New Money, New Record

Today the Venezuelan government released the new currency to be used starting next year "Bolivar Fuerte" or Strong Bolivar versus the currently used (weak?) Bolivar. With the introduction of the new currency it was only fitting for the old and current Bolivar to hit a new low on the black market exchange of $6000 Bs. per $1 US or $6 Bolivar Fuerte per $1 US.

In January this year the black market exchange was around $3,800 per $1 US, in other words the Bolivar has lost ~63% of its value in 10 months. Now I'm not totally opposed to the removal of zeros from the currency since for years people have unofficially been removing them. For example if you go to a store and the item costs $1000 they will often just say one bolivar. What is wrong is that the government is advertising the "new Bolivar Fuerte" as more stable when in fact the only thing that will have changed is the number of zeros and the pictures. Whether the Bs per US $ goes from 3,800 to $6,000 or 3.8 to 6 the currency still loses 63% of it's value, so in reality nothing changes, but then again the revolution is all about smoke and mirrors.

Below is a picture of the new currency, personally I find it ok, although a bit gaudy for my taste. The only thing I find strange is that the images of people are vertical not horizontal. BTW, is it me or do Simon Bolivar and Rodriguez look a bit weird, they seem to have big ears. They are European! so I guess it is only befitting to provide a new European look with the modified article 100 of the constitution. (Article 100 is the previous post.)

Constitutional reform - Article 100

Below you will find article 100 from Chavez’s “perfect constitution” followed by the new modified article and my comments. I apologize in advance for the bad translation.

*Note modifications are underlined

Article 100
The folk cultures comprising the national identity of Venezuela enjoy special attention, with recognition of and respect for intercultural relations under the principle of equality of cultures. Incentives and inducements shall be provided for by law for persons, institutions and communities which promote, support, develop or finance cultural plans, programs and activities within the country and Venezuelan culture abroad. The State guarantees cultural workers inclusion in the Social security system to provide them with a dignified life, recognizing the idiosyncrasies of cultural work, in accordance with law.

Modified Article 100

The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela is a product of the mixing of various cultures; consequently the State recognizes and values the diversity of its Indian, European, and African roots that has created our great South American nation. The popular cultures, of Indian and African decent constituting the Venezuelan identity, enjoy special attention by recognizing and respecting its intercultural nature under the principle of cultural equality. Incentives and inducements shall be provided for by law for persons, institutions and communities which promote, support, develop or finance cultural plans, programs and activities within the country and Venezuelan culture abroad. The State guarantees cultural workers inclusion in the Social security system to provide them with a dignified life, recognizing the idiosyncrasies of cultural work, in accordance with law.

Comments on the modification

After reading the modified article it appears the changes are rather benign and minor. The major change has been defining the cultural heritage of Venezuela and what the “popular cultures” are. After a more careful read of the modification, one realizes that chavismo is defining what it is to be Venezuelan in a very narrow sense by inserting this statement: “The popular cultures, of Indigenous and African decent constituting the Venezuelan identity…”, this ultimately constitutes cultural and racial discrimination.

The most obvious problems with this modification is that Venezuelans are a mix of European, African, and Indigenous blood and culture. So how should Venezuelans define themselves, African? European? Indigenous? How should they/we divide and quantify the contribution of each culture when ours is a mixture of each one? To exemplify the stupidity of the modification one only has to highlight one of Venezuela’s most famous cultural traditions the Diablos de Yare. Traditions such as this were created through the mixing of Indigenous, African, and European cultures. To diminish European influence in creating Venezuelan culture and identity is cultural discrimination in its crudest form.

Chavismo’s discrimination towards European heritage is not something new. One of the most public acts was the destruction of a statue of Christopher Columbus on Columbus Day (“Dia de la Raza” in Venezuela) and the renaming of the day to “Indigenous day of resistance”. This act alone is symbolic of the dislike Chavismo has for European historical cultural heritage in Venezuela. This seems hypocritical since Venezuelan identity has been formed by these historical events, however horrifying some of them were. But rather than embrace, understand, and provide a context in which Venezuelan identity has been created, Chavismo has resorted to favoring one particular culture and interpretation of history to teach future generations what being a Venezuelan is, and is not.

The modified article is currently written in a way that suggests State support for cultural activities pertaining to the influence of European tradition in Venezuela will not be awarded. However, activities that promote the “popular cultures” (i.e. African and Indian) will be State supported. Again Chavez is discriminating against European culture by potentially not funding activities that uphold European influences in developing Venezuelan identity. Additionally, the new modification could be interpreted as allowing for State funding for autochthonous religious/cultural activities resulting in State sponsored religion. If the government were inclined to do so they could attempt to displace Catholicism/Christianity (European religion) with something more"popular".

In a broader sense the modification is discriminatory to other cultures since it does not mention Asian and Middle Eastern influence, which has recently been influencing Venezuelan culture and history. The exclusion of these two geographic regions and its peoples from the modified article poses an interesting question. Why is Chavez limiting “popular cultures” to just Indigenous (Native Americans) and African roots? Native Americans were here before Africans and Europeans so why not define “popular culture” as just Indigenous activities? Essentially Chavez is defining what it is to be Venezuelan in a very narrow sense, by excluding recent cultural influences (ex. Asia, Middle East) and ignoring the historical European influences.

In short the modification to article 100 constitutes nothing short of cultural discrimination with the possible ulterior intention of rewriting history.

Article 100 – Spanish

Las culturas populares constitutivas de la venezolanidad gozan de atención especial, reconociéndose y respetándose la interculturalidad bajo el principio de igualdad de las culturas. La ley establecerá incentivos y estímulos para las personas, instituciones y comunidades que promuevan, apoyen, desarrollen o financien planes, programas y actividades culturales en el país, así como la cultura venezolana en el exterior. El Estado garantizará a los trabajadores y trabajadoras culturales su incorporación al sistema de seguridad social que les permita una vida digna, reconociendo las particularidades del quehacer cultural, de conformidad con la ley.

Modified Article 100 - Spanish

La Republica Bolivariana de Venezuela es el producto histórico de la confluencia de varias culturas, por ello el Estado reconoce la diversidad de sus expresiones y valora las raíces indígenas, europeas y afrodescendientes que dieron origen a nuestra Gran Nación Suramericana. Las culturas populares, la de los pueblos indígenas y de los afrodescendientes, constitutivas de la venezolanidad, gozan de atención especial, reconociéndose y respetándose la interculturalidad bajo el principio de igualdad de las culturas. La ley establecerá incentivos y estímulos para las personas, instituciones y comunidades que promuevan, apoyen, desarrollen o financien planes, programas y actividades culturales en el país, así como la cultura venezolana en el exterior. El Estado garantizará a los trabajadores y trabajadoras culturales su incorporación al sistema de seguridad social que les permita una vida digna, reconociendo las particularidades del que hacer cultural, de conformidad con la ley.

Constitutional reform

Sorry about not posting, I have been preparing for a meeting I am presenting at in a couple of weeks and a presentaion I have to give at work in a week.

I have added a new link, on the right, that takes you to a new blog dedicated to the constitutional reforms proposed. Many bloggers, including myself, are contributing to it so read up and enjoy!

Expect something on Monday :)

Political persecution revisited

Followers of Venezuelan politics and news will remember the turmoil of 2002-2003, in particular the signature petition process to invoke the recall referendum on Chavez. There were three signature processes, in every case the national electoral council (CNE) tired to prevent the process from taking place.

First the CNE invalidated the original signature collection since it wasn't coordinated by the CNE. This was followed by the CNE making the their petition process cumbersome and full of obstacles. After the opposition collected enough signatures the referendum, the CNE decided to invalidate just enough signatures to prevent the process from going forward. Viewing how blatantly the CNE was cheating the process they were pressured by international observers and the opposition to hold a third signature process for the "questionable" signers. Of course ever more obstacles were put in place such as the government threats, making signers travel long distances, etc... However, in the end the referendum was held, but its consequences are still felt to this day by the petition signers.

At the request of Chavez and the Vice-president (Jose Vicente Rangel) the name of the petition signers had their names turned over to the Chavez government, in which they promptly compiled and created the now infamous Maisanta database. To state to obvious the list has subsequently been used to purge non-Chvez supporters from government jobs, canceling and preventing private individuals from doing business with government companies, denying government loans, among a host of other abuses, simply for signing against Chavez.

This now brings me to my point, that after 5 years the government abuses are still being felt and its impact is only now beginning to be studied. I would like to thank Greg Weeks via his blog Two Weeks Notice for posting the article.

In short the paper looks at the economic price the political opposition had to pay for signing against Chavez. In which they make the following conclusions:

There is extensive churning in the labor market: pro-opposition individuals disproportionately leave public sector employment and progovernment individuals leave private sector employment. Pro-opposition firms have falling total employment, less access to foreign exchange, and rising tax burdens (possibly due to selective audits).

Random Venezuelan news

Below are some stories from the past couple of weeks that I thought were worth noting:

Wolf, Wolf!!!
pro-Chavez groups, in this case the Bolivarian Federation of Students have announced that the political opposition to Chavez is planning violence and civil disturbances ahead of the constitutional reforms. They are accusing opposition groups of planning to build home-made bombs, hijacking university buses, closing streets, and protesting on the streets. But of course the protests are only possible due to CIA backing.

Diplomatic warming? don't worry it's still pretty cold
According to the Associated Press, Washington and Caracas are discussing a possible high level discussion between Thomas Shannon, top U.S. diplomat for the Americas, and Chavez. It seems that the talks will center on Chavez mediating a peace (an unlikely one) between the FARC and the Colombian govt.

However, the Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates, today stated that Chavez is a threat to Venezuelan liberty and economic well being. Personally I agree but this of course won't go well down well in Caracas .

Also today, Venezuelan foreign minister, Nicolas Maduro, spoke at the United Nations naturally making accusation against the United States about the Iraq invasion, its hostility towards Iran, harboring Luis Posada Carriles, blah, blah blah....

Integration a la Chavez
So September came and went and Chavez has now put a year end limit for Brazil and Paraguay to approve Venezuela's full membership into Mercosur. The Brazilian opposition party seems to want to take its time and prolong this as much as possible, while Lula asks for its passage since it is aggravating relations with Chavez. Of course Chavez comes out claiming that Venezuela's failure to enter Mercosur is a victory for the empire (aka the United States) and that Venezuela left the Andean Community to join Mercosur and has made large purchases from Brazil, so Brazil now owes it to Venezuela to approve its entry.

The unenlightened Chavez
Ok, so this could mean a lot of things, however, here I'm referring to Chavez's lack of public statement on the repressive and barbaric actions of the Myanmar dictatorship against Buddhist monks and other citizens. Interestingly the Venezuelan and Myanmar governments held talks in July to increase economic development between the two countries.

Should one expect Chavez's condemnation of the Myanmar dictatorship? Probably not, remember Chavez called Zimbabwe a model democracy, has praised Lukoshenko, and is Castro's best friend. Perhaps they will all continue their friendship in Naraka.

Other stuff
So Daniel, among others, have been busy translating and discussing the Constitutional reforms proposed to the "perfect" constitution of 2000... wait I thought it was perfect?

Meanwhile protests have continued on the Colombian and Venezuela boarder due to tolls being collected by Colombia to cross the bridges. Colombia's argument is that they are necessary for bridge and road maintenance.

Protests also continue among Venezuelan oil workers due to labor disputes and pay.

BTW, my apologies for not writing but work has been busy and I have felt rather uninspired to write anything. In part so much goes on in Venezuela that one becomes overwhelmed as to what to write about. But at the end of the day you wonder if it is even worth writing since it is the same government abuses, ignorance, and corruption as the day before, just a different story.