Self proclaimed Soldier claims Venezuelan Plot to Destabilize Peru

Caracas , June 3, 2006, Tensions over Venezuelan interference in Peru’s upcoming elections again boil over as Moisés Boyer Riobueno, who claims to be a Venezuelan soldier, announced that he had been given orders to disturb Peru’s democratic process .

Thursday, Boyer announced that he was captain in the Venezuelan army, and denounced orders he says he received from the Venezuelan government to be part of a conspiracy against the Peruvian elections. He said that the Chávez administration had given $600,000 to finance the campaign of Ollanta Humala.

He also claimed that he went to Peru with 19 other soldiers with orders by the Venezuelan president to train groups to cause social chaos during the next election.

The Venezuelan Ministry of Communications strenuously denied the allegations in a recent press release. “The campaign of Peruvian Candidate Alan Garcia and of the government of that country against President Hugo Chávez Frías continues advancing without scruples: this time they have reached the extreme of contracting a known mercenary,” said the statement.

The Ministry of External Relations denied that Boyer was ever a soldier in the armed forces of Venezuela.

Some Peruvian officials have also expressed skepticism about Boyer’s identity. “If [Boyer] really is Venezuelan, he has lived in Trujillo for more than three years. He works as a bellhop in a restaurant called Al carbon, owned by a militant [loyalist to Garcia’s party], named Jorge Olivera. What’s more, in the last electoral campaign he worked as a bodyguard for a congressional candidate of Congreso de Alianza por el Futuro,” said Alberto Escudero, Congressman Elect for Unión por el Perú , according to Peru’s El Comercio.

Early last month, Venezuela and Peru withdrew their respective ambassadors after Chávez threatened to withdraw his ambassador to Peru if García won. Garcia was president in Peru from 1985-90 and presided over hyperinflation and food shortages and the two exchanged insults. Chavez had vocally supported the alternative candidate, Ollanta Humala, who eventually, along with current Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo, criticized Chávez for his meddling. The National Assembly in Venezuela, which is composed solely of members of the ruling and allied parties, unanimously expressed its support for Chávez’s handling of the situation.

Venezuela to Build New Refinery in Ecuador

Caracas, Venezuela, May 31, 2006—In a series of agreements signed between Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez and Ecuador’s President Alfredo Palacio, yesterday, Venezuela agreed to help Ecuador construct a new refinery and to expand an existing one, among other energy-related issues. The deal is expected to provide additional earnings to Ecuador of over $360 million per year for the refining of 100,000 barrels of Ecuadoran crude per day. Chavez was in Ecuador’s capital Quito to sign the agreements, following his visit to Bolivia.

Another part of the agreement would provide Ecuador with Venezuelan liquefied gas. Chavez, during a press conference in Quito, suggested that Venezuela would sell the gas directly to the Ecuadoran government, which would then market it, allowing consumers to save up to 20% of the cost by cutting out middlemen.

Chavez promised that these agreements would mark a new beginning in relations between the two countries. “These seven months that remain in the government of my friend President Palacio, we will use to construct a solid new floor, of political, social, technical, scientific, and energy relations,” said Chavez.

Ecuador’s President Palacio responded, “Thanks to the Venezuelan people and thanks to President Chavez, the hydrocarbon policy and petrol history of Ecuador will change.”

During his press conference, Chavez predicted that Ecuador would be attacked, just as Bolivia has been attacked for the nationalization of its natural resources. While Bolivia recently announced the nationalization of its natural gas fields, Ecuador recently annulled a contract with Occidental Petroleum. “Allow me to congratulate you, President, for the decisions you have been taking to recover the strategic management of the natural resources of Ecuador,” said Chavez. The U.S. recently suspended negotiation of a Free Trade Agreement with Ecuador in response to Ecuador’s decision to suspend the Occidental Petroleum contract.

Student Riots Continue in Western Venezuela, Government Blames Provocateurs

Masked protesters in the western Venezuelan state of Tachira.
Credit: VTV Caracas, Venezuela, May 30, 2006—Classes at the University of the Andes (ULA) were suspended again yesterday, as disturbances and protests continued in Merida for the fourth straight business day. In response to the violence, various government representatives announced that behind the disturbances is a conspiracy to “destabilize” the country.

The “disturbances” come as a result of last Wednesday’s Venezuelan Supreme Court decision postponing ULA student elections, which were scheduled to be held on May 31st. In its decision, the court declared that the elections would have to be postponed because there existed “rational doubts about the competence” of the University Center Federation’s ability to administer its own elections.

The Venezuelan alternative media website, Aporrea.org, reported yesterday afternoon that, “a small group of hooded individuals were throwing rocks, bottles, and other objects at a line of anti-riot Police.”

Meanwhile, the Venezuelan daily, El Mundo, reported last Friday, that various other Universities have joined in the protests, and are calling for a national demonstration tomorrow and a student march across the country. Ricardo Sánchez, general secretary of the Federation of University Centers of the Central University of Venezuela, announced yesterday that all of the Universities in Caracas would be meeting to coordinate actions in support of the ULA students.

While last week’s events are still unclear, government sources report that 26 Venezuelan National Guard and Police were wounded in the violence, many from gunshots. One officer is still in critical condition, and another testified to have just narrowly escaped a rape attempt. According to most reports, 10 students were wounded. El Mundo reported last Friday that the leader of the Somos Uno Movement from the Central University of Venezuela, Inti Rodriguez, declared that their were also a dozen students wounded at University protests in both the Venezuelan states of Tachira and Lara.

“Conspiracy of Violence”

Venezuelan Vice-President José Vicente Rangel, yesterday, condemned the existence of “preparations to generate situations of violence in the streets.”

“You can’t explain this situation only by the decision of the competent jurisdictional organism to post-pone ULA elections. This decision has nothing to do with the National Executive or the authorities from the state of Mérida,” he said. “The supposed University raid served also as a pretext to accentuate the violence.” In a press release, Rangel added, “there also exists the intention to unleash action in Caracas during the next OPEC meeting [this Thursday], with the goal of projecting to the world an image of chaos in Venezuela.”

Yesterday, the Minister of Interior and Justice, Jesse Chacón, and members of the National Assembly also denounced the student violence in Merida, and announced what they viewed as proof of a conspiracy to destabilize the country.

“These are acts of violence and sources of urban terrorism that have been unraveling by the student sector over the last hours and you should observe that all of the events connect to one another, they are interrelated and lead us to a conspiracy plan,” said National Assembly Representative, Tarek El Aissami, yesterday.

Aissami singled out the group Movimiento 13 de Marzo (March 13 Movement) and its student leader Nixon Moreno, as being behind the violence and disturbances. He accompanied his declarations with videotapes from 2004 of the March 13 Movement, which he declared contained “proof of the conviction” of the current events.

“Political Assassination”

Moreno, who was a Presidential candidate in the ULA’s postponed elections responded by accusing the state of trying to “politically assassinate” him.

“We are dealing with a dark laboratory, overseen by the Ministry of Interior and Justice (Jesse Chacón) in order to politically assassinate me,” he said yesterday. Moreno added that due to the repression of the National Guard, 25 students were left wounded.

The Venezuelan daily, El Universal, reported yesterday that Moreno, “informed that the students would continue their protests this week in response to the violation of the autonomous university, expressed, in his criteria, in the ruling of the TSJ that suspended the student elections, and in the National Guard ‘raid’ on the University.”

Moreno, who has been a ULA student for the past 10 years and is a former Student President of the ULA, blames last week’s violence, not on the students, but on the Venezuelan National Guard.

According to VTV, the Minister of Interior and Justice, Jesse Chacón, has categorically denied that the National Guard and police forces raided the ULA.

Rumors have surfaced over the possibility that last week’s violence could have been instigated by paramilitaries acting as students. The website, Rebelion.org, reported last Thursday that “a group of organized mercenaries, acting and looking more like Colombian paramilitaries than students, burst in to the Center of the Humanities Faculty, well armed with high-caliber pistols and machine guns, faces covered with ski masks… with radios of the latest technology… and dispersed throughout Merida in strategic locations, in small groups, all armed, and interconnected through the radio system.”

Astrid Balsa, an ULA student, studying languages, doesn’t buy it. “People exaggerate a lot, but there are some things that are true. I don’t believe that there are paramilitaries,” she said, “but not everyone involved in the disturbances are students. Some are hooligans, and some are teenagers from the nearby schools who just want to cause trouble.”

Balsa said that classes and activities at the ULA have been suspended since last Wednesday, and that the disturbances have caused fear and long lines across the city of Merida.

"No one is in agreement with the disturbances," Balsa continued. "It's all a question of power, regardless on who's side you are on... the problem is that the University is a reflection of what is happening in the country."

Supreme Court Decision

Last Wednesday’s Supreme Court decision to postpone the elections was as a result of an injunction presented to the court by hundreds of ULA students including the current president of the Federation de University Centers of ULA, Jehyson Jose Guzman Araque.

“We asked the Supreme Court to review the elections, to make sure that everything was legal,” said Frella Alvarez, a fourth year ULA student studying Spanish literature. “At the University, there are rules that exist, but they may or may not be enforced… the University authority hasn’t been prepared to ensure that the rules are followed.”

According to Jan Ullrich, a German exchange student studying this year at ULA, these rules outlaw re-elections, include two-year term limits, and mandate that candidates must pass at least two classes a semester.

"The rules are there to ensure that these positions are for students, who are studying... not for professional politicians," said Ullrich. "Guzman has been at the University for 10 years. One of the other guys, for 15."

According to Ullrich, that the elections were postponed until February, 2007, when new candidates would have to be named, because none of the current candidates are eligible to run for office, because they do not qualify under the rules.

Mario Bonucci, ULA Director, criticized the TSJ decision last week, declaring that the ULA electoral commission has always been in charge of elections and that the current student president, Guzman, was elected, ratified and established under the same rules and structure that are now in place.

“Of course, I shall call for peace, prudence and reflection. The University is the center where we debate with ideas not violence,” Bonucci added in response to last Wednesday’s violence, “That’s why I’m making this call for calm, tranquility and that we utilize the channels at our disposition in this democratic system.”

Venezuela and Bolivia to Cooperate on Coca and Gas

Caracas, Venezuela, May 29, 2006—The new left-wing alliance of Venezuela and Bolivia, supported by Cuba, took some important steps forward last week in Bolivia. In the coca-region of Chapare, Bolivian President Morales and Venezuelan President Chávez, accompanied by Cuban vice-President Carlos Lage, signed several trade deals in the fields of agriculture and energy. During his visit President Chávez accused by the US Embassy in the Bolivian capital of planning a coup against President Morales. Last week, US President Bush already spoke out his fears for an "eroding democracy" in Bolivia and Venezuela. Morales, who last week described the cooperation between his country and Venezuela and Cuba as "the axis of the good," agreed on Chávez's warnings about a possible coup. The Venezuelan leader proposed to increase military cooperation between the two countries and made an appeal to set up a military structure similar to the NATO for Latin America.

Chávez does not only want to improve military cooperation in the region. After announcing the withdrawal by Venezuela from the Community of Andean Nations (CAN) last month, Chávez announced on Sunday that he is willing to consider the proposal for the creation of a so-called Bolivarian Andean Confederation (CBA), a proposal made recently by re-elected Colombian President Àlvaro Uribe. Despite the fundamentally different opinions about free trade between the USA on the one hand and Latin American countries on the other, Uribe had made the proposal out of respect for Hugo Chávez. Chávez, a clear opponent of bilateral free trade agreements between the USA and Colombia and Peru, is the driving force behind the ALBA, the "Bolivarian Alternative for America" and the so-called Trade Agreement of the People (TCP), which was signed last April in the Cuban capital of Havanna.

The main reason for Chávez's visit to Bolivia was the signing of several trade agreements. Both heads of state signed deals to industrialise the production of soy, milk, tea, coffee and coca. "We will make clear that coca is not cocaine," said Morales. Morales further announced a radical land reform in Bolivia, to be based upon the same ideas as the "war on latifundismo," which Chávez already started last year in Venezuela. In both countries, roughly 90 percent of arable land is owned by less than ten percent of the population.

In the field of energy cooperation, Venezuela announced it would provide Bolivia with 200,000 barrels of diesel per month for preferential prices. In reaction to comments by the Venezuelan opposition, Chávez said that "Bolivia will pay for the diesel, we will not give away anything for free. The money will however not be paid directly to us. The roughly 100 million Dollars will stay in a special fund, located in Bolivia. From this fund, we will create a Bank of the South."

According to Chávez, this money will be available for Bolivian farmers. "The farmers will pay their loan back in cash or with their products. I hope that the farmers will produce soy of good quality. The value of the products is more important than the monetary value. We will destroy the dogmas of capitalism. Our model of socialism is based on solidarity."

Venezuela and Bolivia agreed on an alliance between Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA and the Bolivian oil firm YPFB. Venezuela will invest roughly $1.5 billion in the Bolivian oil- and gas industry, which was nationalized by President Morales in the beginning of May. Bolivia has the second largest gas reserves in Latin America, only to be topped by Venezuela. PDVSA will exploit new gas- and oilfields in Bolivia, and invest in the petrochemical industry.

Not only Venezuela came to agreements with Bolivia. Cuba is involved in improving Bolivia`s health and educational system, just as it was during the last years in Venezuela. Bolivia is already enjoying similar literacy programs as poor Venezuelans were enjoying during the last years, with the aim of eradicating illiteracy in Bolivia in the next two to three years. Hundreds of Cuban doctors have arrived to Bolivia as well, in order to provide primary health care to the poorest, just as tens of thousands of Cuban doctors are already doing in Venezuela`s Mission Barro Adentro.