Joshua Goodman

On July 24 Joshua Goodman,  Bureau Chief The Associated Press, commented on the launching of Telesur English version, using his twitter (@APjoshgoodman) he said: “Nice debut for @teleSURtv in English. Interview with Nicolas Maduro. Next time bring @AP please! “…… and he was indeed invited few weeks later.

On 15th October 2014, president Nicolas Maduro invite AP, among other media outlets.  The evening was organized to show to the whole nation the evidence that demonstrate how the member of parliament Robert Serra was assassinated fifteen days before.  One of the sad things that I  have to see was the question that Mr Goodman did after he received the opening  turn for the Q&A in the room “Sol del Peru”, Miraflores Palace en Caracas, Venezuela.  It is important to say that in the national drama the Venezuelan people has being put through in those fifteen days , this presentation was a turning point and the first question giving to a foreign media outlet of the high relevance, but Mr Goodman chose to ask something else, he asked about the petrol prices. That was his opening, the question was not impulsive nor accidental, because he read it.

Robert Serra was one of the most outstanding member of the Venezuelan parliament. Serra was representation of the Venezuelan youth, and held the record of being the youngest ever public servant in being appointed by popular vote and be sitting in the National Assembly.  Robert Serra developed a speech that was very caustic to the opposing factions and regain a well define role model among the new generation of politicians in Venezuela. Direct, authentic, incendiary and fast, he spoke really fast and clearly, everybody got speed up after his speeches. Sadly, Robert Serra was kill in a way that shocked the population and many felt ill about the circumstances of his death.

His assassination was a subject of multiple analysis until that evening, 15th October, when the president Nicolas Maduro invite several journalist and media outlet to search together into it.  The invitation was to discuss one of the most sensible and painful event Venezuelans has to endure and involved dangerous war games that are complex and need careful attention, but Mr Goodman choose to ask about the petrol price. In this evening Mr Goodman behaved with such level of insensitivity in regards to the high tension the country were put through by imported violence and his line of questioning were so out of context that worries many where his mind is dwelling.


Given the fact that Mr Goodman only report “the worst” in every of his inputs about Venezuela, as the sample of tweets shows here, and taking note that when he is in front of the president of Venezuela and the subject is insecurity and political crimes, he choose to distract away the focus of attention, I wonder if he fit for the job or  is he professionally out of focus about what means being a journalist and reporting from Venezuela, or is this just another way to offer protection to the criminals, to made a distraction, play  down the gravity of the events, and made them looks trivial, irrelevant.


“Nice debut for @teleSURtv in English. Interview with Nicolas Maduro. Next time bring @AP please!” Goodman

Venezuelan Opposition set fire to a kinder garden

Venezuelan opposition set fire to a kinder garden as a mean of “peacefully” protesting against the government.  A total of nearly 100 children (from babies of 6 moths up to toddlers of 3 years old) were in the facilities, when opposition activist set the whole place in flames. The location is in Chacao, a municipality controlled by an opposition party, where  public servants work for the housing national program in Venezuela, called “Gran Mission Vivienda Venezuela”, one of the most successful governmental programs led by Hugo Chavez.  The opposition has always denied the achievements of this program, and mocking and insulting the people that got a modern brand new house leaving behind of the slums and refuges.

Fire fighters recued the kids that where attacked by the violent Venezuelan political opposition.

 

Three kids were severely affected by the gases and I understand they are out of danger after the emergency assisted them.

Los Amigos de Hugo, todos somos Chávez

 

In honour to Hugo Chavez.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=xP1G8BqnK5k

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=xP1G8BqnK5k#t=104

Ecocide shows lack of ethical grounds for the Venezuelan opposition

by William Mora

When Venezuelan opposition called to create a state of commotion that could allow then to oust the legitimate president Nicolas Maduro, elected by democratic ballot, they always knew that will be casualties and other fatalities, from which they do not repent, on the contrary, they stimulate to go even further.  So far has being 45 days of focal terror on few upper and  middle class neighbourhoods in some Venezuelan cities with a toll of 39 assassinations directly link to road barricade named “guarimbas”  which are under the reach of snipers that prevent anybody to clear the road under their watch. We have to add more than 500 injured people directly linked to the guarimbas and a bigger number of indirect casualties and injured due to circumstances that could never end in such if the political terror tactics imposed upon the population had never started. The scale of material damages caused to private and public property is just beyond acceptable.

As if this was not yet enough the opposition has committed other kind of crime against other living beings, that only sensitive people can understand and denounce it.

To build the blockades and barricades on the streets, the Venezuelan opposition has chop and knock down ornamental trees on the main roads of the cities. Around 5000 trees has being knock down for this only purpose in the last days of focal violence, out of them 200 were considered patrimonial listed trees to be protected and preserved. The opposition actions do not stop there, they has carry out forest fires on emblematic parks only with the purpose of affecting electrical facilities and cut off the electricity to main cities. That happened on Caracas this ending week. Around 300 forestall fire has being count so far, many in national parks and areas of protected fauna and flora with very sensitive ecosystems.  The national park Henri Pitier, Waraira Repano, Chorro del Indio are among some of them attacked.

The level of irrationality of the Venezuelan opposition has considered as a valid tactic to set fire on living dogs and through then on the barricades to act as a deterrence for who ever deer to clean the barricades. The latest move is to use dog as a bomb-carriers, and set the explosive on when the dog is near the police officers. On the following audio you can hear their communications instructing each other to take those criminal actions, this recording was made public the day of today, the speakers are in Spanish and there no English subtitles yet.

(if fail, click on the following address:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1S-nwIXfbRg&feature=player_embedded )

All this violence has being justify upon the stand that the opposition has much better ethical grounds than the bolivarian revolution to rule Venezuela. The evidences shows the contrary.

Message from Bolivarian Students to Homeland

La Fundación Jorge Rodríguez Padre, mediante su Canal Escuela 4F TV, en este trabajo, muestra un mensaje de la verdadera juventud que quiere trabajar, que cree en la academia, en las oportunidades que le brinda la Revolución Bolivariana y en el
Socialismo del Siglo XXI iniciado por el Comandante Eterno Hugo Chávez.
La juventud Revolucionaria pone en evidencia la verdadera realidad del país y
como grupos de paramilitares de extrema derecha, pretenden incendiar el país y
derrocar el gobierno del Comandante Obrero Nicolás Maduro, así mismo expresan
un mensaje de cómo la mayoría de la juventud trabaja en Venezuela día a día para
construir Patria.

 

Venezuelan Peace Conference installed successfully!!

This 26 February 2014, after weeks of violent protest from some factions of the Venezuelan opposition, President Nicolas Maduro installed the Peace Conference with all society representatives, with the exception of few opposition leaders. With a full house integrated of journalist, businessmen, politicians from opposition and official sectors, judicial authorities, union leaders, artists and religions leaders attended with one objective: to guarantee dialogue and peace.

President Maduro proposed three key basis to start the conference and guide its development, those are:

1. Respect to the National Constitution.

2. Stop the violence. Clear all focus of blockades and violence.

3. The defence of sovereignty. Stop all attempts of interventionism from foreign powers.

Peace is a national destiny.

Peace National Conference installation

People from Merida clean the oppressive blockades

by William Mora

Credito: Reporteros comunitarios de Mérida

Communities en Merida, Venezuela,  clean the oppressive blockades that had cut access to residences and  essential services, creating a siege on the touristic town.  The siege has been organised by violent factions of the political opposition that do not recognise the prevalence of law and democratic rules. Several death has been caused on these barricades with extreme violence.  In Caracas, capital of Venezuela, these blockaders place nylon string or galvanised wire across the street, at a height of 1.2 metres to kill motorbikes drivers.  One young worker using his motorbike, named Santiago Enrique Pedroza,  29 years-old,  going in his way home was decapitated by these booby traps set up to murder  in cold blood. They call these "peaceful" demonstration of students. It seems to me horrendous tactics of brutal politics.

Opposition upset by the cleaning and release of the blockade oppression made by them. 

Credito: Reporteros comunitarios de Mérida

Public servants asked for justice and stop of political violence

Workers of the public transport in Caracas has been attacked by right wing violent factions. Where, control rooms with workers inside were set on fire and destroyed by attackers, similar situation occurred with buses on duty in the public transport full of passengers were under stones from the violent factions . Today the workers of the Metro and public transport asked in front of the General Attorney to investigates and prosecuted the violent political factions that are on a violent agenda to cause damage and destruction to the Venezuelan people.

Manufactured violence to justify an unconstitutional “ousting”

The 12 of February 2014  is an important date for Venezuela. This day we commemorated 200 years of one of the most dramatic battle to achieve our independence from the Spanish Empire. It is called “Dia de la Juventud” or the youth day, for no a light reason. In February 1814, the Spaniards, led by Jose Tomas Boves set to take control on the access to the central region. Then the quick actions of Jose Felix Ribas, under Simon Bolivar command, to form an untrained army with 2000 of youngest students in the region to offer to a well trained and professional Spanish army, un unlikely difficulty.  Many of the students were barely 12 to 14 years old, and the region that the Spanish were about to take was of strategic importance for the newly born republic, while Boves was well renown as a brutal royalist causing great deal of casualties among the population that embraced the cause of the republic.  José Felix Ribas, facing all the odd against his forces, encouraged the fibre of his juvenile troops by “we do not have the options between succeed or die, necessary is to succeed” The Spanish were defeated in the location of La Victoria not without a great deal of sacrifices among the Venezuelan youth.

President Nicolas Maduro.

Commemorating this day means honouring the greatest scarifies that the juvenile generation of 1814 made for the republic. However, the 200 years great celebration of the Venezuelan people was eclipsed by a parallel agenda set up by radical extremist of the right wing factions, in fact, a neo fascist group is taken grounds into the Venezuelan youth that has made tend apart from the most moderated factions to take power by force, led by coup d'état  plotters, no recognizing the rule of a democratic system and manufacturing violence to justify an “ousting”. When journalist asked students in their teens what were their goals, many merely replied ‘I will kill Maduro’  referring to the president!

 

Leopoldo Lopez and Maria Machado are the most visible political operators of the ‘ousting’ plan.

The violence caused by the right wing students, or so called “students” infiltrated by political operators were various in grade. First, they started by a march to the General Attorney Office demanding a meeting  which was granted to be in the premises of the Public Ministry, but they wanted to be in the open, and after they vociferated their will to humiliated the General Attorney, it was clear that the open street was not a sensible place to meet with so various violent  motivations, then an outburst of violence destroyed the whole ground floor of the public offices.  The destructions of public and private property is serious enough, but it is particularly aggravated by the destruction of several police force vehicles used to capture criminals, when the country is under an acute level of criminal gangs violence. How a political faction that pretend to rule Venezuela, bring such level of destruction and death without taken responsibility?  How they will make better the country if they do destroy it? 

The most serious offense is the killing of innocents, once again, as it happens before in April 2002, the announcement of planned and budgeted death, to then resorting into an out of control spiral of violence to justify an unconstitutional ousting of president Maduro .

Amazing!!  Right wing student or protester destroying a young tree.

There are lessons learnt from 2002 coup d'état, and they  must be apply now to defend Venezuelan democracy.

Silence in The Silence

Fabricio Ojeda, leader of the Patriotic Junta, who achieved with many others Venezuelans the end of military dictatorship in January 23rd, 1958, which was ruled by Perez Jimenez. Ojeda’s legacy  is commemorated this week.  His role as a clandestine leader working unrecovered and knitting the fabric of freedom to open the country to democracy. He latter was betrayed by his allies who came from their exile in Unites States.

Ojeda and the political youth generation of the 1958 was blocked and prosecuted. All the left wing parties was excluded of the political access to executive power as part of a secret agreement to distribute power among the centre-right factions.  The context was the Cold War and that was a precondition of US to Venezuelan leaders in exile. This political agreement know as “Pacto de Punto Fijo” substituted the dictatorship and imposed a tutelage democracy that goes from 1958 until 1998, this period is called representative democracy. This “pact” works as a social controller to stop the popular aspiration to get full access to power. The intermediaries, calling themselves “representative”, hostage the power for personal gain, foreign benefits,  while the representative democracy drifted Venezuela into institutional chaos, transculturation and wilder open corruption for a long period of forty years. Fabricio Ojeda opposed this pact from the National Congress and understood that blockade was permanent. Then he resigned the Congress seat and go to the jungles as a guerrilla fighter. He was captured, tortured by the security forces trained by US military personal, and killed in jail, simulating suicide.

Human right violation keep happening under the complicit collaboration of the media-church-political parties. Several rebellions occurred and countless popular protest.  It is not until one of signatories of that exclusion pact, Rafael Caldera, gave the presidential seat to Hugo Chavez, who put an end to that system.

El Silencio (The Silence) is a very popular neighbourhood in Caracas , and is as well known as “23 de Enero” named after those  days of popular rebellion against the dictatorship of Pérez Jimenez.  This place was chosen to commemorate Fabricio Ojeda’s legacy.  During one minute of Silence in The Silence, all the attendees remember the events that 56 years ago opened an opportunity for the Venezuelan people but was taken away for the shake of an Venezuelan elite in conjunction with foreign powers.

Picture of ceremony of “one minute of silence” in  The Silence as remembrance of Fabricio Ojeda.

Viva Fabricio Ojeda