The Sidor steel company in eastern Venezuela must obey Venezuelan laws, President Chavez warns, on announcing that Executive Vice President Ramon Carrizalez will meet Sutiss trade union national secretary, Jose Rodriguez today to discuss the current stand-off between Sidor and workers. The President says he has opened bridges to the national bourgeoisie and received letters from some sectors favorable to some of the economic measures the government has taken, such as easing access to exchange control administration (Cadivi) dollars and readjustment of prices. "We will continue to build bridges to make a grand national, nationalist, patriotic and Venezuelan alliance." Offering more details, Chavez reveals that he has received a letter from the construction chamber expressing agreement with government perspectives in developing the industry in Venezuela. The president of the Polar company, Lorenzo Mendoza has expressed some concerns, Chavez maintains, adding that he is ready to work with the government. The owner of a cement company in Zulia sent a similar message. The President insists that the government will nationalize companies that were privatized several years ago, in other words, the big cement companies who were handed State property at discount prices.
President Chavez has announced that he will pay cement companies facing expropriation compensation down to the last farthing. After announcing the nationalization of cement factories to ensure his house-building program, President Chavez says Venezuela is a responsible country and assets will be recognized. The measure will effect the Mexican CEMEX company, which is said to produce half of the 12 million tonnes of cement, the French Lafarge company that covers a quarter of produced cement and the Swiss Holcim factory producing 17%. Chavez has also announced that he is seeking technology to modernize the factories, recalling that they were privatized five years before he came to power and that because of the explosion in house-building, the State now needs to recover the factories. The companies are accused of selling cement first abroad and then domestically on inflated prices. The President cited one businessman as complaining that cement produced in Venezuela is one of the dearest in the world and that he prefers to bring cement in from Europe.
As expected, Venezuela has rejected the Inter American Human Rights Commission (IAHRC) annual report. Communication & Information Minister Andres Izarra dubs the report "biased and tendentious." The Ministry of Foreign Relations (MRE) accuses the commission of relying on unsubstantiated reports from government opposition groups. The Venezuelan State, Izarra insists, is perfecting the democratic quality of its political and social system in which human rights are fundamental part. The IAHRC report is considered just another part of an " international campaign launched by the United States government to discredit Venezuela's institutions and democratic system." In the long communique, the MRE reaffirms its adherence to human rights and numbers the government's many achievements during its time in office. The IAHRC report, it complains, does not respond to an analytic, serious and impartial investigation into the state of human rights in Venezuela.
Communication & Information Minister, Andres Izarra and United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) director of organisation, Jorge Rodriguez have announced a timetable of activities to celebrate anniversary of the restoration of the Bolivarian government in April 2002. The week-long program has been dubbed the Bravo Pueblo Week and it is expected to be a showpiece for the new political party in as far as organisation is concerned. Rodriguez has called on all socialist battalions of the party to get involved.
April 8: the World Council of Peace Assembly will be opened in Caracas with the presentation of a book written by Cuban Ambassador to Venezuela, Hernan Sanchez Otero.
Wednesday, April 9: activity commemorating the 60th anniversary of the Bogotazo and the death of Colombian Democrat, Jorge Eliecer Gaitan with a documentary and historical report in State newspapers.
April 10: The Bellas Artes Museum will inaugurate an exposition on Mexican rebel, Emiliano Zapata and a forum will take place in the Teresa Carreno Theatre with the title, "April 11-13, the people as protagonist."
Friday, April 11: the National Assembly will hold a special commemorative session. At one o'clock the national flag will be raised at the Puente Llaguna. At five o'clock at the same site an ecumenical religious service and cultural activities will be held.
Saturday, April 12: which is National Reserve Day, there will be civilian-military parade.
Sunday, April 13: a mass rally around Miraflores and an address by President Chavez.
President Chavez says a new process of enrollment in the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) will take place starting next week to accommodate aspirants who have been unable to enroll. Phoning in to a VTV State television program, the President insists on the importance of party members in the drive to seek more militants. "There are around 4 million persons who have not joined the party for whatever reason and we must work to get them to join during the next five years." Last weekend, party members assembled throughout the country to propose aspirants to regional leaderships. Aristobulo Isturiz, vice president of the central west region, says the participation has been massive and enthusiastic with the average assistance at sessions being 58 militants per battalion ... "It's an important landmark in the birth of a political party and the construction of a regional leadership."
Addressing presenters of a VTV channel program, President Chavez has promised to continue his government's effort to attend people's main demands and cites the example of recent food markets within the framework of the food sovereignty plan. This weekend, Chavez comments, 4,200 tonnes of food were sold and for the first time, he adds, beef is coming in from Apure, Barinas and Tachira, a total of 50 tonnes of beef prepared by socialist companies along with 40 tonnes of rice from the provinces and milk from Zulia State. The Mercal distribution chain has totaled 30,000 tonnes of food a month. The President admits that insecurity continues to be a principal concern of citizens and the government is taking measures. The government will promulgate the National Police Law on April 8 and the special commission has been set up to kick-off the new process. There are some pilot police reform projects in Caracas and Maracaibo, the President reveals, but the time has come to extend it to coincide with the transformation of the Metropolitan Police (PM) into a communal police. The war on delinquency, the President insists, must be attacked on all fronts.
In an interview with Las Ultimas Noticias, Communication & Information Minister, Andreas Izarra summarizes the advantages and disadvantages the government has in national media coverage. According to the Minister, the State has an overall disadvantage in radio diffusion. As regards the press, he claims there is a balance but goes on to say that the government does not have a newspaper with high circulation. In television there is a big gap that the government is trying to solve. When asked about the dilemma facing journalists who are high-ranking members of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela, Izarra says it will be difficult for them to separate the two roles. The government, Izarra proclaims, is fully behind Mario Silva, who presents the controversial La Hojilla program. "Mario is a media warrior and will continue fighting ... the program is a fundamental tool of the current Bolivarian government and the revolutionary process in the media war."
Patrick J. O'Donoghue
patrick.vheadline@gmail.com
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