Venezuela's President activates Plan "Secure Homeland"

[Catherina]

Last edited Tue May 14, 2013, 11:14 AM - Edit history (1)

Venezuela's President activates Plan "Secure Homeland"
Monday May 13, 2013, 3:08 pm

The government of Venezuela initiated in Caracas, Plan Patria Segura (Safe Homeland) which enlists the help of about 3000 members of the National Armed Forces to guarantee security for all Venezuelans.

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With this plan the Venezuelan government seeks to ensure the security, tranquility and the quality of life of the Venezuelan people, as part of the Great Mission To All Life Venezuela.

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According to the President, about three thousand members of the Armed Forces (FANB) will be deployed, first, in the municipalities of Sucre and Baruta, both in Miranda state, which are both considered to be "the two most dangerous in the country." The security plan will extend to the main parishes of Caracas with 500 service points and joint citizen/troop patrols as well.

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The Government stated that the presence of the armed forces in these areas will be extended for a few months to provide greater protection for citizens, until the first class of a total of 9000 new Police Officers and 1,600 National Guardsmen graduate from the National Security University and assume security duties.

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http://www.telesurtv.net/articulos/2013/05/13/presidente-de-venezuela-activa-plan-patria-segura-3840.html



Grand Mission A Toda Vida Venezuela - promotes fitness, sports and cultural activities for the benefit of every Venezuelan to turn away from criminal acts and thus reduce the crime rate

[naaman fletcher]

1. A strange world

Where so called progressive applaud the deployment of the military in domestic affairs.

[MADem]

2. Well, the crime rate in VZ is through the roof, they are almost the murder capital of the world--I

think they're Number Two in murders per capita these days. The police are corrupt as hell, so they can't be relied upon, the economy is in shambles despite oil revenues, shortages of basic commodities abound, and it's just a dangerous, scary place. It's gotta be pretty bad when most of the country (supposedly) approves of this move:

De acuerdo con cifras que maneja el ministerio de Interior, más de 70 por ciento de los venezolanos aprueba la participación de los militares en la seguridad pública.

My question is, and I don't know the answer, are these deployed forces any less corrupt, and do they know what the hell they are doing? Or will they be 'the new boss,' same as the old boss...or worse, patsys who are targets?

[naaman fletcher]

3. It's hard to say

I've lived in Africa where the military is typically worse than the police. I don't know if that is the case in VZLA though. I know the national guard is corrupt to the core, but its not clear to me who exactly is being deployed here.

[MADem]

4. I honestly don't know; maybe they're sweet-faced conscripts who are little idealists...

...or maybe they're hardened thugs who are wired into the whole Chavista-Military connection.

I think it is the National Guard, so that doesn't bode well...

[Bacchus4.0]

5. I actually think this is regular military. I believe the Guardia Nacional is akin to a national

police force and not the national guard soldiers we think of in the States. There are some constitutional questions I saw about using military forces for police duties. Not that adherence to the constitution is a priority of the administration but the opposition is raising the issue. Also, if I am not mistaken, Miranda is the state where Capriles presides as governor and they say they are sending forces there which is obviously another political move rather than a crime prevention measure.

[MADem]

11. Well, Globovision has been sold to a crowd of Maduro-champions.

So the opposition is pretty well screwed. We're in "dictator-land" at this stage.

[joshcryer]

15. It will take time for Globovision to become another Telesur or VTV.

But yes it is disconcerting to say the least.

And it proves that hard line capitalists don't give a fuck about the politics of the thing. For them it's about profit above all. The owners of Globovision should be ashamed for selling out when their journalists are the best in Venezuela. They just shit on the faces of hundreds of good journalists who want to simply tell the truth. Now those journalists will be tasked with lying about shit (and over time they will come to accept it to keep their livelihood). It's shameful.

[MADem]

16. Agree wholeheartedly--a crying shame all around. nt

[joshcryer]

8. Uribe did this *exact* same thing back in 2003.

DU rightly condemned this sort of shit: http://www.democraticunderground.com/11082551

Until we got infiltrated by an authoritarian leftist then we started getting posts like this.

[Marksman_91]

12. Now that's pretty funny.

So when a government that doesn't have a leftist agenda (at least superficially) does this kind of shit, they're automatically condemned by certain DUers. But when it's done by a government that supposedly has leftist leanings, it's applauded by those same people. Hypocrisy at its finest.

[joshcryer]

13. Ironically, the Colombian courts shot down Uribe's policing modifications.

And it was backed down after a few months of bullshit recrimination.

But you can expect Venezuela to turn a blind eye to the creation of paramilitary groups.

[mecherosegarden]

6. A friend sent me this

And I want to share to whomever want to see .

[Judi Lynn]

7. It's absolutely time for a change, isn't it? Great time to take a new approach to an old problem.n/t

[Catherina]

9. I think so. Stratfor coached the Opposition to squawk on about crime and he's meeting that head on

He campaigned on this and he's sticking to his word. CS Monitor had a decent article about this before Maduro won the elections.

Venezuela's interim President Maduro addresses a topic Chávez largely avoided – crime

Chávez increasingly engaged in citizen security initiatives starting in the mid-2000s. But he often skirted discussing crime, an issue that plagues Venezuela.

By Rebecca Hanson, WOLA / April 6, 2013

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Differentiating his campaign from those of his predecessor, Nicolás Maduro has made crime and violence in the country a major talking point so far. Roberto Briceño and others have suggested that the Interim President, unable to hide behind a charismatic personality, has been forced to take on the issue in a way that his predecessor was not. However, these comments are not totally accurate, in that the Hugo Chávez administration, since the mid-2000s, was increasingly engaged in citizen security initiatives, especially in lower-class areas of Caracas.

As we have noted in previous blogs, these initiatives relied on both a militarized presence in high crime areas (exemplified by the Bicentennial Citizen Security Presence, or the Dispositivo Bicentenario de Seguridad Ciudadana (DIBISE) and preventative approaches that advocate for a “decriminalization of poverty” (represented by the National Experimental Security University (UNES) and the General Police Council). While Maduro has been more vocal on the issue, his rhetoric, as we will discuss below, has not diverged drastically from Chávez’s. Rather, he has continued to pull from “social movement” strategies—promoting culture, sports, and arts in popular sectors—and mano dura solutions for those who do not “respond” to these approaches.

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Recently, Maduro announced two initiatives to reduce crime in the capital, the construction of “territories of peace” and the “Movement for Peace and Life,” which will link government resources with social movements and cultural activities. These announcements are especially interesting given the strong mobilization capacity the Chavez government has demonstrated in the past as well as the active relationships the government has cultivated with social movement groups and actors in popular sectors since the mid-2000s.

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... in the same speech Maduro warned that his administration would “tighten the mano dura to protect the decent people (el pueblo decente) that have not been penetrated by the evil of violence. I extend my hand and if [the criminals] do not take it…we will go up [into the barrios] with the police and the National Guard because this has to end.” In another speech Maduro stated “With one hand we will be constructing education, culture, sports, and youth, but with the other hand there must be authority…citizens are guaranteed education (and) work in order to live a healthy life. The state says: For those who step outside of these rules, here is the law, here is authority.”

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http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Americas/Latin-America-Monitor/2013/0406/Venezuela-s-interim-President-Maduro-addresses-a-topic-Chavez-largely-avoided-crime

I like the paragraph that notes how many citizens don't have a negative perception of the military because it's been involved in helping people all along, like heavy involvement in "housing construction after natural disasters". Much better that than invading other countries and killing innocent people.

[Peace Patriot]

10. i was going to point that out, that Venezuela's military is different...

...but you beat me to it. I'm referring to your final paragraph.

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"I like the paragraph that notes how many citizens don't have a negative perception of the military because it's been involved in helping people all along, like heavy involvement in "housing construction after natural disasters". Much better that than invading other countries and killing innocent people."

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I read an extensive article about this--about the military's closeness to the Venezuelan people--some time ago but unfortunately don't have it handy. The military has a tradition of local service, and involves itself in all kinds of community projects--for instance, building a school or health clinic, or repairing a road for local people. The military people are often FROM the community. They are not militaristic toward local communities, nor stand-off-ish. They are somewhat like our national guards used to be, pre-Bush Junta, only more so. Joining the military is considered to be a way to serve your local community and is also a path of upward mobility for the poor (one that Chavez himself took). This is one of the reasons that the military is entrusted with providing security for elections. They are a very trusted institution.

It should be noted also that the Venezuelan military for the most part did NOT support the 2002 coup attempt against Chavez. Only a few generals and officers, who kept their troops ignorant of what was really happening (disinformed them), were involved, and once the initial deliberate confusions, lies and plots of the coupsters were overcome, the military joined the people of Venezuela in defeating the coup. The Venezuelan military, as a whole, is very committed to democracy and to the people of Venezuela.

Ergo: "Calling out the military" to serve in the streets in high crime areas does NOT have the same meaning in Venezuela as it would here.

[Catherina]

14. If only we had as good a relationship with our overly militarized police

If you find that article again, would you please post it? I'd like to read it.

Also, could you remind me again how long US Police academy training is? I believe it's 6 months no?

I'm sure there will be the typical outraged outcry from the right wing that Maduro is temporarily pairing up soldiers and civilians for foot patrols, but this is the same right wing that's all for sending billions to foreign countries for their armed forces and police to beat/torture civilians so the shrieks will ring hollow.

[joshcryer]

17. "squawk on about crime"

5th most murderous place on the planet. It is abyssal. Worse than Syria worse than Iraq. It is beyond reproach.

[Catherina]

18. Meanwhile in the US today: Pentagon Unilaterally Grants Itself Authority Over ‘Civil Disturbances’

U.S. Military ‘Power Grab’ Goes Into Effect
Source: Long Island Press

Pentagon Unilaterally Grants Itself Authority Over ‘Civil Disturbances’

The manhunt for the Boston Marathon bombing suspects offered the nation a window into the stunning military-style capabilities of our local law enforcement agencies. For the past 30 years, police departments throughout the United States have benefited from the government’s largesse in the form of military weaponry and training, incentives offered in the ongoing “War on Drugs.” For the average citizen watching events such as the intense pursuit of the Tsarnaev brothers on television, it would be difficult to discern between fully outfitted police SWAT teams and the military.

The lines blurred even further Monday as a new dynamic was introduced to the militarization of domestic law enforcement. By making a few subtle changes to a regulation in the U.S. Code titled “Defense Support of Civilian Law Enforcement Agencies” the military has quietly granted itself the ability to police the streets without obtaining prior local or state consent, upending a precedent that has been in place for more than two centuries.

The most objectionable aspect of the regulatory change is the inclusion of vague language that permits military intervention in the event of “civil disturbances.” According to the rule:


"Federal military commanders have the authority, in extraordinary emergency circumstances where prior authorization by the President is impossible and duly constituted local authorities are unable to control the situation, to engage temporarily in activities that are necessary to quell large-scale, unexpected civil disturbances."


Bruce Afran, a civil liberties attorney and constitutional law professor at Rutgers University, calls the rule, “a wanton power grab by the military,” and says, “It’s quite shocking actually because it violates the long-standing presumption that the military is under civilian control.”

<snip>

Read more: http://www.longislandpress.com/2013/05/14/u-s-military-power-grab-goes-into-effect/

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014483711

[Catherina]

19. Venezuela's military enters high-crime slums

Venezuela's military enters high-crime slums

KARL RITTER
Published: Today

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Critics dismiss the "Secure Homeland" initiative as a political charade that risks degenerating into human rights abuses while having no lasting impact on crime. But to many residents, weary of being terrorized by armed gangs, seeing troops on the streets is a welcome projection of government power.

"You have to act forcefully so that people feel the force of the state," said 47-year-old Irving Garcia, an unemployed former Army reservist, who like many Caracas residents has firsthand experience of violent crime. Garcia said he was shot in the chest when he unknowingly walked into a restaurant robbery. The bullet shattered his sternum, he said, inviting a reporter to feel a piece of protruding bone through his shirt.

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Chavez banned gun sales, expanded a new national police force and stepped up policing and other programs in high-crime areas. Now, his hand-picked successor, Nicolas Maduro, is adding military muscle by deploying 3,000 troops on the streets. The initiative started in the Caracas area on Monday and will be expanded to the states of Zulia, Lara and Carabobo next week.

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The soldiers, who work together with the National Guard and national police force, have the power to make arrests but are supposed to hand over the detainees to civilian authorities. Any human rights abuses would be tried by civilian courts, according to the constitution.

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http://m.apnews.com/ap/db_306481/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=rYPiq1nv