira does not have the powerful upper classes of Mer-ida, it does also have a strong right wing catholic university, which produces typically con-servative graduates.

Both states have large rural sectors, which have benefitted greatly from policies of Chavez’s government, such as Agro Ven-ezuela and microcredits for farmers, as well as improved roadways and access to electric-ity and clean water. These com-munities generally supported Chavez this past Sunday, but in numbers which couldn’t com-pete with the cities. In other An-dean states, they did however carry the vote, such as Trujillo, and in certain municipalities of Barinas and Lara, which all voted overwhelmingly in favor of Chavez.

Losing candidate Capriles paid great attention to both Merida and Tachira in his cam-paigning, visiting Merida on three occasions to try to con-solidate the class battle which is dominated by the upper and middle classes, as well as the conservative student popula-tion in the University of Los An-des. He also visited Tachira on numerous occasions, appealing to the trader classes, as well as the immigrant communities.

Many local analysts are al-ready calling on Chavez to rec-ognize this defeat in the Andes as a weakness in his otherwise hugely successful electoral re-sult, and to dedicate more time and resources to improving the execution of progressive poli-cies in both states.

The artillery of ideasNº 130 • Friday, October 12, 2012 | Politics 5

Chavez officially namedas President by CNET/ Rachael BoothroydP/ Presidential Press

Three times elected Presi-dent, Hugo Chavez, was named as the official win-

ner of the country’s presiden-

tial elections on Wednesday evening in an event with the country’s National Electoral Council (CNE). The socialist head of state beat rightwing challenger, Henrique Capriles Radonski to the presidency on

Sunday, taking over 55% of the vote and defeating his op-ponent by 11.11%.

During the event, the Presi-dent was given an official document by CNE Director, Tibisay Lucena, recognizing

him as the country’s President from 2013-2019. Before hand-ing over the certificate, Luce-na congratulated all of those who had helped to ensure the smooth running of the coun-try’s elections last Sunday, and thanked them for their “tireless work”. She also went on to comment on the free and fair nature of the Venezuelan electoral system.

“More than 80% of the elec-torate votes in Venezuela of its own free will, whoever doesn’t recognize this will be doomed to lag behind in the history being written by our people”, she said, commenting that Venezuelan democracy would never again be “snatched” by the “ambition... of an outdated minority”.

Handing over the document to President Chavez, Lucena stated that “It’s time to rec-ognize (Chavez’s victory) be-fore the Venezuelan people...the CNE now proceeds to pro-claim citizen Hugo Chavez as the elected President of the country”.

Receiving the document to a round of applause, Chavez commented that he had re-ceived a clear mandate on Sunday from the Venezuelan people to continue as the coun-try’s President.

“It was a good majority. A clear majority of Venezuelan men and women voted for their homeland, they voted for the future... I think it’s impor-tant to say it today as well, we have always visualized our

project as a historic project”, he said.

Chavez went on to comment that his administration would continue to develop its social programs and would use the next six years of government to deepen the country’s social-ist revolution.

“On October our political horizon became clear once again, and today we know that there will continue to be independence in Venezuela... Venezuela will never again go back to neoliberalism, this path that we are taking is the path to the salvation for our people, the path towards salvation for our homeland, towards socialism of the 21st century”, he said.

During the televised event, the President also revealed a list of his party’s candidates for the country’s regional elections, due to be held on De-cember 16, and named current Foreign Relations minister, Nicholas Maduro, as his new Vice President. The country’s current Vice President, Elias Jaua, will run as a candi-date in opposition controlled Miranda state, presently gov-erned by Chavez’s former contender for the presidency, Capriles Radonski.

To applause, Chavez thanked Jaua for his work and commented that he had been an “excellent” Vice President, as well as a “noble, hard-working, honest, com-mitted and above all, humble” politician.

T/ AgenciesP/ AFP

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez named a new Vice Pres-ident on Wednesday, choosing his longtime Foreign Minister, Nicolas Maduro.

Chavez made the announce-ment at an event where he was declared the winner of Sun-day’s presidential election. He called for a round of applause for his outgoing Vice President, Elias Jaua, who has held the post since 2010 and is running for a governor’s post in Decem-ber elections.

Maduro has been Venezu-ela’s top diplomat since 2006, and his prominence at govern-ment events in recent months had generated speculation that Chavez might choose him as Vice President.

Former bus driver namedVice President in Venezuela

Chavez’s recent struggle with cancer has also led to questions about whom he could choose as a successor if his illness were to worsen. But Chavez said in June, after a year of cancer treatment that included surgeries, chemo-therapy and radiation treat-ment, that tests had found he was cancer-free.

The President called the 49-year-old Maduro a “great pub-lic servant from all these years on different fronts of battle”.

Before becoming Foreign Minister, Maduro was Presi-dent of the National Assembly and is an important leader in Chavez’s United Socialist Party of Venezuela.

“Look where Nicolas is go-ing, the bus driver”, Chavez said, referring to Maduro’s days driving a bus in Cara-

cas before he got involved in national politics. “Look how they’ve mocked him. The bour-geoisie makes fun”.

Chavez’s close friendship with Maduro goes back to the 1980s, when the leftist President was an army officer and formed a clandestine movement that eventually carried out a failed coup attempt in 1992.

In his youth, Maduro be-longed to a small political

group called the Socialist League and traveled to Cuba for training in union organiz-ing. Maduro is considered by some observers to be the of-ficial within Chavez’s inner circle with the closest links to the Cuban government.

Maduro has such a close re-lationship with Chavez that he often seems to know how the President comes down on just about any issue, and he often

is picked to speak on the Presi-dent’s behalf.

Chavez’s next six-year term begins in January. He’s ex-pected to start making other changes in Cabinet posts while naming allies to run for guber-natorial posts in state elections on December 16.

Jaua is running to be gover-nor in Miranda state, which includes part of Caracas and is currently controlled by opposi-tion leader Henrique Capriles, who was defeated by Chavez in Sunday’s presidential election.

Chavez won 55 percent of the vote, beating Capriles by 11 per-centage points, which was the President’s smallest re-election margin to date.

Chavez said his next term would bring more progress in moving toward a socialist sys-tem. He said it’s time for a “re-newal in the socialist project” and called for his government to become more efficient in solving problems.

“Many things must be cor-rected”, Chavez said.

The artillery of ideas6 Social Justice | Nº 130 • Friday, October 12, 2012

Cabrera wins crown, Vizqueltakes the field for last timeT/ COIP/ Agencies

Venezuela celebrated two major baseball hallmarks last week when Miguel

Cabrera won the American League Triple Crown and leg-endary shortstop Omar Vizquel retired after 24 years of major league service.

Cabrera, who has posted phe-nomenal numbers his entire career, did something that no one in baseball has done in 45 years by leading the league in three major hitting statistics: average, home runs, and runs batted in.

The native of Aragua state posted a .330/44/139 mark in the categories to claim one of baseballs most coveted achievements.

The last player do it was Carl Yastrzemski with the Boston Red Sox in 1967.

“Miguel Cabrera, Triple Cown! Bravo Miguel! Bravo Venezuela!” President Hugo Chavez wrote on his twitter account in congratulations to Cabrera, the first Latino ball player to accomplish the feat.

The question now remains as to whether the Venezuelan will accompany his Triple Crown with an AL MVP award.

While many in Major League Baseball feel that Angels rookie Mike Trout has a significant

chance at winning the Most Valuable Player award, Cabre-ra not only led the league in all major stats, but he also was a main reason why his team, the Detroit Tigers made it into post-season play.

VIZQUEL PLAYS LAST GAME Over it’s history, Venezuela

has been a venerable factory of shortstops, being the country of origin of some of the position’s greatest players including hall of famer Luis Aparicio and the

should-be-hall of famer David Concepcion.

Playing his final game with the Toronto Blue Jays last Fri-day, Omar Vizquel now takes his rightful place among those legendary Campo Cortos, com-

pleting a remarkable career that saw the Caracas native compete in 24 major league seasons.

Vizquel boasts a career bat-ting average of .272, compli-mented by 2,8176 total hits - more than Babe Ruth and 40th all time.

But the 45 year-old will be best remembered for his de-fense and the eleven gold gloves that he won during a span of 2,709 games, the most played by any shortstop in history.

Commenting on his retire-ment, Vizquel expressed his melancholy for the leaving the game that he has played for so long.

“I feel sad. It’s something that I’ve done for so long and next year I won’t be able to do it like in previous years”, he mused.

It would be difficult not to assume that Vizquel will soon be a member of Major League Baseball’s Hall of Fame, but there has been considerable de-bate on the topic.

Some analysts point to ad-vanced metrics that attribute his numbers solely to longev-ity while others advocate his entrance as one of baseball’s greatest defensive players ever.

Vizquel has remained large-ly silent on the question that will be taken up with greater vigor when the shortstop be-comes eligible for induction in 2018.

“To represent Venezuela in the Hall of Fame would be beau-tiful”, he said of the possibility, adding that he will be satisfied with his 24 year performance either way.

“Whether I enter or not, I’m content with my career”, he said.

T/ AVN

Since last year, the Venezu-elan government has been

carrying out a plan to promote environmental awareness among in order to make this in-dustry sustainable and protect the country’s natural and cul-tural patrimony.

This program is a joint proj-ect of the Environment Minis-try, the Tourism Ministry, the National Institute of Tourism and the National Institute of Cultural Patrimony.

One of its objectives is to help tourists play a central role in participating in con-servation and ensuring that

Venezuelan Governmentto promote eco-friendly tourism

natural, cultural and histori-cal goods are treated properly. This is done in part through workshops conducted by or-ganized communities, service providers and eco-tourism brigades.

About 700 people have partic-ipated in the workshops so far in the states of Bolivar, Ama-zonas, Nueva Esparta, Falcon, Miranda, Merida, Barinas, and Los Roques National Park.

The program also aims to promote the creation of socio-productive tourism projects in communities such as small ho-tels, restaurants, and tour guide programs to serve domestic and international tourists.

T/ AVN

So far this year, 18 health centers have been opened

in Venezuela, while several existing ones have acquired new equipment or infra-structure.

The new centers include hospitals and smaller prima-ry care facilities, as well as integral diagnostic centers, integral rehabilitation cen-ters, and high-tech centers.

All these are part of the four phases of the state-funded social mission known as Barrio Adentro

18 health centers inauguratedin Venezuela this year

(“Inside the Neighborhood”), which has created a national health system. The first phase of the program addressed primary care, while the sec-ond involved building the di-agnostic, rehabilitation, and high-tech centers. The third phase focused on reinforc-ing the country’s old hospital infrastructure and building new health centers, while the fourth is concerned with cre-ating new specialized facilities like the Children’s Cardiology Hospital in Caracas.

The new health centers opened this year are located

throughout the country, including in the states of Amazonas, Aragua, Cara-bobo, Guarico, Falcon, Lara, Miranda, Merida, Portugue-sa and Yaracuy.

Meanwhile, several ex-isting health centers in the capital city of Cara-cas have been equipped to provide services such as gynecology and obstetrics, intensive therapy, internal medicine, operations, and emergency care. A dental prosthesis lab was opened in the western city of Ma-racaibo.

The Venezuelan state in-vests in the health sector through the national bud-get, the National Develop-ment Fund (FONDEN), and the China-Venezuela Fund.

The artillery of ideasNº 130 • Friday, October 12, 2012 | Analysis 7

Chavez win showsincreasing support

T/ Luciano Wexell Severo, Rebelion.orgP/ Presidential Press

In the early morning hours of October 8, Venezuela’s National Electoral Council

(CNE) confirmed the results of the previous day’s presi-dential election: another vic-tory for Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. The results were consistent with all accu-rate estimates released over the last months, and demon-strate a progressive increase in popular support for the pro-cess of social transformation currently underway in Vene-zuela. According to the CNE’s final count, Chavez won with 8,062,056 votes (55.14%). The Venezuelan people have writ-ten another beautiful page in history, defeating the can-didate of the oligarchy, the mainstream media, and US imperialism. This win was to be memorable, even if it had been by only one vote. But, as the CNE confirmed, the vic-tory was secured with over a million more votes than re-ceived by opposition candidate Capriles Radonski, who ob-tained 6,468,450 votes (44.24%). Participation in the election was massive, with 80.7% of voters turning out to vote.

The purpose of this analy-sis is to highlight Venezuela’s advance in political partici-pation and demonstrate the growing trend in popular support for Chavez, first elected President in 1998. Referring specifically to the four presidential elections he has now won, Chavez’s support has grown from an initial 3,674,021 (1998) and 3,757,773 (2000) to a more-re-cent 7,309,090 (2006) and Sun-day’s 8,062,056 (2012). In this same period, abstention has dropped from 40.6% (‘98) and 46.3% (’00), to a remarkable 26.3% (’06) and 19.3% (’12).

DEMOCRATIZING VENEZUELAIn 1998, recently-elected

President Hugo Chavez bur-ied the so-called Pact of Punto Fijo, overcoming a fierce resis-tance by the Venezuelan oli-garchy, who had concentrated their control of state-owned oil company Petroleos de Ven-ezuela (PDVSA). President Chavez ended 40 years of alter-nating rule by the country’s two main ruling-class parties, Democratic Action (AD) and the Committee of Independent Electoral Political Organiza-tions (COPEI). In his first presidential victory of many

to come, he obtained 56.2% of the vote (3,674,021 votes) while all other candidates totaled 42.8% (2,864,343 votes).

Within months, President Chavez fulfilled his promise to call a popular vote on whether or not to elect a Constitutional Assembly tasked with writing a new Carta Magna. This propos-al, taken to voters in April of 1999, was approved by an aston-ishing 87.7% of voters (3,630,666 people). In December of that same year, the newly-written Constitution of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela was ap-proved by 71.8% of voters, re-ceiving 3,301,475 votes.

To mark the birth of the Fifth Republic (1999), Venezuela held the so-called “mega-elections” which, among other things, ratified Chavez’s leadership. In July, 2000, President Chavez was again elected to the highest office of the executive, receiv-ing 3,757,773 votes (59.8%). The Patriotic Pole, a pro-Chavez electoral block, won 58% of the seats in the newly-founded Na-tional Assembly. Combined, the two former ruling parties, AD and COPEI, obtained just over 20% of votes.

The Constitution of 1999 is one of only a few, worldwide, that establishes a mechanism for re-

voking presidents, governors, and mayors. After completing half of their term, and if 20% of voters back such a vote, these elected officials can be chal-lenged in a recall referendum which can both interrupt their mandate and result in new elec-tions for their office. Looking to use this democratic mecha-nism against President Chavez in August 2004, the Venezuelan opposition ended up ratifying him in office. Securing only 3,989,008 votes (40.6%), the op-position had no choice but to recognize a growing majority (5,800,629 votes, or 59.1% of vot-ers) wanted President Chavez to remain in office.

GROWING SUPPORTIn the 2006 presidential elec-

tion, the margin of votes favor-ing Chavez grew. Representing the so-called Bolivarian Revo-lution, in full-swing by 2006, Chavez received 7,309,080 of votes (62.8%). In contrast, a handful of opposition candi-dates totaled 4,321,072 votes (37.2%), with opposition gov-ernor Manuel Rosales taking some 99.1% of the opposition mi-nority vote. Rosales, wanted on charges of corruption and mis-use of public funds, now lives in self-imposed exile abroad.

President Chavez, meanwhile, encouraged by the growing tide of popular support for the Boli-varian Revolution, proposed a Constitutional Reform in 2007. Aimed at modifying 69 of the Constitution’s 350 articles, the reform looked to speed up social transformations and consoli-date what has been described by many as Venezuela’s “Boli-varian Socialism”. Taken to the electorate in the context of anti-communist campaigning by the Venezuelan opposition, the proposed reforms were rejected by 50.7% of voters (4,504,354), a slim win over the other 49.3% of voters (4,379,392) who backed the reforms. Chavez immedi-ately recognized the loss, which took place with a difference of just under 125,000 votes, and congratulated his opponents.

Understanding the impor-tance of Chavez’s leadership, the country’s socialist majority in the National Assembly singled out Article 230 (which limits executive functions to two six-year periods) for another, one issue, popular vote. Carried out by the National Electoral Coun-cil (CNE), the February 15, 2009 vote proposed a constitutional amendment to end term-limits for all elected officials and, in total, 6,310,482 of voters (54.8%)

approved the reform, while 5,193,839 (45.1%) voted against.

THE LATESTAccording to the most-re-

cent CNE bulletin released, with 97.65% votes counted, in this year’s presidential election President Chavez re-ceived 8,062,056 votes (55.14%) to Capriles’ 6,468,450 (44.24%), a triumph which broadens the horizons of structural chang-es in Venezuela.

The Chavez government has strengthened the State’s role in the economy, with greater decision-making power for planning and implementing public policies, and with in-terventions – with growing popular participation – on the most important means of pro-duction. Internally, oil has fi-nanced the establishment and strengthening of the national economy, with a sovereign policy of industrialization as well as the creation of new basic industries tasked with supporting key public works projects and infrastructure. Little by little, the natural resources that once lined the pockets of oil multinationals and a privileged elite have be-come the tools of a State com-mitted to tackling poverty and overcoming a rent-based, unproductive, and import-de-pendent economy. Externally, oil resources have been used as a tool for integration across Latin America and the Carib-bean, as well as for the invest-ment in a multi-polar world. Venezuela has taken a new position in its international relations: it looks to diversify production and exports, diver-sify the sources and recipients of its trade, and end all depen-dency on any one buyer or seller of specific commodities.

The great Chavez victory of 2012 opens the doors, at least until 2019, to a path towards consolidating an independent, sovereign, and industrialized nation. The great democratic exercise of the Venezuelan people, expressed on October 7, should suffice to open the eyes of the misinformed. It should also suffice to leave in ridicule the mainstream media who deny the undeniable: Chavez won, again. Venezuelan de-mocracy won, again. The only ones defeated were the elite, the privatizers, the oil and gas multinationals, the powerful behind the mass media. And, as always, firmly supporting the now-defeated forces, stand none other than the CIA and US State Department.

A publication of the Fundacion Correo del Orinoco • Editor-in-Chief Eva Golinger • Graphic Design Pablo Valduciel L. - Aimara Aguilera

INTERNATIONAL Friday, October 12, 2012 | Nº 130 | Caracas | www.correodelorinoco.gob.ve

T/ Mark Weisbrot

For most people who have heard or read about Hugo Chavez in the international

media, his reelection on Sun-day as President of Venezuela by a convincing margin might be puzzling.

Almost all of the news we hear about him is bad: He picks fights with the United States and sides with “enemies” such as Iran; he is a “dictator” or “strong-man” who has squandered the nation’s oil wealth; the Ven-ezuelan economy is plagued by shortages and is usually on the brink of collapse.

Then there is the other side of the story: Since the Chavez gov-ernment got control over the na-tional oil industry, poverty has been cut by half, and extreme poverty by 70 percent. College enrollment has more than dou-bled, millions of people have ac-cess to health care for the first time and the number of people eligible for public pensions has quadrupled.

So it should not be surprising that most Venezuelans would reelect a President who has im-proved their living standards. That’s what has happened with all of the leftist govern-ments that now govern most of South America. This is despite

the fact that they, like Chavez, have most of their countries’ media against them, and their opposition has most of the wealth and income of their re-spective countries.

The list includes Rafael Cor-rea, who was reelected presi-dent of Ecuador by a wide mar-gin in 2009; the enormously popular Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil, who was re-elected in 2006 and then suc-cessfully campaigned for his former chief of staff, now Presi-dent Dilma Rousseff, in 2010; Evo Morales, Bolivia’s first in-digenous president, who was reelected in 2009; Jose Mujica, who succeeded his predecessor from the same political alli-ance in Uruguay — the Frente Amplio — in 2009; Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, who succeeded her husband, the late Nestor Kirchner, winning

the 2011 Argentine presidential election by a solid margin.

These leftist presidents and their political parties won re-election because, like Chavez, they brought significant — and in some cases huge — improve-ments in living standards. They all originally campaigned against “neoliberalism”, a word used to describe the policies of the prior 20 years, when Latin America experienced its worst economic growth in more than a century.

Not surprisingly, the leftist leaders have seen Venezuela as part of a team that has brought more democracy, national sov-ereignty and economic and so-cial progress to the region. Yes, democracy: even the much-ma-ligned Venezuela is recognized by many scholars to be more democratic than it was in the pre-Chavez era.

Democracy was at issue when South America stood to-gether against Washington on such issues as the 2009 military coup in Honduras. The dif-ferences were so pronounced that they led to the formation of a new hemisphere-wide or-ganization — the Community of Latin American and Carib-bean States (CELAC), which excluded the United States and Canada — as an alternative to

the US-dominated Organiza-tion of American States.

Here is what Lula said last month about the Venezuelan election: “A victory for Chavez is not just a victory for the people of Venezuela but also a victory for all the people of Latin America … this victory will strike anoth-er blow against imperialism”.

The administration of George W. Bush pursued a strategy of trying to isolate Venezuela from its neighbors, and ended up isolating itself. President Obama has contin-ued this policy, and at the 2012 Summit of the Americas in Colombia he was as isolated as his predecessor.

Although some media have talked of Venezuela’s impending economic collapse for more than a decade, it hasn’t happened and is not likely to happen.

After recovering from a reces-sion that began in 2009, the Ven-ezuelan economy has been grow-ing for two-and-a-half years now and inflation has fallen sharply while growth has accelerated. The country has a sizeable trade surplus. Its public debt is relatively low, and so is its debt-service burden. It has plenty of room to borrow foreign curren-cy (it has borrowed $36 billion from China, mostly at very low interest rates), and can borrow domestically as well at low or negative real interest rates.

So even if oil prices were to crash temporarily (as they did in 2008-2009), there would be no need for austerity or recession. And hardly anyone is predicting a long-term collapse of oil prices.

Venezuela’s economy does have long-term problems, such as relatively high inflation and inadequate infrastructure. But the substantial improvement in people’s income (the average income has risen much faster than inflation under Chavez), plus gains in health care and education, seems to have out-weighed the government’s fail-ings in other areas, including law enforcement, in the minds of most voters.

The US economic embargo against Cuba has persisted for more than half a century, despite its obvious stupidity and failure. American hostility toward Ven-ezuela is only about 12 years old, but shows no sign of being recon-sidered, despite the evidence that it is also alienating the rest of the hemisphere.

Venezuela has about 500 bil-lion barrels of oil and is burn-ing them currently at a rate of one billion barrels a year. Chavez or a successor from his party will likely be governing the country for many years to come. The only question is when — if ever — Washington will accept the results of demo-cratic change in the region.

- Mark Weisbrot is codirec-tor of the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Wash-ington and president of Just Foreign Policy.

Opinion

Why Chavez was re-elected

Although some media have talked of Venezuela’s impending economic collapse for more thana decade, it hasn’t happened and is not likely to happen.

Since the Chavez government got controlover the national oil industry, poverty has been cut by half, and extreme povertyby 70 percent.

Not surprisingly, the leftist leaders have seen Venezuela as part of a team that has brought more democracy, national sovereigntyand economic and social progress to the region.