Hugo Chavez - Bush's Nemesis- The Revolution Will Not Be Televised

[Tinoire]

The Revolution will NOT be Televised. Required Viewing
Required viewing for all Progressive DUers!!!! (yeah, yeah, so sayeth I for the first time ever!))

Absolutely amazing from a cinematographic/artistic point of view and the story! -I just can't say enough! :bounce: You MUST see it!

On April 12th 2002 the world awoke ((Remember Older DUers??)) to the news that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez had been removed from office and had been replaced by a new interim government. What had in fact taken place was the first Latin American coup of the 21st century, and the world's first media coup...
The violence was sparked by a Supreme Court decision
---

The Revolution Will Not Be Televised

Documentary Feature
Screening in Special Screenings
US Premiere
"The Revolution Will Not Be Televised" is a feature length documentary on Hugo Chavez, President of Venezuela. Over the course of 7 months, from January to July 2002, the filmmakers secured unprecedented access to film Chavez in his daily life. During this time, there was a coup and the filmmakers were the only crew inside the presidential palace at the time. They were also the first there for his triumphant return some 48 hours later. On the 11th April 2002, the world awoke to the news that President Hugo Chavez had been removed from office and had been replaced by a new self-appointed "interim" government. News report after news report carried stories of the mayhem in Caracas, where 11 people had been killed in what were alleged to have been bloody street battles between Chavez supporters and an opposition march. Viewers all over the world were led to believe that Chavez had ordered the killings, and had therefore been forced to resign. What had in fact took place was the first coup of the twenty first century, and the world's first media coup. "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised" is a thrilling insight into President Chavez and the power of globalized media.

Total program length: 74 mins
http://www.sxsw.com/film/screenings/index.php?dvsearch=show&dvserialnum=933




SYNOPSIS

IN THEATRES: NOVEMBER 5, 2003 (NY)

"Don't be poisoned by their lies," says Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez in the last line of THE REVOLUTION WILL NOT BE TELEVISED, referring to the way that the media corrupts the truth for the purpose of political persuasion. And thus the immediacy of this documentary--which consists of fast-moving footage captured during a two-day period in April 2002 when Chavez was kidnapped from the presidential palace in Caracas and the media announced a successful coup--serves simply as a good example of media manipulation. Using television news clips, the film shows how the privately owned Venezuelan media attacks Chavez, comparing him to Fidel Castro and accusing him of mental instability. Washington chimes in, accusing Chavez of being in cahoots with Columbian narco-terrorists. But the documentary also establishes Chavez's position as the people's president. He put in place a democratic constitution and promised to redistribute the nation's significant wealth--Venezuela is the world's fourth largest exporter of oil--to benefit the poor, who represent 80 percent of the population. And from there, the media reports against him sound like cards being played in the oil game.

The Irish filmmakers, Kim Bartley and Donnacha O'Brian, were inside the palace making a routine documentary about Chavez when the coup began. Meanwhile, a million Chavez supporters gathered in the streets outside demanding that their leader be restored. Within 48 hours, their pleas were answered and Chavez was president again. THE REVOLUTION WILL NOT BE TELEVISED offers a fascinating inside perspective on both Chavez's popularity and the way that media can bastardize the truth for political gain.

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/TheRevolutionWillNotBeTelevised-1127535/about.php

The Banff Rockie Awards 2003 were announced in Canada last night and the Global Television Grand Prize / Grand Prix Global was awarded to Chavez - Inside the Coup, Power Pictures Ltd. in association with RTÉ/ The Irish Film Board/BBC/ZDF/ARTE/NPS/CoBo/ YLE.


The documentary, which depicted the overthrow and return to power of President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela in a coup in 2002, was directed by Kim Bartley and Donnacha Ó Briain and produced by David Power of the Galway-based independent company. The company had secured unique access to President Chavez for an observational documentary and were with him in the Presidential Palace in Caracas when the coup took place.

http://www.chavezthefilm.com/html/film/banff_release.htm
----
<snip / good info re oil & Venezuela>

Washington's hostility towards Venezuela became more pronounced, with senior officials questioning President Chavez' 'commitment to democracy' – this from a US administration that required the intervention of the Supreme Court to enjoy 'electoral' success!


Nonetheless, President Chavez' domestic opponents - driven by the kleptocracy that ran PDVSA - had found new friends abroad.
After the coup, it would emerge that the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), an agency of the US government, had quadrupled its funding for Venezuelan 'democrats' (the opposition) in the year leading up to the coup. NED funding of the opposition totalled $877,000.

<snip / oil>

US Oil Supply Threatened
But it was events in the Middle East that may well have compelled the coup plotters to act when they did. Israeli actions in Occupied Palestine, during the early months of 2002, resulted in widespread international condemnation and anger. Attention focused on the United States – Israel's chief source of financial and political support.

<snip / oil>

http://www.chavezthefilm.com/html/backgrd/oil.htm


US officials have been glaringly faint in their praise for Chavez's triumphant return. Condoleezza Rice, US national security adviser, expressed her hope that Chavez "takes this opportunity to right his own ship which has, quite frankly, been moving in the wrong direction for some time."
http://www.mediamonitors.net/gamal15.html


---

Of course, a US state department official is trained to hear the sound of an oil well tap turning from several thousand miles away. Chavez is no friend to the US. He went on television to denounce the US bombing of civilians in Afghanistan, brandishing pictures of dead children. He is a public friend to Fidel Castro. It wasn't mentioned here, but he has had his meetings with Saddam Hussein and Gadafy. In Bush's list of those "either with us or against us", he's with the axis of irritants. "We are concerned with some of the things said by President Chavez, and his understanding of what a democratic system is about," said Colin Powell, with the hemmed in anger of a boss who has an employee he wants to sack, but the union won't let him.

<snip>

The world's press carried reports that could have been written by the coup leaders themselves, and, because they were based on these pictures, to a certain extent they were. This film punctured every lie. The world accused the pro-Chavez crowd of carrying out the shootings; O'Briain and Bartley's camera proved it wasn't so, filming the victims almost before they hit the ground. The coup leader Pedro Carmona's speech about this "profoundly democratic process" and Colin Powell's parroting of Carmona's lie was inter-cut with film of the police shooting at protestors. As Carmona was on CNN declaring that the "the country is in a state of total normality", the camera was in the palace from which he had just been ousted. It followed the palace guard as they moved to strategic positions, took the building back and reinstated Chavez.

<snip>

http://www.chavezthefilm.com/html/film/review.htm

Hours after Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez had been ushered from his office into military detention, his successor, Pedor Carmona Estanga, a former oil executive and head of the country’s largest business organization, committed a series of monumentally authoritarian acts. With the stroke of a pen, without a mandate from the public, backed only by the authority vested in him by the country’s generals, Carmona dissolved the congress, disbanded the Supreme Court, closed the Attorney-General’s and comptroller's offices, repealed 48 laws that shifted some of the country’s wealth from the elite and oligarchs to the country’s poor, and ripped up the constitution. Were there ever a model for autocratic rule, this was it.
President George W. Bush remarked, "Now the situation will be one of tranquility and democracy." The New York Times, doing its best to mimic the Newspeak of George Orwell’s 1984, declared, "With yesterday’s resignation of President Hugo Chavez, Venezuelan democracy is no longer threatened by a would-be-dictator."

<snip>

In November, the US foreign policy establishment convoked a meeting to decide what to do about Chavez. He had chastised Washington for fighting terrorism with terrorism, cozied up to Cuba, refused to cooperate in the US war on Colombian guerillas, and committed a monumental heresy: He resisted the IMF, and wondered why a country with the Western hemisphere’s largest oil reserves, should be teeming with poor. The IMF let it be known that it would support a transitional government.

<snip>

With the stroke of a pen, Carmona, a man no one elected, cancelled land reform, cancelled free health care and education up to university, and cancelled a constitution that had taken away the oligarchs’ power to dominate the country at the expense of the majority, 80 percent of whom live in poverty, the country’s massive oil wealth beyond their reach.
<snip>

Before the generals ousted Chavez, US Secretary of State Colin Powell demanded Chavez correct "his understanding of what a democracy is." Apparently, democracy isn’t rule by the people.
http://www.mediamonitors.net/gowans49.html

<snip>

Venezuela is the fourth largest producer of oil, and the corporate elites whose political power runs unfettered in the Bush/Cheney oligarchy appear interested in privatizing Venezuela's oil industry. Furthermore, the establishment might be concerned that Chavez's `barter deals' with 12 Latin American countries and Cuba are effectively cutting the U.S. dollar out of the vital oil transaction currency cycle. Commodities are being traded among these countries in exchange for Venezuela's oil, thereby reducing reliance on fiat dollars. If these unique oil transactions proliferate, they could create more devaluation pressure on the dollar. Continuing attempts by the CIA to remove Hugo Chavez appear likely.

<snip of really excellent article>

http://www.mediamonitors.net/williamclark1.html

Here is a list of BBC articles from that period:

http://www.fightthebias.com/Resources/Rec_Read/Dictator_In_The_Making.htm

For the past few years, President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela has been meeting with the enemies of the United States including Libya and Iraq. His behavior otherwise is disturbing as well. Below is a small timeline of recent events in Venezuela.


Here is a complete, albeit Anglo, rendition of the happening…..

For the past few years, President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela has been meeting with the enemies of the United States including Libya and Iraq. His behavior otherwise is disturbing as well. Below is a small timeline of recent events in Venezuela.





Hugo Chavez
2003
01/05/2003 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/2628203.stm">Political violence scars Venezuela
01/04/2003 Two shot dead in Venezuela clashes
01/04/2003 In pictures: Venezuela strike chaos
01/03/2003 Country profile: Venezuela

2002
12/24/2002 Venezuela strikers reject 'truce' offer
12/21/2002 Britons warned to leave Venezuela
12/16/2002 Violence flares in Venezuela protests
12/15/2002 Chavez opponents mass on streets
12/12/2002 Venezuelans living on the brink
12/11/2002 In pictures: Venezuela panic
12/11/2002 Venezuela crisis deepens
12/06/2002 Strikes threaten to cripple Venezuela
12/05/2002 In pictures: Venezuela on strike
11/30/2002 Venezuelan dissident generals sacked
11/19/2002 Troops disperse Venezuela protest
11/07/2002 Chavez fights referendum plans
11/05/2002 Dozens injured in Caracas clashes
10/23/2002 Army officers urge Venezuela rebellion
10/20/2002 Chavez 'foils assassination plot'
10/06/2002 Another Venezuela coup attempt 'foiled'
09/08/2002 Chavez pushes through oil for Cuba
08/19/2002 Chavez vows to fight opposition
08/03/2002 Street clashes engulf Venezuela's capital
07/10/2002 Carter's Venezuela bid fails
06/25/2002 Chavez warns against more coup plots
06/21/2002 Chavez defiant in face of protests
05/27/2002 Venezuelan coup leader given asylum
05/12/2002 Venezuelans march against Chavez
05/07/2002 Rift in Venezuelan society
05/06/2002 Venezuela president names new cabinet
05/03/2002 Venezuela minister warns of new coup
04/20/2002 New boss for Venezuela's oil giant
04/17/2002 Chavez opposition sceptical of change
04/15/2002 Currency plunges on Chavez return
04/14/2002 Analysis: After the would-be coup
04/14/2002 Analysis: Venezuela's crippled economy
04/14/2002 In pictures: Chavez defies opponents
04/14/2002 Chavez poised for comeback
04/14/2002 Venezuela interim president resigns
04/13/2002 Latin America ambivalent over ouster
04/12/2002 Venezuela press condemns 'autocrat' Chavez
04/12/2002 Venezuela's political disarray
04/12/2002 Analysis: Venezuela's crippled economy
04/12/2002 Venezuela president forced out
04/12/2002 Venezuela military challenge president
04/07/2002 Venezuela president sacks oil executives
03/21/2002 Clashes erupt on Venezuela streets
02/27/2002 Venezuela divided over Chavez
02/14/2002 Venezuela's currency in freefall

2001
12/16/2001 Chavez forces capitulation of banks
12/10/2001 Venezuela's Chavez faces labour wrath
08/12/2001 Castro visits Venezuelan ally
08/11/2001 Castro visits Venezuela
05/25/2001 China urges stronger ties with Venezuela
04/17/2001 Venezuela backs China in US/China aircraft collision
04/16/2001 Venezuela supports China's human rights record
04/15/2001 Venezuela welcomes Chinese President Jiang

2000
12/05/2000 US looking into alleged Chavez mischief
10/26/2000 Castro arrives in Venezuela
10/15/2000 Army general named as head of Venezuelan federal oil company
09/29/2000 Iran-Iraq talks in Caracas
09/21/2000 Chavez seeks more power
09/03/2000 Chavez supports Bolivia against Chile
08/19/2000 Venezuela's Chavez sworn in again
08/13/2000 Chavez visits Iraq [br />07/31/2000 Cuba delighted at Chavez victory
07/15/2000 Chavez military critic arrested
03/01/2000 Retired Venezuelan military officers denounce Chavez' political use of military forces
02/02/2000 Chavez demands international respect for Venezuela as a sovereign country
01/14/2000 Venezuela rejects US military aid after disaster

1999
12/23/1999 In pictures: Venezuela's devastation
12/19/1999 In pictures: Venezuela's flood chaos
12/16/1999 Venezuela backs new constitution. - Opponents say authoritarianism on it's way
12/13/1999 Venezuela Cardinal says Chavez is ''like Mussolini''
11/11/1999 Venezuela suspends scores of allegedly corrupt judges
11/05/1999 [link:|Venezuela votes to extend presidency>
10/25/1999 Venezuela's Chavez defends his reforms. Critics say he is too powerful
08/27/1999 Venezuela's Congress vows defiance after being stripped of power
08/03/1999 Constitutional rewrite begins in Venezuela
07/12/1999 Cuban foreign minister visits Venezuela
02/05/1999 Venezuela's Chavez wants coup officers reinstated

1998
10/01/1998 Anti-Chavez alliance in Venezuela fails
06/17/1998 Venezuela jails are worst in world

Please go see this film!!!

[Terwilliger]

1. You are NEVER without a HUGE LOAD of information!!

Absolutely great! :-) Everyone should see the film. If anybody has any questions about what happened, they will understand by the end of that film. :bounce:

[RichM]

2. Where did you see it, Terwilliger?

I think it's playing over at Shattuck Cinemas. Maybe I'll go over & check it out in a day or so.

[Tinoire]

7. Shattuck Cinemas

With his good friends Arcane1, Cally and Tinoire.

PM me if you want to go. I am eager to see it again and would love to meet you for a face-to-face talk again!

Peace

[RichM]

30. OK, check your inbox!

[arcane1]

8. Shattuck it is, until Thursday

I believe...

I'd go again in a heartbeat, except for tomorrow. This movie was amazing!

:bounce:

[Say_What]

39. Also in San Rafael at the Rafael Film Center

Rafael Film Center
1118 4th Street
San Rafael, CA 94901
[phone]

http://ae.bayarea.com/entertainment/ui/bayarea/movie.html?id=116979

This is a not to be missed documentary. I heard a group was also trying to bring it to the South Bay--San Jose and maybe Santa Cruz.

[Tinoire]

4. Lol, Sad thing is that a google search reveals this is a coming US target

The country's indexes in economy, poverty, crime, terrorism, corruption, unemployment constitute the best arguments that the opposition has. The level of these conditions are consequence of 4 years of absolute mismanagement of Hugo Chavez and his useless government. Thus, Venezuelan monies can buy favors from news agencies, reports from dodgy institutions, prime time programmes, Irish filmmakers, analphabets from the Middle East and so on but most certainly will not buy the lost credibility. The beast is cornered and wounded. We shall see its end.
http://www.vcrisis.com/index.php?content=letters/ab1006

If you do a google on "Hugo Chavez" terrorism, it's frightening what is coming up in US papers. They are paving the way again. Sickening!

Had a great time at the movies with you guys. Also, I think I can get my hands on a few free copies of the film. Want one if I can?

[arcane1]

10. I'll definitely be buying this one

when/if it becomes available.

:hi:

[Tinoire]

11. Check your in-box

You be at the top of the list if I can get any Jesus man!;)

[Say_What]

48. That vcrisis site is a Golpista (coup maker) site with LIES that

are exactly like what was pointed out in the film and the US regurgitates. This site is very much like the anti-Castro sites in Miami. My personal opinion is that Chavez continues to bring the CIA involvement and other US shinanigans to the attention of the world so that the US has to again back off. Here's what was posted to another board that I read by someone who lives in Miami. Note that this radio station is a Spanish Language station whose one agenda is to rail against Cuba and Castro and now, apparently, Venezuela and Chavez.
__________________________________________________

Venezuela ... on radio (poderosa) this afternoon a Venezuela army Capt.
living om Miami was saying that 11,500 Cubans are now in Vene. Training
people to resist any possible coup attempt again. One caller to the program
suggest that Vene. military had a simple solution to the problem, "a bullet
to Hugo's head." The next caller said the solution was "two bullets, one
for Hugo and one for Fidel."
Perhaps the FCC should be alerted about such threats ....

[Tinoire]

50. I saw that- Couldn't believe the garbage I saw there

They're millimeters short of saying he's providing asylum to Osama himself!

I noticed this story a few days ago and all I could think was GOOD!


Venezuelans living abroad barred from signing petitions for Chavez recall

Venezuelans living abroad won't be allowed to sign petitions seeking a recall referendum on President Hugo Chavez's rule, election authorities said Friday.

The decision comes despite weeks of pleading by opposition leaders to allow Venezuelan expatriates to participate in the Nov. 28-Dec. 1 signature drive. Chavez opponents insisted citizens living abroad had a constitutional right to sign.

<snip>

Venezuela's fractious opposition is focusing on the recall campaign after failing to oust Chavez through a 2002 military coup and two-month general strike earlier this year.

Opponents accuse Chavez of trying to impose an authoritarian regime and insist he must be stopped before his six-year term ends in 2007. Chavez says a resentful economic elite feels threatened by his efforts to improve life for Venezuela's poor majority.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2003/11/14/international2232EST0800.DTL

[Say_What]

49. Article: Venezuela Has Reason To Doubt US Claims

<clips>

By: Bill Fletcher Jr. - TransAfrica Forum

Originally published by The Sacramento Observer

Several weeks ago, U.S. News & World Report published a story suggesting that Venezuela was becoming a hotbed of terrorism in the Western hemisphere. The story was, at least in part, based upon information allegedly provided by unnamed individuals in the Bush administration. In many respects, this story epitomized the hostility toward the democratically-elected government of President Hugo Chavez that has been coming from the White House particularly since the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

As you might remember, President Chavez, while condemning in no uncertain terms the terrorist attack, called upon the Bush administration to not respond by attacking Afghanistan. It appears, whether one agrees or disagrees with President Chavez, that the Bush administration adopted the attitude that it was up to the rest of the world to unconditionally support any and all actions that the Bush administration deemed appropriate. Any question, or any divergence from the White House line was seen as unfriendly.

President Chavez was anointed unfriendly.

When Chavez was temporarily overthrown in a coup in April 2002, the Bush administration rushed to support the 'coup people' (to borrow a term invented by President Bush's father in describing another situation), whereas virtually every other country in the Western hemisphere condemned this undemocratic action. Upon his restoration to power, the Bush administration suggested that they hoped that President Chavez had learned something from this experience, an interesting comment for an administration that supposedly opposes terrorism and other forms of illegality.

The Bush administration has continued to smile upon the opposition forces in Venezuela that have attempted to oust President Chavez, first through mass demonstrations and a lockout in early 2003, and later through a petition. I am still trying to figure out what business it is of the U.S. to interfere in such internal affairs.

http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/articles.php?artno=1058

---

Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez speaks to his supporters at beginning clases of 'Plan Rivas' a masive public education program in Caracas, Venezuela, Monday, November 16, 2003 (AP Photo/Francisco Batista, Miraflores Press)

[bpilgrim]

29. dig it

:wow:

peace

[girl gone mad]

3. I can't wait to see the documentary,

but I don't think it will have a theatrical release in my area, so I'll have to wait for the DVD.

I hope that the film gets nominated for an Academy Award, as I believe that the only way to keep the US from getting involved in anpther coup is to cast a bright light on the situation.

[Tinoire]

5. It won a Cannes Film Award

If I can get a few copies, I'll mail you one so you don't have to wait. AMAZING film!

Peace

[girl gone mad]

14. That would be great! n/t

[cally]

6. Any DUers who feeling depressed about progressive

causes must see this film. I'm assuming that's all of us. It's like a fairy tale because the good guys win! The progressives defeat the evil ones.

The movie is amazing on many levels. I don't know how the filmmakers got access for this coverage but the whole military coup and defeat is on film. One of the themes of the movie is how the private media lies and distorts the truth and that allows the rich elite to gain power. Another major theme is that the people can stand up to power and win. The average Venezuelan, not the rich elite, marched and risked their lives to support their President and democracy. By word of mouth, not the media, the people learned that it was a media coup and they risked their lives and marched in support of the elected President. Many interviewed spoke about their Constitution and the importance of supporting Democracy. One million folks stood up for the elected President. Then the rank and file military stood up the generals and supported the President.

If you want to feel hopeful, then go see this film.

[arcane1]

9. so true..

the media there was appalling, FOX to the 10th power, but the people saw through the b.s.

very depressingly uplifting, if there can be such a thing

[cally]

12. I think our media is just as bad

The media here does not report about the return of the Taliban in Afghanistan, fails to show the coffins or dead soldiers, and rarely shows the wounded in Iraq.

I know..preaching to the choir. :kick:

[Tinoire]

13. The media's power is frightening!

We really need a fair media in this country. Can you imagine what Fox news would have been saying had this happened in our country?

[Isome]

18. This comes up on DU periodically...

I'm glad it's back on top!!

This is a riveting real life story! Those who are truly interested in the proliferation of democracy, in the truest sense of the word, should follow it closely.

You can see excerpts of the documentary on .::.democracynow.org.::. Amnesty International of Canada allowed the Chavez opposition to cow them into not showing the film. They object to it because they claim it doesn't show "both sides" of the story.

If you're like me, living in a small military town, online is about the only place you will see it. (big hint to Tinore... please let me know how I can get a copy)

Greg Palast wrote about the attempted coup and the continuing threat, posed by the US, to Chavez's democratically elected administration in his book The Best Democracy Money Can Buy; yet another reason to get that book, if you haven't already. Faux news made good use of Geraldo Rivera some months back by sending him to Venezuela to interview both the Chavez supporters and the opposition. It was typical righwing fare, but it did show the distinct difference in who the majority of the Chavez supporters are.

[oasis]

15. Thanks for the heads up on the film and for the provided information.

[Tinoire]

31. Anytime! It was my pleasure because it really was that great!

I want to learn as much about this great man as possible!

[stevedeshazer]

16. Jeepers,

The mother lode of info on Hugo Chavez and Venezuela. Dang you! I'll be busy reading for days. Thanks, I think.... :-)

[Tinoire]

32. Me too lol - If you or anyone else finds a good biography

Let me know, please. :)

[nolabels]

17. Might it also be about a South African type ordeal

Civil and Electorial rights over people with property rights. The fair skin folks are being overran in that south american COLONY. Better call Team * pResident USA to come over and stick up for the white (pink flesh) folks.

http://www.globalissues.org/HumanRights/Media/Propaganda/Venezuela.asp
Media, Propaganda and Venezuela
by Anup Shah
(snip)
Travels of a Gringo, a documentary by Britain's Channel 4 aired on the night of July 6, 2003. This second of a three-part documentary followed journalist Sean Langan in Venezuela, who also added the globalization dimension to this issue, pointing out that globalization was having a negative impact on many parts of Latin America, and the majority of Venezuelans were not benefitting. The protests against Chavez were largely by those who would benefit, while the majority poor were supportive of Chavez for trying to introduce reforms and other policies that might help the poor.

The speed at which the U.S. supported the overthrow has made many suggest that the U.S. were in some way involved in the coup. Yet at some media outlets the reporting was partial to say the least. Even New York Times editorials for example, didn't even call the coup a coup, but portrayed it as a resignation by Chavez, as criticized by media watchdog, Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting.

Hugo Chavez Is Crazy!, by investigative journalist, Greg Palast, June 25, 2003, writes how so much of the media in places such as the U.S. are reporting on the demonstrations against Chavez, but not on mass demonstrations in support of him. In addition, Palast takes note of the color of the pro and anti Chavez marchers, and notes a racial line too. In a very brief overview, he states, "For five centuries, Venezuela has been run by a minority of very white people, pure-blood descendants of the Spanish conquistadors. To most of the 80 percent of Venezuelans who are brown, Hugo Chavez is their Nelson Mandela, the man who will smash the economic and social apartheid that has kept the dark-skinned millions stacked in cardboard houses in the hills above Caracas while the whites live in high-rise splendor in the city center. Chavez, as one white Caracas reporter told me with a sneer, gives them bricks and milk, and so they vote for him."

Into September 2003, VHeadline.com, an independent pro-democracy Venezuelan e-publication reported that the CIA backed a plan to bring down Hugo Chavez's plane en route to the United Nations head-quarters in New York to deliver a speech. Sources in Venezuela's Military Intelligence Directorate, VHeadline.com reports "say they have 'overwhelming evidence' of a CIA-backed plan to 'bring down' the Chavez Frias' airplane during the scheduled flight to the United States from Caracas."
(snip)

[Tinoire]

33. The US did the same thing in the 90's when reporting about Haiti

(which by the way was the country that armed and supported Bolivar). Sided with the white elite, the majority of whom are against giving the people too many crumbs. Knowing that country intimately, their skewed and biased coveraged really angered me. The US has been waging war against all the Latin-American and Carribbean countries claiming their independence from Yanqui politics but keeping it cleverly out of the papers.

All any third world leader has to do to get US support is to mention that they are anti-Castro and that Socialism is gaining ground and/or that the other guy is about to nationalize the country's resources so that the US can't keep plundering them.

I'm going to go dig up all the old DU threads on this because there was a wealth of information in there. Thanks for this article!

Peace

[nolabels]

46. This also fits in with whats going on in Miami in the next few days

Making NAFTA Hemispherical. Democracy Now did a piece on that closed door meeting they are having down there to screw everybody on this side of the globe.

I hope them folks below Mexico are adept enough to steer past that crap. I still can't believe they stealthily piggy backed 9 million for security of the meeting on that 87 billion dollar Iraq boondoggle.

If the line gets held on * and minions, they will eventually wither on the vine.

[not systems]

19. The part where...

the oil oligarchs disband the Parliament and Courts
in front of the crowd of onlooking cheering press people
is heart stopping.

The media coverage also reminded me of the recall
election drive against Davis here.

This film I believe is a warning and a view of things
to come if the media continues to be consolidated by
the anti-democratic forces here.

If you want to see the future of democracy watch this film.

[cally]

20. Where did you see the film

I'm glad other DUers saw this great documentary

[not systems]

22. Berkeley.

I hope this is getting wider distribution.

It looks like most who have seen it are in CA.

[cally]

23. You're near Berkeley!!

Why are you not meeting with the rest of us near SF? We organize :eyes: in Activism forum. I hope to meet you soon.

[not systems]

25. I'll take a look.

east bay.

[Tinoire]

34. PM us sometime!

We'd love to meet you!

[AP]

28. I loved the part where the guard pumps his fist covertly

to the crowd.

[AP]

21. What took you so long? Why didn't you see it at the Castro a month ago?

[cally]

24. Did you see it in the Castro?

Same question--why are you avoiding your fellow DUers? We would like to meet you.

[Tinoire]

35. You are one of my favorite posters and now we find out how close you are?

What took us so long is that YOU didn't tell us about it! Lol

Had it not been for Arcane1 pulling it together, I doubt I would have heard it was playing. When do we get to meet you?

Peace

[Supply Side Jesus]

26. I heard HBO is going to AIR it.

I was fortunate to see it at the Denver Int'l Film fest. I left feeling energized, and a hope that sometimes progressives can win.
I caught wind that HBO is going to Air it.
Revolution is THE movie all progressive/freedom loving people should see.

[Tinoire]

36. Please post something in Activism and GD if/when they do

I'll buy HBO just for this! Peace

[eablair3]

27. Saw it at Opera Plaza 2-3 weeks ago; Check out Hidden In Plain &

The Revolution Will Not Be Televised was excellent. I give it my highest marks, and HIGHLY recommend this one.

Since some of you are obviously in SF:

Anybody catch "Hidden In Plain Sight" at the Roxie? I saw that the weekend before last weekend along with "Plan Columbia," which was done in part by the same guy who did the excellent film "Hidden Wars of Desert Storm". I think "Plan Columbia" is now gone, but I think Hidden In Plain Sight is still playing on a limited basis at the Roxie. They're not quite as good as the Revolution Will Not Be Televised, but they are excellent films, too.

I checked sfstation, and it looks like they are still there til this Thursday - they play them as a double feature, so you can see them both for one admission.

http://www.sfstation.com/film/roxie.htm

Friday, November 7 - Thursday, November 20

Hidden In Plain Sight

Narrated by Martin Sheen, 2002, 71 minutes
www.hiddeninplainsight.org

Winner of the 2003 Award of Merit in Film at the Latin American Studies Association Film Festival in Dallas, "Hidden in Plain Sight" focuses on the curriculum of the U.S. Army's School of the Americas, located at Fort Benning in Georgia. This school (which changed its name two years ago to the "Western Hemisphere Institute of Security Cooperation") has trained tens of thousands of Latin American army officers and police officers in what is officially described as "counterinsurgency tactics." Among the school's more infamous alumni are Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega and El Salvador's dictator Roberto D'Aubuisson. Each year, massive demonstrations are held outside of Fort Benning demanding that it cease operations. Yet despite a brutal record of massive human rights abuses engineered and executed by its students, the school remains operational and fully-financed.

The documentary features interviews with political thinkers (Noam Chomsky, Christopher Hitchens, Eduardo Galeano), Congresspersons (Barbara Lee, Mac Collins), Army officers (Maj. Gen. John LeMoyne),victims and social activists (Sister Dianna Ortiz) who tackle the issues of U.S. economic and military policies in Latin America, the war on drugs, and terrorism.

showtimes: Nightly at 7 pm; Wednesday, Saturday, Sunday matinees at 2 pm


Friday, November 7 - Thursday, November 20

Plan Columbia: Cashing In On The Drug War

Directed by by Gerard Ungerman and Audrey Brohey, 2003, 58 minutes, in English, Spanish with English subtitles
www.peacenowar.net/Colombia/film.htm

With the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) now branded a terrorist organization by the US, and Colombian President Pastrana unilaterally withdrawing from the peace process in February 2002, this is a very timely analysis of the 20-year war on drugs in Colombia and the realities of what is known as "Plan Colombia." A counterpoint structure and a wide range of interviews with, among others, Noam Chomsky, the late Senator Paul Wellstone, Green presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt (later kidnapped by FARC), US State Department officials, US Congress members, and Colombian farmers, rebels, social activists and military, help build an insightful analysis of the purposes behind the drug war that, in the last decade, has resulted in a twofold increase in cocaine imports to the US. Captivating, quickly paced and dense with information, this investigation opens multiple insights into a half-century of civil strife. Drawing parallels to the wars in Vietnam and Afghanistan, and, more generally, US support of South American regimes friendly to US economic interests, Gerard Ungerman and Audrey Brohy (Hidden Wars of Desert Storm, VIFF 00) offer important observations on the grave human rights abuses and environmental destruction wrought by the plan. They also point to the role of Plan Colombia in subsidizing the US military industrial complex through aid to the Colombian military, and take on the central place of oil and corporate globalization in the current violence.

showtimes: Nightly at 9:30 pm; Wednesday, Saturday, Sunday matinees at 4:30 pm




http://www.hiddeninplainsight.org/main/home.html

http://www.peacenowar.net/Colombia/film.htm

[Tinoire]

37. Excellent info! Thanks!

I don't know if I can make it to all of these but I will certainly try. Are you in the area too? Wow. Thanks for the additional recommendations and for taking the time to pull this together :)


Is anyone interested in seeing these too? Are you in seeing any again?

Peace

[Say_What]

42. Definetly Hidden in Plain Sight. Saw it reviewed on Democracy Now

and if the Revolution Will Not Be Televised comes to the South Bay I'll see it again as well. Saw the Revolution at the Opera Plaza a several weeks ago.

Hidden in Plain Site has some interviews you won't believe. Most riveting was the one with Sister Dianna Ortiz.

Another case that is not very well known is Jennifer Harbury a Harvard educated lawyer who was married to a Guatemalan rebel who was captured, tortured, and later murdered by the Guatemalan military with the help of the CIA. I saw a documentary of her with clips of her husband a few years back on Free Speech TV (Dish Network). Here's a link to a NYTs article about her from 2002. http://www.commondreams.org/headlines02/0319-05.htm

Tinoire, thanks so much so all those articles on Chavez/Venezuela. I've been keeping a timeline on what's happening between the US and Venezuela for a while and these will help fill in the blanks. :-)

On edit: Make that title name Sight not Site, duh.

[Tinoire]

51. You're in the South Bay?

Let's get together! Can even go out for Latin American food if you want!~

Thanks for the Jennifer Harbury article!

:bounce:

[Say_What]

53. yeah, are you in Berkeley?

I think I read that you saw the Chavez film at the Shattuck Theaters. :-) It would be fun to meet. Why not PM me with details.

[Tinoire]

56. Hah! I wish I were in Berkeley

but alas no, I am with the silicon... ;) or on the bright side, closer to Santa Cruz! :bounce: I answered you... Looking forward to this.

Bay Area DUers- anyone up for a Thursday showing?

[eablair3]

59. article at CommonDreams - Hidden in Plain Sight

thanks, .... next time a decent movie shows up (they come around quite often) and people are going, let me know.

fyi, ... there is an article up at CommonDreams today related to Hidden In Plain Sight:

Published on Tuesday, November 18, 2003 by CommonDreams.org
Hidden In Plain Sight
by Leah C. Wells

Not long after the Al Qaeda terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, George Monbiot wrote in the Guardian/UK that the United States Government itself sponsors terrorist training - at the U.S. Army School of the Americas in Ft. Benning, GA.

A documentary by director John Smihula says that these horrific stories have been 'Hidden In Plain Sight', and culpability is strangely obscured despite a trail of evidence linking U.S. foreign policy to the bloodstained history of Latin America in the 20th Century. 'Hidden' gives interviews of both SOA supporters and critics, and shows flinchworthy footage of soldiers and victims. This film has debuted in more than 40 U.S. cities and has featured a national and international film festivals - including the Istanbul and Amnesty International film festivals. This month, 'Hidden' will screen at the International Documentary Festival in Amsterdam.

Noam Chomsky, Michael Parenti and Eduardo Galeano all give equally damning testimonies for ways in which U.S. imperialism and military intervention have worked against the Latin American poor, the workers and the indigenous, and benefited the large corporations who have taken advantage of cheap labor and compliance from regional leadership.

Christopher Hitchens distributes the blame and much more widely: "I think that the SOA reminds people in a very blunt way that Americans too can be collectively responsible for torture, for murder for dictatorship and not just for defending these things or for covering them up, or being complicit with them, but actually teaching people how to do them, which is more than complicity, it is direct responsibility."

snip

http://www.commondreams.org/views03/1118-15.htm

[Say_What]

40. Demonstrations all this week at Fort Benning to close SOA

<clips>

November 21-23: Vigil and Nonviolent Civil Resistance Action

Schedule of Events ~ What to Expect ~ Transportation ~ Housing ~ Direct Action ~ Legal ~ Accessibility ~ Media Outreach


Join thousands from across the Americas from November 21-23, 2003 at the gates of the U.S. military base Fort Benning in Georgia - home of the notorious School of the Americas (renamed Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation) - to stand in Solidarity with the victims of the School of Assassins and to speak out against terror and violence. Engage in nonviolent direct action to make your voice heard, to close the SOA/WHISC, and to change oppressive U.S. foreign policy.

For over a decade, students, religious, labor, veterans, human rights, and
social/global justice groups have been converging every November at the
gates of Fort Benning, GA to speak out in solidarity with the people of
the Americas and to engage in nonviolent direct action. We will gather
again this year on November 22 and 23, 2003 and continue together in the
struggle until the School of the Americas is closed and the policies it
represents are changed forever. The events this year will be preceded by
teach-ins, trainings, and caucuses on Friday, November 21.

http://www.soaw.org/new/

[Judi Lynn]

38. Thought you might want to see this bizarre set of accusations

from Rep. Dan Burton, puppet Congressman of the Miami Cuban "exiles" concerning Hugo Chavez.

(snip) REP. BURTON, OTHERS, ASK SECRETARY POWELL TO ASSESS THE CHAVEZ GOVERNMENT IN VENEZUELA


Washington, D.C. - Today, Congressman Dan Burton (R-IN-5) held a press conference with Reps. Lincoln Diaz-Balart (R-FL), Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) and Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL), to voice their collective concern regarding the increasingly violent situation in Venezuela. Burton and his colleagues believe there is mounting evidence that the Chavez government is in violation of Article 20 of the Inter-American Democratic Charter, and are calling upon Secretary of State Colin Powell to make an official assessment of the situation in Venezuela.

“I am greatly concerned with the increasingly violent and anti-democratic actions of the government led by Hugo Chavez in Venezuela,” said Burton. “There is evidence that the Chavez government has open and active ties to enemies of the United States, including Iraq. Defectors from Venezuela allege Chavez has financially supported Al Qaeda and Hamas and is providing safe haven to Al Qaeda operatives.”

Although the Chavez government was elected, it has taken a turn towards dictatorial rule. On February 19, 2003, the government arrested opposition leader Carlos Fernandez, the president of the Venezuelan Chamber of Commerce (Fedecamaras), and issued orders to arrest another opposition leader, Carlos Ortega, the president of the Confederation of Venezuelan Workers (CTV). The arrests took place the same week as the kidnapping, torture, and murder of three well-known dissident soldiers and an opposition activist. The Chavez government is using political assassination, intimidation, and violence to silence the media, eliminate opposition activists, and consolidate power. (snip/...)

http://www.house.gov/burton/pr3503.htm


(from L to R): Reps. Lincoln Diaz-Balart (R-FL), Rep. Burton, Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL) and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL)

Right from his own website! I have NEVER heard ANY of this drivel before. It's outrageous he's passing this gibberish around.

(Cuban "exiles" in Florida are allied with the Venezuelan "exiles.")

[Terwilliger]

41. Anybody who wants to believe the crap alleged by your article...

should see the movie as a companion piece.

By the way, Carmona, the businessman who took over during the coup in 2002, fled to Miami when he left the country. Hmmmmmmmm... :eyes:

[Judi Lynn]

43. Pardon me, you're wrong

I was NOT promoting the very information I described as "bizarre."

[Terwilliger]

44. didn't say you were promoting it

I said that the article itself was promoting the idea that Chavez is some leftist murderer. It shows an unhealthy complicity on the part of many media outlets in assisting with the lies.

[Judi Lynn]

47. What's unforgiveable about Burton's statement

is his charge of atrocities even our own worst media outlets have NEVER dared to try to push over on us.

It's a damned shame he can't be forced to retract this bogus info. from his own Congressional website.

If you noticed the obnoxious expressions of the three right-wing Cuban "exile" Miami representatives, you'll understand they were using his American "mainstream" position as a formal pulpit. If they were to make these outrageous remarks themselves, they'd be INSTANTLY discounted, since that's part of their "schtick." They rave on, continually, as a function of their anti-Cuban compulsion, and have accumulated a minus credibility rating, although remaining popular with _{George Bush.}

[Say_What]

45. How f*ck'n predictable!! Same LIES as on TV in Venezuela!!

Fidel Castro's favorite nephews with their side-kick Ros-Lithium, along with Repuke Dan Burton (as in Helms-Burton) spewing the same LIES that the Golpista TV stations in Venezuela spew.

Someone from Miami posted this on another board:

"Venezuela ... on radio (poderosa) this afternoon a Venezuela army Capt.
living om Miami was saying that 11,500 Cubans are now in Vene. Training
people to resist any possible coup attempt again. One caller to the program suggest that Vene. military had a simple solution to the problem, "a bullet to Hugo's head." The next caller said the solution was "two bullets, one for Hugo and one for Fidel."
Perhaps the FCC should be alerted about such threats ...."

[Tinoire]

52. In other words- Ruling Classes of the World Unite ?

the Chavez government is in violation of Article 20 of the Inter-American Democratic Charter, and are calling upon Secretary of State Colin Powell to make an official assessment of the situation in Venezuela.

“I am greatly concerned with the increasingly violent and anti-democratic actions of the government led by Hugo Chavez in Venezuela,” said Burton. “There is evidence that the Chavez government has open and active ties to enemies of the United States, including Iraq. Defectors from Venezuela allege Chavez has financially supported Al Qaeda and Hamas and is providing safe haven to Al Qaeda operatives.”

:puke: :puke: :puke:
:puke:
:puke:

We need to keep an eye on this. Stop them if we can by getting more people aware. They will definitely try again.

Chavez is a huge thorn in Bush's side now.

[redqueen]

54. Kick

Thanks to all of you for this wealth of information.

Seeing so many so knowledgeable about this struggle (the same struggle, played out in different places) warms my heart. :)

[Isome]

55. News articles tell the story:

.::.Observer.::.
— April 2002

...Elliot Abrams, who gave a nod to the attempted Venezuelan coup, has a conviction for misleading Congress over the infamous Iran-Contra affair.

...officials at the Organisation of American States and other diplomatic sources, talking to The Observer, assert that the US administration was not only aware the coup was about to take place, but had sanctioned it ....

...visits by Venezuelans plotting a coup, including Carmona himself, began, say sources, 'several months ago', and continued until weeks before the putsch last weekend. The visitors were received at the White House by the man President George Bush tasked to be his key policy-maker for Latin America, Otto Reich.

Reich is a right-wing Cuban-American who, under Reagan, ran the Office for Public Diplomacy.

A third member of the Latin American triangle in US policy-making is John Negroponte, now ambassador to the United Nations. He was Reagan's ambassador to Honduras from 1981 to 1985 when a US-trained death squad, Battalion 3-16, tortured and murdered scores of activists. ...

.::.Times of London.::.
— April 2002

MIAMI--IN THE aftermath of Venezuela's failed coup, the United States faces further potential embarrassment after the discovery that several alleged coup leaders fled to Miami.

They include Isaac Pérez Recao, 32, a reputed arms-dealer and heir to a Venezuelan oil fortune. With a group of armed bodyguards, Señor Pérez Recao played a highly visible role in the April 12-13 coup...

He and his brother and business partner, Vicente Pérez Recao, were seen later in Miami, where they own properties. They did not return telephone calls to their $500,000 beachfront flat in Key Biscayne, a wealthy island suburb of Miami.

.::.Global Exchange.::.
— January 2003

Washington can ill-afford losing any time by wrangling with its Latin American sister nations-many of which, unlike the U.S., are pro-Chávez ....

...There is no question that, despite the subterfuge he retroactively engaged in, Reich ostensibly distanced himself and covered his foot prints from last April's coup, which briefly toppled Chávez from the presidency. Reich took a direct, personal and supervisory interest and quietly backed the coup through financing from the National Endowment for Democracy, the White House's semi-covert funding source for black box operations. ...

[Tinoire]

57. What a surprise (not)

Otto Reich? Negroponte? The NED.

Thanks for posting that!

[Military Brat]

58. Elliot Abrams has no conscience

Remember he is high on the list of suspects in Traitorgate. Sleaze.