Caracas Daily Journal (Vincent Bevins): Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega has reiterated and defended his support for a regional ALBA armed force, after the plan was met with caution by Bolivia and Ecuador. He has linked the need for the forces with a supposed threat from Colombia. He said he supported the idea of an armed force, so that the enemies of ALBA would "respect it." He said that "Colombia has a powerful military force, an army with 100,000 soldiers … denying the rights of Nicaraguan fishermen to fish" in the waters of the disputed zone. He has echoed the thesis of Venezuelan President Chavez and Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro that Colombia might be planning military action in the region.
Chavez' proposal on Sunday to form a regional armed force for the ALBA development alliance had not met with the immediate support that might have been hoped for.
The armed forces consisting of Venezuela, Bolivia, Cuba, Nicaragua, and Dominica, the members of ALBA (The Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas) was proposed by Chavez in concert with Ortega, but had been met with caution by Bolivia. Minister of Defense Walker San Miguel said that the proposal "is something that must be dealt with in the heart of the government. We haven't taken any position, because we haven't even considered the proposal."
Ecuador seemed equally unexcited. Wellington Sandoval, Minister of Defense of the country, which is one of Venezuela's closest allies, though not an ALBA member, said that they could not commit to any proposal that does not conform to their historic "thesis of peace and respect for auto-determination."
Neither comment necessarily excludes the plans for the ALBA forces however, as they remain rather undefined except as a general defense against US intervention. But there are historical reasons why Nicaragua would be more enthusiastic about the creation of a left-wing, anti-imperialist armed forces. When Ortega presided over the first Sandinista government in the 80s, the state was slowly bled to death by the Contra forces, supported by the United States.
He gave an extended history of these events this Sunday in Venezuela during Alo Presidente. A regional armed force would of course be very unlikely to be able to hold off what its proponents consider their greatest threat, the United States. But it would strengthen the alliance of ALBA and make any kind of intervention much more difficult.
Chavez periodically repeats plans of a US, or Colombian, military action, and there are groups in the US openly calling for intervention in Cuba when Castro dies.
It remains to be seen if the other members of the armed forces will be convinced if plans for the forces are elaborated more completely.
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Workers at the Sidor steel plant in Bolivar state go on strike for 48 hoursCaracas Daily Journal (Jeremy Morgan): Workers at the Sidor steel plant in Bolivar state went on strike for 48 hours in their continuing pay dispute with the company. Some of the strike leaders demanded that the government intervene and, if necessary, take over the company and put into state ownership.
Spokesmen for the business community in Bolivar confirmed that the plant had been completely closed by the strike. They warned that the strike was costing local small and medium-sized companies BF.6 billion a day in lost output.
Traditional practice in Venezuela is for negotiations on pay and working conditions to be conducted under tripartite collective bargaining agreements. However, officials at the industry union, Sutiss, say this custom has been abandoned by the government for reasons that have yet to be explained.
Sidor is one of the largest privately owned companies in the country. Officials have talked in the past of nationalizing the company in the strategic national interest.
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Moreno faces other charges in connection with violent incidentsCaracas Daily Journal (Jeremy Morgan): Student leader Nixon Moreno, who was acquitted by a court in Merida state earlier this week of charges stemming from the April 2002 crisis, still isn't out of the woods yet.
Moreno faces other charges in connection with violent incidents at La Hechicera, also in Merida, in May 2006. He is accused of aggression towards the police including attempted rape of female officer.
A trial on these charges seems likely, given the nature of the crimes Moreno is alleged to have committed. However, no date for a trial has been disclosed, and he will probably remain in custody until it happens.
President Hugo Chavez says that he is prepared to pardon people who faced legal action for having taken part in political actions against him. But he has made it more than plain that he is not willing to amnesty individuals accused of committing crimes against humanity.
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CNE president indicates November as "tentative date" for electionsCaracas Daily Journal (Jeremy Morgan): The National Electoral Council (CNE) appears to be inclining towards holding the regional elections on November 16, despite opposition from one of the five directors on the board, Vicente Diaz.
CNE president Tibisay Lucena indicated that the third week in November had been set as the "tentative date" for the elections for state governors and municipal mayors. By custom, Venezuelan elections are held on Sundays.
In theory, or at least according to Diaz, the elections have to be held by October 31, exactly four years after the officials were voted into office in 2004. He says this is stipulated in the Constitution, and that any other timetable would not be valid.
However, signs are that Diaz, and reputedly not for the first time, is in a minority of one on the CNE board. Lucena didn't comment on his previous statements in which he insisted on the end of October.
The reasons for delaying the vote have yet to be explained.
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Truth behind briefcase affair increasingly difficult to ascertainCaracas Daily Journal (Vincent Bevins): There have been even more bizarre turns in the internationally explosive "briefcase" affair, starring Guido Antonini Wilson and the governments of Venezuela, the United States, and Argentina.
Days after Venezuelan lawyer Moises Maionica pled guilty to failing to register as an agent of a foreign government, National Assembly member Iris Varela announced she would launch an investigation into Antonini Wilson, claiming he was part of a conspiracy and participated in the aborted coup of April 2002.
Many have attempted to interpret Maionica's plea bargain as an admission of what he and three colleagues have been accused of by the FBI, pressuring Antonini not to reveal that the now-famous $800,000 was being sent from the Venezuelan government to the campaign of Argentine President Cristina Kirchner.
But Varela claims Antonini has been a long-time enemy of the Chavez government.
"We are going to investigate the case that now forms part of a conspiracy against the people of Venezuela … this man was part of the international plot that happened on April 11." She claims the money actually came from Miami. Things were confusing enough when, after trying to enter Argentina with the money, he immediately fled to Miami, where the US government has denied his extradition to Argentina, though he clearly broke Argentine law. And the accusations that the money was from Chavez for Kirchner has raised eyebrows since Kirchner barely campaigned, and Chavez would have been able to transfer the money in much easier ways.
- And now, complicating matters further, US authorities say that the money he carried into the country was not even his, that he did not know the contents of the briefcase, that he was given it to carry into the country.
It remains to be explained why he would do such a thing, or why US authorities would believe him if he had told them he did. It also remains to be seen if Varela's investigation will lead to a more satisfying explanation. She claims she met Antonini five years ago in Miami, and knows he was a part of the 2002 coup, because someone who is "not a part of the revolutionary government" said it, journalist Jaime Bayly.
She said that she knows Antonini "has a sister who is a judge in New York … he's connected to the judicial power of the United States."
The only certainty at this point is that both Venezuela and the United States have used the case to engage in one of their favorite pastimes, to hurl accusations at one another.
The Venezuelan government has asked for an official copy of Maionica's statement. Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner recently received the US ambassador, despite having had very harsh words for the North American country after the accusations. She had claimed that the case showed that the US was not interested in having Latin American friends, but subordinates.
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Food crackdown hits Polar; Fedecamaras blames government policiesCaracas Daily Journal (Jeremy Morgan): The government's crackdown on suspected hoarding of foodstuffs and other household essentials has reached the food and beer giant Polar, one of the biggest private sector companies in the country.
The National Guard (GN) raided one of the company's storage centers in Maturin, the capital of Monagas state, on January 22.
The GN's Seventh Region Commander, General Francisco Ortega Castillo, said 165 tonnes of flour, which he claimed was being kept from suppliers, was seized. Jose Anzola, director of logistics and food supply at Alimentos Polar, rejected the accusation. The flour was to have been distributed to about one thousand sales outlets in Monagas, he said, and 165 tonnes was only two and a half days' inventory. Anzola noted that Ricardo Felice, a manager who was arrested during the raid, was still in custody.
Felice's lawyer claims the custody order issued by a court is unlawful.
Venezuela's biggest business organization, the Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Fedecamaras, said that attacks on companies were intended to distract attention from the failure of the government's economic policies. The government was responsible for correcting its errors, Fedecamaras President Jose Manuel Gonzalez said.
The cattle ranchers' federation, Fedenaga, warned there wasn't enough meat from domestic producers to meet demand. Bakeries said official prices didn't cover their costs.
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Chavez orders stop to PSUV nominations "until the grassroots have spoken"Caracas Daily Journal (Jeremy Morgan): President Hugo Chavez has told people hoping to be nominated election candidates for his United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) to desist until the grassroots have spoken.
Chavez said "premature campaigning" had to stop on pain of being publicly thrown out of the party. But jockeying for position is already well under way in the run-up to October's elections for state governors and municipal mayors.
Among the most active aspirants is Jose Gregorio Vielma Mora, head of the tax collection agency, Seniat.
He's talked of taking over from Diosdado Cabello as Miranda state Governor, or Juan Barreto as Metropolitan Mayor of Caracas, and he's also angling for the Tachira state governorship as well. Barreto shows no sign of giving way, although it's said Cabello doesn't want to run again in Miranda – unless Chavez makes him.
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