Monthly Archives: March 2012

Mar
28
2012
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U.S. State Department Warns Travelers of Surging Violence in Venezuela

venezuela U.S. State Department Warns Travelers of Surging Violence in Venezuela

Amidst increasing reports of violence in the South American country, the U.S. State Department recently issued an advisory with a series of warnings for U.S. citizens travelling to Venezuela.

According to the official document released by the U.S. Embassy in Venezuela, violent crimes, such as murders, express kidnappings, extortion, robbery and drug trafficking have increased dramatically, and are increasingly being perpetrated against foreign travelers.

But for citizens and visitors alike, the State Department report paints a concerning picture of the security situation in Venezuela:

“Violent crime in Venezuela is pervasive, both in the capital, Caracas, and in the interior. The country’s overall per capita murder rate is cited as one of the top five in the world. According to the non-governmental organization, Venezuelan Violence Observatory (VVO), 2011 was the most ‘violent in Venezuela’s history.’ According to its data, there were 19,336 homicides in 2011, up from 13,080 murders in 2010, an increase of almost 30%. The Venezuelan National Counter Kidnapping Commission was created in 2006, and since then, official statistics have shown alarming increases in reported kidnappings throughout the country. According to the governmental Cuerpo de Investigaciones Científicas, Penales, y Criminalísticas (CICPC) statistics, 1,150 individuals were kidnapped in Venezuela during 2011, with reported kidnapping incidents increasing 29% over 2010.”

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who is in Cuba receiving radiation treatment after the removal of a second, unknown type of cancer, blasted the report, implying that Venezuela’s public security is far better than that of the United States. He also mentioned that he “inherited” these violent problems way back when he took office over 13 years ago.

Of course, Chavez’s government has declined to release murder statistics for many years, but in early 2011, the Venezuelan Justice Minister mentioned that the 2010 murder rate was 48 homicides per 100,000 residents, putting it near the top of those in Latin America.

For comparison purposes, in 2010 the U.S. murder rate was reported as 10 times less than that of Venezuela, at 4.8 per 100,000 people.

Tourists have been specifically warned about traveling through the Maiquetía airport, an international hub serving the capital of Caracas, which is described by the state department as “dangerous,” and “rampant” with corruption. At this well-known hot-spot for crime, several unsuspecting travelers have fallen victim to organized criminals posing as airport officials. The report gave sobering details about the epidemic of night kidnappings from Maiquetía, where travelers are taken and held for ransom in roadside huts. Indeed, the Embassy advises travelers to only arrive and depart during daylight hours.

Moreover, an increasing numbers of robberies have been reported in airport security checkpoints, and the Embassy advises travelers to keep all valuable belongings and important documentation in their carry-on luggage. In addition, U.S. travelers are encouraged not to sign any documents in Spanish while passing through customs, and to be wary of credit card fraud, which is prevalent in Venezuela.

Additional warnings have been issued for any trans-border travel between Venezuela and Colombia, due to increasing reports of “cross-border violence, kidnapping, drug trafficking, smuggling, and cattle-rustling [that] occur frequently in areas along the 1,000-mile long border between Venezuela and Colombia.”

These warnings come after a series of high profile incidents that include an assassination attempt against opposition presidential candidate, Henrique Capriles, and the shooting of the Chilean council’s daughter by Venezuelan police, an incident that resulted in her death.

With six months until the Venezuelan presidential elections and President Chávez frequently traveling to Cuba for medical care, one wonders how this surge of violence in the country will affect voter opinion in the upcoming elections.

 
Mar
27
2012
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ICYMI: Left to their own devices…

The Economist
March 27, 2012
By P.G.

FOR years the barons of Venezuela’s ruling United Socialist Party (PSUV) have been accusing each other of treachery, corruption, wheeler-dealing and skullduggery. Until recently, however, they tended to keep such charges private. Now that the country’s president and their unquestioned leader, Hugo Chávez, is once more convalescent after his second cancer operation in under a year, however, the knives are out in earnest—and in public.

None other than the president’s brother, Adán Chávez, the governor of their home state of Barinas, alleged in a recent article that treason stalked the corridors of power. Although he named no names, he hinted that the traitors belonged to the ruling clique. Some commentators saw a link between his allegations and a perceived struggle for succession. With many convinced that the president does not have long to live, the issue, though officially taboo, is high on the political agenda.

The PSUV’s leaders, including Diosdado Cabello, its vice-president and the chair of the national legislature, deny all personal ambition. The president’s “revolution” is more united than ever, they claim. But a public embrace last month between Mr Cabello and the vice-president, Elías Jaua, only served to heighten rumours that the two are in fact sworn enemies. Mr Cabello heads what one retired general calls the “techno-military nomenklatura”, whereas Mr Jaua is a radical civilian leftist.

Although this is probably the most important fracture in the ranks of chavismo, it is by no means the only one. Mr Cabello is also engaged in a very public spat with the governor of the eastern state of Monagas, José Gregorio Briceño, who is universally known as El Gato (“the cat”). Mr Briceño was expelled from the PSUV last week for violating party discipline. Their dispute became an open rift after an oil spill contaminated a Monagas river that supplies drinking water to the state capital, Maturín. With the national government insisting the water was safe to drink, the governor refused to turn on the taps, saying he would not be responsible for poisoning consumers.

The national guard has now taken over both the treatment plant and the state police, while Mr Briceño has announced he will stand for re-election in December as an independent. In passing, he accused Mr Cabello of wanting the state governorship for his brother, José David Cabello, and of being involved in corruption on a grand scale. Three PSUV deputies from Monagas in the national legislature have also left the party, in solidarity with the governor.

Elections for governor, due to take place two months after the October 7th presidential poll, are a major source of friction. The president appears to be attempting to keep the lid on infighting by confirming current PSUV governors as candidates for re-election. But in a number of states there is pressure from the grass roots to hold primaries, as the opposition Democratic Unity coalition (MUD) did to choose its presidential candidate last month. Dissidents complain the party is deaf to any point of view not handed down by the national leadership.

Mr Chávez has never taken kindly to dissent. If the PSUV currently has no one capable of succeeding him, that is primarily because he has made sure that no one emerged. Most state governors and party leaders owe their positions exclusively to him. Mr Briceño, a veteran politician with an independent power base in Monagas, is an exception, as is Henri Falcón, the governor of the central state of Lara, who split with the president in 2010. Not coincidentally, Mr Falcón and Mr Briceño were the two candidates for governor who won with the highest percentage of the vote in the last state elections.

Despite the party’s travails, the president’s own popularity is holding up well. Recent polls have shown him with a clear lead over the opposition candidate, Henrique Capriles. In private the MUD concedes its man is currently trailing by ten to fifteen percentage points. But the fissures in the ruling party show only too clearly what is likely to happen once the president is no longer around—or fit enough to bang his underlings’ heads together. Most observers agree there can be no chavismo without Mr Chávez.

To read this article on the Economist, click here.

 
Mar
27
2012
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Hugo Chávez and Pope Benedict

DSC 0754 150x150 Hugo Chávez and Pope BenedictJosé R. Cárdenas served in several foreign policy positions during the George W. Bush administration (2004-2009), including on the National Security Council staff. He is a consultant with Vision Americas in Washington, DC.

Some have speculated that cancer-stricken Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez may seek an audience with Pope Benedict XVI during the latter’s trip to Cuba this week.  Chávez, who is in Cuba as well for another round of radiation treatments, is said by some to be seeking the Pope’s blessing as the president struggles with his serious illness.

So far, there is no indication such a meeting will take place (nor, for that matter, is one scheduled with Cuban dissidents), but if it does, it would be the height of irony, given the rancor and hostility that have characterized Church-state relations in Venezuela since Chávez came to power.  It also likely reflects less any conversion on Chávez’s part than it does his need for favorable political optics heading into October’s presidential election.

Venezuelan Church leaders have been outspoken in their criticisms of Chávez’s authoritarian creep, but his attacks against Bishops and the Vatican have truly been beyond the pale.

Perhaps Chávez’s most notorious attack was when he called the Church a “tumor” on Venezuelan society following his temporary removal from power in 2002.  Chávez accused the Church of being complicit in his ouster, but Church leaders responded that the massive anti-government strikes and protests were not part of any conspiracy, but the Venezuelan people’s reaction to Chavez’s own radical behavior.

In 2010, following another round of Church criticisms of his polarizing policies, Chávez even attacked Pope Benedict himself, whom he had met in 2006 in the Vatican, saying, “He is not an ambassador of Christ.”  “Christ,” he said, “is in the people.”

Chávez’s troubles with the Church stem from the fact that he can tolerate no domestic challenge to his absolute authority.  Once in power, he went about systematically undermining all alternative poles of authority.  That is why he has sought to displace the Church’s social services with state programs, why he has pressured Catholic media, and tried to undermine Catholic education in Venezuela.  But the Venezuelan Catholic Church, with a few centuries head-start, has proven to be resilient and unintimidated.

Certainly, the Vatican is savvy enough not to allow itself to be used as a political prop for Chávez’s benefit back home.  But if it proves to be the case that Chávez, a man starkly facing his own mortality, was seeking a blessing and some sort of repentance, he ought to be reminded that redemption is not a one-way street; in fact, in involves penance. And there is still time to ensure that October’s elections are conducted freely and openly, with the opposition given a fair opportunity to state their case before the Venezuelan people.

If not, the Pope could always follow the advice of the late Venezuelan Cardinal Rosalio Castillo Lara, another critic of Chávez’s authoritarian ways, who was asked once whether he would ever give Chávez a blessing.  He replied, “More than a blessing: I’d give him an exorcism.”