Catherina
Catherina's JournalPotato Farmers in Colombia Rebel Against Trade Laws, Rising Production Costs
Potato Farmers in Colombia Rebel Against Trade Laws, Rising Production Costs
Written by Joe Shansky
Wednesday, 15 May 2013 14:58
Famers and laborers protesting in Colombia gather to read an official statement.
We’re stuck in Tunja, a colonial town about three hours outside of Bogotá, way up in the Colombian mountains, covered with rolling hills, above the clouds, majestic beyond words.
Not a bad place to be stuck for a few days.
The roadways both in and out of Tunja are blocked. The main bridge, called Puente Boyacá, connects Tunja to the road running south to Bogotá, as well as to the opposite path heading north, where Chris and I are trying to go. Puente Boyacá is shut down because of the papero (potato farmers) protests.
The day before we arrived, reports quickly spread of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of farm owners and rural laborers staging a blockade. Their cars and tractors lined the bridge, stopping traffic from passing through, a brazen act of civil disobedience against the Colombian government, and specifically the Department of Agriculture. Puente Boyacá has historical significance in the area: it is where Simón Bolívar defeated the Spanish army, in a decisive battle for independence from colonial rule.
The farmers are demanding cheaper inputs, a better price for their crop, and that payment be based on the quality of the product, rewarding growers for a higher quality product.
It´s around noon when we arrive at the bridge. The bridge blockade is down on this particular day, while negotiations take place in Bogotá, although the protesters are still gathered in full, and growing.
Approximately 150 people are standing at a precipice below the side of the road, looking up the hill at Puente Boyacá. Most of the demonstrators are gathered in small groups. Some carry sticks and wear militant red bandanas over their faces, but most of the crowd is unarmed.
A young man, who turns out to be part of a group of local students who came in support, is yelling and gesturing wildly, taking advantage of the few cameras present. He´s riling up the farmers and the laborers who have joined in as well, who, at this point, have been at the blockade for over 24 hours.
Facing them down, literally, on the above precipice, are around thirty state police, dressed in full riot gear. Further up the road are another fifty police officers. The previous day, they had responded to the blockade with water cannons. According to local news reports, water cannons were used against sticks and rocks. It ended with anywhere from five to thirty protesters detained, who are still absent from the on-going demonstrations the following day.
We find a mostly peaceful scene, aside from the occasional jeers directed at the police. (When the rain starts, there is a lot of hollering, and riot police back down from their posts to take shelter. It's a mini-victory of sorts).
The government is showing some signs of listening, or at least responding, to the transit emergency created by the blockade. After the previous night’s violent turn, representatives of the potato farmers are meeting in Bogotá with the Ministry of Agriculture, to present their demands. Those still facing off with the police are anxiously awaiting results of the meeting. Word is that there will be some news to act on, for better or worse, by 2 pm.
More trucks arrive with campesinos from neighboring municipalities. Each new arrival is greeted with appreciative cheers from the crowd. Tomato, onion, and dairy farmers are joining as well. The morning newspaper, reporting on events the night before, says 10,000 people are participating from the Boyacá region alone, strategically spreading onto other smaller roadways as well.
Shouts of “¡Que mejoren los precios!” ("Better prices!"
come from all directions. At the current price rate, farmers say, they can no longer sustain their businesses.
People are eager to talk to anyone who will listen.
“It now costs more to grow the food than we can sell it for,” says one man. Chris, himself a farmer in the US, asks for an estimate. “100 kilos sell for 35,000 pesos, (around 20 USD)," the man says. At current market price, this quantity costs COP 60,000 (36 USD) to produce.
The blockade was planned one month in advance. Farm owners and laborers from all over Columbia communicated with each other to set up block points, using a cell phone tree. They say their calls for economic justice have been ignored for too long, and they are fed up.
"All we have is our land,” says a young woman named Senída. “And at these rates, we are losing it fast.” Another man says it's been a year and a half since farmers were able to get a bank loan to pay for basic inputs for the farm, such as fertilizer, pesticides, seed, and fuel for machinery.
Farmers and laborers all frequently speak in anger against the "TLC'' (Trata de Libre Comercio), the international free trade agreement which has allowed an influx of large quantities of cheaper agricultural products from countries like Argentina, Peru, and Canada.
Off of one of the trucks comes a photocopied statement from the farmers, which is quickly passed around. It reads:
"For the Dignity of All Campesinos.
NO to the importation of crops under the free trade agreements.
NO to raising fuel prices.
NO to raising the price of fungicides.
NO to spontaneous fluctuation of food prices.
We will turn our hoes to the State."
Their primary work tool, the hoe, has become a symbolic weapon for the farmers. In Bogotá, where campesino protests spilled into the streets, hundreds of hoes were laid in front of the building housing the Ministry of Agriculture. Although many of the protesters gathered with us at the bridge today say they are pacifists, there seem to be differing opinions about tactics.
''We come in peace, and we will continue to act in peace,'' says the student leader to the news camera.
But the farmers I speak to privately disagree.
“We've tried everything,'' says Senída. ''But without violence, no one listens. No one pays attention.”
A boy named Alex, around 18-years-old, goes further. ''The farm youth are ready to take up arms,'' he tells me. ''Six thousand of us.''
I ask the group of about seven people gathered around us if they agree with Senída's statement. Without hesitation, all nod vigorously. They are still waiting for news of the talks from the capital as we leave.
Chris and I return to Tunja to catch the bus out of town. Buses have been running smoothly all day, since the Puente Boyacá blockade was removed, and we’re able to get the same ticket north that was impossible to buy the day before. As we wait, it's not yet 2 pm.
The bus is late, and then it's later. I ask the bus company manager what's up. He hangs up the phone and looks at me helplessly.
''No hay paso. They’ve taken the bridge again.''
Joe Shansky works for Voces de la Frontera, an immigrant rights organization and low-wage workers center, based in Milwaukee, WI. He can be reached at: xxxxx@xxxx.com.
Spread the word: tell your friends and enemies about us, sign up for our email newsletter, forward our address and articles far and wide.
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/colombia-archives-61/4295-potato-farmers-in-colombia-rebel-against-trade-laws-rising-production-costs
Venezuelan Government Announces Measures to Overcome Food Shortages
I meant to post this yesterday but got distracted with a movie about Che. Since this article, there's been an update that Maduro and Mendoza had constructive talks and reached an adult agreement. The update is at the end of this post.----
By Ewan Robertson
Mérida, 14th April 2013 (Venezuelanalysis.com) – The Venezuelan government has announced a range of measures to overcome the increase in food shortages in the country.
In recent months shortages of some basic products such as milk, butter, cornmeal and sugar have been observed throughout Venezuela. Last month shortages reached their worst levels since April 2009, according to the country’s Central Bank.
On Monday night Vice President Jorge Arreaza announced a range of government measures to resolve the problem.
The regulated price of chicken, beef, milk and cheese will be increased by 20% to stimulate production. Most of these products last saw price rises in 2011, with price controls on basic goods introduced to ensure affordability for the poorest Venezuelans.
Other measures focused at increasing production of basic foodstuffs include removing income tax on primary agricultural production, introducing state subsidies for sugar production, and granting increased prices to sunflower oil producers.
The government will also directly invest in a 1,000 hectare greenhouse complex and re-organise state agro-industrial production.
Officials attribute the increase in food shortages to an “economic war” by the private sector against the government, citing high consumption and accusing food makers of reducing production and hoarding food in order to create scarcity.
Meanwhile, some economists and the conservative opposition argue that government price controls on basic goods and the lack of foreign currency granted to food producers are to blame for the shortages.
Opposition leader Henrique Capriles criticised the increase in some regulated food prices as “starving (the country)” and accused the government of being “irresponsible and lying”.
The government has also signed deals with Mercosur allies such as Brazil to import around 700,000 tons of foodstuffs in the coming days in a bid to end shortages.
Meetings with the Polar Group
The government is also holding several meetings with Venezuelan food giant Polar to help resolve food shortages in the country.
On Saturday President Nicolas Maduro accused Polar of participating in an “economic war” against the government by reducing production and hoarding to purposefully create scarcity.
According to the company’s own statistics, Polar produces 48% of the products of Venezuela’s basic food basket. Its president, Lorenzo Mendoza, is the second richest person in Venezuela and 329th richest in the world, Forbes magazine states.
On Monday night Mendoza held a press conference in which he called Maduro’s accusations “false” and argued that his company had increased production of cornmeal, the country’s staple, by 10% so far this year.
Venezuelan foreign minister, Elias Jaua, countered Mendoza’s statements, saying that both the government and Mendoza “have responsibility” for food supply in Venezuela. He further argued that Polar could “produce more, distribute more, cooperate with supply, and help against hoarding”.
On Monday night Mendoza and government representatives met to analyse Polar’s production chain to help ensure the supply of basic foodstuffs to the Venezuelan population.
Vice President Arreaza later reported that the meeting was “productive”. He also said that Nicolas Maduro was committed to dialogue with the private sector to find a “point of balance” over the granting of foreign currency to food producers for imports.
Nevertheless, Arreaza warned that “economic actors should keep to the margins of party political activity and dedicate themselves to production”.
Maduro is also set to hold a second meeting with Mendoza today, where he has promised to “make him (Mendoza) work for the country’s interests”.
Published on May 14th 2013 at 9.29pm
This work is licensed under a Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives Creative Commons license
http://venezuelanalysis.com/news/9312
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and Lorenzo Mendoza, the CEO of Polar Group, a major food manufacturer and distributor, held on Tuesday a meeting to find a solution to the issue of foodstuffs in short supply throughout Venezuela.
"We exchanged very useful information for the wellbeing and tranquility of the Venezuelan people. The important thing is the production at full capacity in companies in the market of food, and the commitment to dialogue, building up of confidence, knowledge, and outspoken, smooth communication. Let's take aside all related sometimes to unfounded, evil attacks, envy, complexes arising in such situations," Mendoza said in leaving the meeting.
Mendoza recalled the corporate track record; he noted that the corporate purpose is of an economic nature and they have no intention of engaging in politics.
...
http://www.eluniversal.com/economia/130515/venezuelan-government-polar-group-join-efforts-against-shortage
FAO: Latin American Leads Struggle Against Hunger
FAO: Latin American Leads Struggle Against Hunger
Rome, May 15 (Prensa Latina) Latin America leading the struggle to eliminate hunger, the Director General of the United Nations Organization for Food and Agriculture (FAO), Jose Graziano da Silva, said today.
During the presentation of an accord between FAO and the international organization Slow Food, Da Silva stressed that Latin America is the region that's currently made the most progress in eradicating this scourge.
At the same time, he said that Europe had gone backwards as a result of the economic crisis, since increasing numbers of unemployed people on its continent have to rely to food banks for their meals. The FAO recommended that European governments strengthen their social coverage to provide food for the most needy.
...
The memorandum of understanding signed by the two organizations, provides that, for three years, both groups will unite in their efforts to promote more inclusive local food and farming systems at the national and international level.
...
http://www.prensa-latina.cu/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1415101&Itemid=2
Colombian Gov't, FARC-EP Resume Peace Talks in Cuba
Colombian Gov't, FARC-EP Resume Peace Talks in Cuba
15 May 2013
Havana, May 15 (Prensa Latina) The Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-People's Army (FARC-EP) resume peace talks in this capital, with the agrarian issues under discussion and the expectation to make progresses in the agenda .
After a 11-day recess in the talks started on November 19, the parties begin at the Havana's Conference Center the ninth cycle of a process that has Cuba and Norway as guarantors, and Venezuela and Chile as companions.
...
For the parties, this draft represents an important advance, to include issues such as territorial approach to development, infrastructure and land improvement, encouraging agricultural production and social security (health, education, housing, and poverty eradication).
...
During the recess, the parties used the time to hold internal consultations and evaluate the progress of talks that as well as the agrarian issue, the agenda also includes political participation, care for victims, the problem of drug trafficking, and the end of armed conflict.
http://www.plenglish.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1413541&Itemid=1
Venezuela's new labour law: The best Mother's Day gift
Venezuela's new labour law: The best Mother's Day gift
By Thomas Ponniah | May 15, 2013
Here is some news that the conservative critics of Venezuela's leftist government will not publicize. The Chavistas announced that a new labour law, part of which will grant recognition to non-salaried work traditionally done by women, will come into effect this week. Full-time mothers will now be able to collect a pension.
While there are a number of criticisms to be made of the Venezuelan government, the genius of the Bolivarian process is that it combines numerous forms of struggle against inequality. The most obvious lies in its commitment to economic redistribution, and measured by the Gini co-efficient, Venezuela has the lowest rate of inequality in Latin America. An equally significant form of struggle against inequality, however, lies in its pursuit of gender equity.
One of the major theoretical criticisms of the economic redistribution model in more general terms, often advanced by post-modern and post-developmental theorists, has been from the vantage point of questions of identity. Theorists like the anthropologist Arturo Escobar have noted that economic growth does not necessarily transform status relations such as those oriented around gender, race, ethnicity, or sexuality; therefore some have contended that attempts at social change should place primacy, or at least equal emphasis, on the politics of difference. The question of difference: how can everyone in society be able to intervene with equal capacity when there is such significant variation in the recognition that we allot to diverse identities in society? Critics of traditional development have argued that the emphasis on economic redistribution, by either advocates of the market or the state, has ignored the crucial role that identity and diversity play in society. Economic re-allocation does not end the identity hierarchies that place women at a lower rung of the status ladder than men throughout Latin America.
....
The Venezuelan government has made many progressive gains, with the most prominent example being the explicitly anti-sexist 1999 Constitution. This set of principles was the result of co-operation amongst members of the constitutional assembly's Committee on Family and Women, the National Women's Council and women's civil society organizations. The constitutional assembly's committee consulted women from every type of political campaign: legal rights, international agencies, academics, labour unions and small business leaders. The Constitution guaranteed women's right to work, to health services, to social security and pensions. Most innovatively it recognized the monetary value of housework by, in principle, supporting housewives' right to pensions. This week that principle has become a reality. Progressives around the world looking for ways to advance gender rights still have much to learn from Venezuela's continuing social revolution.
Thomas Ponniah is an Affiliate of the David Rockefeller Center for Latin America Studies and an Associate of the Department of African and African-American Studies at Harvard University.
http://rabble.ca/columnists/2013/05/venezuelas-new-labour-law-best-mothers-day-gift
Guatemala: Constitutional Court expected to rule on nullifying Rios Montt verdict tomorrow
“It would be a good idea for you to leave Guatemala now,” among nicer things they said. “Usted es mal vista.” Duly noted. Wheels up soon.
- Rodriguez Sanchez attorney files legal challenge seeking Judge Barrios' dismissal on ground that she's "dangerously egocentric."
- Constitutional Court reportedly plans to release 3 judgments related to #RiosMontt trial Wednesday midday
- The Constitutional Court expected to rule tomorrow noon on recourse seeking to nullify Rios Montt verdict based on alleged irregularities
For everyone that followed #RiosMontt #GenocideGT trial, keep watching. This is far from over and things keep getting more complicated.
Rioss Montt isn't even in prison now lol. He pulled a Pinochet and went to a very cushy hospital
The 86-year-old former general was hospitalized three days after he was sentenced to 80 years in prison and jailed for the massacre of indigenous people during his 1982-1983 regime.
"I have a patient who is almost 87 years old who has had a lot of stress in the last few days and weeks, and so his health has deteriorated," Carlos Alvarez, a doctor at the hospital, told reporters.
Alvarez said Rios Montt had a "high blood pressure crisis" that affected his stomach and kidneys. He could remain hospitalized for three to seven days and undergo a battery of tests, he added.
...
http://www.interaksyon.com/article/61683/guatemala-ex-dictator-faints-in-court-hospitalized
Hypertension
http://noticias.emisorasunidas.com/noticias/nacionales/trasladan-rios-montt-centro-medico-militar
I'll update this thread tomorrow
Happy Birthday Che Guevara; Photographer, Revolutionary, Martyr
Che Guevara in USA, New York December 16, 1964
Interview with several journalists (narrated by Chris Couch) in the Cuban Mission HQ in New York (East 67th St).
by Jon Lee Anderson
The horoscope was confounding. If the famous guerrilla revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara was born on June 14, 1928, as stated on his birth certificate, then he was a Gemini--and a lackluster one at that. The astrologer, a friend of Che's mother, did her calculations again to find a mistake, but the results she came up with were the same. The Che that emerged was a grey, dependent personality who had lived an uneventful life. There were only two possibilities: Either she was right about Che, or she was worthless as an astrologer.
When shown the dismal horoscope, Che's mother laughed. She then confided a secret she had guarded closely for over three decades. Her famous son had actually been born one month earlier, on May 14. He was no Gemini, but a headstrong and decisive Taurus.
The deception had been necessary, she explained, because she was three months pregnant on the day she married Che's father. Immediately after their wedding, the couple had left Buenos Aires for the remote jungle backwater of Misiones. There, as her husband set himself up as an enterprising yerba mate planter, she went through her pregnancy away from the prying eyes of Buenos Aires society. When she was near term, they traveled down the Parana River to the city of Rosario. She gave birth there, and a doctor friend falsified the date on her baby's birth certificate, moving it forward by one month to help shield them from scandal.
...
If that child had not grown up to become the renowned revolutionary Che, his parents' secret might well have gone with them to their graves. He must be one of the rare public figures of modern times whose birth and death certificates are both falsified. Yet it seems uniquely fitting that Guevara, who spent most of his adult life engaged in clandestine activities and who died as the result of a secret conspiracy, should have also begun life with a subterfuge.
...
http://www.nytimes.com/books/first/a/anderson-guevara.html
From another martyr, Victor Jara, to Che: Zamba del Che
Vengo cantando esta zamba
con redobles libertarios,
mataron al guerrillero
Che comandante Guevara.
Selvas, pampas y montañas
patria o muerte es su destino.
Que los derechos humanos
los violan en tantas partes,
en América Latina
domingo, lunes y martes.
Nos imponen militares
para sojuzgar los pueblos,
dictadores, asesinos,
gorilas y generales.
Explotan al campesino
cuánto dolor su destino,
hambre miseria y dolor..
Bolívar le dio el camino
y Guevara lo siguió:
liberar a nuestro pueblo
del dominio explotador.
A Cuba le dio la gloria
de la nación liberada.
Bolivia también le llora
su vida sacrificada.
San Ernesto de la Higuera
le llaman los campesinos,
selvas, pampas y montañas,
patria o muerte su destino.
Thanks for signing it.
Mine does too. I hope you enjoy this as much as I do. The song is written and sung by Sylvio Rodriguez. He originally wrote it for Fidel but it's being used for Hugo too. I find the song simply beautiful. I had a video of Chavez singing a few verses but can't find it now
Te molesta mi amor?
Mi amor de juventud
y mi amor es un arte en virtud
Te molesta mi amor?
Mi amor sin antifaz
y mi amor es un arte de paz.
(Does my love bother you?
My love of youth,
my love, an art of virtue.
Does my love bother you?
My love without a mask,
my love, an art of peace.)
Te molesta mi amor?
Mi amor de humanidad
y mi amor es un arte en su edad
Te molesta mi amor?
Mi amor de surtidor
y mi amor es un arte mayor
(Does my love bother you?
My love of humanity,
my love, an art whose time has come.
Does my love bother you?
My fountain of love,
my love, my greater art.)
Mi amor es mi prenda encantada
es mi extensa morada
es mi espacio sin fin
mi amor, no precisa frontera
como la primavera
no prefiere jardin
Mi amor, no es amor de mercado
porque un amor sangrado
no es amor de lucrar
mi amor es todo cuanto tengo
si lo niego o lo vendo
para que respirar…
(My love is an enchanted jewel,
my extended home,
my infinite space,
my love needs no frontier,
any more than springtime needs gardens.
My love is not for sale,
since a love that has bled
knows no gain,
My love is all I have,
if I deny it or sell it
why breathe.)
Te molesta mi amor?…
Mi amor no es amor de uno solo
sino alma de todo
lo que urge sanar
mi amor es un amor de abajo
que el devenir me trajo
para hacerlo empinar
(My love isn't love for one person alone,
but the soul of everything,
it heals.
My love is a love from below,
which grew and raised itself up)
Mi amor, el mas enamorado
es el mas olvidado
en su antiguo dolor
mi amor abre pecho a la muerte
y despeña su suerte
por un tiempo mejor
mi amor, este amor aguerrido
es un sol encendido
por quien merece amor…
(My love, the most in love,
is the most forgotten
in his ancient pain
My love opens its chest to death,
throws in its lot
for a better world
My love, battle-hardened,
is a sun set alight,
for he who deserves love)
Silvio says at the end:
“I don’t know whether he believes in heaven on earth, but what he does believe is that it is impossible not to fight for it. That is what lies behind his sense of dignity, his belief that his principles will prevail, his vision of history”
FTA With USA Has Harmed Colombia, Senator Says
FTA With USA Has Harmed Colombia, Senator Says
Bogota, May 13 (Prensa Latina) A year after the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the United States came into effect, the balance for Colombia is negative: we export less and import more, affirmed senator of the Alternative Democratic Pole Party Jorge Enrique Robledo.
...
Robledo underlined the existence of three pressing topics: stop the FTA negotiation, renegotiate or denounce the already signed agreements and implement a state-backed policy for national agriculture and industry.
During his analysis, published at the Senate's website, the legislator quoted reports from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which show that from June 2011 and March 2012, when the FTA had not yet come into effect, Colombian agricultural imports reached 1,042,914 tons.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the sales of Colombian products to the U.S., 10 months after the FTA was implemented in March 2013, dropped 18 percent in comparison with the same period in 2012.
However, products imported from the U.S. increased 9.31 percent, proving that the FTA has damaged the trade balance between both countries.
http://www.plenglish.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1407291&Itemid=1
Noam Chomsky, Scholars Ask NY Times Public Editor to Investigate Bias on Honduras and Venezuela
Noam Chomsky, Scholars Ask NY Times Public Editor to Investigate Bias on Honduras and Venezuela
Keane Bhatt
Manufacturing Contempt
May 14, 2013
The following petition, signed by over a dozen experts on Latin America and the media, was sent today to Margaret Sullivan, Public Editor of The New York Times:
May 14, 2013
Dear Margaret Sullivan,
In a recent column (4/12/13), you observed:
Although individual words and phrases may not amount to very much in the great flow produced each day, language matters. When news organizations accept the government’s way of speaking, they seem to accept the government’s way of thinking. In The Times, these decisions carry even more weight.
In light of this comment we encourage you to compare The New York Times’s characterization of the leadership of the late Hugo Chávez in Venezuela and that of Roberto Micheletti and Porfirio Lobo in Honduras.
In the past four years, the Times has referred to Chávez as an "autocrat," "despot," "authoritarian ruler" and a "caudillo" in its news coverage. When opinion pieces are included, the Times has published at least fifteen separate articles employing such language, depicting Chávez as a "dictator" or "strongman." Over the same period—since the June 28, 2009 military overthrow of elected president Manuel Zelaya of Honduras—Times contributors have never used such terms to describe Micheletti, who presided over the coup regime after Zelaya’s removal, or Porfirio Lobo, who succeeded him. Instead, the paper has variously described them in its news coverage as "interim," "de facto,” and "new."
Porfirio Lobo assumed the presidency after winning an election held under Micheletti's coup government. The elections were marked by repression and censorship, and international monitors, like the Carter Center, boycotted them. Since the coup, Honduras's military and police have routinely killed civilians.
Over the past 14 years Venezuela has had 16 elections or referenda deemed free and fair by leading international authorities. Jimmy Carter #t=43m33" target="_blank">praised Venezuela’s elections, among the 92 the Carter Center has monitored, as having "a very wonderful voting system." He concluded that "the election process in Venezuela is the best in the world." While some human rights groups have criticized the Chávez government, Venezuela has had no pattern of state security forces murdering civilians, as is the case in Honduras.
Whatever one thinks of the democratic credentials of Chávez’s presidency—and we recognize that reasonable people can disagree about it—there is nothing in the record, when compared with that of his Honduran counterparts, to warrant the discrepancies in the Times’s coverage of the two governments.
We urge you to examine this disparity in coverage and language use, particularly as it may appear to your readers to track all too closely the U.S. government’s positions regarding the Honduran government (which it supports) and the Venezuelan government (which it opposes)—precisely the syndrome you describe and warn against in your column.
Sincerely,
Noam Chomsky, Institute Professor Emeritus, MIT
Edward Herman, Professor Emeritus of Finance, Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania
Greg Grandin, Professor of History, New York University
Sujatha Fernandes, Professor of Sociology, Queens College, CUNY Graduate Center
Corey Robin, Professor of Political Science, Brooklyn College, CUNY Graduate Center
Adrienne Pine, Professor of Anthropology, American University
Mark Weisbrot, Ph.D, Co-Director, Center for Economic and Policy Research
Miguel Tinker Salas, Professor of History and Latin American Studies, Pomona College
Katherine Hite, Professor of Political Science, Vassar College
Steve Ellner, Professor of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University, Universidad de Oriente
George Ciccariello-Maher, Professor of Political Science, Drexel University
Daniel Kovalik, Professor of International Human Rights, University of Pittsburgh School of Law
Gregory Wilpert, Ph.D, author of "Changing Venezuela by Taking Power"
Joseph Nevins, Professor of Geography, Vassar College
Nazih Richani, Director of Latin American Studies, Kean University
Steven Volk, Professor of History, Oberlin College
Aviva Chomsky, Professor of History, Salem State University
Keane Bhatt, North American Congress on Latin America
Chris Spannos, New York Times eXaminer
Michael Albert, ZNet
Affiliations are used for identification purposes only.
Readers can add their names to the petition at New York Times eXaminer, or contact Ms. Sullivan directly at public@nytimes.com. Please limit emails to 300 words, and follow the guidelines listed at the public editor's web page.
*
Below is a list of 16 Times articles that served as the basis of an analysis piece from which this petition was derived. None of the terms below (autocrat, despot, authoritarian, ruler, strongman, caudillo, dictator, tyrant, sultan) have been applied to either of Honduras's post-coup regimes:
News:
"Shy U.S. Intellectual Created Playbook Used in a Revolution," Sheryl Gay Stolberg, 2/16/11: "Autocrats abhor Mr. Sharp. In 2007, President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela denounced him."
"The Arab Spring Finds Itself Upstaged by a New Season," Neil MacFarquhar, 9/22/11: "In fact, this year’s gathering was suffering from something of a despot deficit, or at least the ranks of haranguers raging against the evils of capitalism and the West have been drastically thinned by revolutions or disease. President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela, undergoing chemotherapy treatment in Cuba, literally mailed it in . . ."
"Charges Against U.S.-Aided Groups Come With History of Distrust in Egypt," Scott Shane and Ron Nixon, 2/6/12: "Authoritarian rulers from Caracas to Moscow and beyond have long viewed pro-democracy groups financed by the United States with deep suspicion, regularly denouncing them as meddlers or spies and sometimes harassing their workers."
"A Polarizing Figure Who Led a Movement," Simon Romero, 3/5/13: "He maintained an almost visceral connection with the poor, tapping into their resentments, while strutting like the strongman in a caudillo novel. . . . He grew obsessed with changing Venezuela’s laws and regulations to ensure that he could be re-elected indefinitely and become, indeed, a caudillo."
Opinion:
"The Winner in Honduras: Chavez," Alvaro Vargas Llosa, 6/30/09: "The United States’ more measured response (to Honduras's coup d'etat), and the low-profile stance taken by some South American governments, have been lost amid the high-stakes campaign launched by Venezuela’s caudillo."
"Real Men Tax Gas," Thomas Friedman, 9/19/09: "Such a tax would make our national-security healthier by . . . increasing our leverage over petro-dictators, like those in Iran, Russia and Venezuela, through shrinking their oil incomes."
"As Ugly as It Gets," Thomas Friedman, 5/25/10: "
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva) regularly praises Venezuela’s strongman Hugo Chávez and Fidel Castro, the Cuban dictator — and now Ahmadinejad — while denouncing Colombia, one of the great democratic success stories. . ."
"Wallflowers at the Revolution," Frank Rich, 2/5/11: "More damning, Morozov also demonstrates how the digital tools so useful to citizens in a free society can be co-opted by tech-savvy dictators, police states and garden-variety autocrats to spread propaganda and to track (and arrest) conveniently networked dissidents, from Iran to Venezuela."
"Why Tyrants Love the Murdoch Scandal," Bill Keller, 7/24/11: "And autocrats will be autocrats, with or without our bad example. Robert Mugabe and Hugo Chávez would be just as hostile to an unfettered press if no British journalist had ever hacked a phone."
"The Stomachs of Strongmen," Ann Louise Bardach, 8/21/11: "Ironically, the hemisphere’s most indomitable strongmen and determined foes of the United States and free market economics have both been felled, at least for now, by abdominal woes . . . The symbiosis between Cuba’s emeritus or former (and in most ways, still de facto) commander in chief and the Venezuelan colonel-turned-oil-sultan is the most powerful and fascinating political alliance in the Americas."
"The Realest Reality Show in the World," Rachel Nolan, 5/6/12: "It’s hard to imagine another political figure with the combination of manic exhibitionism and entertainer’s stamina required to star in this sort of show, never mind the autocratic control required to make it, literally, must-see TV in his home country. . . . 'Aló Presidente' has that same wacky quality. The difference is that Mrs. Mouth wasn’t the autocratic leader of an oil-rich country of 29 million people."
"Velvet Gloves Over Iron Fists," Dwight Garner, 6/10/12: "The neo-authoritarians, from Vladimir Putin in Russia to Hugo Chávez in Venezuela to China’s more faceless technocrats, are still brutal, but they have learned to adapt."
"How Hugo Chavez Became Irrelevant," Francisco Toro, 10/5/12: "Mr. Chávez’s autocratic excesses came to look unnecessary and inexcusable to Venezuelans. . . . With oversight institutions neutered, the president now runs the country as a personal fief . . . Chávez-style socialism looks like the worst of both worlds: both more authoritarian and less effective at reducing poverty than the Brazilian alternative. . . . Mr. Capriles pitches himself as an ambitious but pragmatic social reformer committed to ending the Chávez era’s authoritarian excesses."
"The Missing President," Alberto Barrera Tyska and Christina Marcano, 1/22/13: "In the name of the dispossessed, he revived the ghost of the South American military caudillo, creating a new version of that traditional strongman. ... There is one element of the Chávez leadership, however, that is no different from any of Latin America's other personality-driven authoritarian regimes: its messianic nature."
"Hugo Chavez," Editorial Board, 3/6/13: "Hugo Chávez dominated Venezuelan politics for 14 years with his charismatic personality, populist policies and authoritarian methods . . . his legacy is stained by the undermining of democratic institutions."
"Death of a Strongman," Jonathan Tepperman, 4/5/13: "Finally, after years of riding the sugar binge of Chávez’s populist politics, which left the country “flabby, enfeebled and import-addicted,” much of the public lost enthusiasm for their latter-day caudillo. . . . efforts to underscore the inherent absurdity of autocrats and their personality cults are nothing new."
Keane Bhatt is an activist in Washington, D.C. He has worked in the United States and Latin America on a variety of campaigns related to community development and social justice. His analyses and opinions have appeared in a range of outlets, including NPR, The Nation, The St. Petersburg Times, and CNN En Español. He is the author of the NACLA blog “Manufacturing Contempt,” which critically analyzes the U.S. press and its portrayal of the hemisphere. Connect with his blog on Twitter: @KeaneBhatt
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