<html>
<body>
<font size=3>newsandaction@veninfo.org <br><br>
<b>VIO News & Action- November 15, 2007<br><br>
</b>Dear colleagues,<br><br>
Considering the recent barrage of inaccurate news about Venezuela's
constitutional reforms and the student protests that have accompanied
them we felt it necessary to clear things up. We hope the below
analysis will be useful in explaining the current political climate in
Venezuela to friends or to the press.<br><br>
<b>STUDENT PROTESTS IN VENEZUELA<br><br>
</b>Recent news articles have reported on a series of opposition student
protests in Venezuela in response to constitutional reforms slated to be
voted on in a national referendum December 2. Most of the news
coverage has included misleading claims about the students'
demonstrations and the government's response to them. Primarily the media
has failed to report on the cooperation between the government and the
students and the various accommodations that have been made for them.
<br><br>
<img src="http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/1087/images/reforma va.jpg" width=410 height=307 alt="[]">
The largest protests, with an estimated attendance of 6,000
university students (of the 200,000 student in Caracas alone), have
enjoyed the full protection of Venezuela's police forces. These
protections comply with Article 68 of the 1999 Constitution, which
protects the rights of all Venezuelans to peaceably assemble. And unlike
during past governments, when student demonstrations were regularly
repressed by police forces, students, including leaders linked to
opposition political parties like Primero Justicia and Bandera Roja, have
recently been granted high-level meeting with government officials and
institutions to discuss their concerns: <br><br>
Earlier this month on November 1 a group of students met with the
directors of the National Electoral Council and presented a petition to
delay the national referendum to the directors of Venezuela's electoral
authority, the National Electoral Council (CNE). <br><br>
On November 7 a group of 10 student representatives met with officials
from the National Tribunal of Justice, and presented a petition calling
for the delay of a national referendum scheduled for December 2.
<br><br>
On November 12 Venezuela's Minister of Interior and Justice, Pedro
Carreño, met 20 university presidents and restated the government's
respect of university autonomy and the right of students to peaceably
assemble. <br><br>
<b>BIASED MEDIA COVERAGE CONTINUES<br><br>
</b>Much of the media coverage given to the student protests has been
distorted and one-sided. Recently it has even begun to replicate
the way in which the media drummed up support for the coup d'etat against
President Chavez in 2002. During that time false news claims
circulated that Chavez supporters had shot and attacked innocent
civilians during a protest. Later, these allegations were proven
false. <br><br>
Strikingly similar today, is the way in which the media is trying to link
violent acts during recent protests to the government and its
supporters. A
<a href="http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=fV299PVxehxye%2F%2BiSneH1oQQXcPPhEHe">
Washington Post editorial</a> published today and a New York Times
article over the weekend serve as cases in point. In it the Post takes
university officials' opinions as fact and identifies masked gunmen as
"government-sponsored paramilitary groups". Also, read
the
<a href="http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=2hPH1aIVP0K53nSaMbSDBYQQXcPPhEHe">
New York Times article</a> .<br><br>
In reality the following events occurred on November 7 as students
returned to the campus of the Central University of Venezuela.
Following a march to the headquarters of the National Tribunal of
Justice, a group of opposition students stormed the School of Social Work
- whose students had been known to have earlier advocated in favor of the
constitutional reforms - and set the school building on fire. Police
forces were alerted, but, in keeping with Venezuela's "Law of
Universities", could not enter the campus for lack of approval by
the University president. For this reason, campus employees responded and
tried to prevent violent attacks against the Social Work students. This
is when masked individuals equipped with guns appeared on motorcycles.
Shortly after, opposition student leaders claimed on live television that
they were being attacked by people aligned with the government (the
masked motorcycle group). No evidence was ever offered to back up these
claims and recent videos from bystanders and local media outlets have
shown the violent acts perpetuated by opposition students on the School
of Social Work. <br><br>
International press agencies, except Reuters, later recognized that no
evidence existed to link the individuals on the motorcycles to the
government. <br><br>
Another incident turned violent by members of the student opposition
occurred after a meeting with the directors of the National Electoral
Council on November 1. A group of student demonstrators attempted
to chain themselves to the building while another charged through a
police line. Six police officers were injured and one student
demonstrator was found with possession of 20 liters of gasoline. After
the incident, the president of the National Electoral Council, Tibisay
Lucena stated: "We were surprised at our good faith effort when, at
the conclusion of this meeting, a group of them tried, aggressively, to
chain themselves to the stairs of the headquarters of National Electoral
Council, thus violating the cordial and peaceful spirit that was present
during the meeting. These acts constitute a meaningless and unjustifiable
aggression to <br>
what has been a democratic practice of the electoral council."
<br><br>
Meanwhile, yesterday students and university presidents from all over the
nation, including those from the Central University of Venezuela, filed a
document with the Supreme Court in support of the constitutional reform
process. Read the
<a href="http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=1u7FQ5KfvodUwasQAD%2FbDpDahGlvaC9S">
Venezuelan news story</a> .<br><br>
</font><font size=3 color="#FF0000"><b>WHAT YOU CAN DO:<br>
</b></font><font size=3>SEND A LETTER TO THE WASHINGTON POST or THE NEW
YORK TIMES and make your voice heard!<br><br>
Send your letter of no more than 200 words to: letters@washpost.com<br>
Be sure to include your name, telephone number, and address.<br><br>
or<br><br>
Send your letter of no more than 150 words to: letters@nytimes.com<br>
Be sure to include your name, telephone number, and address.<br><br>
<br>
</font><x-sigsep><p></x-sigsep>
<font size=3 color="#FF0000">Freedom Archives<br>
522 Valencia Street<br>
San Francisco, CA 94110<br><br>
</font><font size=3 color="#008000">415 863-9977<br><br>
</font><font size=3 color="#0000FF">
<a href="http://www.freedomarchives.org/" eudora="autourl">
www.Freedomarchives.org</a></font><font size=3> </font></body>
</html>