U.S. Agency Ups Venezuela Safety Ranking

[NVMojo]

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - U.S. aviation authorities upgraded Venezuela's safety ranking on Friday, averting a ban that would have blocked most U.S. airlines from flying to the country.

The U.S. Embassy in Caracas said in a statement that the "Federal Aviation Administration is raising the safety rating of Venezuela to Category 1."

The decision came after an FAA team visited Venezuela late last month to examine Venezuelan airlines' planes and procedures within the country's aviation authority.

The FAA had recognized the "efforts to improve the level of aviation safety oversight in Venezuela" made by the National Aviation Institute, or INAC, the statement said.

more...

http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/invest-corp/2006/apr/21/042107467.html

[cliss]

1. Moral of the Story:

Pick your battles. Washington has spread itself too thin, in terms of picking fights with countries.

Notice how vocal Hugo Chavez has been? He's been blabbing about Bush "lipstick on a clown", "Mr Danger", "Fool" on and on. Notice how quiet Washington has been? They don't seem to fight back. Of course, we've got a navy destroyer on the way, but still.....it's amazing that Mr. Chavez has gotten away with murder, and no huge retaliation.

Guess why?

The US is desperately dependent on Venezuelan oil. It's our #5 import. It's considered even more important than Saudi oil. That's why they're eating crow.

[killbotfactory]

2. Well, Rummy recently compared Chavez to Hitler

BushCo hasn't been to quiet.

[ret5hd]

3. well, i'd hardly say chavez has gotten away with murder...

in fact, i'd say that chavez has deftly avoided his own murder...and, as a little side bonus, has managed to get venezuelas planes approved for flight into the u.s.

[WhiteTara]

7. he's got the oil and his people

on his side. we are definitely screwed if our misadministration doesn't do a little knee bending all over the world. November can't get here too soon.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

14. Moral of the story for the NeoCons is to have other people do...

...the fighting for them, like all of these bogus "journalists" that have come out of nowhere.

By the way, that Navy destroyer was off the Venezuelan coast during the last NeoCon-sponsored coup attempt quite some time ago.

"Mr. Chavez has gotten away with murder"?? How so? Are words like the ones you quoted equivalent to murder now?

Personally speaking, I don't see where the NeoCons have ANY room to talk when it comes to the murder of people living in their own countries.

[K-W]

16. Chavez has gotten away with murdering illiteracy.

Washington has not been quiet. Neither has thier embassy in Caracas.

Washington can not 'fight back' because they started this fight.

[corporate_mike]

4. Chavez is not the hero most here think he is

http://vcrisis.com/index.php?content=home

http://www.proveo.org/

[Terran1212]

5. I wonder who funds Chavez's most vocal opposition

I don't know about "hero" (how do you define that?), but poverty is down by a third and millions more can read in his Venezuela.

[cliss]

15. Hugo Chavez is better than any dictator

we installed down there.

[Terran1212]

26. I agree

[Psephos]

6. What?? You dare suggest Hugo isn't perfect saint material??

You'll have a few of his acolytes here any minute to "educate" you.

Peace.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

10. Skip the attempt at being insulting, and you might have "peace".

[K-W]

17. If you love Chavez so much why don't you marry him.

Ah, I remember grade school fondly... no wait I dont.

Is calling people who don't villianize Chavez 'acolytes' who insist he is 'perfect saint material' really the best you can do?

Do you think anyone who doesnt have a frontal lobotomy is going to buy into your rediculous straw-man?

[1932]

24. I have read a lot about Venezuela, yet I've never seen intelligent crit-

icism of Chavez that was relevant to the question of whether he should be president of Venezuela and be taking it in the direction it is going. At DU, I haven't ever read any criticism that wasn't blatantlty right wing, neoliberal, and anti-progressive, and this is despite all the anti-Chavezistas who post their digs on this (PROGRESSIVE!) webdsite.

You'd think that if you are the kind of person who feels drawn to a place called Democratic Underground, you'd manage to come up with an intelligent, progressive argument against Chavez.

Why are you and your cohorts incapable of that?

If you are so worried that so many people like Chavez at this board...well...why? Can you blame them? Nobody has given them a good reason not to, and there are plenty of reasons to be impressed with him. Rather than post smart ass comments like this one, you should try harder to engage in an informed debate about your opinions.

[Piotr]

29. Human Rights violations not a good reason?

Not only by his administration (see below), but also by Chávez himself (perhaps most obviously when he fired PDVSA executives on television without warning just before April 11th?)

I posted these links in another thread, but no one has responded to them yet. They are mostly on torture in Venezuela.

Reports by Amnesty International on Human Rights violations in Venezuela including torture:
http://www.amnesty.org.uk/news/press/15354.shtml
http://www.amnestyusa.org/countries/venezuela/document ....
http://web.amnesty.org/report2003/ven-summary-eng

In Spanish: number of documented reports of torture received by the Defensoría del Pueblo in Venezuela:
http://www.defensoria.gov.ve/detalle.asp?sec=140505&id=...

An OAS report on torture in Venezuela dating from 2003:
http://www.cidh.org/countryrep/venezuela2003eng/chapter...

From that report:

"357. The national NGO, Red de Apoyo por la Justicia y la Paz documented 145 cases of torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, perpetrated by officials of the state security services between 1999 and the first half of 2003.<163> According to the General Coordinator of the organization, Mr. Alfredo Ruiz, the figures given in the report show that during the period documented there was a large number of violations of the right to humane treatment, the vast majority of which remain unpunished.<164>

358. According to a report by the same organization, the methods of torture and other inhuman and degrading treatment used in all of these cases are both physical and psychological. The most common are to threaten to kill both the victim and his or her relatives; verbal aggression; blows and kicks; to throw them down stairs or against the floor and walls; to move them blindfolded and with hands and feet bound; isolation without food; and to leave them naked. Other methods employed are immersion of the head in clean or dirty water, burns and sexual torture. Furthermore, mistreated people are normally held incommunicado for almost a week and denied access to medical and legal services during that time. The report mentions that, according to the statistics analyzed, the populations worst affected are males aged 14 to 24 and 25 to 34.<165>"

From the Human Rights Watch overview of Venezuela page (http://www.hrw.org/english/docs/2006/01/18/venezu12258.... ):

"Police Killings

The killing of three innocent students in the Kennedy district of Caracas on June 27, 2005, highlighted the violence and lawlessness of Venezuela’s police forces. Leonardo González, Erick Montenegro, and Edgar Quintero died after police from the Directorate of Military Intelligence (DIM) and the Criminal Investigations Police (Cicpc) opened fire on their car when they were returning from the university. The police reportedly confused the students’ car with a vehicle they were pursuing, and opened fire when it failed to heed an order to stop. González’s body was found in the street near their car, with a bullet wound in the eye. According to an eyewitness, men in civilian clothes wearing hoods captured Montenegro and Quintero in an alley, made them lie on the ground, and shot them in cold blood. The police reportedly planted weapons on the scene to make it appear that they had been fired on first.

Hundreds of police executions have been reported over the past several years, although the problem long predates the current administration. While the Attorney General’s Office and the human rights ombudsman have denounced these abuses, little progress has been made in prosecuting the police responsible or introducing the reforms necessary to combat the practice. In August 2005, the Attorney General’s Office announced that it was investigating 5,520 presumed extrajudicial executions—involving 6,127 victims—committed between 2000 and July 31, 2005. Of 5,997 police and military personnel allegedly implicated, prosecutors have filed charges against 517, and at this writing only eighty-eight had been convicted (1.47 percent). "

"Venezuela: Torture and brutal repression by the army". Includes two images.
http://www.vcrisis.com/index.php?content=letters/200403 ...

An article on torture in Venezuela, dating to April 2004.
http://www.vheadline.com/readnews.asp?id=14835


The OAS' Inter American Commission for Human Rights recently published their latest report on Venezuelan Human Rights, too. This is the same organization that published the report from the first link above in 2003.

http://www.cidh.oas.org/annualrep/2005eng/chap.4d.htm



Are you sure you haven't read any of my criticisms? I'll admit some of it are echoes of other's words which I can't substantiate- words of people I trust- but most is my own research, such as that of the one above.

Let me be clear: I do not like Chávez, and when I requested to join this website it was because I wanted to share with the outside world how and why Chávez is, euphemistically, not as is painted by most foreigners- people who in the most part have either never set foot in Venezuela or have been lobbied by the Venezuelan government (such as those working in the Venezuelan Information Office). That does not mean he hasn't done some good things, like give people hope, alphabetize of 1.5 million people, occasionally demand more money from foreign oil companies, etc. It's the bad things I'm concerned about- some of which is above. Does that make me a "right-wing neoliberal anti-progressive", or would I earn those qualifiers by attitude?

I consider myself center-right, although most political online tests place me on the center-left (maybe because Venezuela has had a long history of leftism along almost all echelons of society, and my 'center-right' is a United States center-left). I think the Democratic and Republican parties are not representative of the entire spectrum of political thought (and I dunno if you've noticed, but many think that you as a country have become a sort of bipartisan dictatorship where Democratic and Republican are alike in all but name).

I admire Simón Bolívar, Antonio José de Sucre, Rómulo Betancourt and his party's policies before the overthrow of Gallegos' government in 1948 (I don't know comparatively as much about after 1952), and the success of Primero Justicia in Chacao.

I do not espouse neo-liberalism, because I do not believe in naive notions of a faultless, harmonious free market; and I do not believe in communistic, marxist ideologies either, because they are wholly violent, discriminatory, simplistic, short-sighted and backward.

I believe hard work should be rewarded (meritocracy), but I do not believe anyone should be marginalised or forgotten; I believe everyone can contribute to society, but I believe in everyone's personal freedom and their choice to contribute or not, and espouse their independence outside of society; I believe in the rule of law, but I believe in universal mercy, too. I believe in harmonic coexistence and political and judicial equality, but not in economic equality. I believe in cooperation between public and private sectors; I believe in material and scientific progress (the latter to improve the human condition and for its own sake, but not at a human cost), and a healthy, vibrant economy that aims mostly to provide. I believe in human rights and respect. And I believe in intellectual discourse and consensus, but only if it is wholehearted: I dislike manipulative emotion in public life, populism, authoritariansim, and dishonesty.

Would that make me a right-wing neoliberal anti-progressive?

[Media_Lies_Daily]

8. So, who's YOUR hero, corporate_mike? Anyone we know?

[Judi Lynn]

9. Both your sources are run by Aleksander Boyd, an idiot anti-Chavist.

Looking for a quick summary of his value as a spokeman, I found this remark in a google search. Venezuela-watching DU'ers are very aware of his record. Pathetic.

Comments made by fellow Aleksander Boyd are really not surprising knowing that his organisation known as Proveo and affiliation with political party Sumate - right wing of course - , clearly represents the voice of those who never had to deal with poverty and misery in HIS country. Well living in London and trying to prove that the CIA was never ever involved - directly or indirectly - in the attempted coup against Chavez in 2002 must keep him busy but it is vital to note that putting Venezuela in the same basket as North Korea and Syria just reflects the poor level of decision making policies made in the Pentagone. After decades of non stop corruption from governements of Carlos Andres Perez, Jaime Lusinchi, Luis Herrera and others Caldera it is really refreshing to see something new and constructive, whether people like it or not. Of course a government is going to be criticized, of course not ALL problems can be resolved but people see the effort put into it, people see changes that are real. And when you have an opposition that does not even appeal to the people because they do not even relate with their everyday life, the opposition gets frustrated, divided and lacks complete leadership.
(snip)

http://blogs.washingtonpost.com/earlywarning/2005/11/venezuela_fumbl.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Who is Aleksander Boyd?

Boyd is the person who operates a very aggressive anti-Chavez website called Vcrisis.com, based in London, England.

On more than one occasion, Boyd openly called for the use of violence to oust Chavez, Venezuela's democratically-elected President. So did Carlos Andres Perez (CAP), a former Venezuelan president who was (in the past) convicted of embezzlement and who is now hiding (in the USA) from Venezuelan law on additional criminal charges.

For the years that I have been aware of Vcrisis.com and Boyd, he has done nothing but condemn Chavez and verbally menace anyone who does not side with the violent and criminal Venezuelan anti-Chavez movement.

It will soon become a crime in the UK to incite people to use violence ... something that Boyd is quite accustomed to doing. If Boyd gets arrested in the UK for having incited people to use violence in order to "get rid of Chavez" (terrorism), he will probably be shipped back to Venezuela, where he will probably also face the courts for inciting people to use violence.

First, I will present readers with evidence supporting what I state about Boyd. Later in the article, I will present additional information about him that will make VHeadline.com readers fall of their chairs!

In October 2004 Boyd published an article entitled "Venezuela‚s opposition: to rebel or to die under Chavez‚ boot" in which he states the following:

"Paraphrasing Gerry Adams; 'sometimes violence is the only means to achieve goals' The more the time elapses, the blunter the constitutional violations of the regime, the more I become convinced that the sole way of effectively opposing Chavez is through violence ...

Hence there is a solution: to disown the regime for its violations to democratic values, principles and guarantees and encroachment of human rights are evident. Said stance should go in hand with violence, as Gerry Adams pointed out, if some sort of consensus and respect from Chavez and his thugs is to be achieved."
(snip/...)

http://www.indymedia.ie/article/70618

[Judi Lynn]

12. More on Alesander Boyd:

Aleksander Boyd lives in London. He serves as one example of the unscrupulous opposition and their attempts to use the internet to malign President Chavez and those who want to see democracy and the rule of law prevail in Venezuela. This self-styled, obsessive firebrand runs a vanity-site called VCrisis, on which he misrepresents and maligns the current Venezuelan government.

For examples, Aleksander Boyd attempts to portray a linkage between President Chavez and terrorism: "The link between the Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez and terrorism seem to be a recurring theme". He is fond of using "red-baiting" methods to portray Chavez as a "Marxist". On January 8, he wrote: "The Marxist government of Venezuela expropriated its first cattle ranch this morning ..." - a clear attempt to misinform the international community about a procedure in which the Venezuelan government exercises its legal right to appropriate land much in the same way as the U.S. uses land for the good of the majority under its laws of eminent-domain. Boyd also publishes articles written by or for the minority opposition which often resort to unsupported rants about day to day life in this South American nation. For example, Boyd published one recently by Gustavo Coronel in which the author states:

"The Venezuelan day to day is a huge soap opera, never a dull moment. The antics of the revolutionary regime offer abundant opportunities for entertainment although much of what is happening is also very tragic."

Today, in the article below, VHeadline published an article by Carlos Herrera in which he makes a public call to the British Intelligence Services to investigate Boyd's antics in the U.K. and suggests that the Venezuelan ambassador to the U.K. pressure British authorities "to act in strict compliance with the law". Boyd has responded to his critics by launching a media campaign on his vanity site to malign VHeadline and others. For some readers, all this may seem to amount to little more than a schoolyard fight between two internet sites. We view it as an important example of how the internet is being used to attack the most authentic example of real democracy in the western hemisphere, arguably in the world. - Les Blough, Editor
(snip/)

http://www.axisoflogic.com/cgi-bin/exec/view.pl?archive=85&num=14955

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

23. Don't forget he's also a proud Freeper who posts there under his own name.

[Judi Lynn]

27. I did not know that! Well, by God, it figures, doesn't it?

His own name, yet. I'll remember that one. Thanks a lot.



Freeper rallies, the first showing that male presstitute from the White House, Jeff Gannon

[sutz12]

11. He has done one thing.....

He has been selling cheap Venezuelan heating oil to Americans when our own "patriotic" oil companies wouldn't.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

13. Bingo. Must really piss off the NeoCons.

[ronnie624]

18. The "articles" you linked to

Were filled with slurs and ad hominem attacks--comparing President Chavez to Saddam Hussein, attempting to associate him with "madness", "uncouthness", "vulgarity", and making claims that the author does not even pretend to support with facts:

"That "summit" was also the occasion for Chavez to announce that Venezuela would leave the Andean Community. Besides screwing the millions that depend on trade with Colombia (and other Andean Community countries) it is utter nonsense, a gesture just for the glory of Chavez, a diplomatic and economic move that will only benefit Chavez and his trading partners, but not Venezuelans who will surely hurt as hundred of thousand of jobs could be lost."

--but I saw no rational criticism of President Chavez. Nothing but pure sleaze. Surely you can do better than that.

[Judi Lynn]

19. You might get a kick reading this article offering back ground on this guy

Boyd is not to be compared in size or power with the leaders of the opposition - not even close. He possesses neither the wealth nor cunning of those who are in leadership. To my knowledge, the most important job he has ever held was as a bellhop for the Sanderson Hotel in London. He lost that job in 2003. On his website he claims to have once been a law student: "In September of 2.000 I enrolled in Birkbeck College to read Geology, the idea behind it was to get a degree from the University of London and move back to Venezuela to work for PDVSA". Apparently, Boyd failed in this endeavor, but leaves the reader with the impression that he is a law student.
(snip)

http://www.axisoflogic.com/cgi-bin/exec/view.pl?archive=94&num=16456

[ronnie624]

28. Very interesting essay.

Thank you for the link.

This Aleksander Boyd is real piece of work. He illustrates clearly why extremist propaganda and violence are so much a part of fascism. By what other means can anyone be convinced or coerced into willingly enslaving themselves to the corporatists?

How anyone who has an interest in the truth can see any legitimacy in Boyd's propagandist scratchings completely escapes me.

[Solon]

20. Its funny, the quote you provided shows that guy's ignorance...

OK, Venezuela became the first nation of the Andean Community of Nations to joing the other major trading bloc in South America, Mercosur. Considering that both Mercosur and the CAN have been in negotiations for a merger since 1999, Venezuela decided to take the first step and be a member of both last year. Considering that Chavez has been making noises about creating an alternative to the US imposed FTAA for South America, so it can counterbalance US economic domination, this seems to be consistant with that goal.

In fact, Chavez, along with other national leaders in South America are trying to form this entity and are now in the process of doing so, calling it the South American Community of Nations. The name South American Union was dismissed out of hand, the Spanish acronym would have been U.S.A., talk about confusion! :)

Look here for more info:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_American_Community_of_Nations

[Voltaire99]

21. Trade Hillary for him any day.

Come to think of it, the entire corporate ass-kissing DLC, too.

[0007]

22. Wish Hugo was running this country and junior was in the toilet.

[Rex]

25. Wow how lazy can you get?

Mike your post is worth no more than three eyerolls. :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: