VHeadline News Editor Patrick J. O'Donoghue reports:
Metropolitan police (PM) officers have been accused of extorting and kidnapping traders and business persons the Coche district of Caracas. The number of officers believed to be in the gang are 12 and according to Police Detective Branch (CICPC) sources, they are responsible for around 30% of kidnappings that took place in 2008. The targets have mostly been foreigners owning supermarkets, such as the Chinese and Portuguese. The discovery reinforces a common belief among people that the police are more to be feared than common criminals and that the cleansing process inside the force has not gone deep enough.
Interior & Justice (MIJ) Minister Tarek El Aissami has called on the rector of Tachira State National University (UNET) to come clean on an alleged illegal entry of security agencies into the university. According to the Minister, the director had first denied the information during a telephone exchange but since has retracted to "manipulate the incident." The Ministry will open an investigation into the action of the police and National Guard (GN). The Minister accuses the university rector of inciting to violence by his denunciation and slams the opposition student movement that rejects the constitutional amendment, accusing it of lacking moral judgment. The bourgeoisie, El Assaimi taunts, is managing student demonstrations and shows hypocrisy when it talks about student struggles and democracy. The Minister denies any illegal entry into the university since he affirms that neither tanks nor GN soldiers crossed university perimeters. What the security forces did, the Minister states, was to keep the protest inside the institution.
Opening the new year of the judiciary, Supreme Tribunal of Justice (TSJ) president, Luisa Estela Morales says the number of decisions published in 2008 increased 55% and rulings from the plenary session reached 68.13%. Morales highlights what she calls an annual report "full of positive statistics which reflects the effort of magistrates to make a positive change in the judiciary power." There was a time when the judicial power, she states, needed the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank to update its structure but not anymore because it possesses its own technological platform and now Venezuela has a satellite which will allow the legal system to project itself even further. During 2008, the TSJ set up tribunals specializing in violence against women, agrarian affairs and child protection. The constitutional chamber increased productivity 119%, of which 64% were constitutional injunctions.
Lawyer and Washington watcher, Eva Golinger says she sees no change in the USA's "hostile and aggressive tone" towards Venezuela in the month following the swearing in of Barack Obama, concluding that "Empire is Empire, whatever the color." The analyst refers to statements made by Barack Obama during the election campaign and Hillary Clinton's declarations during a hearing before the US Senate foreign affairs committee. Golinger underlines the record of the new Undersecretary of State, James Steinberg, who ratified the new administration's hard line on Venezuela. Golinger informs us that Steinberg has held high positions as rector of the University of Texas Lyndon B. Johnson public policy school, analyst for the Rand Corporation, Pentagon contractor, assistant adviser to the White House National Security Office from 1997-2001 and researcher at the conservative Brookings Institute. In his inaugural speech, Golinger claims, Obama implicitly referred to Venezuela when he outlined his energy policy with the observation that sometimes the USA in using energy strengthens its adversaries even further and that those who seized power through corruption and the silence of the critics should be aware that they are on the "wrong side of history" and that the US will extend its hand, if they are prepared to unclench their fist.
Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro asserts that the Venezuelan government respects US President Obama's decision to reduce his country's dependence on foreign oil supplies. The Minister argues that just as Venezuela respects the internal measures of the United States, it demands respect for its domestic and regional decisions. The Obama decision comes after he stated in his acceptance speech that he would start reducing US dependency on oil producers with supposedly "hostile regimes." Maduro declares that Venezuela has made great strides to guarantee energy security and stability both for itself and South America and Caribbean countries for the next hundred years through Petrocaribe and the Union of South American Nations (Unasur), of which Venezuela presides over the Council of Energy. At the moment, Maduro heralds, Venezuela is building a common energy policy with Brazil, Chile and Argentina.
President Chavez has announced an investment of (Bs.F) 1.7 billion bolivares to open 732 projects within the Barrio Adentro III national health system. 30 projects will kick off on January 30 and one of the first projects is a modern emergency room for the University Clinic Hospital of Caracas. The Barrio Adentro III scheme consists of recovering traditional hospitals and clinics under the old health system. On Friday, 100 modules of Barrio Adentro I clinics will be open, bringing the total in Venezuela to 3,105, as well as 11 new Integral Diagnosis Centers (CDIs) raising the national number to 476. On the same day, 932 general integral doctors will graduate... 968 graduated in 2008.
The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) office in Venezuela reports that 86 Wayuu indians crossed over from Colombia to Zulia State fleeing violence after an armed group set fire to their houses and threatened to kill their leaders. The report indicates that perhaps more people crossed the border seeking protection but they have not presented themselves to the UNHCR for fear of reprisals. A young child was injured during the journey suffering a brain lesion and the agency has started coordinating with the Venezuelan authorities to provide food and clothes to the refugee group. According to the UN office, the internal conflict in Colombia has created 4 million domestically displaced persons and 35,000 deaths in the last decade.
President Chavez has called on members of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) to minimize abstentions among followers and sympathizers, blaming results of the constitutional reform in December 2007 and regional elections in November 2008 on an increase in abstentions inside the ranks. The President launched the challenge during a review of the party's political structure in Tachira State. The fundamental object of the fourth and last phase of the referendum campaign, Chavez insists, is to ensure concrete votes and eliminate the minimum possibility of abstentions ... "it's the work of the vanguard, the electoral machinery and the regiments ... and it must be done with a lot of clarity and pedagogy, using all means possible." The President points to a 49.82% increase in abstention rates between the presidential election in 2006 and regional elections in 2008 ... "153,503 people did not vote." The President claims that abstention increased in 2008 to almost 230,000 votes, which is a "giant mountain, if we compare it to the 6,000 votes that the government lost in the Tachira State Governor election."
The Armed Force (FAN) operational strategic command chief, General Jesus Gonzalez Gonzalez has taken issue with an editorial that appeared in the afternoon tabloid "TalCual," which, he alleges, aims at manipulating and telling the FAN what to do. Calling the tabloid all sorts of names, the General retorts that soldiers will not receive orders from such "rags" but from its Commander-in-Chief democratically elected. The tabloid, therefore, is at the "service of treason and those who do not love Venezuela." The advice given in the editorial to the commander of the electoral Operation Republic, Gonzalez Gonzalez counters, are offensive. TalCual editor, Teodoro Petkoff says he will reply to the General today.
Patrick J. O'Donoghue
patrick@vheadline.com
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