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<h1 class="title">Racism Sin Vergüenza in the Venezuelan
Counter-Revolution</h1>
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<p class="byline"> By <span class="author">Arlene Eisen -
Venezuelanalysis.com</span>, <span class="date">March 27th 2014</span>
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<p>It’s late morning in Caracas. February 12. From the restaurant
inside the hotel around the corner from Plaza Venezuela we can hear
chanting, but it’s too muffled to understand. Are they yelling “Maduro
Salida” or “Maduro/burro Salida”<a title=""
href="file:///C:/Users/Usuario/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Windows/Temporary%20Internet%20Files/Content.IE5/JD6XT4QR/Racism%2520Sin%2520Verg%C3%BCenza%25203_26_13%5b1%5d.docx#_edn1">[1]</a>
or something else? From the window, we can see people, almost all
smiling white people, streaming down the street to join the first huge
anti-government demonstration that signaled the onset of the current
outrages in Venezuela.</p>
<p>Olga, the restaurant’s manager, has tan skin, died blond hair and
brown eyes. She is one of the 42% of Venezuelans who self-identified as
white in the latest Census.<a title=""
href="file:///C:/Users/Usuario/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Windows/Temporary%20Internet%20Files/Content.IE5/JD6XT4QR/Racism%2520Sin%2520Verg%C3%BCenza%25203_26_13%5b1%5d.docx#_edn2">[2]</a>
>From behind the counter, she usually greets people without a smile. She
barks orders to the Indigenous woman in the kitchen. Today she is
laughing as she glances at a cartoon in one of Caracas’ many virulently
anti-government newspapers. I ask her if there are any interesting
stories in the paper. She shrugs but the question unleashes a tirade
about how she hates Chavismo. </p>
<p>“Why?” I try to sound neutral.</p>
<p>Olga explains that Chavismo has brought the “riff raff, brutes,
thugs and criminals into the city.” She is emphatic. “Caracas is now
flooded with uncultured animals who make life miserable for civilized
people.” She concludes, “Afterall, look at the crime, the insecurity,
the murders!” It’s likely that Olga is one of the many Venezuelans
influenced by cartoons like this one by Kiko Rodriguez. It is one of
the more repulsive depictions of Chavez that not only expresses
time-worn racist contempt for people of African descent, but it also
foments fear and hatred.</p>
<p>The title is “Miko Mandante”, meaning “Ape Commander” to mock the
affectionate title “Mi Comandante” used by masses of Venezuelan people.<a
title=""
href="file:///C:/Users/Usuario/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Windows/Temporary%20Internet%20Files/Content.IE5/JD6XT4QR/Racism%2520Sin%2520Verg%C3%BCenza%25203_26_13%5b1%5d.docx#_edn3">[3]</a></p>
<p>During her rant, Olga never mentioned the race of Venezuela’s poor,
or the extreme poor, who in 2003 were 30% of the population and by 2011
were only 6.8%.<a title=""
href="file:///C:/Users/Usuario/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Windows/Temporary%20Internet%20Files/Content.IE5/JD6XT4QR/Racism%2520Sin%2520Verg%C3%BCenza%25203_26_13%5b1%5d.docx#_edn4">[4]</a>
Chavismo’s accomplishments, especially in reducing poverty, are
significant because of the near total correlation between class and
race in Venezuela. That is, nearly all the wealthy and bourgeois people
are phenotypically European, while nearly all those in poverty who live
in the countryside or shacks on the sides of hills in the city are
Black and Brown. Demonization, animalization and criminalization of
people of African and Indigenous descent are themes both deeply
embedded and flagrantly visible in the culture and institutions of
Venezuelan society. White supremacy endures in Venezuela often
resembling the United States and other settler colonial countries
founded on conquest and slavery. <a title=""
href="file:///C:/Users/Usuario/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Windows/Temporary%20Internet%20Files/Content.IE5/JD6XT4QR/Racism%2520Sin%2520Verg%C3%BCenza%25203_26_13%5b1%5d.docx#_edn5">[5]</a></p>
<p><strong>Revolution against Racism</strong></p>
<p>While the roots of white supremacy run deep, the Bolivarian
Revolution has seriously improved the lives of Venezuela’s majority—who
are people of color. <a title=""
href="file:///C:/Users/Usuario/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Windows/Temporary%20Internet%20Files/Content.IE5/JD6XT4QR/Racism%2520Sin%2520Verg%C3%BCenza%25203_26_13%5b1%5d.docx#_edn6">[6]</a>
Unlike the days of Venezuela’s dictatorships who served Standard Oil
and the U.S. State Department, since 2001, voter registration is 97%.
An array of legal tools—including Land Reform, a new Constitution
written by a Constituent Assembly, the Organic Law Against Racial
Discrimination—chip away at discrimination and promote mass
participation in government, and in the various communes, councils,
collectives and cooperatives. These are the structures of peoples’
power—including some 30,000 communal councils<a title=""
href="file:///C:/Users/Usuario/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Windows/Temporary%20Internet%20Files/Content.IE5/JD6XT4QR/Racism%2520Sin%2520Verg%C3%BCenza%25203_26_13%5b1%5d.docx#_edn7">[7]</a>--designed
to ensure that once-marginalized people become the protagonists of
their futures and nurture their dignity.</p>
<p>A significant share of the country’s patrimony, income from oil, is
no longer siphoned off to the U.S. or to the old white Venezuelan
elite. Between 1997 and 2011 the portion of Venezuela’s wealth going to
the richest 20% decreased from 53% to 44%<a title=""
href="file:///C:/Users/Usuario/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Windows/Temporary%20Internet%20Files/Content.IE5/JD6XT4QR/Racism%2520Sin%2520Verg%C3%BCenza%25203_26_13%5b1%5d.docx#_edn8">[8]</a>--
a statistic that indicates more about the elite’s loss of power than
impoverishment. At the end of 2013, the<em> Guardian </em>reported
that the poverty rate had dropped by 20% , the largest decline in
poverty in the Americas for 2012, and one of the largest in the world.<a
title=""
href="file:///C:/Users/Usuario/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Windows/Temporary%20Internet%20Files/Content.IE5/JD6XT4QR/Racism%2520Sin%2520Verg%C3%BCenza%25203_26_13%5b1%5d.docx#_edn9">[9]</a>
Oil revenues pay for new homes for the poor, schools where every
primary student gets a free laptop, new universities with open
admission, health clinics, and jobs. It also funds programs against
domestic violence and transgenic seeds and a host of other campaigns
for social justice.</p>
<p>Venezuela’s oil money also has financed infrastructure designed to
end the physical isolation and marginalization of African Descendants
and Indigenous people. Set your search engine to “MetroCable San
Agustín” to find photos and details of how Chavez’ revolutionary
government spent $300 million to build a futuristic funicular. It
eliminates hours of climbing on foot up and down treacherous mountain
sides to reach jobs, schools, health clinics and other vital
destinations. For tens of thousands of shack dwellers of San
Agustin—most of whom are African descendants– MetroCable and new
housing construction on the hill demonstrate that the Bolivarian
revolution will incorporate them.</p>
<p>Hugo Chavez, Venezuela’s first President with African and Indigenous
ancestors, spoke proudly about his thick lips and kinky hair. His
refusal to follow the traditional path for Venezuela’s “morenos”
towards <em>enblanquemiento<a title=""
href="file:///C:/Users/Usuario/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Windows/Temporary%20Internet%20Files/Content.IE5/JD6XT4QR/Racism%2520Sin%2520Verg%C3%BCenza%25203_26_13%5b1%5d.docx#_edn10"><strong>[10]</strong></a></em>
continues to evoke endless mockery and contempt from the white and
white-influenced establishment. Rayma, a well-known cartoonist who is
featured daily in <em>El Universal, </em>published on July 18, 2013,
another cartoon designed to evoke the same contempt and hatred as the
one by Kiko Rodriguez shown above.</p>
<p>She too wins mass circulation and international prizes for her
racist caricatures. The Cartoonists for Peace, Sampsonia Way,
Humanitarian News and most significantly Freedom House have supported
her. A visit to the Freedom House website informs the public that the
organization has an annual budget of $46 million, some of which comes
from the U.S. State Department. Its Board of Directors includes a
number with close ties to the State Department, USAID, AIPAC, Morgan
Stanley and other imperialist entities.<a title=""
href="file:///C:/Users/Usuario/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Windows/Temporary%20Internet%20Files/Content.IE5/JD6XT4QR/Racism%2520Sin%2520Verg%C3%BCenza%25203_26_13%5b1%5d.docx#_edn11">[11]</a></p>
<p>In spite of the mockery, Chavez’ embrace of Venezuelans’ African
and Indigenous heritage included more than symbolism. He practiced
solidarity with Black and Brown people on a world scale by leading an
anti-imperialist struggle for self-determination of Southern nations.
He also provided material aid with no strings attached to Black and
Indigenous people in the United States, Haiti and Columbia and many
other countries. For example, in 2011, a joint Cuban-Venezuelan project
saw the opening of the first high school in Western Sahara's refugee
camps. More recently, Venezuela and Cuba extended Miracle Mission
International to the West Bank, Palestine to provide free eye surgery.<a
title=""
href="file:///C:/Users/Usuario/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Windows/Temporary%20Internet%20Files/Content.IE5/JD6XT4QR/Racism%2520Sin%2520Verg%C3%BCenza%25203_26_13%5b1%5d.docx#_edn12">[12]</a></p>
<p><strong>The Counter-Revolution—Four Dimensions of Racism</strong></p>
<p>In Venezuela, the revolutionary struggle to end white supremacy and
for self-determination is a slow slog, complicated by two forces: One,
the white elites, backed by U.S. imperialism, and many of the middle
class who support them, cling tenaciously to their power and privilege.
Two, the denial by whites, “morenos”<a title=""
href="file:///C:/Users/Usuario/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Windows/Temporary%20Internet%20Files/Content.IE5/JD6XT4QR/Racism%2520Sin%2520Verg%C3%BCenza%25203_26_13%5b1%5d.docx#_edn13">[13]</a>,
and nearly everyone else that racism persists. As a result, galvanizing
a mass movement against white supremacy has been difficult. On the
other hand, the current counter-revolutionary movement in the streets
has become the darling of the corporate press both inside and outside
Venezuela. None of the coverage mentions that the racism pervading this
movement could rival that found in the Ku Klux Klan or any other of the
white supremacist formations that pepper U.S. history. Yet racism is
one of the main engines and expression of the counter-revolution.</p>
<p>1.<span style="text-decoration: underline;"> Destroying progress
made by African Descendants and Indigenous People</span></p>
<p>The counter-revolutionary movement<a title=""
href="file:///C:/Users/Usuario/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Windows/Temporary%20Internet%20Files/Content.IE5/JD6XT4QR/Racism%2520Sin%2520Verg%C3%BCenza%25203_26_13%5b1%5d.docx#_edn14">[14]</a>
that has been in the streets since early February has demonstrated that
one of its main objectives is to restore unbridled white privilege to
Venezuela. Cartoons, editorials, posters, graffiti continuously blame
Venezuela’s economic problems—both real and distorted—on the
government’s “squandering” the nation’s oil resources on the “rabble”
both inside and outside Venezuela. Roberto Weil published this cartoon
in one of Caracas’ major dailies, <em>Tal Cual</em> on March 8.</p>
<p>It not only falsely implies that masses of Venezuelans are starving.
It also implies that the government prioritizes arming “criminals” on
motorcycles and corrupt army officers over feeding people. It
encapsulates the narrative of the counter-revolutionary forces in the
battle for the minds of most Venezuelan people who currently reject
their message. More importantly, it manufactures a “justification” for
more decisive U.S. intervention.</p>
<p>Here’s a photoshopped depiction retweeted with #SOSVenezuela that
recycles the trope of incompetent animals in government positions who
are manipulated by crafty (white) Cuban leaders out to steal
Venezuela’s wealth. </p>
<p>Repeatedly, the privately-owned anti-government media has reflected
and reenforced disregard and contempt for Venezuela’s Black and Brown
people. For example, two years ago, the major daily, <em>Tal Qual, </em>ran
a cartoon, again by Roberto Weil.</p>
<p>The man with the beret, presumably a Chavista, declares, “Enough of
white supremacy, now we have Afrodescendant water.” The cartoon
ridicules and trivializes the campaign against white supremacy led by
the Network of Afrodescendants in Venezuela and supported by the
government. It also mocks and undermines public support for the
government’s program of bringing clean water to the <em>barrios</em>
that previously had none.</p>
<p>Congressman Modesto Ruiz<a title=""
href="file:///C:/Users/Usuario/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Windows/Temporary%20Internet%20Files/Content.IE5/JD6XT4QR/Racism%2520Sin%2520Verg%C3%BCenza%25203_26_13%5b1%5d.docx#_edn15">[15]</a>,
an African Descendant, was one of the main authors of the Law against
Racial Discrimination. He, as well as members of African Descendant
civil society organizations and other officials urged that Weil and <em>Tal
Qual’s </em>publisher be charged in court with violating the law.
Yet, to date, the newspaper continues with it’s virulent
anti-government drumbeat and Weil proceeds as one of Venezuela’s most
widely reproduced cartoonists. His twitter account claims 155,000
followers and floods the twitter sphere with militant support for Maria
Corina Machado (a right-wing extremist leader reminiscent of Sarah
Palin) and the rest of the extremists promoting anti-government lies,
racism and violence.<a title=""
href="file:///C:/Users/Usuario/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Windows/Temporary%20Internet%20Files/Content.IE5/JD6XT4QR/Racism%2520Sin%2520Verg%C3%BCenza%25203_26_13%5b1%5d.docx#_edn16">[16]</a></p>
<p>2. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Anti-communism,
Xenophobia and Racism in an anti-Cuban Stew</span></p>
<p>Graffiti, the twitter sphere, television and print media perpetuate
a concoction of racist, anti-communist and xenophobic lies that Black
Cubans have invaded Venezuela to consolidate Raul Castro’s control over
the Venezuelan government and economy. Posters at right-wing
demonstrations and photos of Black people in military uniform are
retweeted thousands of times to arouse and manipulate fear of Black
people, especially foreign (Cuban) Black people. On March 16, 2014, a
woman named Alexandra Misel tweeted this photo with the caption, “Are
these pure Afrodescendants from Barlovento (region of Venezuela with
high concentration of African Descendants) or are they from Havana?” </p>
<p>The next day, March 17, she tweeted the same photo, but with a new,
more alarmist caption, “Invading troops dressed like National Guard.”</p>
<p>Then, on March 23 a tweeter with the name “Alexgonzalezlu” pasted
Misel’s photo to another one that manipulates white people’s fear of
Black (Cuban) people attacking “our white youth.” This image is
reminiscent of the notorious trope of the white damsel in distress,
threatened with rape by a Black man. </p>
<p>For centuries, fear of Black men as rapists and Black people as
killers has been stoked time and time again to rationalize lynching,
racist repression and other genocidal campaigns.</p>
<p>The photos below of mock lynchings by anti-government thugs follow
in this horribly familiar white supremacist tradition. They were taken
in the heart of the wealthy Chacao municipality of Caracas and posted
March 5, 2014 by <a href="http://news24.com/">News24.com</a><span
style="text-decoration: underline;"><br>
</span><span style="text-decoration: underline;"></span></p>
<p>Maria Corina Machado fans these flames by repeating the lament that
Venezuelans have lost their dignity to the “Cuban occupation.” They
must be expelled.</p>
<p>It is also important to note that white supremacist attempts to
motivate and mobilize the overthrow of a legal government are far from
consistent. They manipulate fear by raising the specter of the Black
Cuban invaders. But if that trope isn’t enough, they also call on the
traditional slave masters’ narrative of the “lazy” Black man, who is
“good for nothing and might as well be dead.” On March 16, the caption
on this unidentified photo was tweeted by politicon@politicono </p>
<p>It claimed, “The main activity of Cubans in their towns is hanging
out.”</p>
<p>From the comments under these tweets, it is obvious that these
Venezuelan white supremacists have no way of distinguishing an African
descendant who is Cuban from one who is Venezuelan. Although they
sometimes claim their violent, possibly genocidal intentions, are aimed
at Cubans, their practice of decapitating motorcyclists and shooting
their Bolivarian “enemies” indicates that the same racism that fuels
anti-Cuban threats is also harnessed to galvanize their fascist
putchist terror campaign against Chavistas.</p>
<p>3. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Criminalizing African
Descendants, Indigenous People and their Organizations</span></p>
<p>White peoples’ criminalization and fear of Black and Brown people
date back to the first rebellions by Indigenous and enslaved people in
the 1500’s. For the last decades, African Descendants and Indigenous
people have been invisible to the viewers of privately-owned TV
stations, except when they appear as servants or criminals. The
Bolivarian government disbanded local police forces that used to
racially profile, murder and harass African Descendants. Yet a struggle
against some racial profiling continues, including that which is a
product of endo-racism among African Descendants. The Bolivarian
government has also taken steps to reform prisons and establish
alternatives to incarceration and mobilize local communities to prevent
crime.<a title=""
href="file:///C:/Users/Usuario/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Windows/Temporary%20Internet%20Files/Content.IE5/JD6XT4QR/Racism%2520Sin%2520Verg%C3%BCenza%25203_26_13%5b1%5d.docx#_edn17">[17]</a>
However, from the echo chamber of Venezuela’s privately-owned media and
the U.S. corporate press, we hear that fear of crime and the
government’s “inaction” in the face of crime motivates thousands of
people to demand that Maduro resign. Given the virulence of racism in
Venezuela, it is likely that many people, especially middle class
whites, will continue to link crime (and laziness) with Blackness. The
prolific alexgonzalezlu, tweeted this photo on March 11 to dramatize
the man’s supposed criminality and laziness. <span
style="font-size: 0.8em;"><br>
</span></p>
<p>In addition, today’s counter-revolutionary narrative manipulates
racist white and middle class fear by directing it against the
“colectivos”. They claim that Chavista grassroots collectives—the
organizations that provide a space and structure for previously
marginalized people to lead and participate in political education,
cultural work and sports—are actually paramilitary arms of the “Maduro
Dictatorship.” This racist myth accomplishes two counter-revolutionary
objectives. First, it undermines a revolutionary institution, the
communal council, that, for the first time, gives people of color a
voice in politics and how resources will be spent. The second
counter-revolutionary objective inverts reality. It blames the
“colectivos” for intimidation and violence, rather than the middle
class youth who build and maintain barricades, vandalize public
property and universities and kill those who try to cross or dismantle
barricades.<a title=""
href="file:///C:/Users/Usuario/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Windows/Temporary%20Internet%20Files/Content.IE5/JD6XT4QR/Racism%2520Sin%2520Verg%C3%BCenza%25203_26_13%5b1%5d.docx#_edn18">[18]</a></p>
<p>4. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Distortion and
Glorification of Gochismo</span></p>
<p>During the 1930’s, when white Venezuelan intellectuals promoted a
white supremacist ideology that led to exclusion of all but European
immigrants, they pointed to the Andes and Mérida as “The grand
reservoir of the white race for the Republic.” <a title=""
href="file:///C:/Users/Usuario/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Windows/Temporary%20Internet%20Files/Content.IE5/JD6XT4QR/Racism%2520Sin%2520Verg%C3%BCenza%25203_26_13%5b1%5d.docx#_edn19">[19]</a>
For some, Gocho identity as hard-working mountaineers emerged in direct
contrast to the perceived laziness of coastal slaves and their pride
was never fully separate from caste superiority. In the 20<sup>th</sup>
century, seven of Venezuela’s presidents (including dictators) came
from the Gocho region.<a title=""
href="file:///C:/Users/Usuario/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Windows/Temporary%20Internet%20Files/Content.IE5/JD6XT4QR/Racism%2520Sin%2520Verg%C3%BCenza%25203_26_13%5b1%5d.docx#_edn20">[20]</a>
The epitome of these white supremacist presidents was nicknamed “El
Gocho”. He was Carlos Andres Pérez who imposed the 1989 neo-liberal
program that forced 70% of Venezuelans into poverty and the subsequent
insurrection that eventually brought Chavez to power.</p>
<p>To clarify: all residents of the Andean states of Mérida and Tachira
are sometimes referred to as Gochos. However, the counter-revolutionary
Gochos are concentrated in the cities of San Cristobal and Mérida while
rural residents form the majority of the states’ voters and have
elected Chavista governors.</p>
<p>Yet images of macho white people, outfitted with makeshift rifles,
pistols, Molotov cocktails, slingshots and other military equipment
fill the screens of thousands of tweeters. The captions brag. For
example, under a photo of a muscular, military-styled white man wearing
pants from a uniform and a white t-shirt and holding an automatic
rifle, the caption reads, “Get back, I am Gocho” (<a
href="mailto:#S.O.S.Venezuela@Alexgonzalezlu">#S.O.S.Venezuela@Alexgonzalezlu</a>,
Feb 23) Others feature flaming bulky barricades with captions like,
“Caracas copying the Gocho model.”And “Release the Gocho inside you.”</p>
<p>Ciccariello implies that the superiority complex of the mythic
Gochos fuels the putchist actions we see today at the barricades in
Mérida and Tachira. It is also likely that right-wing extremists like
Maria Corina Machado have hyped the violent courage of the Gochos for
their own political purposes. At rallies and press conferences, she
never fails to associate herself with the heroism of the Gochos of San
Cristobal and Merida—the first barricaders and most persistently
violent of the counter-revolutionary movement. Her poster features her
wearing a signature white t-shirt claiming “we are all Tachira”. It
labels her, “The Lady of Iron”—the woman who aims to overthrow the
government and expel all Cubans from Venezuela so that real (white)
Venezuelans may recover their dignity.<a title=""
href="file:///C:/Users/Usuario/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Windows/Temporary%20Internet%20Files/Content.IE5/JD6XT4QR/Racism%2520Sin%2520Verg%C3%BCenza%25203_26_13%5b1%5d.docx#_edn21">[21]</a></p>
<p><strong>Solidarity with African Descendants, Indigenous People and
the Bolivarian Revolution </strong></p>
<p>One resident of the working class zone of El Valle in southern
Caracas told Ciccariello that those who burn barricades live “in the
tall apartment blocks that line the main avenue and think they are
better than the barrio.” They act with total disregard for the lives of
poor and working class Black and Brown people by charging tolls at
barricades, making it impossible for people to travel to work, school,
hospital and by destroying public facilities that poor people rely on.</p>
<p>So far, the vast majority of Venezuelan people—especially African
Descendants and Indigenous people, have rejected both the politics and
strategy of the counter-revolutionary movement. It is not just that the
anti-government forces are “out of touch”. They do not hide their
racist agenda. A Bloomberg News article reported a bus driver’s
observation, “It’s rich people trying to get back lost economic perks.
The slums won’t join them.”<a title=""
href="file:///C:/Users/Usuario/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Windows/Temporary%20Internet%20Files/Content.IE5/JD6XT4QR/Racism%2520Sin%2520Verg%C3%BCenza%25203_26_13%5b1%5d.docx#_edn22">[22]</a><span
style="font-size: 0.8em;"> </span></p>
<p>But lack of popular support has never stopped the United States from
intervening on the side of cooperative right-wing elites and white
supremacists. The prevailing mass deception perpetrated by corporate
media both here and in Venezuela has been much too effective. In the
U.S., they have largely succeeded in putting a democratic face on the
racist, essentially fascist, movement in the streets of Venezuela.
Traditionally anti-racist coalitions have ignored Venezuela. It is time
we stand in solidarity with the majority of people in Venezuela and
voice strong opposition to U.S. –sponsored coups or any intervention on
the side of the counter-revolution.<span style="font-size: 0.8em;"> </span></p>
<p> <em>Thanks
to Nelmir Guzman. </em></p>
<br clear="all">
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%">
<div>
<p><a title=""
href="file:///C:/Users/Usuario/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Windows/Temporary%20Internet%20Files/Content.IE5/JD6XT4QR/Racism%2520Sin%2520Verg%C3%BCenza%25203_26_13%5b1%5d.docx#_ednref1">[1]</a>
This is a call for the current President to leave or resign. The
anti-government media and counter-revolutionaries frequently mock
President Maduro’s supposed lack of education and refer to him as a
donkey.</p>
</div>
<div>
<p><a title=""
href="file:///C:/Users/Usuario/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Windows/Temporary%20Internet%20Files/Content.IE5/JD6XT4QR/Racism%2520Sin%2520Verg%C3%BCenza%25203_26_13%5b1%5d.docx#_ednref2">[2]</a>
<a
href="http://www.ine.gov.ve/CENSO2011/documentos/pdf/ResultadosBasicosCenso2011.pdf">http://www.ine.gov.ve/CENSO2011/documentos/pdf/ResultadosBasicosCenso2011.pdf</a>
The Census found that 3.5% of the country’s 27,227,930 people
self-identified as Black or Afrodescendant; 2.7% as Indigenous and
49.9% as “Moreno”. On the other hand, Professor Jesus Chucho Garcia, a
founding leader of Venezuela’s movement of Afrodescendants and former
Ambassador to Angola insists that at least 30% or 8 million people are
Afrodescendants and the number may reach as high as 60%.</p>
</div>
<div>
<p><a title=""
href="file:///C:/Users/Usuario/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Windows/Temporary%20Internet%20Files/Content.IE5/JD6XT4QR/Racism%2520Sin%2520Verg%C3%BCenza%25203_26_13%5b1%5d.docx#_ednref3">[3]</a>
The cartoonist, Kiko Rodriguez, left his birthplace in Cuba for Ecuador
in 2000. He won the First Annual Latin American Illustration
Competition with this cartoon, which was widely circulated in the
private press of Venezuela and other countries. This award is a step
towards lucrative acceptance into the New York Art World. <a
href="http://www.ai-ap.com/cfe/faq/">http://www.ai-ap.com/cfe/faq/</a></p>
</div>
<div>
<p><a title=""
href="file:///C:/Users/Usuario/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Windows/Temporary%20Internet%20Files/Content.IE5/JD6XT4QR/Racism%2520Sin%2520Verg%C3%BCenza%25203_26_13%5b1%5d.docx#_ednref4">[4]</a>
Data on reduction in poverty rates, unemployment, infant mortality and
inequality and increase in education, access to clean water is
summarized by Derek Ide in <a
href="http://www.blackagendareport.com/content/radical-resistance-propagating-imperialism-latinoa-student-organizations-and-venezuela"
title="http://www.blackagendareport.com/content/radical-resistance-propagating-imperialism-latinoa-student-organizations-and-venezuela">http://www.blackagendareport.com/content/radical-resistance-propagating-...</a></p>
</div>
<div>
<p><a title=""
href="file:///C:/Users/Usuario/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Windows/Temporary%20Internet%20Files/Content.IE5/JD6XT4QR/Racism%2520Sin%2520Verg%C3%BCenza%25203_26_13%5b1%5d.docx#_ednref5">[5]</a>
Here’s a sample of research on white supremacy and racism in
Venezuela. Jesús María Herrera Salas. “The Political Economy of Racism
in Venezuela” <em>Latin American Perspectives. Vol 32. No. 2(March
2005) pp. 72-91 </em>For a detailed discussion of how the foreign oil
corporations, especially Standard Oil, manipulated and exacerbated
racism in Venezuela beginning in 1918, see Miguel Tinker Salas. <em>The
Enduring Legacy: Oil Culture and Society in Venezuela.</em> 2009.
Durham: Duke University Press. 2009. Beatriz Aiffil, anthropology
professor and spokesperson for African Descendants discussed the racism
of the fascist right in Venezuela before the current upheavals. See <a
href="http://www.noticierodigital.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=965608%C2%A0"
title="http://www.noticierodigital.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=965608 ">http://www.noticierodigital.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=965608 </a>
Also, feminist scholars have written about endo-racism among Venezuelan
women. See Elizabeth Gackstetter Nichols. “Descent Girls with Good
Hair: Beauty, Morality and Race in Venezuela.” <em>Feminist Theory</em>.
Vol.14 #2 (Aug. 2013) pp. 171-185. And Lauren Gulbas. “Embodying
Racism: Race, Rhinoplasty and Self Esteem in Venezuela.” <em>Journal
of Qualitative Health Research</em>. Vol. 23 #3 (March 2013) pp.
326-335 </p>
</div>
<div>
<p><a title=""
href="file:///C:/Users/Usuario/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Windows/Temporary%20Internet%20Files/Content.IE5/JD6XT4QR/Racism%2520Sin%2520Verg%C3%BCenza%25203_26_13%5b1%5d.docx#_ednref6">[6]</a>
. See, for example, <a href="http://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/7513">http://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/7513</a>
for a statistical overview of the economy and <a
href="http://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/10092">http://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/10092</a>
on accomplishments of the health care system;</p>
</div>
<div>
<p><a title=""
href="file:///C:/Users/Usuario/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Windows/Temporary%20Internet%20Files/Content.IE5/JD6XT4QR/Racism%2520Sin%2520Verg%C3%BCenza%25203_26_13%5b1%5d.docx#_ednref7">[7]</a>
<a href="http://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/5971"
title="http://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/5971">http://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/5971</a></p>
</div>
<div>
<p><a title=""
href="file:///C:/Users/Usuario/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Windows/Temporary%20Internet%20Files/Content.IE5/JD6XT4QR/Racism%2520Sin%2520Verg%C3%BCenza%25203_26_13%5b1%5d.docx#_ednref8">[8]</a>
Derek Ide. <a
href="http://www.blackagendareport.com/content/radical-resistance-propagating-imperialism-latinoa-student-organizations-and-venezuela">http://www.blackagendareport.com/content/radical-resistance-propagating-imperialism-latinoa-student-organizations-and-venezuela</a></p>
</div>
<div>
<p><a title=""
href="file:///C:/Users/Usuario/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Windows/Temporary%20Internet%20Files/Content.IE5/JD6XT4QR/Racism%2520Sin%2520Verg%C3%BCenza%25203_26_13%5b1%5d.docx#_ednref9">[9]</a>
. Mark Weisbrot. “Sorry Venezuela Haters: This Economy is not the
Greece of Latin America” <a
href="http://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/10155">http://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/10155</a>
See also, <a href="http://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/10221">http://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/10221</a>
for details on reduction of extreme poverty.</p>
</div>
<div>
<p><a title=""
href="file:///C:/Users/Usuario/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Windows/Temporary%20Internet%20Files/Content.IE5/JD6XT4QR/Racism%2520Sin%2520Verg%C3%BCenza%25203_26_13%5b1%5d.docx#_ednref10">[10]</a>
The process of whitening the Venezuelan race.</p>
</div>
<div>
<p><a title=""
href="file:///C:/Users/Usuario/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Windows/Temporary%20Internet%20Files/Content.IE5/JD6XT4QR/Racism%2520Sin%2520Verg%C3%BCenza%25203_26_13%5b1%5d.docx#_ednref11">[11]</a>
For years, Rayma has received support from pro-US organizations who are
convinced that the “Chavez Dictatorship threatens her life.” Yet, she
endures, thrives and continues to publish viciously racist cartoons. <a
href="http://www.freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-press/2012/venezuela#.UzOxiK1dX9I">http://www.freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-press/2012/venezuela#.UzOxiK1dX9I</a>.
For Amnesty International’s support of Rayma, go to <a
href="http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/AMR53/003/2013/en/5b4f4b82-4835-41b4-a48a-c30e5ec5d9e8/amr530032013en.html">http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/AMR53/003/2013/en/5b4f4b82-4835-41b4-a48a-c30e5ec5d9e8/amr530032013en.html</a></p>
</div>
<div>
<p><a title=""
href="file:///C:/Users/Usuario/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Windows/Temporary%20Internet%20Files/Content.IE5/JD6XT4QR/Racism%2520Sin%2520Verg%C3%BCenza%25203_26_13%5b1%5d.docx#_ednref12">[12]</a>
<a href="http://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/10257">http://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/10257</a></p>
</div>
<div>
<p><a title=""
href="file:///C:/Users/Usuario/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Windows/Temporary%20Internet%20Files/Content.IE5/JD6XT4QR/Racism%2520Sin%2520Verg%C3%BCenza%25203_26_13%5b1%5d.docx#_ednref13">[13]</a>
. Literally, brown or dark-skinned people—a category that makes African
descendants, Indigenous people and their descendants invisible.
Everyone is a “mestizo”, according to Venezuela’s hegemonic narrative
and assumed equal as long as they accept European standards of beauty,
behavior and value.</p>
</div>
<div>
<p><a title=""
href="file:///C:/Users/Usuario/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Windows/Temporary%20Internet%20Files/Content.IE5/JD6XT4QR/Racism%2520Sin%2520Verg%C3%BCenza%25203_26_13%5b1%5d.docx#_ednref14">[14]</a>
. Author’s note: After reading VA’s article by James Petras and the
interview with Raul Capote, I have decided not to use the term
“opposition” to identify the forces attempting an illegal coup to oust
the Maduro government and overthrow the Bolivarian Revolution. It
grants them too much legitimacy.</p>
</div>
<div>
<p><a title=""
href="file:///C:/Users/Usuario/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Windows/Temporary%20Internet%20Files/Content.IE5/JD6XT4QR/Racism%2520Sin%2520Verg%C3%BCenza%25203_26_13%5b1%5d.docx#_ednref15">[15]</a>
For an interview with Modesto Ruiz about the racism of this cartoon,
see “African Descendants and Racism in Venezuelan Private Media”
initially published in <em>Ciudad Caracas, </em> March 28, 2012 and
translated by Tamara Pearson in <a
href="http://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/6897">http://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/6897</a></p>
</div>
<div>
<p><a title=""
href="file:///C:/Users/Usuario/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Windows/Temporary%20Internet%20Files/Content.IE5/JD6XT4QR/Racism%2520Sin%2520Verg%C3%BCenza%25203_26_13%5b1%5d.docx#_ednref16">[16]</a>
<a href="https://twitter.com/WEIL_caricatura">https://twitter.com/WEIL_caricatura</a>
Weil’s racist attacks have made him famous. He worked with US Embassy
in Caracas to memorialize Daniel Pearl <a
href="http://usembassyve.org/?d=6205">http://usembassyve.org/?d=6205</a>.</p>
</div>
<div>
<p><a title=""
href="file:///C:/Users/Usuario/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Windows/Temporary%20Internet%20Files/Content.IE5/JD6XT4QR/Racism%2520Sin%2520Verg%C3%BCenza%25203_26_13%5b1%5d.docx#_ednref17">[17]</a>
>From author’s interview with Amilcar Carvagal, Director of the Office
for Culture and Solidarity, BRV Ministry of People’s Power for Foreign
Affairs. Feb 5, 2014.</p>
</div>
<div>
<p><a title=""
href="file:///C:/Users/Usuario/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Windows/Temporary%20Internet%20Files/Content.IE5/JD6XT4QR/Racism%2520Sin%2520Verg%C3%BCenza%25203_26_13%5b1%5d.docx#_ednref18">[18]</a>
Clodovaldo Hernandez. “Colectivos are Synonymous with Organization, Not
Violence”. March 18,2014, translated and reprinted by Venezuela
Analysis at <a href="http://venezuelanalysis.com/print/10499"
title="http://venezuelanalysis.com/print/10499">http://venezuelanalysis.com/print/10499</a></p>
</div>
<div>
<p><a title=""
href="file:///C:/Users/Usuario/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Windows/Temporary%20Internet%20Files/Content.IE5/JD6XT4QR/Racism%2520Sin%2520Verg%C3%BCenza%25203_26_13%5b1%5d.docx#_ednref19">[19]</a>
Miguel Tinker Salas p. 2725 of 6242 in Kindle Edition.</p>
</div>
<div>
<p><a title=""
href="file:///C:/Users/Usuario/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Windows/Temporary%20Internet%20Files/Content.IE5/JD6XT4QR/Racism%2520Sin%2520Verg%C3%BCenza%25203_26_13%5b1%5d.docx#_ednref20">[20]</a>
George Ciccariello-Maher. “Venezuelan Jacobins” 3/14/2014. <a
href="http://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/10482">http://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/10482</a></p>
</div>
<div>
<p><a title=""
href="file:///C:/Users/Usuario/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Windows/Temporary%20Internet%20Files/Content.IE5/JD6XT4QR/Racism%2520Sin%2520Verg%C3%BCenza%25203_26_13%5b1%5d.docx#_ednref21">[21]</a>
. Maria Corina Machado is a daughter of one of the wealthiest families
in Venezuela. She was involved in the 2002 coup attempt against Chavez
and received money from the National Endowment for Democracy to run an
anti-Chavez petition campaign. She was elected to the National Assembly
in 2010 and on March 25, 2014, the Assembly voted to strip her of her
immunity. Her arrest appears imminent. There are many recordings of her
speeches that encourage violence to force the resignation of Maduro and
she violated official government policy in her speech at the recent OAS
meeting.</p>
</div>
<p><a title=""
href="file:///C:/Users/Usuario/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Windows/Temporary%20Internet%20Files/Content.IE5/JD6XT4QR/Racism%2520Sin%2520Verg%C3%BCenza%25203_26_13%5b1%5d.docx#_ednref22">[22]</a>
Anatoly Kurmanaev and Corina Pons. “Middle Class Protesting Venezuela
Shortages Drive Poor to Maduro.” <a
href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-03-13/middle-class-protesting-venezuela-shortages-drive-poor-to-maduro.html">http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-03-13/middle-class-protesting-venezuela-shortages-drive-poor-to-maduro.html</a>
<br>
</p>
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