The Venezuela Reader

  2018: The Opposition Withdrew from the Presidential Election Dialogue In September 2017, President Maduro and the Opposition Coalition (MUD) agreed to a Dialogue process to establish agreement on the rules for the 2018 Presidential election. Dialogue meetings were held in the Dominican Republic facilitated by Dominican President Danilo Medina and former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero. The opposition made several requests for government actions:[1][2] •         Move the date of the election from December 2018 to early 2018 (Agreed to April 22) •         Ask the UN to send a team to observe the election (Agreed) •         Release detainees arrested for rioting (Agreed-80 prisoners were released in December 2017 with a promise to release more) The Government had a single request: Work together to eliminate unilateral US sanctions against Venezuela ...

  2003: Terrorist Bombings in Caracas, Two Soldiers were Charged; They were granted Asylum in the U.S. 2026: One of the Soldiers was Deported from the U.S. In Plaza Altamira in Eastern Caracas on October 22, 2002, fourteen Venezuelan military officers spoke out against the government of Hugo Chavez and demanded his resignation. They declared the Plaza a “liberated zone.” At least 102 more military personnel joined the group.1000s of opposition supporters attended nightly demonstrations and speeches. President Chavez let the protests continue without repression. After several months the protests ran out of momentum and ceased in early 2003. On February 25, 2003 at 2AM, bombs exploded in Caracas near the embassy offices of Spain and Columbia. The interior of the Columbian consulate was 80% destroyed, while the building housing the Spanish technical cooperation mission suffered severe damage to its gate and exterior wall [1] The bombings caused considerable fear among the populat...

  2005-2016 Presidents Bush and Obama Refused Venezuela’s Requests to Extradite the Terrorist Luis Posada Carriles   Luis Posada Carriles was Born in Cuba in 1928. From1959-1961, Posada was an anti-Castro saboteur in Cuba. In 1961 he fled to the US. In 1963, Posada enlisted in the US Army and was trained at Ft Benning. He became a CIA Employee and organized anti-Castro terrorist attacks. “The CIA taught us everything,” Posada has said. “They taught us explosives, how to kill, bomb, trained us in acts of sabotage.” [1] The CIA posted Posada to Venezuela. Posada became a naturalized Venezuelan citizen. He became Head of Operations for the Venezuelan Directorate of Intelligence (DISIP). As Head of Venezuelan Intelligence, Posada set out “to wipe out the leftist guerrilla movements that Castro was supporting in Venezuela. I persecuted them very, very hard. Many, many people got killed.” [1] In 1974, Posada left the DISIP and set up a private security agency in Caracas. On O...

  2003: President Chavez Established a National Identity Mission Five Million New Voters were Registered by 2006 The Venezuelan National Identity Card system was started in 1941. Venezuelan Law mandates that children obtain their first ID card upon reaching nine years old. The ID card needs to be renewed every ten years. Possession of the card is required for voting. Venezuelan citizens are eligible to register for voting when they turn 18. In 2000, 75% of eligible voters were registered. Those excluded were in poor, rural, and indigenous areas.[1] Hugo Chavez was elected President in 1998 and re-elected under a new Constitution in 2000.Chavez campaigned on a promise to provide rights to classes of people who had been excluded under previous governments. In 2003. Chavez established and funded Mission Identidad to provide Identity cards to all citizens and register eligible voters. Chavez established Onidex, an Agency responsible for issuing identity documents. Onidex was reo...

  2007: President Chavez Bought Out Verizon for $572 Million. CANTV (Compania Anonima Nacional de Telefonos de Venezuela) was founded as a private Company in 1930. Progressively, CANTV acquired other private telephone companies. In 1953, the Government announced its intention to acquire 100% of the shares of CANTV.   Over the following years, it bought up the other privately-owned telephone companies, the last one in 1973.CANTV was re-privatized in 1991 by the government with shares put out to international tender. A group of investors headed by GTE acquired the block of shares submitted.[1] GTE merged with Bell Atlantic to become the US Company Verizon in 2000.   Verizon was the largest shareholder of CANTV, holding 28.5% of its stock. The Venezuelan government owned 6.6% of the shares. The remaining shares were in the hands of the public through the Caracas Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange [1].   In 2006, CANTV was the leading provider of teleco...

  2009:The TV Station Globovision was Investigated for Reporting on an Earthquake A moderate earthquake occurred near Caracas early in the morning on May 4, 2009.Shortly after the first tremors were felt, Alberto Federico Ravell, Director of Globovision, personally delivered a message to the Station’s viewers. He announced that government information about the earthquake was unavailable and that the only available news on the quake was from the U.S. Geological Survey [1]. What Ravell omitted from his report was that Venezuela’s National Seismological Institute, known as Funvisis, was closely monitoring the geological movements. Numerous attempts had been made by government officials to distribute information to the Station [1]. The USGS verified that the data it received on the morning of May 4 originated from geological stations in Venezuela monitored by Funvisis[1]. Globovision’s coverage of the earthquake incensed government supporters. On May 6, the National Assembly demand...

  2010: Two Newspapers were “Censored” for Two Days for Publishing Graphic Images On its August 13,2010 front page, the newspaper El Nacional published a full-page photograph of naked corpses at Bello Monte morgue in Caracas under a headline about growing insecurity in the Country [1]. The photo was reprinted by another newspaper, Tal Cual, on August 17. Morgue workers told the press that the photo was taken without authorization and was a violation of the privacy rights of the deceased and their Families. The photo had been taken in December 2010.El Nacional editor and owner Miguel Henrique Otero admitted that the photo was held back from being published until the “right moment.” Legislative elections were scheduled for September 26, 2010. Otero was very critical of the Government and the photograph’s publication was seen as an attempt to influence voters by calling attention to Venezuela’s high crime rate [2] A group of citizens, including Litbell Diaz, President of the Nat...

  2016/2017: The National Assembly Passed Four Laws to Remove Maduro Which the Supreme Court Blocked In 2015, opponents of the government of President Nicolas Maduro won a majority of seats in the National Assembly. The new President of  the National Assembly promised to remove Maduro from the Presidency within six months. On April 20,2016 the National Assembly passed a constitutional amendment in first discussion to cut short the terms of mayors, governors and the President. A special clause rendered the changes retroactive, cutting short President Maduro’s 2013-2019 term in office. The proposal needed to have final approval by the National Assembly and approval by a popular vote within 30 days. If the electorate approved the reform, the legislation would force a presidential election to choose Maduro’s successor before December 12, 2016[1]. On April 25, the Supreme Court ruled that the special retroactive clause was unconstitutional citing Article 24 of the Constitution’s ...

  2005: The Opposition Boycotted the National Assembly Election, Government-supporters Won all the Seats In the 2000 National Assembly election, pro-government candidates won 52% of the seats. The 2005 election of the 167 members of the NA was scheduled for Sunday December 4, 2005. Polls indicated that pro-government candidates would win more than 2/3’s of the seats.[3] On September 20, the Opposition announced that it had agreed to a unified slate of candidates for the election. The European Union (EU) sent 150 delegates to observe the election while the OAS sent 60. The Electoral campaign was devoid of debate on issues other than the trustworthiness of the voting process [1]. The Opposition demanded that the Electoral Council (CNE) withdraw fingerprint scanners which were supposed to prevent double voting, but which, opposition parties argued, could be used to identify how people voted [1]. On November 28 in a deal brokered by the OAS, the CNE agreed to not use the fingerprin...