Is this the road home?

Or is it this way?

Maybe its over that bridge?

We´re somewhere between Buenos Aires and Santiago. We´re out of money so Ruth´s decided to ride home, Simon´s hitching. Hope we get to see you all soon!

Argentina


During the dictatorship from 1976 - 83 over 30000 people were "disappeared". The Madres de Plaza de Mayo still protest every Thursday afternoon demanding that the people who stole their children be brought to justice. Recently some of the perpetrators have been brought to trial but disturbingly this has been accompanied by a resurgence of the practices of intimidation and brutality of the Dirty War. Julio Lopez a key witness in the trial of a former police chief went missing last September and has still not been found. In December another witness was kidnapped, beaten and burnt before his captors released him. Hundreds of other activists and torture survivors have received death threats in recent months. Read this article by April Howard for more info

===============================
Scary as they are, the echoes of dictatorship don´t prevent Buenos Aires from being an amazing and vibrant city and we had a fantastic time checking out the cafes, bars and galleries. Big thanks to Patrick and Franci and flatmates for putting us up in the heart of San Telmo. Tonight we head to Mendoza for more yummy wine and then down to Santiago from where we fly home. Sad the adventure is ending but looking forward to seeing everyone again and of course planning the next adventure...



"yesterday against the coup and the dictatorship, today against repression and impunity"














"the streets are ours"














"for bread and work"













Simon´s finally agreed to take dancing lessons, here we are performing in La Boca.

Developments in Venezuela

We've been so excited by the announcements Chavez has made in the last few days but we've been shocked by some of the outrageous articles in the mainstream international press. We're guessing the same lies will be being repeated by the Packer and Murdoch press back home so we're posting this excellent article by Eva Golinger which sets the right wing journos straight.



Confused About Venezuela?
Saturday, Jan 13, 2007

By: Eva Golinger - Venezuelanalysis.com
Over the past few days, major newspapers in the United States, such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times and The Wall Street Journal, have published editorials aggressively and harshly criticizing recent declarations and decisions made by re-elected President Hugo Chávez and his cabinet. A large percentage of the content of these editorials, which reflect the viewpoints of the newspapers, are based on a distortion and misconception of new policies being implemented in Venezuela and the overall way government is functioning. In the Washington Post’s “Venezuela’s Leap Backward”, published on January 10, the editorial board intentionally and mistakenly portrays the recent presidential elections this past December in Venezuela as illegitimate and unfair. By falsely claiming that Chávez conducted a “one-sided campaign that left a majority of Venezuelans believing they might be punished if they did not cast their ballots for him”, the Post wants its readers to think Venezuelans who voted for Chávez did so under duress and fear. Nothing could be further from the truth. A majority of Venezuelans publicly express their sincere admiration and approval of President Chávez in an open and fearless way on a daily basis in this country. Most Venezuelans believe Chávez is the best president the nation has ever had, and statistics prove that his government has built more bridges, railroads, hospitals, clinics, universities, schools, highways and houses than any administration in the past. The Post editorial also attempts to downplay the “only 7 million votes” Chávez received, not mentioning that those seven million votes represent more than 63% of total votes – a landslide victory to the opposition candidate’s 37% - and that no president in Venezuelan history has ever, ever received such a large number of votes in an election.
The New York Times editorial, also published on January 10, attacks a recent statement made by President Chávez regarding the nationalization of one telephone company, CANTV, and an electric company. However the Times doesn’t explain that the CANTV is the only non-cellular telephone company in the country, giving it a complete monopoly on national land-line telecommunications and control over a majority of Internet service as well. Furthermore, the CANTV was privatized only in 1991, during the second non-consecutive term of Carlos Andrés Pérez a president later impeached for corruption who implemented a series of privatization measures, despite having run for office on a non-privatization platform just three years before. In fact, as soon as Carlos Andrés Pérez won office in 1988 after convincing the Venezuelan people he would not permit “neo-liberalism” on Venezuelan shores, he immediately began to announce the privatization of several national industries, including telecommunications, education and the medical and petroleum sectors. This deception led to massive anti-privatization protests during February 1989 during which the government ordered the armed forces to “open-fire” on the demonstrators and arrest and torture those not killed. The result was the “Caracazo”, a tragic scar on contemporary Venezuelan history that left more than 3,000 dead in mass gravesites and thousands more injured and detained. The re-nationalizing of Venezuela’s one landline phone company is a strategic necessity and an anti-monopoly measure necessary to ensure that Venezuelans have access to telecommunications service. (Take it from someone who lives here. You can’t even get a landline if it isn’t already installed in your residence. The waiting list is over 2 years and you have to bribe someone to actually do the job). And furthermore, the new Minister of Telecommunications, Jesse Chacón, announced that any company “nationalized” will be fully compensated for its shares and property at market value.
The third issue put forth in the editorials is the recent announcement by President Chávez that the license of private television station RCTV to operate on the public airwaves is up for review in May 2007 and most likely will not be renewed. The government has based its denial of the license renewal on RCTV’s lack of cooperation with tax laws, its failure to pay fines issued by the telecommunications commission, CONATEL, over the past twenty years, and its refusal to abide by constitutional laws prohibiting incitation to political violence, indecency, obscenity and the distortion of facts and information. The public airwaves, as in the case of the United States, are regulated by government. Television and radio stations apply for licenses from the telecommunications commission and are granted those licenses based on conditional compliance with articulated regulations. When a station does not abide by the requirements, it generally is fined and warned, repeatedly, until compliance is assured. In the specific case of RCTV, the station and its owner, multi-millionaire Marcel Granier, have refused to comply with the law and have continued to abuse and violate the clear and concise regulations that are supposed to guarantee Venezuelan citizens their constitutional right to “true and accurate information” (Article 58 of the Constitution).
RCTV’s owner, Marcel Granier, played a key role in the April 2002 coup d’etat against President Chávez and has used his station to engage in an ongoing campaign of anti-Chávez propaganda and efforts to destabilize the nation through distorting and manipulating information to create panic, apathy, fear and violence in Venezuelan society. The station’s clear violations of the telecommunications regulations and the Constitutional guarantees that protect freedom of speech and access to true and accurate information provide sufficient reason to deny the renewal of its license to use the public airwaves. Unlike the editorial board of the Los Angeles Times (Fidel Chávez?, January 11, 2007) mistakenly claims, Chávez and his government are not “shutting down” the private media station. RCTV can continue to operate on the private airwaves, i.e. cable and satellite television. As would be the case in any country where law and order are respected, RCTV will not receive a renewal on its license to remain on the public airwaves because it repeatedly violated the law during more than a decade.
Unfortunately, international groups that allegedly protect freedom of the press and of speech around the world, have fallen under the influence and manipulation of RCTV president Marcel Granier, who through his close relationship with Washington, is conducting a campaign to defend his station by user the banner of freedom and liberty. But consistent lawbreakers and coup leaders should not receive the support of international press watchdog groups and human rights defenders. Rather, those groups should praise the decision of the Venezuelan government to maintain the public airwaves in the hands of the public. The license so abused by RCTV will most likely be granted to various community and alternative media groups and stations in Venezuela that have emerged over the past few years as a result of the direct encouragement and support of the Chávez administration.
Finally, the editorials in the Post, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times and the Wall Street Journal, all criticize President Chávez’s announcement to create a new political party in Venezuela: the United Socialist Party of Venezuela. The editorials inaccurately claim that Chávez will dissolve all political parties in the country and allow only one party to operate. This is a dangerous and false inference. What Chávez really declared was the formation of a new revolutionary party that would be open to all parties that support the revolution. There will be no closing down or abolishing of other political parties in the nation; they can all remain as they wish and those that choose to merger or support the new party can also freely do so. Furthermore, Chávez indicated that the reason for the designing of a new political party is to break free from the old corrupt hierarchical party structures of the past that concentrate power in the hands of few and exclude and ignore the vast majority of supporters. Chávez remarked that the new party he seeks to promote will be formed by grassroots community movements, and that there will be no power structures that isolate and marginalize constituents.If you only read the US press, you must be very confused about Venezuela. The extreme levels of distortion, lack of fact checking and source verification and outright manipulation of information in the US media on Venezuela is quite troubling and dangerous in a nation that has waged wars based on false data and misleading policies.

Memories and Images of Revolutionary Cuba

Internet is very expensive in Cuba in comparison to the rest of Latin America so we haven´t been able to update our blog in the last few weeks. We want to apologise to the many 100´s of our avid readers worldwide who have sent us countless emails explaining that their lives have been empty and meaningless without our hard-hitting, incisive and informative blogsite entries. In the month that we have remaining in Latin America we pledge to do our darndest to satisfy the ever increasing desire for information.

After the highs and highs of our participation in the Venezuelan solidarity brigade we were very keen to get to Cuba and try to compare the two revolutions. We managed to see a fair bit of Cuba in the 3 weeks but both of us have decided that this fascinating and inspiring little nation if definetly worth a second, much longer, trip.

Highlights included the vast Museum of the Revolution in Havana, walking along Havana´s famous Malecon (sea wall), visiting the very moving Che Guevara monument in Santa Clara, the UNESCO world heritage protected town of Trinidad with its well preserved colonial architecture and the walking through the small house in Central Santiago were the famous revolutionary brothers and underground movement leaders Frank and Jose Pais) grew up in Santiago de Cuba.

The 46 year old economic blockade on Cuba illegally enforced by the US has certainly had its negative effects on Cuba. The shortage of building materials and resources is evident in the neglected state of many of the buildings and apartments. But even in the depths of Cuba´s special period Cuba not only managed to survive but survived with the key gains of the revolution intact. Not one hospital bed or school has been closed and Cuba today has the best health, education and social services in the third world (and is better than many first world countries including the United States).

Despite the sabotage, assassinations, invasions and ecomonic warfare Cuba has been subjected too as punishment for choosing to follow a different economic and social path from that dictated by the White House and the Pentagon the grassroots base of the revolution appeared to be very strong. Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (CDR´s) are voluntary mass organisations with a membership of around 4 million people (out of a total popualtion of 11 million). The activity of the CDR´s were hard to miss walking down the streets of Cuba´s cities and towns. Their major campaign revolves around support for the return of the Cuban Five. The Cuban Five are currently held in US prisons as foreign spies for attempting to gather information on extremist Cuban exile groups based in southern Florida and prevent future terrorist attacks on Cuba.

To find out more about this
important cause visit www.freethefive.org/

"This is a victory of love, peace and hope"

Below is a very quick rundown on the excellent solidarity brigade that we participated in here in Venezuela over the last few weeks. We'd recommend to any person interested in learning about, and building solidarity with, the revolution in Venezuela to get in touch with the Australia Venezuela Solidarity Network to register for the next brigade. Check out www.venezuelasolidarity.org for more information.

The brigade included 38 people. Most participants were from Australia but there was also a big contingent of New Zealanders along with 2 Germans and a Scot.

Before the official brigade even began we were lucky enough to be able accompany workers from the national oil company PDVSA on a visit to a public school in the poor suburb of Petare in eastern Caracas. All PDVSA workers are encouraged to help out with the various social programs tht PDVSA finances. In this case every school child is being given a free lunch along with a backpack filled with books, pens and other school necessities. Every school in Venezuela will be visited by PDVSA workers with these supplies.

Free and accessible education and health care are one of the most important gains of the revolution thus far. During the brigade we managed to visit the amazing Bolivarian university located in the plush former executive offices of the old PDVSA. Since Chavez's election in 1999 illiteracy has been eradicated (benefiting over 1 million people), a million adults have completed high school and further 600,000 have either completed tertiary education or have been education in a trade.

Other highlights of the brigade included:
1) a visit to the 'Catia Endogenous Zone' in eastern Caracas where the local economy has been transformed through the setting up of various cooperatives with the support of the Chavez goverment.
2) meeting with the head of the Civil-Military Bolivarian Front - an organisation devoted to organising collaboration and solidrity between civilian and military sectors in order to strengthen the revolution and ward off the kind of US inspired military coups that have been used in other Latin American countries throughout the 20th century.
3) meeting with the INAMUJER - one of the primary organisations in Venezuela fighting for the rights of Women.
4) visiting the workers occupied and managed factories of Invepal and Inveval. both factories have been nationalised by the government and are now run under the control of the employees.
5) having the opportunity to speak with activisits organised in the newly formed community councils - a terrific example of grassroots democracy in action.

On top of all this the two most inspiring events would have to be our particiapation in the 2.5 million person Chavista march on Nov 26 and the Dec election victory of Chavez. Some of us (including Ruth and Simon) managed to see Chavez give his electrifying acceptance speech from the 'peoples balcony' of the presidential palace. The pouring rain and late hour couldnt deter thousands and thousands of people dancing and celebrating in the street into the night.

Chavez in Caracas

We marched, danced, shouted and chanted for hours through streets filled with people dressed in red. We thought what we´d seen so far had already been a pretty big rally but then we looked down on Avenida Bolivar and the next street across which were both absolutely chokkas. Chavez addressed the crowds in the blazing sun for a couple of hours. The crowds were incredible diverse, I saw queer contingents, indigenous contingents, and every sector of society from sportspeople to finance workers for Chavez. I stood watching everything and laughing at how much the CIA and State Dept reps, who I´m sure would have been there, must have been freaking out. It was eerie though, looking around at all high rise building and noticing that on each was stationed a sniper - necessary defence when the world´s biggest war machine doesn´t agree with the democratic decision of a nation. Coming from a country where parliamentary politics is always such a sham and the idea of a president driving through adoring crowds seems somewhere between impossible and naff, its hard to describe just how electric and festive the whole atmosphere was. After Chavez drove past, turning just in time to see the Australia Venezuela Solidarity banner and smiling AT US!!!, there was an absolute wave of people following the truck, chanting and singing. We saw the big man again on the night of the elections, making his speech from the people´s balcony at Miraflores, really amazing seeing history happen. More accounts of the brigade coming soon.

Images from the 2 million strong Chavez election rally



Venezuela fighting the devil
















They´re still dancing












This banner got us so much support, smiles, and cries of "Bienvenidos a Venezuela" (welcome to Venezuela). Venezulans know that the imperialist media is telling lies internationally about the revolutionary changes they are making and they are so happy that people come to see with their own eyes and support their struggle.











Rojo, rojito!

English language assignments on display at the Bolivarian University.

School boy in Petare after receiving backpacks and schoolbooks from PDVSA

Ruth and friends at Machu Picchu

Hark back to Peruvian Culinary experiences!

There´s no doubt while we´re here in Venezuela, the best thing is the politics but we are kinda glad that we´re able to eat arepas (corn rolls stuffed with heaps of yummy stuff) and cachapas (artery blocking corn pancakes with ham and cheese) and drink lots of yummy fresh juices. While in Peru, I bravely ordered roasted guinea pig. But the spirits of Fred and Charlie my guinea pigs when I was little seemed to be screaming in agonies of betrayal as I contemplated the little fellow on my plate. Inca Kola however was much yummier! More revolutionary photos coming soon.