Lula Sends Letter of Support to Maduro
Lula Sends Letter of Support to Maduro
Written by Stephan Lefebvre
Tuesday, 18 March 2014 15:19
Source: The Americas Blog
Lula da Silva, the former president of Brazil, released a statement in support of Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro on the occasion of the one year anniversary of the death of Hugo Chávez. In the letter, Lula discusses Chávez’s legacy in the region, saying that he fought for “a more just and sovereign Latin America,” and expresses his confidence in Maduro as a leader who is defending the principles of Venezuelan democracy. Of course, Lula’s message comes at a time when tensions are high in Venezuela as segments of the opposition wrestle for power after having lost two major elections in 2013.
Below is a translation, you can read the original in Spanish here.
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva
Ex President of the Federative Republic of Brazil to His Excellency
President Nicolás Maduro Moros
Sao Paulo, 5 March 2014
To my friend President Nicolás Maduro:
I am writing to you on this sad date for the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela to offer my vows of respect and sorrow over the death, one year ago, of the unforgettable and beloved friend, Hugo Chávez Frías.
We fought together in the battles for a more just and sovereign Latin America, for the integration of our nations, for the building of an independent and democratic continent. In good times and in bad, in agreement or in divergence, Chávez was a great friend, a brother who shared in my struggle and dreams for the future.
He exited the scene too young, carried by a malaise that he fought like a warrior, but his legacy will be eternal. Under his leadership, Venezuela broke with an economic and social model that concentrated wealth in the hands of a few groups and relegated the majority of the country to misery and poverty.
For 15 years Venezuelans have traveled a path of socially inclusive development, deepening democracy and distribution of income. Along this trajectory Venezuelans have confronted crises and difficulties that they knew how to confront with popular participation, with respect for the Constitution and with the determination to defend popular interests.
More:
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/news-briefs-archives-68/4746-lula-sends-letter-of-support-to-maduro
= new reply since forum marked as read
Will this letter magically fix all the problems in Venezuela brought about by the Maduro idiocy?
Will it put food on the tables of ordinary Venezuelans? Will it fill the stores with goods? Will it lower the 56%, and rising, inflation rate? Will it pay the country's massive debt to companies?
Will it fix the infrastructure that's falling apart? Will it solve the out of control crime rate?
Wow, a letter of support? I guess that all of Venezuela's problems are solved now.
Manufacturing Contempt for Venezuela
Written by Cyril Mychalejko
Tuesday, 04 March 2014 22:55
Francisco Toro, a Venezuelan blogger and founder of Caracas Chronicles.
A profile of the Venezuelan opposition’s systematic misinformation campaign and social media’s contribution to it.
The Venezuelan opposition has been skillfully using Twitter and Facebook to disseminate horrifying photos and testimonies of alleged government violence and abuse against protesters over the last few weeks. The problem with these allegations and images which have gone viral globally, and even used by media outlets, is that they are fabrications; many of the most viral photos allegedly from Venezuela have actually depicted images from places such as Syria, Chile, Brazil - and even a US-based porn site.
“Initial, inaccurate information will be retweeted more than any subsequent correction,” wrote Craig Silverman, journalist and founder of the blog Regret the Error, for the Poynter Institute in a post in 2010. Silverman’s insight reveals the dangers, often ignored, about the use of Twitter and social media as a news source, as well as a tool for liberation and uprisings. However, the way social media is being used, or some might say abused, in Venezuela is not the result of a few “bad apples” or some mischievous students taking part in opposition protests. In fact, this propaganda technique is being used by high profile opposition figures, while training anti-chavista Venezuelans to use social media has been a project of Washington for some time now.
~snip~
Then there is Francisco Toro, a Venezuelan blogger whose "musings" at Caracas Chronicles (a website he founded) are “a must-read for foreign journalists,” according to the Associated Press. In an article that went viral on both Twitter and Facebook entitled “The Game Changed in Venezuela Last Night - and the International Media are Asleep at the Switch”, Toro wrote about a “tropical pogrom” that allegedly took place one night in Venezuela - except it didn’t. There was no massacre by “paramilitaries.” One person did die from injuries sustained that night, however that was four days later. This death is a tragedy, but it is a far cry from a “pogrom” or massacre. After this misinformation and gross exaggeration was exposed and criticized Toro took to Twitter and admitted to “overstatement in the heat of the moment.” He also addressed it in a blog post which garnered a whopping 14 likes on Facebook and 12 Tweets - in contrast with the hundreds of thousands of Facebook likes and over 10,000 Tweets his original, factually challenged blog post amassed. This supports Silverman’s aforementioned thesis about how error corrections are not retweeted and viewed as much as the initial errors.
Furthermore, Toro took to Twitter again to defend himself, this time by suggesting that Caracas Chronicles shouldn’t be considered journalism - something I wholeheartedly agree with - though their should be a disclaimer at the top of each page so as not to confuse international journalists like the one at the Associated Press, who considers Toro a “must-read.” Toro is also an oped contributor for The New York Times.
More:
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/venezuela-archives-35/4728-manufacturing-contempt-for-venezuela
