50 Truths about Hugo Chavez and the Bolivarian Revolution

Hugo Chavez and The History of Venezuela and Latin America

Venezuelanalysis:

President Hugo Chavez, who died on March 5, 2013 of cancer at age 58, marked forever the history of Venezuela and Latin America.

1. Never in the history of Latin America, has a political leader had such incontestable democratic legitimacy.  Since coming to power in 1999, there were 16 elections in Venezuela.  Hugo Chavez won 15, the last on October 7, 2012.  He defeated his rivals with a margin of 10-20 percentage points.

2. All international bodies, from the European Union to the Organization of American States, to the Union of South American Nations and the Carter Center, were unanimous in recognizing the transparency of the vote counts.

3. James Carter, former U.S. President, declared that Venezuela's electoral system was "the best in the world."

4. Universal access to education introduced in 1998 had exceptional results. About 1.5 million Venezuelans learned to read and write thanks to the literacy campaign called Mission Robinson I.

5. In December 2005, UNESCO said that Venezuela had eradicated illiteracy.

6. The number of children attending school increased from 6 million in 1998 to 13 million in 2011 and the enrollment rate is now 93.2%.

7. Mission Robinson II was launched to bring the entire population up to secondary level. Thus, the rate of secondary school enrollment rose from 53.6% in 2000 to 73.3% in 2011.

8. Missions Ribas and Sucre allowed tens of thousands of young adults to undertake university studies. Thus, the number of tertiary students increased from 895,000 in 2000 to 2.3 million in 2011, assisted by the creation of new universities.

9. With regard to health, they created the National Public System to ensure free access to health care for all Venezuelans. Between 2005 and 2012, 7873 new medical centers were created in Venezuela.

10. The number of doctors increased from 20 per 100,000 population in 1999 to 80 per 100,000 in 2010, or an increase of 400%.

11. Mission Barrio Adentro I provided 534 million medical consultations. About 17 million people were attended, while in 1998 less than 3 million people had regular access to health. 1.7 million lives were saved, between 2003 and 2011.

12. The infant mortality rate fell from 19.1 per thousand in 1999 to 10 per thousand in 2012, a reduction of 49%.

13. Average life expectancy increased from 72.2 years in 1999 to 74.3 years in 2011.

14. Thanks to Operation Miracle, launched in 2004, 1.5 million Venezuelans who were victims of cataracts or other eye diseases, regained their sight.

15. From 1999 to 2011, the poverty rate decreased from 42.8% to 26.5% and the rate of extreme poverty fell from 16.6% in 1999 to 7% in 2011.

16. In the rankings of the Human Development Index (HDI) of the United Nations Program for Development (UNDP), Venezuela jumped from 83 in 2000 (0.656) at position 73 in 2011 (0.735), and entered into the category Nations with 'High HDI'.

17. The GINI coefficient, which allows calculation of inequality in a country, fell from 0.46 in 1999 to 0.39 in 2011.

18. According to the UNDP, Venezuela holds the lowest recorded Gini coefficient in Latin America, that is, Venezuela is the country in the region with the least inequality.

19. Child malnutrition was reduced by 40% since 1999.

20. In 1999, 82% of the population had access to safe drinking water. Now it is 95%.

21. Under President Chavez social expenditures increased by 60.6%.

22. Before 1999, only 387,000 elderly people received a pension. Now the figure is 2.1 million.

23. Since 1999, 700,000 homes have been built in Venezuela.

24. Since 1999, the government provided / returned more than one million hectares of land to Aboriginal people.

25. Land reform enabled tens of thousands of farmers to own their land. In total, Venezuela distributed more than 3 million hectares.

26. In 1999, Venezuela was producing 51% of food consumed. In 2012, production was 71%, while food consumption increased by 81% since 1999. If consumption of 2012 was similar to that of 1999, Venezuela produced 140% of the food it consumed.

27. Since 1999, the average calories consumed by Venezuelans increased by 50% thanks to the Food Mission that created a chain of 22,000 food stores (MERCAL, Houses Food, Red PDVAL), where products are subsidized up to 30%. Meat consumption increased by 75% since 1999.

28. Five million children now receive free meals through the School Feeding Programme. The figure was 250,000 in 1999.

29. The malnutrition rate fell from 21% in 1998 to less than 3% in 2012.

30. According to the FAO, Venezuela is the most advanced country in Latin America and the Caribbean in the erradication of hunger.

31. The nationalization of the oil company PDVSA in 2003 allowed Venezuela to regain its energy sovereignty.

32. The nationalization of the electrical and telecommunications sectors (CANTV and Electricidad de Caracas) allowed the end of private monopolies and guaranteed universal access to these services.

33. Since 1999, more than 50,000 cooperatives have been created in all sectors of the economy.

34. The unemployment rate fell from 15.2% in 1998 to 6.4% in 2012, with the creation of more than 4 million jobs.

35. The minimum wage increased from 100 bolivars/month ($ 16) in 1998 to 2047.52 bolivars ($ 330) in 2012, ie an increase of over 2,000%. This is the highest minimum wage in Latin America.

36. In 1999, 65% of the workforce earned the minimum wage. In 2012 only 21.1% of workers have only this level of pay.

37. Adults at a certain age who have never worked still get an income equivalent to 60% of the minimum wage.

38. Women without income and disabled people receive a pension equivalent to 80% of the minimum wage.

39. Working hours were reduced to 6 hours a day and 36 hours per week, without loss of pay.

40. Public debt fell from 45% of GDP in 1998 to 20% in 2011. Venezuela withdrew from the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, after early repayment of all its debts.

41. In 2012, the growth rate was 5.5% in Venezuela, one of the highest in the world.

42. GDP per capita rose from $ 4,100 in 1999 to $ 10,810 in 2011.

43. According to the annual World Happiness 2012, Venezuela is the second happiest country in Latin America, behind Costa Rica, and the nineteenth worldwide, ahead of Germany and Spain.

44. Venezuela offers more direct support to the American continent than the United States. In 2007, Chávez spent more than 8,800 million dollars in grants, loans and energy aid as against 3,000 million from the Bush administration.

45. For the first time in its history, Venezuela has its own satellites (Bolivar and Miranda) and is now sovereign in the field of space technology. The entire country has internet and telecommunications coverage.

46. The creation of Petrocaribe in 2005 allows 18 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, or 90 million people, secure energy supply, by oil subsidies of between 40% to 60%.

47. Venezuela also provides assistance to disadvantaged communities in the United States by providing fuel at subsidized rates.

48. The creation of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA) in 2004 between Cuba and Venezuela laid the foundations of an inclusive alliance based on cooperation and reciprocity. It now comprises eight member countries which places the human being in the center of the social project, with the aim of combating poverty and social exclusion.

49. Hugo Chavez was at the heart of the creation in 2011 of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) which brings together for the first time the 33 nations of the region, emancipated from the tutelage of the United States and Canada.

50. Hugo Chavez played a key role in the peace process in Colombia. According to President Juan Manuel Santos, "if we go into a solid peace project, with clear and concrete progress, progress achieved ever before with the FARC, is also due to the dedication and commitment of Chavez and the government of Venezuela."

Translation by Tim Anderson

March 09, 2013

Venezuelanalysis

Venezuela With and Beyond Chavez

By Dario Azzellini - Upside Down World





“Chávez was one of us”, say the poor from the barrios in Caracas, the people throughout Latin America, and Bronx residents together with probably two million poor people in the US, who now have free heating thanks to the Chávez government. Sean Penn said on Chávez: “Today the people of the United States lost a friend it never knew it had. And poor people around the world lost a champion.” These are sad days.

This article is not going to delve into the many accomplishments of the Bolivarian process with regard to healthcare, life expectancy and education – even if no country in the world has improved living standards as much over the past 14 years as Venezuela under Chávez. I will not write about how Chávez shifted hemispheric relations, helped to bring the FTTA to an end and built Latin American and Caribbean unity for the first time without the US or Canada. Many articles and writers focus on these matters.

This article addresses the different approach to social transformation in Venezuela, the idea of revolution as a process and the primacy of the constituent power, which has been developed from below in the form of popular power throughout the country. Chávez was an allay in the construction of people’s power and creative building of a new world. This is the reason that while I am so sad with the passing of Chavez, I am also totally confident about the future of Venezuela. As with the people of Venezuela, I know where the power is. In the neighbourhoods, in the towns, villages and cities, organized together.

The Two-Track Approach – From Above and Below

The particular nature of the Bolivarian movement stems from the fact that social transformation and the redefining of the State have led to the creation of a “two-track approach”: on the one side, the State, institutions and traditional left organizations, and on the other, movements and organized society. It is a construction process both “from above” as well as “from below”. This entails the participation of antisystemic organizations and movements, along with individuals and organizations which can be characterized as traditional and state centred (for instance, unions and political parties).

Both from the government and from the rank and file of the Bolivarian process, there is a declared commitment to redefine State and society on the basis of an interrelation between top and bottom, and thereby to move toward transcending capitalist relations. The State’s role is to accompany the organized population; it must be the facilitator of bottom-up processes, so that the constituent power can bring forward the steps needed to transform society. The State has to guarantee the material content the realization of the common wealth requires. This idea has been stated on various occasions by Chávez, and is shared by sectors of the administration and by the majority of the organized movements.

The Communal State

Since January 2007, Chávez proposed going beyond the bourgeois state by building the communal state. He applied more widely a concern originating with antisystemic forces, meaning the movements and political forces that assume that the state form has to be overcome. The basic idea is to form council structures of different kinds, especially communal councils, communes and communal cities, which will gradually supplant the bourgeois state.

Communal Councils

The Communal Councils are a non representative structure of direct democracy and the most advanced mechanism of self-organization at the local level in Venezuela. The most active agents of change in Venezuela have been--and continue to be--the inhabitants of the urban barrios and the peasant communities.

Communal Councils began forming in 2005 without any law and as an initiative ‘from below’. In January 2006 Chávez adopted this initiative and began to spread it. In April 2006, the National Assembly approved the Law of Communal Councils, which was reformed in 2009 following a broad consulting process of councils’ spokespeople. The Communal Councils in urban areas encompass 150-400 families; in rural zones, a minimum of 20 families; and in indigenous zones, at least 10 families. At the heart of the Communal Council and its decision-making body is the Assembly of Neighbours. The councils build a non-representative structure of direct participation which exists parallel to the elected representative bodies of constituted power. In 2013, more than 40,000 Communal Councils had been established in Venezuela.

The Communal Councils are financed directly by national State institutions, thus avoiding interference from municipal organs. The law does not give any entity the authority to accept or reject proposals presented by Communal Councils. The relationship between Communal Councils and established institutions, however, is not exactly harmonious; conflicts arise principally from the slowness of constituted power to respond to demands made by Communal Councils and from attempts at interference. The Communal Councils tend to transcend the division between political and civil society (i.e., between those who govern and those who are governed). Hence, liberal analysts who support that division view the Communal Councils in a negative light, arguing that they are not an independent civil-society organization, but linked to the State. In fact, however, they constitute a parallel structure through which power and control is gradually drawn away from the State in order to govern on its own.

Socialist Communes

At a higher level of self government there is the possibility of creating Socialist Communes, which can be formed from various Communal Councils in a specific territory. The Communal Councils decide themselves about the geography of the Commune These Communes can develop medium and long-term projects of greater impact while decisions continue to be made in assemblies of the Communal Councils. As of 2013 there are more than 200 communes under construction.

The idea of the Commune as a site for building participation, self-government and socialism traces back to the communitarian socialist tradition of the Paris Commune, and also to Venezuelan Simón Rodríguez, who proposed local self government by the people, calling it ‘Toparchy’ (from the Greek ‘Topos’, place) in the early 19^th century, to traditional forms of indigenous collectivism and communitarianism and the historical experiences of the Maroons, former Afro-American slaves who escaped to remote regions and built self administrated communities and settlements.

Various Communes can form Communal Cities, with administration and planning ‘from below’ if the entire territory is organized in Communal Councils and Communes. The mechanism of the construction of Communes and Communal cities is flexible; they themselves define their tasks. Thus the construction of self-government begins with what the population itself considers most important, necessary or opportune. The Communal Cities that have begun to form so far, for example, are rural and are structured around agriculture, such as the ‘Ciudad Comunal Campesina Socialista Simón Bolívar’ in the southern state of Apure or the ‘Ciudad Comunal Laberinto’ in the north-eastern state of Zulia.

Challenges

After 13 years of revolutionary transformation, the biggest challenge for the process is the structural contradiction between constituent and constituted power. Especially since 2007, the government’s ability to reform has increasingly clashed with the limitations inherent in the bourgeois state and the capitalist system. The movements and initiatives for self-management and self-government geared toward overcoming the bourgeois state and its institutions, with the goal of replacing it with a communal state based on popular power have grown. But simultaneously, because of the expansion of state institutions’ work, the consolidation of the Bolivarian process and growing resources, state institutions have been generally strengthened and have become more bureaucratized. Institutions of constituted power aim at controlling social processes and reproducing themselves. Since the institutions of constituted power are at the same time strengthening and limiting constituent power, the transformation process is very complex and contradictory. Nevertheless, the struggles liberated by constituent power in Venezuela are often struggles for a different system and not within the existing social, political and economic system. The contradiction is grounded in the difference between institutional and social logic.

For example, if the job as community promoter and the existence of a certain institution is guaranteed only as long as the Communal Councils still depend on them, then the interest of the institution and its employees in having independent Communal Councils will be minimal. Conversely, the individual civil servant as well as the institution as a whole will be desperately presenting advances and positive results, but always proving that the Communal Councils, Communes and other instances of self-administration in whatever sector need the support of the corresponding institution. In fact the Ministry of Communes turned out to be one of the biggest obstacles to the construction of Communes and most of the Communes under construction complain about the Ministry. Only the growing organization ‘from below’, especially the self organized Network of Commune Activists (Red de Comuneras y Comuneros), bringing together about 70 Communes could bring enough pressure on the Ministry of Communes to start changing its politics at the end of 2011. They forced the Ministry to register some 20 Communes.

Conclusion

While the ‘from above’ and ‘from below’ strategies have maintained themselves in the same process of transformation for 13 years and the conflictive relationship between constituent and constituted power has been the motor of the Bolivarian process, conflicts are increasing. The growing organization ‘from below’ and the development of popular power inevitably clash with constituted power. The growing organization ‘from below’ and the development of popular power limit the constituted power and overwhelm it if it does not limit them. They can only expand over time if they get the upper hand, in which case constituent power would profoundly transform constituted power.

I have no doubt that peoples power will expand. The most important experience people have had over the past 14 years in Venezuela was that they learned they can overcome their marginalization by participation and self organization, creating their own solutions. “We are all Chávez”.


Dario Azzellini, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria, lived and worked in Venezuela between 4 and 8 months a year from 2003 to 2011. He worked with communal councils, communes, workers control, rural and urban movements. He has written extensively and directed documentaries on Venezuela. He published the internationally acclaimed documentaries “Venezuela from below” (2004), “5 factories – workers control in Venezuela” (2006), and “Comuna under construction” (2010). He also published the books: “Caracas: Bolivarian city” (Berlin: b books, 2013); “Partizipation, Arbeiterkontrolle und die Commune” (Hamburg: VSA, 2012); “Venezuela bolivariana. Revolution des 21. Jahrhunderts?“; (Cologne: Neuer ISP Verlag) and “Il Venezuela di Chávez”, (Rome: DeriveApprodi, 2006); and several articles in journals in English, Spanish, Portuguese, German and Italian: www.azzellini.net

 

Source: Upside Down Worldhttp://upsidedownworld.org/main/venezuela-archives-35/4171-venezuela-with-and-beyond-chavez

 

March 08, 2013

 

Venezuelanalysis

 

Bahamas Blog International

 

...advancing the equality of gays and lesbians in The Bahamas

The Second Emancipation and gay Bahamians

Front Porch

BY SIMON

In the still fresh second decade of this century there continues to be a fundamental shift in humanity’s moral imagination with regard to respecting the dignity and advancing the equality of gays and lesbians.

In this decade and during this century, gays and lesbians will experience less prejudice and witness the end of discrimination on various fronts.

Fear-mongering accompanied by malevolent rhetoric are the eager co-conspirators of prejudice and bigotry, all of which gay and lesbian Bahamians continue to experience as targets of malicious attacks on their humanity.

It is unacceptable to publicly attack someone as a “nigger” whether from a public platform, in a blog, in a tabloid or in Parliament; in the case of the latter whether from a member on their feet or from their seat.

Similarly, it should no longer be tolerated when the rhetoric of intolerance is applied to gays or lesbians in these venues, with venom like “sissy” or the feminization of a man’s name.

Disguised

Shamefully, in the vanguard of the hate- and fear-mongers have been clerics, decidedly not heaven-sent, but hell-bent on perpetuating pernicious stereotypes about gays and lesbians.  Yet, God’s love will not be defeated by hate, even when it is disguised as defending morality.

Today, there is another awakening or epiphany in the arc of history which constitutes the second emancipation narrative of the Bahamian experience.

The second emancipation liberated black and white Bahamians from the deceits and conceits of racist ideologies.  It liberated women and men from much of the legal codification of sexism and male supremacy.

Today, gays and lesbians rightly lay claim to the vision and values of the movements for racial and women’s equality which remain pivotal struggles in the living tradition and democratic tapestry of the second Bahamian emancipation.

Today’s struggle for equality will help to liberate many who hold prejudices against those who by happenstance have a different sexual orientation.

As with black and female Bahamians, gays and lesbians are not asking for special rights.  They are demanding equality and social justice under the canopy of rights and freedoms enumerated in the constitution.

Those prone to proof-texting the Bible as they are the preamble to the constitution should know that the preamble is a hortatory prelude, but carries no legal force, nor is it dispositive in the adjudication of questions of various rights and freedoms. Indeed, despite the reference to Christianity in the preamble, freedom of religion is guaranteed in the charter of rights and freedoms.  Perhaps some of those itching to amend and chisel into the constitution their prejudices and social exclusions, might wish also to dispense with freedom of religion for non-Christians.

One cleric infamously deployed incendiary rhetoric, referencing Guy Fawkes as a role model.  Might there also be a grand inquisitor or two wishing to fuel a bonfire of their vanities and prejudices, perhaps using the constitution as tinder to help eviscerate certain human rights as protected in that very document?

Some question whether the struggles for equality by black and female Bahamians are the same as the struggle for equality of Bahamian gays and lesbians.

Rainbow

They are not exactly the same.  But they are profoundly analogous and similar on democratic and ethical grounds, constituting a rainbow of promise or an arc of history concerning mutual human and civil rights, sometimes creeping, sometimes galloping, but ever bending towards justice.

Barack Obama’s second inaugural address was a plea continued from a preacher King in 1963, echoes of whose dream reverberate still, nearly half a century later, across the quilt of memorials, museums and marches binding the National Mall in Washington, D.C., from the Lincoln Memorial to the U.S. Capitol Building.

The cadence of call and response between the martyred preacher and the re-elected president resounded in Obama’s “Our journey is not complete”, a refrain of Martin Luther King Jr.’s plea for equality and “I Have a Dream”.

“Our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law – for if we are truly created equal, then surely the love we commit to one another must be equal as well,” said the president.

The second inaugural of America’s first black president was more than an oath-taking.  It was a pageant of the mythology and history of the American experience.  Obama narrated the pageant with magisterial sweep, invoking the nation’s founders, and Lincoln and King, on whose bibles he swore his oath, as well as the now iconic triptych of Seneca Falls, Selma and Stonewall, referencing respectively the struggles for equality of women, African Americans and gays and lesbians.

Reminiscent of Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, Obama used one of the highest civic rituals of the American Republic to recalibrate America’s cannon of equality by calling for the full equality and rights of gay and lesbian citizens to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Seneca Falls recalled the eponymous convention of 1848, an epochal moment in the struggle for women’s equality.  Selma recalled the 1965 Selma, Alabama, marches for civil and voters’ rights.

In 1969 came Stonewall, a series of spontaneous demonstrations, the proximate cause of which was a police raid on a gay establishment.  Longstanding grievances of discrimination and harassment exploded into an event which was pivotal in “the modern fight for gay and lesbian rights in the United States”.

After the swearing-in, many wondered what Obama was imaging, as he paused to survey the National Mall when walking back into the Capitol.  Whatever was in his mind’s eye, many imagined what he or they may have seen from that vantage point. The National Mall Obama surveyed stands witness to America’s own second emancipation.  With the Washington Monument as its centerpiece, calling to mind America’s founding promises and original sins; the mall has been trod and sanctified by those who fought to bridge the gulfs of equality in America’s history.

The 1963 March on Washington at which Dr. King famously intoned his dream of equality was largely conceived and organized by the brilliant Bayard Rustin, both African Americans and gay, the content of whose character was foremost that of an American patriot and a drum major for justice.

Quilt

Suffragettes and those fighting for women’s equality have also marched the mall.  So too have gays and lesbians and their families, who formed a literal and human quilt in response to the HIV-AIDS crisis, a disease which never discriminated based on sexuality.

The Bahamian parallels to Seneca Falls, Selma and Stonewall are different by date and occasion, yet no less significant, including the vote for women in 1962 and majority rule in 1967.

For gays and lesbians, the calendar of emancipation has been more staggered.  In 1991, The Bahamas, through progressive legislation by the PLP, became the first independent, former British colony in the Caribbean to decriminalize sexual activity by adult homosexuals.   In 1998, in an extraordinary statement in response to a demonstration against a gay cruise, former Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham issued the most humane statement of tolerance and non-discrimination ever made by a Bahamian government.

We are on the cusp of another groundbreaking moment relative of the fuller inclusion of gay and lesbian citizens in terms of a fundamental human and civil rights issue.

Chief Justice Sir Michael Barnett recently noted that the question of marriage for same-sex partners would likely come before the courts.  Appropriately, he did not discuss his views on the issue.

He did note that the courts would likely review legal decisions from other jurisdictions, including the United States, where there are a variety of cases before state and federal courts, and now the Supreme Court.Sir Michael and U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts are Roman Catholics.

They appreciate that marriage is partly a religious institution.  Yet, it is also a civil institution, and in the end, the question of same-sex marriage should be decided on this basis.

Those who do not want same-sex marriages performed in their churches are within their rights.  Yet, the state has no right to ban gays and lesbians from exercising their civil right to marry, a right that should be challenged in the courts.

frontporchguardian@gmail.com , bahamapundit.com

March 07, 2013

thenassauguardian

 

Comrade Hugo Chavez has Died

President Hugo Chavez has Died

By Tamara Pearson:



Merida, March 5^th 2013 (Venezuelanalysis.com) –After two years of battling cancer, President Hugo Chavez has died today at 4.25 pm.

Vice-president Nicolas Maduro made the announcement on public television shortly after, speaking from the Military Hospital in Caracas, where Chavez was being treated.

Military and Bolivarian police have been sent out into the street to protect the people and maintain the peace. For now, things are calm here, with some people celebrating by honking their car horns, and many others quietly mourning in their homes.

Maduro made the announcement just a few hours after addressing the nation for an hour, accusing the opposition of taking advantage of the current situation to cause destabilisation.

“Those who die for life, can’t be called dead,” Maduro concluded.

March 05, 2013

Venezuelanalysis

Jamaica: ...To be young, gifted and blank

BY LLOYD B SMITH:

 

ALL of a sudden, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has become Jamaica's greatest bane. But is it? In real terms, it is supposed to be a boon if we are prepared to make the necessary sacrifices and maintain the fiscal discipline necessary to attain economic prosterity.

 

However, if a disease is to be effectively cured then while one fixes the symptoms through various prescriptions, one has to seriously deal with the cause. And I am convinced that this country's main ailment has nothing to do with inflation, a depleting Net International Reserve (NIR), a wobbling Jamaican dollar that is fast approaching J$100 to US$1, an import bill that far exceeds our export earnings, the debilitating spectre of crime and violence, waste and corruption, a savaging energy bill, or the many social ills that have caused us to descend into crass indiscipline and disorder.

That which hurts this fledgling nation most is that collectively we have failed to develop our greatest potential, which is our people. The starkest example of this is the continuing success of the tourism industry, despite an anaemic economy. In the final analysis, it is not the sun, sea and sand that make hundreds of thousands of visitors want to make it Jamaica again and again. Repeatedly, surveys have shown that it is the warm hospitality of the Jamaican people. Come to Jamaica and feel all right. Irie!

 

Yet, isn't it ironic that while we are so warm and hospitable to the tourist, we remain one of the most violent nations on Earth? Isn't this some form of schizophrenia? We kill each other daily but we smile for the tourist. Intriguingly, if we were able to solve the crime problem, tourism arrivals have the potential to move up to five million per annum, not to mention a dramatic increase in foreign direct investments. Why, therefore, do we continue to kill the goose that lays the golden egg?

 

Re-engaging the International Monetary Fund is in essence surrendering our sovereignty to a foreign entity, and we will only be able to get it back when we truly put our people first.

 

And in that context, my focus turns on the youth of this country. It is perhaps tragic that even as we bask in the seeming glory of having attained 50 years of political independence, not only are we yet to achieve economic independence but have created "a generation of vipers". This may sound silly, but I am convinced that unless we deal with the youth crisis in this country then we will never ever become truly independent, economically or otherwise. Indeed, our political independence hinges on the way we treat our youth because they are the future of this country. They are the ones who must be the producers, the innovators, the creators, the game changers, the nation builders.

 

Unfortunately, most of the crimes committed in sweet, sweet Jamaica are by young men, many of whom are uneducated and unskilled. Sadly, there is a disconnect between them and us. "Di yout pon di corner" who continue to lament the fact that "nutten nah gwan" are angry and oftentimes hungry young men who are totally disenchanted with the system.

 

Let's face it, this country has a great number of young persons out there who have the potential to become useful and happy citizens. Jamaicans are a very talented people. Any country our size that can produce a Bob Marley and a Usain Bolt should not be taken for granted. The tragedy is that because of the failure of our politics, there are thousands of Jamaican youngsters in our midst who are young, gifted and blank. They cannot read and write, they have no marketable skill, they are plagued by a sense of hopelessness and have very little faith or confidence in the future. Practically every day, a young man dies in this country, and any nation that keeps killing off its young men will never be able to create the environment in which Vision 2030 can become a reality. Incidentally, how many of our young people are aware of this national objective and have bought into it?

 

We have failed to exploit 'Brand Jamaica' in the positive way we should, because we continue to be a nation of samples, talk and no action. Is it that youth heeds nothing? Too much lip service is being paid to our young people. Yes, it may well be argued that there are many success stories with respect to our youth, but aren't they more the exception than the norm? Sometimes when I watch TVJ's School Challenge Quiz, I am struck by the ease with which students can answer questions relating to foreign topics, including identifying outstanding individuals as against relating to local figures and institutions. Our young people for the most part have foreign minds and foreign tastes. Most of our most qualified youngsters migrate, the average youth in the ghetto has no clue about what is going on around him or her. During a job interview I asked this young man the following questions: "Do you read?" "No." "Do you watch or listen to the news?" "No, sah. Me lissen to Beenie Man and Bounty Killa." Enough said.

 

Their mode of dress, the way they speak, their body language and just about everything about them reflects an alien culture.

 

Recently, Finance Minister Dr Peter Phillips declared that after the IMF obligations and other major housekeeping matters have been met, education will take top priority with respect to budgetary allocation. It's a pity we did not take such a stance from 1962. Today, we would have been the better for it. After all, education is about youth. In this vein, the Ministry of Youth and Culture has its work cut out for it. God help us!

 

Lloyd B Smith is a Member of Parliament and Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives. The views expressed are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of the People's National Party.

lloydbsmith@hotmail.com

February 26, 2013

Jamaica Observer

Bahamas Blog International

Value Added Tax (VAT) and The Bahamas: ...Moody's International Credit Rating Agency has assigned value-added tax (VAT) a credit positive ...and estimates it could account for a third of The Bahamas' government revenue by 2016

Moody’s assigns VAT credit positive

Moody’s projects new tax could make up third of govt revenue by 2016, serving as ‘significant catalyst’ in economic reform effort

BY JEFFREY TODD
Guardian Business Editor
jeffrey@nasguard.com
Nassau, The Bahamas

An international ratings agency has assigned value-added tax (VAT) a credit positive and estimates it could account for a third of government revenue by 2016.

Moody's official assessment, released yesterday morning, found that VAT will likely be revenue neutral in the first one or two years. The government recently announced it would implement the tax by July 2014. This delay in revenue is due to a large set of zero-rated or tax-exempt goods and services, according to the report, and the elimination of other taxes such as select excise duties and business licensing fees.

"Fiscal revenue gains will become apparent as the VAT system matures," Moody's stated.

"We estimate the gross contribution of VAT revenue will expand to six percent of GDP annually by 2016. This will be a significant catalyst for the government's fiscal consolidation efforts."

Indeed, other countries in the region with VAT systems in place, such as Barbados, Belize and Jamaica, report overall fiscal revenue contribution of about 30 percent, or around eight percent of GDP.

"The ultimate effect of tax reforms, including the VAT, on The Bahamas' creditworthiness will depend on the government's willingness and ability to embed them in a broader fiscal strategy that also begins to reign in the government's current expenditure commitments," the report continued.

Moody's explained that the government's tax base currently stands at less than 20 percent of GDP, which is small compared to other countries in the region. The ratings agency referred to trade-related customs duties as "volatile", and yet it made up 50 percent of the total revenue in 2012.

Most significantly, it noted that this revenue source will likely "shrink" as duties are phased out with World Trade Organization (WTO) ascension.

Moody's also highlighted the "significant tax concessions" in tourism. As a result, this area accounts for only 10 percent of fiscal revenues.

In his mid-year budget communication yesterday, Prime Minister Perry Christie hinted that these concessions could be scaled back as part of the government's aggressive strategy to right the economy.

Last year, according to the government, trade tax made up 9.3 percent of GDP. Property tax accounted for just 1.4 percent, tourism-related taxes 2.1 percent and non-tax revenue 1.4 percent.

"Other tax" made up 4.1 percent, bringing the total revenue composition to less than 20 percent of GDP.

"The VAT is a key element of a broader set of structural reforms introduced this year to expand and diversify the tax base. The reforms reflect the government's commitment to fiscal consolidation," the report said.

Interestingly, the ratings agency made no mention of the government's plan to bring the tax on board by next year. The Christie administration has been criticized for assigning an overly ambitious timeline, most recently by the Council for Concerned Bahamians Abroad.

James Smith, a former minister of state for finance, emphasized yesterday that VAT is not a new idea for The Bahamas. The first study, he said, was conducted in 2002 with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

"It would appear starting fresh you would need more time. But a lot of the ground work has already been done," he told Guardian Business.

Of all the reforms introducing by Prime Minister Perry Christie in recent times, Smith said VAT is the most significant.

"It's something we have never done before, where we expand tax to cover services. For us, I think it is a dramatic change," he added.

February 26, 2013

thenassauguardian

Bahamas Blog International

Bahamian banks react to data breach... ...thieves may have infiltrated an international acquiring company located somewhere in the Caribbean... ...Sensitive information for clients across the region could have spilled into the hands of criminals ...although there have been no major reports of fraud

Banks react to data breach

Commonwealth Bank and Bank of The Bahamas join Fidelity in reissuing credit cards, as financial institutions monitor client transactions closely

BY JEFFREY TODD
Guardian Business Editor
jeffrey@nasguard.com
Nassau, The Bahamas

Another financial institution has pulled the trigger on the partial reissuing of credit cards as the possibility of a major data breach sinks in.

Following an assessment of the risk, Commonwealth Bank Limited (CBL) is considering whether to send out 5,000 new credit cards to its clients, a process that could take up to three weeks.

Ian Jennings, the president of CBL, confirmed that some clients have already received new cards.  He said that a decision will be made soon on whether to commence a mass reissuing.

Sources close to the matter told Guardian Business that Bank of The Bahamas (BOB) is also reissuing cards.  Paul McWeeney, the managing director at BOB, did not respond to request for comment before press time.

On Tuesday, Guardian Business exclusively revealed that thieves may have infiltrated an international acquiring company located somewhere in the Caribbean.  Sensitive information for clients across the region could have spilled into the hands of criminals, although there have been no major reports of fraud.

Anwer Sunderji, the CEO of Fidelity Bank (Bahamas), said all Bahamian banks have been compromised and the institution chose to replace its cards as of late last week.

Indeed, financial institutions in The Bahamas don't appear to be taking any chances.

"As a matter of precaution, we are reissuing cards to our customers and notifying those that may have been breached," Jennings said.  "It is an expense in terms of manpower.  The cost of plastic is low.  It is the process and getting them out as quick as we can that is costly.  It will take up to three weeks to get them out."

Jennings told Guardian Business that it's a precaution CBL must take given the circumstances, noting that "you don't want that kind of exposure".

Managing Director of Scotiabank (Bahamas) Kevin Teslyk said yesterday that the breach appears to stem from a missing data tape or device from an office in Barbados.

He stressed that the bank employs very sophisticated monitoring software and preventative techniques.  Since the missing tape, the alert has not been escalated, although the bank will continue to monitor the situation over the coming days and weeks.

"If things change we'll handle it on an individual level, and if need be, to a greater extent if necessary," he added.

Wendy Craigg, governor of the Central Bank, confirmed that the risk could be "material".  The Central Bank was first informed of the incident by a domestic institution last week.  Over time, it became apparent that other banks were compromised and the replacement of cards would be necessary.

"As a regulator, we are always concerned about operational risk issues, and certainly one such as this could be material.  Our approach has been to contact all our domestic licensees, especially those issuing Visa Debit cards, to assess the extent of the breach," she said.  "We have determined that banks which processed transactions through the affected service provider were already alerted to the breach, and we are following up the matter to assess any possible exposure."

The governor applauded the response of banks thus far to protect their clients, pointing out that the breach is not just impacting The Bahamas.

Other entities within the Caribbean and elsewhere utilize the affected service provider.

For his part, Jennings told Guardian Business that there is very little that can be done about these data breaches.  Customers should always be careful with their card usage, he said, and during this time clients must be especially attentive.

February 22, 2013

thenassauguardian

Bahamas Blog International