XXI Century Socialism according to Hugo Chavez

Caracas 08.01.07 | Well folks it seems that I can't keep from reporting the insanities of the president elected by more than 7 million of my countrymen/women. As I was dozing today I heard bits of president Chavez's speech during the swearing ceremony of his new 27 ministers -let us not forget that he started of in 1998 with 12... In any case he was trying to put some meat behind that hard-to-define concept known as "XXI century socialism". Up until this point his minions have had a tough time trying to explain what does it mean so the president himself had to explain it, thus "XXI century socialism" -according to president Chavez- means:

1. Scrap central bank autonomy.

2. Nationalize CANTV (telecom company) and the electricity industry.

3. Change business code/laws;

4. Cancel the broadcasting license of Venezuela's largest TV network (RCTV).

5. Seek special powers from Congress to approve new “Revolutionary” laws -only Chavez knows what "revolutionary" means...

6. The state should have a majority stake in Orinoco Basin heavy oil upgrading joint-ventures.

The six points, part of a summary by Goldman Sachs, are indicative of the sort of 'socialism' that Chavez has in mind. However point number three needs further explaining. The new Finance Minister, Rodrigo Cabezas, announced that from now on private companies' earnings will be capped so that health and education budgets can be increased. In short, the Venezuelan government will presumably regulate profit margins -and obviously take a bigger tax cut- so that businesses operating in Venezuela can augment contributions in order to fund governmental projects. Then instead or guaranteeing a stable climate for investment the new inventors of socialism will, unilaterally, scrap contracts with private corporations and impose new stake terms on existing and allegedly perfectly legal agreements, as suggested in point six. Needless to say that CANTV shares -partly owned by Verizon- dropped in NYSE. "Todo lo que fue privatizado debe ser nacionalizado" said president Chavez, who included in the nationalization drive electricity companies that have been privately owned since incorporation.

All was 'socialism' in president Chavez's address. For instance he referred to OAS Secretary General Jose Miguel Insulza as "pendejo" -an endearing term used by the neo socialist that means "idiot." At last he made proper use of language to refer to a man who seems convinced that all is fine and dandy in this socialist country.

President Chavez also pledged to send literature on socialism -penned by the likes of Marx and Stalin- to Church hierarchs so that they can learn what his 'XXI Century Socialism' is all about.

To wit Venezuelans must feel grateful for president Chavez has bothered to clarify the goals of his project. Novel indeed these goals are, specially the building of a hegemonic construct that will quash competition, dissent, inalienable rights and freedoms.

BBC in the footsteps of Reuters...

The BBC, aka Bolivarian Broadcasting Corporation, like no other global news provider is responsible to have established firmly the benign image that many outside Venezuela have about the caudillo Hugo Chavez. Let us not forget that the Beeb co-produced the fiction docu-drama The Revolution Will Not Be Televised. Their website is just another mouth of Bolivarian political propaganda. Recently the Caracas correspondant Greg Morsbach 'reported' about the legal trial of Henrique Capriles Radonski, Mayor of Baruta district in Caracas and one of the most notorious victims of the political prosecution campaign unleashed by Hugo. I took issue with it and sent a complaint letter to the BBC. What follows is the exchange with Stewart McCullough, Divisional Advisor of BBC Information.

The BBC published an article from its Caracas correspondant Greg Morsbach, in which he fails to address, in customary fashion, the most relevant issues of this case. Namely:

- Morsbach fails to mention that the most important bit of evidence a video submitted by Capriles' defence, 'went missing' from the court;

- Morsbach contends "Cuba's ambassador has told local media Mr Capriles should have used his authority as mayor but did nothing to protect his embassy" (sic). However video evidence shows that indeed Capriles did everything in his power to protect Castro's representatives. As seen in the video Capriles, and others, met with Sanchez Otero, who accepted the help offered;

- Morsbach cites that "the ambassador says the opposition mayor entered the premises to demand that the building be searched for any fugitive pro-Chavez officials" (sic), which again is a falacy. Capriles entered the building to safeguard and guarantee the safety of all diplomatic personnel, as shown in the video, that, most curiously, went missing;

- Morsbach fails to address the statements given by Sanchez Otero during Ernesto Villegas' interview whereby he argues that Capriles is lying about the alleged involvement in the siege. I would like to draw reader's attention to the video below, and compare the tone and demeanour of Sanchez Otero to the one linked above;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWmL4RcL-ms

- Morsbach fails to mention that Sanchez Otero spoke to Dog Mork Ulnes Norwegian Ambassador to Venezuela, who offered to mediate, and is on the record saying "there's no conflict, absolutely no conflict, we are conversing and dialoguing as two sister nations, it's a misunderstanding that it's been resolved in this instance..." (sic);

- Morsbach fails to mention that Sanchez Otero is on the record recognising the authority of Pedro Carmona Estanga, declaring that he had sent a message to president Carmona Estanga and further stressing that the responsility of any act that could take place against them would lay on the shoulders of the President of Venezuela, its Foreign Secretary and ultimately its government, i.e. Venezuela's Executive;

- Morsbach fails to mention that Capriles has already been imprisoned for 120 days in relation to this very same case. Some particulars of his case can be read here;

In sum the BBC's correspondant does another botched job by presenting a fifth of the story, conveniently failing to report issues of great relevance, which by the way, are in clear violation to Venezuela's sovereignty and legislation.

Initially I got a courtesy reply from Stewart McCullough stating that they were looking into my concern and will reply shortly. Then his department sent the following unsigned reply:

Dear Mr Boyd

The article to which you refer gives an impartial and basic outline of the legal case, reflecting the positions of the different parties involved.

The BBC News website caters for a world audience and not an audience of pure Venezuela specialists - we therefore need to keep the story simple and concentrate on the key elements, which is what our correspondent has done.

Thank you again for your interest in our coverage.

Regards
BBC News website

To which I replied thusly:

Dear Mr. McCullough,

many thanks for your message. It seems to me that there's no end in sight in the dispute for objectivity, accuracy and impartiality betweenbloggers and main stream media. I don't think it's of use to remind you about the contents of the Royal Charter and BBC's own guidelines, but perhaps you can point out to me where is it established that the BBC need to keep stories basic in order to accommodate to the intellectual level of its audience.

As described Mr. Morsbach did an appalling job, conveniently simplifying a story to cast a negative light upon opposition politicians so that BBC's "world audience" continues to be misled and misinformed about the politics of Venezuela, so that the propaganda in favour of Hugo Chavez keeps unabated.

Keep up the good work, bearing in mind what has just happened to Reuters. Sooner than you think it'll be the turn of the BBC.

Cordially, Aleksander Boyd

Fidel Castro has died

Valldemossa 03.08.06 | Understandably there is much ado about the health condition of the Cuban dictator Fidel Castro. Even in this lovely village, whose mayorship would be the envy of Red Ken, people are talking about it. The MSM is already spreading avalanches of crap about Cuba's future under the rule of yet-to-come-out-of-the-closet Raul Castro. I have checked the news: the only sources of (dis)information proclaiming that the tyrant is just undergoing surgery are, of course, Venezuelan and Cuban ones, which, needs be stressed, have not got one shred of credibility left. Therefore I can announce that Fidel Castro has died.

If tomorrow, or the day/week/month after, he appears in public and proves me wrong I can always retract. However, based on the information available and my own sources, I have no reason to believe that the criminal that ruined Cuba and oppressed its people for half a century is alive.

As Carlo Gambino, Fidel Castro perished in a relatively peaceful sort of way, contrary with what had been his trademark. What a shame; Cuban victims and honourable people the world over lost for good the opportunity for revenge or, at the very least, will not be able to find solace upon the fact that Castro, as the heir of the Gambino family John Gotti, would rot incommunicado in an ADMAX type of facility.

What will his putative son do now?

Las razones de mi retiro...

Londres 02 de Julio 2006 | [Va sin acentos] Hace unos dias anuncie publicamente que me retiraria del activismo politico. A raiz de tal anuncio he recibido una gran cantidad de correos que expresan, en la mayoria de los casos, apoyo y solidaridad, lo cual agradezco enormemente. Algunos criticaron el que haya calificado a Sumate de irresponsable, mientras otros reprocharon mi decision, por cuanto la perciben como la mas facil para alguien considerado como "apoltronao" en Europa. Los especuladores tambien se han pronunciado al respecto y mis criticos estan, como es logico, gozando un bolon. Es menester sin embargo que me extienda un tanto en las razones que me llevaron a retirarme.

Ante todo debo decir que esa decision he logrado postergarla por mucho tiempo, mas llegue al sabado. Contrariamente a lo que algunos estiman representa mi condicion economica creanme cuando les digo que de "apoltronao" no tengo nada. Desde luego que si ese hubiese sido el caso mi lucha, las mas de las veces individual, habria sido muchisimo mas certera y efectiva, pues como imaginaran oponerse a un tipo que tiene 30.000 millones de dolares en la chequera y petroleo para regalar no es tarea facil, ni barata. Como decia Napoleon, para llevar a cabo una guerra exitosamente se necesitan tres cosas: dinero, dinero y dinero. Lamentablemente no tengo ninguno de los tres elementos requeridos y como soy galan, no tengo vida contra el billetuo. Con las uñas, arrojo, cantidad industrial de irreverencia y mucha creatividad he logrado algunas cosas. Pero no solo de activismo politico vive el hombre, las cuentas, esas hay que seguir pagandolas, y cuando todo se descuida por un ideal que no aporta mas que enemistades por doquier, pronto llega el momento de batirse en retirada, es decir a este chancho le llego su sabado...

La progresion natural para un individuo que se ha dedicado en cuerpo y alma al activismo politico por una causa no es otra, en paises democraticos, que lanzarse al ruedo a tratar de ganar el apoyo de los muchos en el terreno de las ideas. No obstante, cuales son los chances reales de que eso suceda en mi caso, en Venezuela? Ninguno, y saben porque? Porque yo no tengo adeptos en ninguno de los bandos que hacen vida en la politica de mi pais. Es decir no tengo representacion y es por ello que tengo que representarme yo mismo. Como no tengo rabo de paja, y lo mismo expongo las marramucias de opositores como de chavistas, pues soy detestado por ambos. No puedo unirme a ningun partido pues no creo en ninguno y tampoco puedo apoyar candidatura alguna pues los que en esas andan son unos irresponsables de mierda que no representan sino sus propios intereses, y que de paso pretenden ahora ser mas chavistas que el mero mesmo. La nueva generacion de politicos esta por emerger y cuando alcance proporciones considerables sin duda lo hara. Pero si no existe una unidad de criterio y proposito, consenso en cuanto a la necesidad de proveer bienestar para todos, y no para unos pocos, y acuerdo de no agresion entre ellos hasta tanto retorne la democracia, el apatrida y sus leguleyos seguiran campantes en el poder. Olvidense de izquierdas benignas, populistas unicejos y demas paja, el pueblo de Venezuela lo que necesita es trabajo, estabilidad, paz y armonia. La tan mentada izquierda tuvo su chance, es mas tiene casi 50 años enquistada en el poder y lo que vivimos hoy no es sino consecuencia de ella.

Lo de la demanda contra el alcalde de esta ciudad ha sido otro de los detonantes, por cuanto las acusaciones proferidas no son de barriga verde o de escualido, no. Ken Livingstone, en cumplimiento de sus funciones y en foro publico, me acuso dizque de apoyar al terrorismo contra la democracia venezolana, esa que existe tan solo en los predios mentales del chavismo y en botiquines concurridos por candidatos de oposicion. No es pendejada la observacion hecha, ya que aqui mismo en Londres han matado, no hace mucho, gente sospechosa de estar de alguna forma relacionada con el terrorismo. Con la ligereza tipica de un chavista el Livingstone lanzo esa perla. Pruebas para demostrar en una corte de verdad verdad lo que dijo no tiene. Pero de igual forma el reto de enfrentarlo es formidable, habida cuenta de mi situacion y que contrato los servicios de una de las firmas de abogados mas poderosas de este pais. Un buen simil de todo este rollo es aquel del soldado tratando de matar un mosquito con una bazuca.

Mi lucha, en solitario, continuara atenuandose hasta que desaparezca de un todo, no porque no quiera sino porque bajo estas circunstancias no pueda. Venezuela pasa a un segundo plano pues ahora es primordial que me defienda de quienes, abusando el poder, me atacan directamente. Sin embargo me gustaria concluir de forma positiva afirmando que si todos hicieramos un poquito, si todos considerasemos a nuestra patria como nuestro hogar, que debe ser defendido a toda hora y en todo lugar de malhechores y hampones que buscan destruirlo, las cosas mejorarian sustancialmente. Una golondrina no hace verano y un puñadito de gente honesta, por muy idealista que sea, no tumba una dictadura. Preguntenle a los cubanos si dudan de mis palabras.

Asi pues, estimadas y estimados, es con mucho pesar que he decidido retirarme. Si los venezolanos, de tanto intentar, logran que cambien los aires en Venezuela, sere el primero en devolverme p'a mi vaina, a luchar por lo que creo justo y beneficioso para todos.

Smartmatic

London 14.08.05 | The Florida register of companies contains details of the board of directors of Smartmatic Corporation, which is formed by Antonio Mugica, Alfredo Anzola, Antonio Mugica Rivero, Roger Piñate, Antonio Mugica Sesma and Luis Feliu [1]. Its principal place of business is 1001 Broken Sound Parkway, NW, STE D, Boca Raton, FL 33487. The company's history in Venezuela dates back to seven years ago when the venture was "the Research and Development Unit of Panagroup in Venezuela" (sic) and in "2000 we realized the true impact of our technology in the growing device-networking market, and we emerged as an independent company" (sic) [2]. The Miami Herald reported on Friday May 28, 2004 [ F2 EDITION]:

"A large and powerful investor in the software company that will design electronic ballots and record votes for Venezuela's new and much criticized election system is the Venezuelan government itself... Venezuela's investment in Bizta Corp., the ballot software firm, gives the government 28 percent ownership of the company it will use to help deliver voting results in future elections, including the possible recall referendum against President Hugo Chavez, according to records obtained by The Herald... Until a year ago, the Bizta Corp. was a struggling Venezuelan software company with barely a sales deal to its name, records show. Then, the Venezuelan government -- through a venture capital fund -- invested about $200,000 and bought 28 percent of it" (sic).

Further the Herald also shed light upon shareholders and registered addresses of both Smartmatic and Bizta thusly:

Three companies will build and execute Venezuela's new touch-screen voting system. Two are incorporated in Florida, though neither does most of its business here.

* Smartmatic Corp., which will build the machines, incorporated in Florida in 2000 and lists its world headquarters at 6400 Congress Ave. in Boca Raton. Its president is Antonio Mugica Rivero, 30, and its vice president is Alfredo Anzola, 30.

* Bizta Corp.,which will provide software for the new machines, incorporated in Florida in 2001, and lists its address as 19591 Dinner Key Dr., Boca Raton, a residential property owned by Mugica's father. Mugica is listed as president, and Anzola is vice president, according to Florida records. Venezuelan records, however, indicate Anzola is president. In Caracas, Bizta shares its office with Smartmatic.

* CANTV, Venezuela's publicly held phone company, will provide phone lines to connect the system and election day technical support. It would have been part of any voting system selected for the elections contract.

Venezuelan journalist Orlando Ochoa Teran investigated the claims published by the Miami Herald and discovered that Venezuelan officials were behind the incorporation of Smartmatic. Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel and Venezuelan Ambassador to the USA Bernardo Alvarez Herrera are intimately related, either through long time friendship or consanguinity relationship, to the directors of Smartmatic. According to registry documents, that went missing after the Herald blew the whistle, the names associated to the company are Alfredo Anzola, Antonio Mugica and families Gabaldon-Anzola and Herrera-Oropeza [3]. The incorporation of Smartmatic took place in the Fifth Mercantile Registry, located in the ground floor of tower B in “Cubo Negro” building in Chuao Caracas. Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel's daughter -lawyer Gisela Rangel Avalos de D'Armas was, at the time, the head of the said registry.

Since March 2004 the CNE has disbursed at least $131 million to Smartmatic [4].

Who controls Smartmatic?

The findings of Orlando Ochoa did not end in a Caracas registry though. Recently he wrote for Quinto Dia another article, carrying the title of this paragraph, in which he commented upon the recent acquisition of Sequoia Voting Systems for an undisclosed amount. "With the combination of Sequoia and Smartmatic, both proven innovators with accomplished track records in either the U.S. or abroad, we are creating the first truly global leader in providing voter-verified electronic voting solutions," said Jack Blaine, President, Smartmatic [5]. Furthermore, after analyzing the minutes of a meeting held in Chicago between Cook County and Chicago's city officials with the board of Sequoia, that remained in charge after the take over, and that of Smartmatic [6], Ochoa noted that unknown Venezuelan investors, operating via proxy European ventures, could indeed be the controlling power behind Smartmatic.

Sequoia Voting Systems was the e-voting branch of De La Rue PLC, the "world 's largest commercial security printer and papermaker" (sic) [7]. De La Rue's 2005 preliminary statement reports the sale to Smartmatic thusly:

"following the strategic review in December 2004, we announced our intention to exit the business (added: of voting systems) by the year end and this was done through the sale of the business to Smartmatic Corporation, a US based device networking and election systems company. The business had revenues of £23.1m (2003/2004 : £44.2m) and made an operating loss of £0.2m in the year (2003/2004 : £(1.9)m)" [8, page 8].

Interestingly page 5 cites "During the second half, we also successfully completed the sale of the Sequoia Voting Systems business for a consideration of £8.7m (US$16m) resulting in an exceptional gain of £6.0m" (sic).

Following Ochoa's lead I searched the registry of the Amsterdam Chamber of Commerce, which contains details of a venture trading under the name Smartmatic International Holding B.V., incorporated, under a different name, on March 18th 1.985. Its registered address is Naritaweg 165 Telestone 8, 1043BW Amsterdam. The company activities are described as "to purchase, develop and manage property and goods" [9]. The sole shareholder of the holding is Amola Investments N.V., which in turn was incorporated in the registry of the Chamber of Commerce of Curaçao, under number 91615. A search for Amola Investments N.V. in the register of Curaçao's Chamber of Commerce returns no results. However the incorporation number does exist in the register, containing not information related to Amola Investments N.V. but to another company by the name of Smartmatic International Group N.V. [10]. Curaçao Corporation Company N.V. [11], Netherlands Antilles Corporation Company N.V. [12] and Roger Alejandro Piñate Martinez -Vice President, Special Operations of Smartmatic Corporation [13]- are the three listed statutory and managing directors of the group.

Ochoa indicated that an entry in the minutes of the meeting aforementioned describes Cook County's Commissioner Peter Silvestri [14] asking to representatives of Sequoia/Smartmatic "who owns Sequoia?" (sic). The answer came from Honorable David Orr [15]: "Smartmatic International, which is owned by a Dutch company, owns Sequoia Voting Systems. Some key investors of the said Dutch company are Venezuelans" (sic). On May 26th 2005 Cook County's Election Department informed that Sequoia was the winner of the bidding process for electronic voting equipment [16].

The Amsterdam registry shows that Smartmatic International Holding B.V.'s managing director is Trust International Management (T.I.M.) B.V.. Both companies operate from the same address. According to the register the website of T.I.M. B.V is http://citco.com [17]. Citco Group is quoted in Hedge Funds World as "the world's largest hedge fund administrator" (sic) [18], that until very recently was controlled by Switzerland's Sandoz Foundation [19]. However Citco has informed that "an investor group including the Smeets Family Trust, Citco managers, and friends of the firm has acquired a controlling interest in Citco from the Sandoz Family Foundation" (sic) [20].

The USAID, IFES, Carter Center, CNE and Smartmatic connection

In June 1998, the National Electoral Council (CNE) of Venezuela contracted the International Foundation for Election Systems IFES to renew and make recommendations regarding proposals for an automated voting system in Venezuela [21, page 29 ]. IFES has been awarded (award number AEP-I-00-00-00007-00) an "indefinite quantity contract" (IQC) by USAID with the following purpose: "To support the transition to, and consolidation of, democratic governments through which citizens choose their leaders and participate in all levels of political decision-making, particularly in transition and sustainable development countries" [22, page 30 ]. According to Carter Center's America's Programme director Jennifer McCoy "President Carter had traveled several times to Venezuela, including monitoring the 1998 and 2000 elections, and he and President Chavez built a very good personal relationship" [23]. Such warm relationship may have come about due to the fact that the Carter Center is the sole subcontractor of IFES for the aforementioned purpose.

CNE's director Jorge Rodriguez traveled to Smartmatic's 'factory' in Italy, early in 2004, to check the progress of the production of the electronic voting machines. These were purchased to Tecnost Sistemi Olivetti for $57.968.040. However Italian news agency ANSA posted on the economy section on April 15, 2004 that the total amount of the contract was over $24 million:

"Olivetti Tecnost, la Business Unit "Office & System Solutions" del Gruppo Telecom Italia, si e aggiudicata una commessa del valore di oltre 24 milioni di dollari, per la fornitura complessiva di 20.000 terminali di voto elettronico in Venezuela, che saranno utilizzati per la prima volta nelle elezioni del prossimo agosto". (bold added)

20.000 AES300 machines were bought to Olivetti, however the Italian firm does not have such a model in its catalog of products but one called MAEL 205, which was designed to play lottery. Ochoa noted that the said machines produced by Olivetti were sold to Peru, India and Tunisia not for electoral purposes [24]. Smartmatic did not fulfill the CNE's criteria in terms of experience in organization and conduction of electoral processes of companies that participated in the bidding process. The obstacle was circumvented by hiring Jorge Tirado, former contractor of IFES and director of Caribbean Government Consultants (CGC):

Jorge Tirado, president of CGC, has been consultant for the State Electoral Commission of Puerto Rico since1975. He has participated in more than 63 electoral processes as consultant or as head of CGC, leading technological initiatives and process lines to ensure transparent elections. [25].

However El Universal reported that Tirado had indeed participated in 63 electoral processes not in the condition of organizer but as an observer contracted by IFES [26], organization with which he has an old relationship [27].

Implications

It is extremely worrying indeed that a company with connections to the Hugo Chavez regime has been selected to run elections in a county of Chicago and given carte blanche to operate in the USA and other countries. Equally preoccupying is the fact that leading players of the global financial market are related to Smartmatic and to some extent to Fidel Castro's heir.