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Mérida, March 17, 2008 (venezuelanalysis.com)— Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez inaugurated a new social program known as “mission” on Saturday, which focuses exclusively on the health of Venezuelans who have disabilities. The main goal of the Dr. José Gregorio Hernández Mission, which is inspired by the community health efforts of the legendary “People’s Doctor” of a century ago, is to carry out a door-to-door, nation-wide census to find out how many people have disabilities or genetic diseases and to diagnose their specific needs.

Chávez announced a budget of 592 million bolivars ($275.4 million) for the unprecedented census, which has already been carried out in five of Venezuela’s 23 states since last July, President Chávez explained.

So far, over 66,000 people with disabilities have been registered in the states of Miranda, Zulia, Delta Amacuro, Vargas, and Zulia. Another 83,324 have been registered in the capital municipality, Libertador, since the mission began there on February 21st of this year, according to a news program on the government television station VTV.

Chávez declared that the project should “incorporate more than the diagnosis… It is necessary to apply preventative programs and cover the immediate fundamental necessities.” He suggested that people with disabilities be “included in art groups, choir, work training programs…we hope that none of them remain out there, excluded and marginalized any more.”  

The José Gregorio Hernández Mission is an extension of the Barrio Adentro Mission, which has brought health care to marginalized communities across Venezuela with the help of Cuban doctors as part of the bilateral cooperation accords between Cuba and Venezuela.

Chávez explained Saturday that the new mission will be carried out partially by students in the Venezuelan-Cuban School for Communitarian Integral Medicine. These students do their residency and internships in small clinics in poor communities, systematically recording medical histories in communities with no previous access to health care. Last week, Chávez met directly with communitarian integral medicine students and announced the doubling of their monthly grant for living expenses to 500 bolivars ($233).

In a first stage of the mission, the students will collaborate with “quartets” made up of a genetic disease specialist, a doctor from the local Barrio Adentro Mission, psychology students, and youth social workers from the Francisco de Miranda Front. With support from members of the local community councils, these teams will gather questionnaires regarding physical, visual, mental, and auditory disabilities.

In a second stage, the specific needs of each community will be assessed based on census results, and appropriate treatment will be applied using new medical equipment such as wheelchairs, walkers, crutches, hearing aids, and special mattresses.

The Cuban Vice Minister of Public Health, Marcia Cobas, who accompanied Chávez Saturday, commented, “The study of disability can only be done in a social manner. One must have sensitivity and be profoundly human. True socialist revolutions necessarily occupy themselves with the most vulnerable parts of society, such as children, the elderly, and those with disabilities.”

Cobas confirmed that during her multi-state tour of Venezuela recently, “everyone expresses that this is the first time a Venezuelan president has paid attention to those with disabilities.”

In addition to its main goals, the mission will also promote the training of doctors, physiatrists, language and physical therapists in the causes, prevention, treatment, and social aspects of disabilities, with a special focus on infants and pregnancy, through the federal Health Ministry.

Minister Erika Farías of the Social Participation and Protection Ministry, which provides administrative support to the mission, emphasized Saturday that “after the mission passes through every community there should be follow-up so that each one of these friends can count on the efforts of Barrio Adentro and the Revolution.”

Various participants in Saturday’s event suggested that a book be published for each state about the specific causes, consequences, and diverse risk factors related to the disabilities of local residents, with a copy of each book available in local Barrio Adentro clinics to guarantee optimum community access to health education.

Ludyt Ramírez, the President of the National Disabled Persons Council, praised the mission, but advocated that public transportation systems also be adapted for use by those with disabilities. Ramírez also pointed out that many public spaces have barriers that limit disabled access.

In response, Chávez called for public transport workers to cultivate sensitivity to the needs of disabled people, and for society to develop a “socialist conscience, the human morale, the human spirit that is essential for achieving a new society…of love, equality, and solidarity.”

Venezuelan Vice President Ramón Carrizalez pointed out that his country is one of the first in the world to offer door-to-door service to the disabled, and Health Minister Jesús Mantilla called the cooperation with Cuba a step forward for “Latin American goodness and integration.”

The Mission Dr. José Gregorio Hernández fulfills the health requirements of the Law for Persons with Disabilities, which was passed by the Venezuelan National Assembly on November 16, 2006. This law also requires that disabled people hold at least 5% of jobs in Venezuelan companies within three years, a step forward from past laws which required a 2% quota only on businesses with more than 50 employees.

This law is based on Article 81 of Venezuela’s constitution, which was passed by popular vote in 1999. The article states: “Every person with a disability or special necessity has the right to the full and autonomous exercise of his or her capacities, and family and community integration.” This right will be guaranteed by “the state, with the supportive participation of the family and society,” in accordance with the articl

Spain’s socialist prime minister, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, won a convincing general election victory last night after a campaign thrown into turmoil at the last minute by the killing of a politician, blamed on Basque separatists Eta.

Speaking to ecstatic supporters at the socialist party’s headq uarters in central Madrid last night, Zapatero first paid tribute to Isaias Carrasco, the former socialist town councillor who was shot dead two days before the elections. He went on to thank the “voters who have given a clear victory to the Socialist party”, after a polling day that saw a turnout of over 75%.

“The Spanish people have spoken clearly and decided to start a new era,” he said, adding that he had received a phone call from his defeated opponent, Mariano Rajoy, congratulating him on his victory.

“I will govern for all, but thinking, before anyone else, of those who don’t have it all,” he said, before signing off with his much-mocked campaign slogan, “Good night, and good luck”, taken from the George Clooney film of the same name.

Rajoy, who admitted defeat with around 91% of the vote counted, has been beaten by Zapatero in two successive elections, and will face calls to stand down.

After a bitter and divisive campaign dominated by fears over a stumbling economy and rising immigration, Zapatero fell short of the absolute majority that he had been hoping for. Socialist party officials will now be forced to negotiate with smaller regional parties in order to form a government.

But Zapatero now has the chance to throw off the “accidental” prime minister tag that dogged his first term. He won in 2004 thanks in part to a protest vote against the People’s party (PP), whose leaders had tried to manipulate the aftermath of the Madrid train bombings, in which 191 people were killed and 1,800 injured.

Last night’s victory was an endorsement of Zapatero’s record in his first term, which saw the withdrawal of troops from Iraq, the introduction of social reforms, including the legalisation of gay marriage, and the cession of more power to Spain’s semi-autonomous regions.

In the next four years, Zapatero plans to extend his social reforms, pledging to create 2m jobs, to increase the minimum wage and maternity leave and to spend heavily on a high-speed train network. The socialists want to introduce stronger anti-discrimination legislation, and promise a string of green laws, including spending €9bn on renovating houses to reduce their emissions.

The biggest challenge facing Zapatero is the downturn that has hit a once-booming economy. The wheels have started to come off after 10 years of spectacular growth that saw the creation of new wealth and 600,000 jobs a year.

Zapatero has to overcome rising unemployment, inflation at double the EU average, and a crisis in the construction industry, which has been hit by the global credit squeeze. Having seen the economy grow at a rate of 4% in recent years, analysts say it could drop to 2.5% this year.

Others argue that the Spanish economy is more flexible and better prepared than ever to deal with a global slowdown. “The main scenario we are looking at is not of a recession but a downturn, which will be less damaging but perhaps more protracted, and with a slower recovery,” says Santiago Fernández de Lis, a partner at financial analysts AFI. Like many, De Lis argues that Spain needs long-term structural reform, with more investment in research and development and education.

Spain’s growth was built partly on the backs of the five million immigrants who have come to the country in the last 10 years, and now make up 10% of the population. But immigrants have been among the first to be hit by rising unemployment. During the campaign, Rajoy seized on fears of unemployed immigrants soaking up the country’s welfare payments, telling Zapatero in live televised debates - the first to be held in Spain in 15 years - that he had caused an “avalanche” of migrants.

Though Rajoy’s populist campaign alienated many centrist voters, immigration remains a serious concern in a society that has yet to come to terms with the dramatic demographic changes it has recently witnessed.

The murder of Carrasco highlighted the fact that conflict in the Basque country is never far from the top of the political agenda. Zapatero was criticised for failed negotiations with Eta; it remains to be seen whether peace talks will be resumed.

Poll numbers

With 96% of results in, the Spanish Socialist Worker’s party had won 43.7% of the vote, giving it 169 seats in the lower house, an increase of five on 2004, but short of the 176 needed for an absolute majority. The People’s party won 40.1%, which translates to 154 seats, up six on 2004. After one of the most rancorous campaigns in the post-Franco era, the undoubted losers were the smaller parties, confirming the two-party nature of Spanish politics. The pro-Catalan independence ERC lost five seats, leaving it with only three, and the leftwing Izquierda-Unida lost two seats, winning only three.

Monday, March 03, 2008 (venezuelanalysis.com) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez labeled Colombia the “Israel of Latin America” on his Sunday talk show Aló Presidente yesterday. Responding to events on Saturday in which the Colombian military made an illegal attack across the border in Ecuadorian territory, the Venezuelan leader called Colombia a “terrorist state,” and gave orders to mobilize troops on the Venezuelan-Colombian border.

“The Colombian government has turned into the Israel of Latin America,” said Chavez during his show on Sunday.

“Colombia is a terrorist state that is subject to the great terrorist, the government of the United States and their apparatus,” he explained.

The Venezuelan president spoke in response to an attack and killing on the part of the Colombian military of several FARC guerrillas, including top leader Raul Reyes, on Saturday morning. Chavez called the killing a “cowardly murder” and condemned the attack for having illegally crossed the Colombian border into Ecuador.

“They bombed from the north and the south of the border,” he said. “In other words, they attacked inside Ecuadorian territory.”

President Chavez spoke on the telephone with Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa about the attack and the violation of Ecuador’s sovereignty. According to Correa, who ordered an investigation of the events, the Colombian military attacked the guerrillas using precision bombs while they were sleeping inside Ecuadorian territory, killing at least 15 men and women, and leaving two female guerrillas injured. The Ecuadorian military said the bodies were still in their pajamas when they found them.

“This was not a battle. It was a cowardly murder,” said Chavez. “This was all coldly calculated, and the truth is starting to come out.”

Chavez offered any necessary support to his Ecuadorian counterpart and informed his audience that the government of Ecuador would be withdrawing their ambassador from Bogota, and mobilizing troops to the Colombian border. Chavez gave orders during the show for his government to do the same.

“Move ten battalions to the border with Colombian immediately,” he said to his defense minister. “We don’t want war, but we are not going to allow the North American empire, which is their master, and their puppy-dog President Uribe and the Colombian oligarchy to come divide us, to weaken us. We are not going to allow it.”

The Venezuelan president then gave orders to his foreign minister to close the Venezuelan embassy in Bogota and withdraw all the officials that work there, bringing relations between the countries to their lowest point in recent history.

Chavez sharply criticized Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, accusing him of leading a “criminal” government, and warned the Colombian leader that any kind of incursion into Venezuelan territory on the part of the Colombian military would be a cause for war between the two countries.

“This is very serious. If this were to happen in Venezuela it would be a cause for war,” said Chavez. “Don’t even think about it or I’ll launch an air attack.”

Chavez compared the actions of the Colombian government to those of Israel in the Middle East who he accused of “invading,” “bombing,” and “killing” the Palestinian people with the intention of “preventing the union of the Arabic world.”

“It is the fist of the empire,” he said. “And we’re not going to let them plant another Israel here in Latin America.”

Washington, who supports the Colombian war against the FARC and provides the Colombian government with more military aid than any other country outside the Middle East, said it was monitoring events in the region.

 GAZA, (PIC)– Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilnai told the Israeli Army Radio on Friday: “The more Qassam fire intensifies and the rockets reach a longer range, [the Palestinians] will bring upon themselves a bigger holocaust because we will use all our might to defend ourselves.”, according to Haaretz.

This is the first indirect admission by an Israeli official that what Israel is conducting against the Palestinians in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip is a holocaust, albeit a slow motion one.

In the past 48 hours, the IOF killed 34 Palestinians including 9 children in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, mostly in airstrikes, and the Israeli occupation government is threatening a major ground offensive of the Gaza Strip and say that the army was ready to carry out such an invasion.

A spokesman for the Ministry of Health of the care taker government of Ismail Haneyya said, in a statement to PIC on Thursday, that more than 70% of those killed and wounded in the latest Israeli occupation onslaught are women and children.

Meanwhile, Ismail Haneyya, in his Friday sermon said that the threat of a ground invasion does not frighten the people of Gaza: “haven’t they [the Israelis] occupied the Gaza Strip for 38 years, what have they achieved? They could not break the determination of the Palestinians to struggle for freedom.”

Haneyya also criticised those who claim that the resistance rockets were the reason for the Israeli atrocities in the Gaza Strip, saying that resistance factions have effectively stopped firing missiles in the past week, but Israel responded by targeting, on Wednesday, five resistance fighters prompting resistance factions to respond.

“The rockets are just a pretext, the aim of the Israeli onslaught is to make Palestinians submit and stop demanding their rights.”