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<h1><b>U.S. Companies Behind Anti-Reform Propaganda in
Venezuela</b></h1><font size=3>
<a href="http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/2904" eudora="autourl">
http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/2904<br><br>
</a>November 27th 2007, by Michael Fox - Venezuelanalysis.com <br><br>
"I voted for Chavez for President, but not now. Because they
told me that if the reform passes, they're going to take my son, because
he will belong to the state," said Gladys Castro last week, a
Colombian immigrant who has lived in Venezuela for 16 years, and cleans
houses for a living. <br><br>
Gladys is not the only one to believe the false rumors she's heard.
Thousands of Venezuelans, many of them Chavez supporters, have bought the
exaggerations and lies about Venezuela's Constitutional Reform that have
been circulating across the country for months. Just a few weeks
ago, however, the disinformation campaign ratcheted up various notches as
opposition groups and anti-reform coalitions placed large ads in major
Venezuelan papers. <br><br>
The most scandalous was an anonymous two-page spread in the country's
largest circulation newspaper, <i>Últimas Noticias</i>, which claimed
about the Constitutional Reform: <br><br>
"If you are a Mother, YOU LOSE! Because you will lose your house,
your family and your children (children will belong to the
state)." <br><br>
The illegal ad, which was caught and suspended by the Venezuelan National
Electoral Council (CNE) after a few days in the press, has received
relatively high-profile attention in the Venezuelan press, and even
Chavez joked about it last Friday on the nightly pro-Chavez talk show,
<i>La Hojilla</i>. What appears to have gone completely ignored,
however, is the fact that the ad itself was placed by an organization
which has at its core, dozens of subsidiaries of the largest US
corporations working in Venezuela. <br><br>
<b>Disinformation & Propaganda</b> <br><br>
The scare tactic against Venezuelan mothers isn't the only piece of
misinformation in the anonymous advertisement. Under the title,
"Who wins and who loses," it goes on to tell readers that under
the new reform, they will lose their right to religion; that 9.5 million
people will lose their job; that small, large or cooperative
businesspeople will lose their "store, home, business, taxi or
cooperative"; that urban, rural and mountain militias are going to
replace the National Armed Forces; that students will lose their right to
decide what they want to study; that <i>campesinos</i> are going to lose
out because they won't be owners of their own land; and that the value of
the Venezuelan currency, the Bolivar, is going to drop along with the
value of Venezuelan homes, cars, farm lands (finca), and educational
studies. <br><br>
Comments in the ad refer to specific reformed articles in the
Constitution, as if providing a reference for readers to verify the
claim. Of course, briefly examining the article in reference
verifies that each claim is either completely false, or a ridiculous
exaggeration and manipulation of the reform. Article 112, for
instance, which the advertisement says will take Venezuelan children from
their families, in actuality discusses economic development and
production. <br><br>
Last week, after a barrage of illegal propaganda on the part of both the
pro and anti reform camps, Venezuela's National Electoral Council (CNE)
began to crack down, following through with their promise to regulate the
propaganda. In an announcement last week, Tibisay Lucena, President
of the CNE made specific reference to the "Who wins and who
loses" piece, pointing out its illegality because of the falsities
and its anonymity. Although published as an anonymous article,
Lucena announced that according to the official tax number (RIF)
published with the article, the advertisement was actually placed by the
<i>Cámara de Industriales del estado Carabobo</i> (The Carabobo State
Chamber of Industry). <br><br>
<b>The Carabobo State Chamber of Industry (CIEC)</b> <br><br>
The CIEC is a 71 year-old organization, headquartered in the Carabobo
state capital of Valencia, which groups together more than 250 businesses
in the region. Among those are dozens of subsidiaries which compose
literally a who's who list of some of the largest and most powerful US
corporations, including (among others): Ford, General Motors,
DaimlerChrysler, Bridgestone Firestone, Goodyear, Alcoa, Shell, Pfizer,
Dupont, Cargill, Coca-Cola, Kraft, Novartis, Unilever, Heinz, Johnson
& Johnson, Citibank, Colgate Palmolive, DHL and Owens Illinois.
<br><br>
Without a doubt, the region carries important weight with heavy US
interests. The new US Ambassador to Venezuela, Patrick Duddy, even
said so when he visited Carabobo a few weeks ago on his first official
trip within Venezuela. <br><br>
"Valencia is a very important industrial center with a presence of
American companies that create thousands of jobs and that also run social
programs that benefit both their surrounding communities and their
employees," said Ambassador Duddy. <br><br>
According to an article on the US embassy website, during his stay in
Valencia, Duddy met the board of the Venezuelan-American Chamber of
Commerce and Industry, the board of Fedecámaras in Carabobo, and with a
number of the above mentioned subsidiaries, including GM, Chrysler, and
Ford. He also spent time with the CIEC board, and in particular,
then CIEC President Ernesto Vogeler, who also happens to be Chief
Executive Officer for Protinal/Proagro, a subsidiary for the Ag
Processing, Inc. (AGP), an Omaha-based AG coop. <br><br>
In a normal state of affairs, this would all seem completely normal: The
foreign ambassador meeting with his country's major subsidiaries, and the
president of the chamber of industry to which they belong. However,
we should briefly remember the role that US businesses have played across
Latin America, whether we are talking about the United Fruit Company's
destabilization attacks against Guatemala's democratically-elected
President Jacobo Arbenz Guzmán in the 1950s, or Anaconda Copper's support
of the overthrow of Chile's Salvador Allende in the 1970s. Alcoa,
GM, Citibank and most of the above-mentioned companies know how to throw
their weight around, be it by technically legal, or more subversive
means. <br><br>
<b>Reforms</b> <br><br>
Of course, it makes sense why US corporations based in Venezuela would be
against the reform. Various articles, if applied, could potentially
cut in on potential profits, such as the reform of article 301.
Under the 1999 Constitution this article stated: <br><br>
"Foreign people, businesses, and organisms can not be given more
beneficial concessions than those established for national
entities." <br><br>
However, under the reform, the last sentence was cut: <br><br>
"Foreign investment is subject to the same conditions as national
investment." <br><br>
One can thus infer that national investment may be given more favorable
conditions than foreign investment. <br><br>
Article 115 protects new forms of social and collective property, which
anti-reform proponents fear may be used to expropriate private property.
<br><br>
On top of this, the Venezuelan government recently passed new rules on
the growing automobile industry in Venezuela, which may have US
automobile giants, GM, Chrysler, and Ford nervous about their the
foreseeable future in Venezuela. Although car sales in Venezuela
have jumped by nearly 300% over the last three years, in an attempt to
push for more domestic production, the Venezuelan government has passed
new laws regulating the automobile industry, according to an early
November article in the Venezuelan daily <i>El Nacional</i>. Among
them, the requirement of an "import license" in order to sell
foreign cars, the mandate to install natural gas inputs in all vehicles
produced after 2007, and the importation of only unassembled motors after
2010, in order to use to use nationally produced motor parts. <br><br>
<b>Protests in Valencia</b> <br><br>
According to reports, in Valencia last week, full color CIEC fliers
against the reform were passed out during opposition student
marches. According to today's major papers, violent protests in
Valencia yesterday left one dead, various wounded, and at least 15
detained. <br><br>
It would be irresponsible to make accusations without evidence, but it is
important to be conscious of where our information is coming from, if it
is verifiable, and who are the interests involved. This is the case
now, only a few days before Venezuela's Constitutional Reform
Referendum. Hopefully the Venezuelan people will be able to
decipher fact from fiction and make their own educated decision whether
to vote "sí" or "no" next Sunday. <br><br>
Like Gladys Castro, who has reconsidered her staunch position against the
reform. As she said last week, when she realized that the rumors
she has been hearing are false, "Well, I'm going to read [the
reform], think some more, and maybe I will vote for it after
all." She's probably not the only one. <br><br>
<br><br>
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