Missing the Point: Media Speculations Over Venezuela

[Peace Patriot]

Missing the Point: Media Speculations Over Venezuela

Sep 9 2011
Edward Ellis

With the recent revelation that President Hugo Chávez underwent emergency surgery to remove a cancerous tumor during a visit to Cuba in mid June, an explosion in political speculation has been swirling through the streets of Venezuela and catching fire around the world.

International media conglomerates—with conservative anti-Castro groups in Florida in the lead—have jumped on this latest wave of speculation, forecasting the demise of the left-wing leader in the run up to next year’s presidential elections.

With outlandish predictions of a post-Chávez era, based more on their frustration with Fidel Castro’s 85th birthday than on the Venezuelan president’s medical condition, right-wing Miamians continue to direct their unremitting hatred toward any Latin American government that breaks with their free-market mentality.

Perhaps ironically, all of these pretensions and exaggerations have occurred before the backdrop of one of Venezuela’s most important historical celebrations—the bicentennial anniversary of its independence from Spain on July 5.

...Another significant event that was also overlooked was the founding summit of a new organization for regional alliance, the Community of Latin American States (CELAC), which was scheduled to take place on Margarita Island following the bicentennial celebrations.

The first meeting of CELAC was postponed due to Hugo Chávez’s medical recovery and rescheduled for December 9 in Caracas. Preparations for the event are underway with sub-meetings taking place between regional Foreign Ministers and other high officials.

Although CELAC may not be as sexy to mainstream media as Chavez’s chemo-induced baldness, the creation of this alliance represents yet another definitive step away from Washington’s hegemonic influence in the Americas and strengthens multilateralism between countries that share a similar history and present.

In this way, CELAC builds upon the unifying dream of South American independence hero Simon Bolívar, who in his Carta de Jamaica of 1815 famously proposed a single government to unite Hispanoamérica.

(SNIP)

The new regional block will expand upon other recent integrationist initiatives including UNASUR, Mercosur, Petrocaribe, and ALBA in constructing an alternative framework for economic, social, and political cooperation between Latin American governments.

(Discusses the countries' differing economic strategies and policies.)

Despite these (economic) differences, the important thing is that the door to dialogue is being opened and the United States is being left outside. Such audacity would not have been imagined 20 years ago in a region that has been under the thumb of U.S. dominance for more than a century.

CELAC is therefore not only a testament to the weakening of Washington’s influence in the region, but also to the strengthening of Latin America’s identity and its movement toward a second independence. This is the real significance of Venezuela’s recent bicentennial celebrations—a point predictably missed by a press that prefers to feed the hysteria of speculation rather than report on the realities of contemporary Latin America.


https://nacla.org/news/2011/9/9/missing-point-media-speculations-over-venezuela
(NACLA is the North American Congress on Latin America)
Also at: http://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/6483
CREATIVE COMMONS LICENSE
(My emphasis)

--------------------------------

I continue to be astonished at how STUPID corporate 'news' media are! Stupid and stupid-making! How can business people, investors, travelers, academics, students, U.S. political leaders and others who have an interest in Latin America proceed with their activities on the basis of such stupid and vacant reporting and such big black holes in the 'news' where information should be?

I don't understand it. The disservice to the public that the corporate 'news' is committing is enormous.

I have been especially struck by the failure to report on the increasing organization of Latin American countries into a political/economic block committed to independence, cooperation and social justice. Like this writer--Edward Ellis--I am flabbergasted by this failure. Think back to when the EU was formed. There was lots of reporting and commentary here about it at that time. This is happening in our own hemisphere and has been building up for most of the last decade, with the founding of UNASUR (all South American countries), the founding of various trade groups--including the innovative barter trade group, ALBA, started by Venezuela and Cuba--the founding of the Bank of the South (another Venezuelan idea)--and other new institutions, and the friendship among leaders such as Hugo Chavez, Nestor Kirchner and Lula da Silva, and the election of so many Leftist leaders. The corporate 'news' is like a 4 year old child who covers her ears when she doesn't want to hear something.

Latin America is changing DRAMATICALLY for the better and the U.S. is still stuck in its old pattern of often brutal interference (such as the coup in Honduras) and "free trade for the rich" (such as the proposed trade agreement with Colombia mentioned by Obama in his speech on "jobs"). The unreality is so bad that it increases my worry about a U.S. oil war in South America. Indeed, the Miami mafia contingent in Congress has basically declared war on several Leftist countries. And their a "Queen of Hearts"/"Alice in Wonderland" smugness about their declarations gives me the willies. It's as if they KNOW that Bush Junta II is coming and then they can get their fondest wish for more murder and mayhem in Latin America. They are nuts and they will inflict horror on Latin America--just as they did during the Reagan regime--even if, this time, they very likely cannot succeed in reconquering the region.

Blackholes in the 'news'--where information should be--are as meaningful as corporate/war profiteer lies and disinformation in the 'news.' What they DON'T say is important. And Latin America's formalization of CELAC, and all the developments that have led up to it, is something they are not talking about, though it is a momentous event.

[Name removed]

1. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Bacchus39]

2. I don't see the problem, the summit was postponed and it was reported

in the media.

[ocpagu]

3. Great post, Peace Patriot.

Recommended.

Tomorrow, September 15th, would be the birthday of William Howard Taft, 27th president of the United States. In 1912 he declared:

"The day is not far distant when three Stars and Stripes at three equidistant points will mark our territory: one at the North Pole, another at the Panama Canal, and the third at the South Pole. The whole hemisphere will be ours in fact as, by virtue of our superiority of race, it already is ours morally."

He couldn't be more wrong.

[Judi Lynn]

4. Thanks for sharing thie material here. How true, we got complete coverage of EU progress

from the first.

More than a little questionable so much has been done to keep US'ians completely clueless about the new goals in Latin America on the way to solidarity, unity, a reality moving directly into being, finally.

In the meantime, our own corporate media tries to entertain itself with little morsels of shit like stories concerning Chavez and shamans. Sad, isn't it?

[Bacchus39]

5. learn Spanish and you will no longer be clueless

don't wait for the US media to feed you. English language media isn't going to give you what you are looking for. its up to you to find knowledge.

[Peace Patriot]

7. It would be great if Spanish were required in U.S. schools.

It really should be, since it is the language of half of our hemisphere. But, given that it is not, it is absurd to imply that there is no obligation on the part of the English-language news/opinion media to provide fulsome, in depth news coverage on events in Latin America--especially on something as important as CELAC and the events and policies that led up to it. Ordinary north Americans, who speak and read only English, should not have to return to school or somehow or other acquire college level Spanish in order to be well informed on Latin American issues. That is a ridiculous requirement and it lets the corpo-fascist 'news' corporations off the hook. In your view, apparently, they and their corporate pals can profit from U.S.-backed rightwing coups, the corrupt, murderous, failed U.S. "war on drugs" (that just goes on an do, benefiting war profiteers) and U.S. corporate resource extraction and sweatshop labor, but they are under no obligation of journalistic ethics, common morality or the premise of democracy--an educated, informed public--to inform the public in THIS country about what is happening in the other half of the western hemisphere--let alone inform the public in THIS country what billions of their tax dollars are being used for in Latin America.

The need to be informed about Latin America is NOT restricted to those with a sufficient fluency in Spanish to comprehend all the nuances in news and other articles. You might as well say that people who want to--and NEED to--understand events in Iraq must first be fluent in Arabic. And, ironically, it is often U.S. brutal interference in Middle Eastern and Latin American countries that gives understanding of events in these countries special urgency. Learn Arabic or shut up! Right! Is that what you're saying? Become fluent in Arabic or Spanish, or be content to be ignorant of the places where they speak these languages? Or better yet--from your point of view--become fluent in these languages, or be content with the lies, disinformation and lack of information in the corporate 'news'?

You want people to be ignorant and stupid? Is that it?

[Bacchus39]

8. you can choose to remain ignorant

I don't have any particular desire to learn Arabic and I am not particularly interested in the inner workings of the Arab League. Local Yemeni or Jordanian politics or news in general I have no interest. I have an interest in Latin America, lived and worked there, travel there, speak Spanish, thus you will find me here. but why would the US media cover Latin America over Arab nations or Africa or Asia? they are going to report on issues of interest to Americans.

I am not too interested in Lady Gaga, Sarah Palin, or Charlie Sheen either. So you have the internet, if you want to search for info you can search on any subject that interests you for news. Spanish language media is going to have the news on local matters first and foremost in the countries where they live. Large international Spanish corporate media have stories on latin america first and foremost. You understand the language and you will be able to tap into those local sources for detailed info rather than more cursory info from ENglish media.

Now there are plenty of sites that cover latin america news in English. Its the internet use it. why wait for stories about CELAC to apppear on the front page of the NY Times. no one cares about that. CELAC is about as relevant as the OAS but you can do a google search to your heart's delight.

here is the most recent story I found on CELAC from Radio Havana, July 29 Chavez Suggests CELAC Summit for December


http://www.radiohc.cu/ing/news/world/1819-chavez-suggests-celac-summit-for-december.html

so they've done nothing yet and you want the media to report on that??

[gbscar]

6. It will be interesting to see how these new organizations interact and evolve, but...

...it is indeed too bad that the mainstream press will almost certainly fail to give us a full account of the process.