Must read articles on Venezuela and Argentina

Michael Albert, a founder of Zmag and co-creater of the concept of Participatory Economics with Robin Hanel, recently published two articles based on short trips he made to Venezuela and Argentina. They are: Venezuela's Path and Argentine Self Management.

Because Albert has political convictions very close to my own, the articles address what I think are some of the key points in the struggles of both countries better than any other articles I've seen. He finds much to admire in both the Bolivarian Revolution and the recuperated factory movement in Argentina and identifies legitimate points of concern. I am very heartened by his optimistic interpretations of what he saw and heard in Venezuela.

Bolivia overview from Le Monde Diplomatique

An excellent overview on the current state of affairs in Bolivia:

Le Monde diplomatique
November 2005
AN ELECTION FOR CHANGE AND PROMISE
Bolivia: an Amayra for president
By Maurice Lemoine

Bolivians will go to the polls on 4 December - unless a last-minute ploy by the right leads to a postponement - in what will be a historic general election. For despite chronic divisions and rivalries, Bolivia's social movements are in a position to take power and make Evo Morales South America's first indigenous president.

Full article

The article hints at structures of popular organization that seem quite promising. An excerpt:

...the people do not always follow those who claim to represent them. In El Alto, as Nestor Guillon of Villa el Ingenio [Federation of Neighbourhood Committees](Fejuves) explains, the demonstrations were originally organised by the leaders -"Comrades, we must take to the streets". But the situation gradually changed. Now, local residents decide: "We must get out and march." The demand comes from below. "El Alto's capacity for mobilisation doesn't depend on the Fejuves," says Guillon, "but on what neighbourhood and block-based assemblies decide. Without them, Mamani can call all the demonstrations he likes; no one will follow him." The majority of El Alto's inhabitants voted in the referendum on hydrocarbons, despite their leader's calls for a boycott. In so doing, they implicitly backed MAS and look
likely to do so again in the forthcoming elections.

The view of Venezuela from two anarchists

Venezuela, El Libertario, Of Chavistas and Anarquistas: Brief Sketch

(November-December, 2004) By Michael Staudenmaier, with Anne Carlson
For almost a month, from mid-November until mid-December, 2004, we traveled in Venezuela, meeting an array of politically engaged activists from a variety of perspectives. Without a doubt, the foremost lesson we learned during our brief time there concerned the complexity of the social and political situation in the country, which has been consistently over-simplified in the United States. Where the mainstream media in this country portrays President Hugo Chavez as the next Fidel Castro, busily turning Venezuela into a Communist (or at least anti-US) dictatorship, the US left in general has welcomed Chavez uncritically as the new face of progressive struggle in Latin America. North American anarchists, meanwhile, struggle to understand the situation, and are too often torn between these two opposing but comparably one-sided perspectives.

Full article

Letter from a Bolivian libertarian socialist group

Organizacion del Poder Popular Libertario

Dear comrades, this message is in the form of a letter of presentation...
As part of the participational process of the "Encuentros Latinoamericanos de organizaciones autonomas" [Latin-American Encounters of Autonomous Organizations], which began in parallel with the World Social Forum in Porto Alegre in 2003, and the anarchist "Jornadas libertarias" [Libertarian Days] organized by the FAG in Porto Alegre in 2003, in Cochabamba in 2004 and in La Plata in 2005, the libertarians of Bolivia decided during a National Assembly on 26th March to come together organically in the "ORGANIZACION DEL PODER POPULAR LIBERTARIO" (Organization for Libertarian Popular Power - OPL).
The Assembly was attended by comrades from the "Tinku" Movement from Cochabamba ("Utopía Libertaria"), "Tenta Rebelde" from Santa Cruz, "Najas" from Tarija and several comrades from El Alto and La Paz. Having agreed on the Andean-Amazonian libertarian principles of the Organization and deciding on the name (O.PP.L.), we set about working quietly and discreetly (for reasons of security) within our organizations and grassroots collectives, as well as within the various social movements in Bolivia.
We are part of the new process of transition that Bolivia is currently going through, after the Water War, the Coca & Land War, the Gas War, and the struggle for the Nationalization of Hydrocarbon Resources. In this process, the contribution of libertarians working daily with the grassroots social movements is important in the building of our Utopia from out of our daily lives.
The O.P.L. of Bolivia has as its basis the "Tinku" Movement, a nationwide organization with more than 7 years experience in continuous social activism, that will soon be holding another NATIONAL ASSEMBLY, shortly before the presidential election. Regarding the election, it should be noted that it is polarized between the Indigenous Left of the MAS (Evo Morales) and the rightist neo-liberal representative of the oligarchy, "Tuto" Quiroga of the Yankee Embassy.
Finally we request contacts with libertarian, anarchist and autonomous organizations so that our comrade Ramiro Saravia can take advantage of the invitation to the "Foro Eurolatinoamericano de la Juventud (FEULAT) to be held in Malaga, Spain and then, from 19th October to 9th November, visit Social Centres in Spain and Italy to give a series of talks, conferences, video showings etc. on the perspectives of the Social Movements in Bolivia with the aim of looking for solidarity and concrete support for the self-managed grassroots projects of our Organization and of the "Tinku" Movement.
We await messages of international solidarity for our new, though already active, libertarian organization and our autonomous collectives.
UNITED AGAINST NAFTA-FTAA-WTO !!
LONG LIVE THE O.P.L. AND SELF-MANAGEMENT !!
LONG LIVE INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY BETWEEN PEOPLES !!
Libertarian greetings from Bolivia-Kollasuyu.
Council of the O.P.L. - Bolivia
Note: We are trying to get a new e-mail address from Riseup or Nodo50, but so
far without success. Can anyone help us to set up a website on an alternative
server?
For the moment, you can find out more about what we do at:
http://www.redtinku.com
Translation by ainfos
From: "Organización del Poder Popular Libertario O.P.L. - Bolivia"
opl_libertarios_bolivia@yahoo.com

Colombia updates

A few items from ABColombia Group's November 8 email edition of Colombia This Week

In yet another indication of the ties between the Colombian government and the paramilitaries, the conservative Colombian newspaper, El Tiempo,:

reported that DAS [Colombian intelligence agency] officers were secretly taped while discussing alleged plans by a close aide to former DAS Director Jorge Noguera to sell intelligence data to paramilitary leaders. The newspaper claimed that DAS deputy Jorge Narvaez asked for the recording to be made to ensnare his boss in the scandal, revealing deep divisions within the agency. The vice-minister of defence, Andres Peñate, has taken over the DAS while the government investigates the allegations.

A few more excerpts:

The Association of Indigenous Councils of Northern Cauca (ACIN) denounces to the national and the international community the recent death threats against Manuel Rozental, an internationally recognised Colombian activist who has been helping to coordinate the communications strategy of the ACIN indigenous organisation that has vociferously opposed the signature of the Colombian Free Trade Agreement. It is not known which armed group is behind the threats.
***

As approved, Colombia's "Justice and Peace" law has too many loopholes. There is hardly any penalty for "forgetting" to confess a massacre or an illegal asset. In short, the full truth is not required. Too few prosecutors with too little time for investigation and case preparation virtually guarantees that many atrocities will go unexamined. A notorious narco-trafficker who confesses to every drug offence will face a sentence of as little as two to three years for all crimes, -and his extradition to face those charges in the US will be blocked through a prohibition on double jeopardy. Evidence of the law's failings comes from a new Human Rights Watch report. It says that of 5,000 AUC combatants disarmed so far, only 25 have been detained or charged; combatants, moreover, aren't being asked to divulge details of crimes, criminal networks or illicit assets, Miami Herald reports.
***

The Colombian government has lobbied hard to win international respectability for a peace plan that human rights organisations believe will entrench the political and economic power of a mafia guilty of drug trafficking, extortion and gross human-rights abuses. The endorsement given by the EU's council of ministers last month is counted as a major diplomatic victory. There is little hope of justice for the victims; of the 5,000 paramilitaries who have demobilised, only 25 had been detained for atrocities up to April. The government claims there is a paramilitary ceasefire, but has turned a blind eye to repeated violations; one commander is being legitimised even though he has been accused of ordering the assassination of a congressman in April. The government has ignored criticism of the law from the UN high commissioner for human rights, the Inter-American Commission for Human Rights, several US senators and many non-governmental organisations, Isabel Hilton reports in The Guardian.
***

The US Congress has agreed to help fund the demobilisation of thousands of Colombian paramilitaries. It approved a contribution of $20m from next year's budget, but set several conditions for releasing it. Congress said the state department had to certify that Colombia was co-operating fully with the extradition of paramilitary commanders. Many of them are sought by the US on charges of human rights abuses or drug trafficking. The contribution agreed by the US Congress is less than Bogota wanted, but the Colombian Ambassador to Washington, Andres Pastrana, said it was a diplomatic boost, BBC reports.