Having been born in Cuba, my family left the Castro communist regime and fled to Venezuela in 1961. Venezuela, itself, has had a history of oppression by the military dictator, Marcos Perez Jimenez (1952-1958). Even after, right-wing governments ruled the country. Although hopes for the future of Venezuela seemed brighter a decade ago, the promises to the poor were not fulfilled and those hopes were crushed by the left-wing oppression of the Chavez government.
The filmmaker, Oliver Stone, has taken his considerable talents and crafted a work entitled South of the Border -- a travelogue with Hugo Chavez and the various South and Central American governments he supports. Beyond the many inaccuracies and distortions in the film, Mr. Stone does not speak with any Venezuelans who offer a very different view of life under Chavez.
Since Oliver Stone wouldn't, I spoke with a few people to get their perspective. In September, there will be elections for the National Assembly. The outcomes of most of the races are foregone conclusions, to many.
So, I started by speaking with Juan Francisco Mendizabal, a respected technology expert who created a system to verify voting records and was threatened, harassed and intimidated until his life was in danger, and left his homeland for the US, where he is seeking asylum:
What would you tell Oliver Stone if he interviewed you for his film?
Elections in Venezuela are not free, nor fair or transparent. To claim that elections in Venezuela are "Free" is an insult for the victims of the Chavez Regime, the Venezuelan people, who suffer the worst consequences of this dictatorial regime. Venezuelans are victims of 24 hours of Government propaganda. Public employees are threatened with termination from employment if the Government finds that they are voting for a different candidate other than Chavez. Your vote is not secret. They created "La Lista Tascon," which is a political Apartheid, with the names of all those who voted against the Chavez government. Lower income people are forced to wear red t-shirts and march in Pro-Chavez rallies or face dismissal of the government programs (denied basic access to food, education and healthcare). Free and fair elections are only a dream for Venezuelans.
I have spoken with many Venezuelans about the election process. What would you want Americans to know about elections in Venezuela?
Democracy is more than elections. Under Chavez, Venezuela's government was transformed into to a grotesque "Orwellian" state feared by everyone. The Venezuelan election is a fraudulent process comprised of a complex machinery of intimidation that coerce Venezuelans to vote for Chavez or face terrible consequences. Fraud is present in every aspect of the electoral system, from a corrupt national electoral registry to the gigantic, abusing Government propaganda to food-for-vote social bribery for low-income communities. The Venezuela's electoral system was designed not to record the people's will but to create the impression of a modern Democratic state. Similar to the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Venezuelan electoral system is completely flawed only intended to maintain dictators in power with a light flavor of Democracy.
I know you have been threatened and intimidated by the pro-Chavez activists. Can you tell me about the calls you received?
I receive all sorts of threats from the "Defenders of the Revolution" as they call themselves. The Cuban-led Venezuelan intelligence was able to track me at every level imaginable. My efforts to build a parallel vote-counting system intended to demonstrate fraud immediately got the Government's attention. I suffered all kinds of verbal and material repression from Chavez and his organized gangs. When I decided to help the opposition build a fraud detection computer platform, I never conceived of the ruthless, brutal attacks they were capable of inflicting on me and my family. Verbal attacks via phone calls, physical punishment attacks in which a gun was pointed at my head and I was told that the revolution had already sentenced me to death, beating and incarceration attempts, financial, moral and religious destruction were launched at me from the Government.
As you can see, this is why Oliver Stone didn't speak with everyday Venezuelans on the street and, instead, merely gave Hugo Chavez a platform. Movies are powerful things and serve as a record long after the headlines have faded.
You can also follow the Twitter feed, VzlaAwareness, as we confront the truth about Venezuela and the Chavez government.
Follow Maria Conchita Alonso on Twitter: www.twitter.com/VzlaAwareness
Also, I'm not sure that an interview with one technology expert is representative of the everyday Venezuelan man or woman on the street.
And it's worth pointing out that Republican election stealers have gone international; having perfected their skills stealing, among others, the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections, these election "consultants" helped rightwinger Calderon take office in Mexico in 2006:
http://mondediplo.com/2006/08/01mexico
Since Mr. Mendizabal is now in the US, perhaps he has friends/business associates here?
ARE YOU LISTENING SEAN PENN????
Hugo Chavez was the first non-oligarch to ascend to power in Venezuela. He is descended from the indiginous people of Venezuela and not from Europeans. Once he took office, he made the country's oil reserves the property of the Venezuelan people and under the control of the state. This move invoked the wrath of the oligarchs and foreign energy barons who had plundered Venezuela's resources for themselves and kept the vast majority of Venezuela's population impoverished. Chavez has used the proceeds from the oil to improve the lives of the average Venezuelan by investing in education and other social programs that benefit the average citizen. Chavez has also encouraged other nations in the region to renegotiate agreements with foreign corporations that are not exploitive or insist that the corporations be ousted should they refuse more equitable contracts.
For the reasons stated above, Chavez has been the target of the US government and the elite. I find Ms. Alonso's charges against Chavez suspect as I have read many conflicting profiles in reputatable sources. I also don't buy that Oliver Stone would not do substantial research before producing his movie. To me, this post has the appearance of smear all over it.
Information gathered from links at Wiki list of Venezuelan Presidents.
Juan Vicente Gómez (de jure or de facto: 1908-1935): “Gómez was a barely literate cattle herder and a nearly full-blooded Native American. In 1899, he joined the private army of Cipriano Castro, with whom he had been friends since Castro's exile in Colombia.â€
Rómulo Gallegos (1948: “born in Caracas to Rómulo Gallegos OsÃo and Rita Freire Guruceaga, into a family of humble origin.â€
Rómulo Betancourt: Imprisoned for 2 months in 1920s for protesting against dictator Gomez. In 1930s became leader of Communist Party in Costa Rica. Later resigned. Spent much time in exile during dictatorships.
Raúl Leoni (1964-1969): “son of a mason.â€
Carlos Andrés Pérez (1974-1979, 1989-1993) “he was imprisoned on various occasions and spent more than two years in jail in total.†In exile for a decade.
Jaime Lusinchi (1984-1989) : “His mother MarÃa Angelica Lusinchi, from an Italian-Corsican descent, gave him her family name, growing up without the presence of a father (who probably was an Italian emigrant).†Illegitimate birth. Immigrants.
Luis Herrera Campins (1979-1984): “imprisoned for four months in the Cárcel Modelo (Model Prison) by the dictatorship of Marcos Pérez Jiménez.â€
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Presidents_of_Venezuela
http://www.empowermentproject.org/pages/panama.html
http://www.questia.com/googleScholar.qst;jsessionid=MMkhyM8tM8tycx1G0GWMxVvs47hLswG5dJJ98Txyn112Q1LhxLYY!1798068544!-1419836203?docId=96397160
the perverse 'right' to continued institutional slavery and forced false scarcity.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nora-zimmett/chavez-war-against-the-je_b_560450.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbjr_cPS9_A
Venezuela. We will publish a final report in the coming weeks. Our preliminary findings include the
following:
· The voting started before 8 a.m. in more than 93 percent of the sites we visited.
· Polling officials were professional and impartial. In more than 86 percent of the sites we visited,
they were assigned their posts by lottery and had had experience in the Nov. 8 elections.
Our delegates overall reported that the soldiers working under the Plan República did an
outstanding job in providing security and logistical support.
· In 94 percent of the sites with voting machines that we visited, the machines functioned well.
· Both electoral officials and party witnesses reported that the process was going smoothly in more than 95 percent of the sites we visited.
Overall, we found that the voters, poll workers, party witnesses and soldiers all worked together harmoniously to make this a transparent and peaceful election that clearly reflected the will of the Venezuelan people. We congratulate President-elect Hugo Chávez and the newly elected Congress and governors, and we urge them to address together the difficult challenges that face Venezuela."
http://www.cartercenter.org/documents/1151.pdf
BTW, Michael Moore is a shining beacon of truth in this land of arrogance and hypocrisy.
In the general scheme of things that makes him the better option. Most of those getting stressed out about his faults found hee haw to say about the previous incumbents who represented a far smaller group, that was just fine with them and therefore the carping about his record is for the most part nothing but rank hypocrisy and moaning about their ability to fleece the majority being curtailed.
I think you've accurately summed up the Republican Party in 7 words.
— Maj. Gen. Smedley Butler, former Commandant, U.S. Marine Corps, November 1935
So when did YOU last travel to Venezuela to "speak with everyday Venezuelans on the street "? And on which streets ?
What would a Google search show of you or me? A tech guy living in Venezuela, with a gun to his head and you want him to have Google references? Just cause oil companies and Fox News are evil and corrupt, I dont have to embrace a dictator who is evil and corrupt, but against them. Im able to hold two thoughts in my head at once.
Allow me to be your first fan.