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Charla del candidato Joe Garcia

Will Venezuela nationalise the country's banks?

23 June 2008

Informed sources have stated that the Government of Venezuela intends to nationalise the privately-owned banks in the country. Such a move, which President Chavez has repeatedly threatened to do by executive proclamation, would raise country risk for Venezuela to unacceptable levels, due to the threat of unwittingly facilitating terrorist financing or conducting business for sanctioned entities. If this occurs, the financial line between Venezuela and Iran will become totally blurred, and with the major non-proliferation/WMD sanctions currently in effect, international financial transactions with a government-owned banking monopoly would be the financial equivalent of Russian Roulette.

Lest anyone doubt that this is a real possibility, let us quote President Chavez, speaking on 4 May, 2007, of a new wave of nationalisation to come:

Private banks have to give priority to financing the industrial sectors of Venezuela at low cost. if banks don't agree with this, it is better that they go, that they turn over the banks to me, that we nationalise them and get all the banks to work for the development of the country and not to speculate and produce huge profits.

Look at these facts and decide whether you agree that there are just too many red flags that point to nationalisation:

A leading Spanish-owned bank in Venezuela is being sold to an individual with close ties to the government. Is this being done to avoid a confrontation with the Government of Spain?

The Venezuelan businessman reputed to be the principal financial advisor to the Chavez family has acquired several major banks, and is seeking to merge them.

Many of the so-called " Bolivarian Elite," the twenty Venezuelan entrepreneurs who have extremely favourable and lucrative government contracts, have purchased a number of the country's banks. One wonders where they obtained the funds to make those purchases; were they simply fronting for the government, or did the purchase money come from illicit sources, to be laundered upon nationalisation?

If most of the country's banks are owned by the Bolivarians, they will reap a windfall when their shares are purchased by the government upon nationalisation.

From a compliance viewpoint, nationalisation would allow Iran to hide all its international funds transfers in a non-sanctioned economic structure that could easily disguise the tainted source of funds. Remember, Iran & Venezuela already have advised that they are to form a joint bank, to be based in Tehran. Then we have the Caracas-based, Iranian-owned bank, Banco Internacional Desarrollo, with the intentionally-confusing name, which could further muddy the water.

The list of existing facilities that could then easily mainstream Iranian funds into the global economy also includes a Venezuelan government-owned bank already operating in Tehran, and an Iranian state-owned bank located in Caracas. This has the potential to become a compliance nightmare, as there will be no adequate protection from exposure to terrorist financing.

Treasury Targets Hizballah in Venezuela

June 18, 2008
hp-1036

Washington - The U.S. Department of the Treasury today designated two Venezuela-based supporters of Hizballah, Ghazi Nasr al Din and Fawzi Kan'an, along with two travel agencies owned and controlled by Kan'an.

- The U.S. Department of the Treasury today designated two Venezuela-based supporters of Hizballah, Ghazi Nasr al Din and Fawzi Kan'an, along with two travel agencies owned and controlled by Kan'an.

"It is extremely troubling to see the Government of Venezuela employing and providing safe harbor to Hizballah facilitators and fundraisers. We will continue to expose the global nature of Hizballah's terrorist support network, and we call on responsible governments worldwide to disrupt and dismantle this activity," said Adam J. Szubin, Director of the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).

Today's action was taken pursuant to Executive Order 13224, which targets terrorists, those owned or controlled by or acting for or on behalf of terrorists, and those providing financial, technological, or material support to terrorists or acts of terrorism. Assets the designees hold under U.S. jurisdiction are frozen and U.S. persons are prohibited from engaging in transactions in property or interests in property blocked under the order.

Identifying Information

GHAZI NASR AL DIN

Ghazi Nasr al Din is a Venezuela-based Hizballah supporter who has utilized his position as a Venezuelan diplomat and the president of a Caracas-based Shi'a Islamic Center to provide financial support to Hizballah. Nasr al Din served until recently as Charge d' Affaires at the Venezuelan Embassy in Damascus, Syria, and was subsequently appointed the Director of Political Aspects at the Venezuelan Embassy in Lebanon.

Nasr al Din has counseled Hizballah donors on fundraising efforts and has provided donors with specific information on bank accounts where the donors' deposits would go directly to Hizballah.

Ghazi Nasr al Din has met with senior Hizballah officials in Lebanon to discuss operational issues, as well as facilitated the travel of Hizballah members to and from Venezuela. In late January 2006, Nasr al Din facilitated the travel of two Hizballah representatives to the Lebanese Parliament to Caracas to solicit donations for Hizballah and to announce the opening of a Hizballah-sponsored community center and office in Venezuela. The previous year, Nasr al Din arranged the travel of Hizballah members to attend a training course in Iran.

AKAs: Haj Ghazi Nasseredine

Ghazi Nassereddine

Gazi Nasseridine

Gazi Nasser El-Din

Ghazil Nasser Al-Din

Haj Ghazzi Nassereddine

Ghassan Attef Salame Nasserddine

Ghassan Nasr El Din Ghassan

Ghazi Nasserddine

Ghazi `Atef Nasraldine

Atef Salameh Nasserdine Ghasan

Hajj Ghazi `Atif Nasr al-Din

Venezuelan Cedula: 18.190.527

Venezuelan Passport: B-0472561

DOB: 13DEC 1962

POB: Lebanon

FAWZI KAN'AN

Fawzi Kan'an is a Venezuela-based Hizballah supporter and a significant provider of financial support to Hizballah. Kan'an has facilitated travel for Hizballah members and sent money raised in Venezuela to Hizballah officials in Lebanon.

Kan'an has met with senior Hizballah officials in Lebanon to discuss operational issues, including possible kidnappings and terrorist attacks. Further, Kan'an has also traveled with other Hizballah members to Iran for training.

AKAs:	Fazi Canaan Faouzi Can'an Fouzi Kanan Fauzi Kanaan Fawzi Kan'an Fauzi Ganan Maustaf Fawzi (Faouzi) Kanaan
DOB1:	7 June 1943
DOB 2:	February 1943
DOB3:	l June l943
POB 1:	Lebanon
POB 2:	Baalbeck, Lebanon
POB 3:	Betechelida, Lebanon
Passport no:	0877677
Nationality:	Venezuelan (Naturalized)
Naturalization no.:	2108, 16 December 1977
Identification no:	V-6.919.272
Residence 1:	Calle 2, Residencias Cosmos, Fifth Floor, Apartment 5D , La Urbina Caracas, Venezuela
Residence 2:	Esquina Bucare, Building 703, Second Floor, Apartment 20 Caracas, Venezuela

BIBLOS TRAVEL AGENCY

Biblos Travel Agency is a Venezuela-based travel agency owned and operated by Fawzi Kan'an, which he has used to courier funds to Lebanon.

AKAs:	Biblios Travel Biblos Travel CA Biblos Travel, C.A.
Location:	Avenida Baralt, Esquina Maderero, Edificio Santa Isabel II, PB, Loc. 1 Caracas, Venezuela

HILAL TRAVEL AGENCY
Formed in April 2001, Hilal Travel Agency is a Venezuela-based travel agency owned and operated by Fawzi Kan'an.

AKAs:

Hilal Travel C.A.

Address:

Avenida Baralt, Esquina Maderero, Edificio Santa Isabel
Caracas, Venezuela

Business ID no.:

80074366

Venezuela: Rich Dictator, Poor People
Venezuela: Rich Dictator, Poor People
By Cristal Montañ�z



I am a former Miss Venezuela, and although a naturalized U.S. citizen, I feel a deep responsibility for and commitment to my country of origin. Today, I condemn the disaster that has befallen my country since Hugo Ch�vez took office, and continue to denounce it to let the world know the current reality of Venezuela. This is a personal account juxtaposed by political and social events.
In 1977 when I received my crown, my country was an enticing paradise and a lucrative place for business. Venezuela’s inviting tropical climate mirrored the fun, fresh personality of her people. During my career as an international model, I always felt proud to represent Venezuela. Even though its system was not perfect, my country was a peaceful, exotic melting pot. It was considered an example of democracy and a political model to be imitated in Latin America, characterized by the separation of power and respect for the Constitution and the rule of law. Those were years of development and growth, excellent international relations, and recognition for Venezuela.
I remember with pride the creation of PDVSA (1975), the inauguration of the Caracas Metro (1983), and the Grand Mariscal de Ayacucho, a scholarship program that educated so many of our petroleum engineers. There were food programs for the schools, internationalization of the oil industry, and the construction of the Teresa Carreno Art Center, among many other triumphs. All that, was before Hugo Ch�vez came to power.
I also remember my first experience as a political activist during the 1978 presidential campaign. That year, when I placed my ballot in the box for the first time, I had the confidence my vote would be secret and respected. Today, Venezuelans face an irregular electoral registry, and their ballots are manipulated by fraudulent electronic machines.
The Vargas Tragedy
Many of my fondest memories are of driving with friends and family to Vargas State, the region I represented, on weekends to enjoy some of the most stunning beaches on the northern Caribbean coast. Vargas was a popular (and profitable) tourist stop. Home to the country’s large seaport, La Guaira, and the principal airport in Venezuela, its unique blend of beauty and Caribbean charisma attracted people from all over the world. Unfortunately, that has changed during the Ch�vez regime. Now, increased crime and violence discourage tourists from traveling to Venezuela.
A few days before the 1999 referendum for a new constitution, meteorologists advised President Ch�vez’s government that some 16 inches of heavy rains were expected in Vargas and recommended that the scheduled election be postponed. Ch�vez ignored the warning, demanding that all go to the polls and commanding them to “fight against nature” if necessary.
Ch�vez called upon the armed forces to fully monitor the referendum process instead of calling for the affected area to be evacuated. Hence, few soldiers were available to help in the disaster areas.
My father was a military man, and I grew up with great respect for soldiers who dedicate their lives in defense of the state. Even though the Venezuelan constitution established that the armed forces “are at the exclusive service of the nation, and in no case at the service of any person or political partisanship,” Ch�vez has converted them into his own political appendage and ensured that the military serves his interests. The Venezuelan military now includes reserves and territorial guards, whose main purpose is to spread political ideology and serve as “local resistance before an internal aggression or invasion of foreign forces.”
After the torrential rains, it took days for the Venezuelan military to take action in Vargas. The rainfall reached some 48 inches and mudslides resulted in a loss of lives that could have been prevented. Approximately 30,000 people died and thousands were airlifted out of the disaster area to other states.
Six months after the tragedy I traveled to Vargas, leading a group of young ambassadors representing Bear Hugs for Venezuela, a UNICEF program for the children affected run in conjunction with the Venezuelan Red Cross. The devastation was heart-wrenching: the beautiful beaches I had enjoyed so much were destroyed and abandoned as dirty mud marshes. Mud covered buildings up to their fourth floor. Brick homes had been destroyed by the landslides, displacing all remnants of normal life. Horrible smells and flies infected the area. The air was thick and filthy, and the reigning misery overpowered every breath. Those who had no place to go dug holes above their buried homes, cleared the waste inside, and molded a pit with room enough to sleep. The shelters were not equipped with the basics necessary for sleeping, cooking, and eating. The area was totally unsanitary, and people felt abandoned with no hope, no future. This is the true story of an oil-producing country once considered the jewel of the Caribbean.
In the midst of this misery, Ch�vez’s government refused much-needed equipment that was offered by the U.S. Why? The Chavistas claimed any U.S. help would be a front for a military invasion. Ch�vez has prevented the resuscitation of Vargas by limiting the ability to open a viable road network. He has also ignored the need for reconstruction in the region.

Today, nearly a decade after the tragedy, I’m appalled to see how the government has failed to create the infrastructure needed to rebuild Vargas and promote economic development. Thousands of displaced poor people are still waiting for the government to fulfill its promise to rebuild their homes. There are no resources allocated for rebuilding Vargas. However, Ch�vez, who insists that “being rich is bad,” spent $65 million on a private jet for his personal use while the poor people of Vargas remain in dire need of basic housing.
The Savior of the Poor?
Ch�vez has claimed to be the savior of the poor. In reality, he has used them as a political tool to gain power. His neo-communist and militarist model continues to be funded by oil wealth that belongs to all Venezuelans. While PDVSA plays a major role in the Ch�vez revolution in Venezuela, Citgo is used as his political instrument in the U.S. The PDVSA and Citgo profits are then used by Ch�vez to buy political loyalty.
Before Ch�vez took over in 1999, when oil was selling for about $10 per barrel, PDVSA was the world’s second-largest energy company and one of the leading foreign suppliers of crude oil and refined petroleum products to the U.S. Under Ch�vez, with oil selling for over $100, Venezuelan oil production has fallen almost 50 percent.
Never in Venezuela’s history has there been such rampant and shameless corruption. According to Domingo Maza Zavala, former director of the Central Bank of Venezuela, “Now, in Venezuela, there is more poverty than there was before Ch�vez.”
There are also serious problems in the healthcare system. From the 1960s to the ’80s, my mother worked for the Instituto Venezolano de Seguro Sociales (I.V.S.S.), the public healthcare system. Even though it faced problems before Ch�vez took office, the I.V.S.S. was able to serve its constituency and offered outpatient medical services, surgery, and hospitalization, as well as free prescriptions. While far from perfect, the agency was innovative. My mother used to get excited about the new technology and equipment purchased by the I.V.S.S. to provide better and faster service.
In March 2003, the Ch�vez government adopted what they called “socialist” innovations in healthcare, but completely failed to maintain basic medical functions. Instead of supporting the existing public health programs, Ch�vez built a parallel health program, Barrio Adentro, which features 11,000 community modules (one-room clinics) staffed mainly by Cuban doctors. The system diverts resources and equipment from the I.V.S.S. public hospitals, where the public still goes for emergency and maternity care and for most major and elective surgeries. There are not enough beds for patients, and often two patients share a bed. Two or three newborns may share the same incubator. Supplies are no longer available, and fewer doctors work for the public system due to low wages. Patients are required to bring their own sheets and bandages. According to UNICEF, since the mid-1990s the childbirth mortality rate has risen 18 percent, to 59 in every 100,000 deliveries. Between 1998 (the year before Ch�vez took office) and 2007, cases of malaria nearly doubled.
Today, Venezuela’s public health system is fatally deteriorating due to lack of resources and corrupt accounting. The finances of Barrio Adentro are mismanaged and disorganized, making it impossible to determine its efficiency.
Meanwhile, the once-amicable climate of cooperation among the Venezuelan people is being extinguished by violence, a consequence of the lack of rule of law. Today the air is thick with fear as brainwashed Chavistas now differentiate among skin colors. It horrifies me to see racism and hatred dividing families where friends and family once felt free to hold different opinions and political views. It used to be we could passionately support opposing campaigns and still enjoy a meal together. This is no longer the case, as Ch�vez’s goal of imposing “his revolution” infects the country. I regret that my grown children cannot experience the same beauty and serenity that up to a decade ago I was so proud of.
When I was growing up I remember walking to school every morning, book-bag in hand, laughing with my friends. My biggest concern was getting to school on time. Today, children cannot step outside without worrying about being assaulted, losing a leg or even their lives over a $60 pair of Nikes. My school days were filled with assignments that encouraged creative thought. Through projects, plays, books, and foundational literature like Moral y Luces, I learned traditional subjects infused with respect and love for my country.
Today, Ch�vez imposes his Bolivarian curriculum, which intends to promote Chavista ideology and eliminate the democratic history of Venezuela. Instead of focusing on educational standards, schools today are becoming miniature military boot camps. It is no surprise that literacy rates are dropping. Children with green uniforms and red berets are handling guns and shouting, “Fatherland, Socialism or Death.”
This horrifying phenomenon is fueled by Ch�vez’s determination to condition the Venezuelan youth into believing his own skewed interpretation of history, through which they will likely become little soldiers for his cause.
The Future
In November, the Ch�vez regime will allow political parties to receive public financing to promote the campaigns leading up to the gubernatorial and mayoral elections. That will likely mean that some opposition politicians will be elected. And that will allow Ch�vez to declare that he is a democrat and that the opposition is governing with him.
But next year Ch�vez is expected to bring in regional vice presidents (established in the constitutional reform rejected in the December 2007 referendum) to exert control over the newly elected opposition governors and mayors. Indeed, as long as Ch�vez controls the electoral system, he will stay in power. If you don’t believe that, take a look at his adviser, Fidel Castro. .
Cristal Montañ�z is the international coordinator for RECIVEX, Resistencia Civil de Venezolanos en al Exterior.

Venezuelan Ambassador is in a Political Campaign in the USA?
A few days ago, the Nuevo Herald newspaper of Miami published an article titled "Venezuela in a Public Relations Campaign". Actually, the Venezuelan Ambassador to the United States, Bernardo Alvarez, is in a political campaign, something which Venezuela would certainly not allow the US Ambassador to do in Caracas. As a matter of fact, this did happen: when Ambassador William Brownfield tried to deliver some sport items in a sports field, strutting repressive government groups forced him to leave the field.
If diplomatic relations require reciprocity, the US government allows Ambassador Alvarez to visit American universities and provide benefits on behalf of a government that has publicly declared its opposition to the United States and defended the Colombian drug-trafficking guerrillas, has enormous administrative corruption, and whose crime rate has caused more deaths than any other Latin American country.
Ambassador Alvarez visited Tampa and Orlando, where opposition to him, we assume, is the "light" version compared to Miami, since they met with him, which wouldn't have happened in Miami. He even met (which he certainly would not do in Venezuela) with the homeless in Tampa, to whom he gave money that belongs to the Venezuelan people. What about the Venezuelan homeless, Mr. Ambassador?
Maybe all Venezuelans own homes such as the one in which he lives in Washington?
All of this is consistent with a campaign which is very similar to that of Barak Obama; he offers change and negotiation with other US administrations not headed by George W. Bush. Another apparent coincidence is that Bill Richardson, Governor of New Mexico, who has just become a big ally of Mr. Obama, went this week to Colombia, according to him to negotiate the release of the American hostages held by the FARC; actually, it almost sounds as if he went to negotiate funds for Mr. Obama's campaign, who has declared on several occasions that he would sit down with the Venezuelan dictator to negotiate.
The straw that broke the camel's back is the supposedly friendly meeting with the Venezuelans who live in Orlando, who asked the Ambassador to intercede on their behalf to obtain, among other things, a health plan for the Venezuelans who live in the US.
After working for 6 years as head of the Venamher clinic, a non profit organization for Venezuelans who do not have access to medical care, this was extremely surprising. Don't they read the Venezuelan newspapers? They would find out that health services in Venezuela are almost non-existent.
?, I wonder, how would that clinic operate?
-         We will provide medical care if you vote for Ch�vez.
     -     I want to have assurances that any statements you make in English show that you are in favor of Ch�vez's government.
A picture will be taken of you with the Ambassador while receiving medical care as a patient in this clinic.
Would these probably be the prescriptions given to this clinic's patients?
If that is not the case, please let me know, maybe there are times when I don't understand certain situations.
-         I do think it is a big mistake to even give Mr. Alvarez the opportunity to go around this great country, certainly greater than he could imagine. We should demand that the Venezuelan authorities give the same treatment to his US counterpart in Caracas, Ambassador Patrick D. Duddy. That is an opposition attitude without hidden agendas.

Venezuelan woman went to Cuba for a nose surgery and returned with a disfigured

Venezuelan woman went to Cuba for a nose surgery and returned with a disfigured face

May 6 - Ifley Patty, a 40 year old Venezuelan woman who went to Cuba for a nose reconstruction, told Globovision that she returned with a disfigured face, a missing right cheekbone and a loss of her sense of taste.

Patty traveled to Cuba as part of the health agreement signed between the two countries, which allows Venezuelans to go to the island to receive medical treatment.

The woman told Globovision that she contracted a bacteria during the operation at a Cuban hospital.

Patty decided to make her case public because Venezuelan authorities have refused to help her.

A doctor from the state of Aragua who is trying to help her, told Globovision that "whoever did this cannot be considered a surgeon."

The doctor said that the Venezuelan authorities have "closed all the doors" to their attempts to get help for her. "They do not want t accept these type of complaints," he said.

Patty, who used to be a model, told Globovision that she now has problems breathing and talking.

"I just want to get back to having a normal life," the woman told Globovision.

Recipient of the 2008 Milton Friedman Prize for Advancing Liberty

Yon Goicoechea's Biography
Recipient of the 2008 Milton Friedman Prize for Advancing Liberty
Yon Goicoechea Lara is a pivotal force behind Venezuela's non-violent pro-democracy Student Movement. The 23-year-old Venezuelan law student is a passionate opponent of the erosion of human and civil rights under the government of Venezuelan president Hugo Ch�vez, and an organizer of massive student marches that have captured the world's attention.
The tense environment in Venezuela has come under greater scrutiny as media outlets critical of the government have been shut down or silenced and dozens of protesting students have been imprisoned. Despite death threats to him and his family, 23-year-old Goicoechea remains fully committed to securing basic freedoms in his homeland.
Through non-violent marches and petitions to the government, he advocates for the constitutionally guaranteed liberties of the right to peaceful protest, freedom of the press, and the right to be free from politically motivated violence. All of these rights are threatened in Venezuela today.

Goicoechea emerged as a national figure in Venezuela in early 2007 through his leadership of the student movement response to the government-ordered closure of Radio Caracas Television. In a dramatic appearance before the National Assembly in June 2007, and through petitions to the government and legislature, he helped expose the increasing civil rights violations taking place throughout the country.

Throughout 2007, he organized more than 40 student movement protest marches, averaging 80,000 people each. These mass demonstrations focused global attention on the threats to civil liberties in Venezuela.
In the afternoon of December 2, 2007, before the widely expected victory of the "Yes" vote on the constitutional reform that would have given the Venezuelan president sweeping dictatorial powers, Goicoechea appeared on live national television and inspired all those who fought in favor of democracy. With a confident smile he declared:
"The challenge for the next hour is to prove with facts the democratic conviction of the Venezuelan people.... We reject the rumors that aim to demobilize our people in the polling stations. There are many reasons to stay at the polling stations! To pick up the official returns, to fight for the votes, and to stay until the end of this electoral process!"
The student movement, through its marches and monitoring of the polling stations, has been credited with defeating the proposed constitutional reform. After the victory of the "No" vote, Goicoechea announced:
"Today the possibility of a better Venezuela has won... We want to tell all Venezuelans, to those who voted 'YES', to those who support the President, that we are celebrating here with humility, and that we dedicate this triumph to you. This victory is the victory of the Venezuelan people that today defended their freedoms, but above all it's the victory of the future and of the immense possibilities we have of building a country together."
Prior to his leadership role within the Venezuelan student movement, Goicoechea was committed to a number of public service organizations and activities; serving as a volunteer to organizations that provide legal assistance to residents of poor areas, providing health care for sick children, and conducting social work inside prisons. Goicoechea is currently completing his law degree at Universidad Cat�lica Andr�s Bello in Caracas, where he is near the top of his class and has held various student government positions.
Yon Goicoechea is the 2008 recipient of the Cato Institute's Milton Friedman Prize for Advancing Liberty, the leading international award for significant contributions to advancing individual liberty.

An influential Democrat's offer to help a congressional challenger from Miami ha
An influential Democrat's offer to help a congressional challenger from Miami has sparked a storm in South Florida.
Posted on Fri, Apr. 11, 2008
BY LESLEY CLARK AND BETH REINHARD
breinhard@MiamiHerald.com
A powerful New York politician's participation in a South Florida congressional race is riling some Latin Americans in Miami who see him as a friend to their biggest enemies: Fidel Castro and Hugo Ch�vez.
U.S. Rep. Charles Rangel is billed as a ''special guest'' at an April 21 fundraiser in New York City for Democrat Joe Garcia, who is challenging Republican U.S. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart.
MET WITH CASTRO
Rangel has met several times with Castro and he advocates lifting the trade embargo and travel restrictions aimed at squeezing Cuba's communist regime, arguing the Cuban people are being cut off from democracy. And in 2006, he touted a program to distribute discounted fuel from Citgo -- owned by the Ch�vez government -- to poor New York City residents.
On Thursday, those stances prompted the Independent Venezuelan American Citizens and 18 graduates of Garcia's old high school in Miami -- several with Republican ties -- to call on him to ''renounce'' Rangel's support. Outraged Cuban Americans have also been blasting the two men's connection on Spanish-language radio and blogs.
''We want to alert Joe that he's making a mistake,'' said Ernesto Ackerman, president of the non-partisan Venezuelan group. ``If you're in a community with a majority of Latin Americans, you have to think about who your allies are going to be.''
Garcia, who is Cuban-American, says he has ''profound disagreements'' with Rangel on foreign policy, but notes that Rangel, who chairs the influential
House Ways
and Means Committee, could be a key ally in securing federal dollars for the district.
''My job in Congress will be to represent Florida's 25th congressional district -- the most poorly federally funded district in Florida -- on revitalizing our economy, bringing better jobs to our community, improving education for our children and providing tax relief for middle-class families,'' Garcia said in a statement. 'My history of fighting on behalf of human rights in Cuba and Latin America exceeds my opponent's limited `one-note' accomplishments.''
One of Garcia's fellow graduates from Belen Jesuit Preparatory School who signed the letter condemning Rangel, Republican state Rep. Marcelo Llorente of Miami, acknowledged Rangel's clout, but said he's ''really out of step'' with the community.
A Rangel spokesman, Emile Milne, said the congressman is no friend to Castro and Ch�vez, pointing out that Rangel strongly denounced the Venezuelan president when Ch�vez called President Bush ''the devil'' at a 2006 speech at the United Nations. ''You don't come into my country; you don't come into my congressional district and you don't condemn my president,'' Rangel declared at the time.
RESPONSE
Democracy for America, a Democratic political action committee, is trying to leverage the controversy over Rangel's involvement in the race in a fundraising appeal on behalf of Garcia. A spokesman for Diaz-Balart has called Rangel a ``left-wing extremist.''
''No one has ever accused Rep. Diaz-Balart of being an effective congressman, but his new attack on Joe Garcia shows what an empty suit he is,'' said Daniel Medress, Democracy for America's spokesman.

Support from Mr Charles Rangel to Joe Garcia/IVAC
With great regret the members of the Independent Venezuelan American Citizens find out this week of the decision made by congress’s member Charles Rangel of the state of New York, to support the Democrat Candidate Mr. Joe Garc�a, currently running for the camera of Representatives.
Ivac wishes to send a message to Mr. Garc�a and in turn to his Campaign committee, in his district reside a great percentage of Latin Americans that have suffered for years the indignity of a social damaging and very harmful wave especially for our hemisphere, of a so called twenty first century socialism revolution, lead by the Venezuelan Dictator Mr. Hugo Chavez and his chain of marionettes who are big links of the Congress member Mr. Charles Rangel.

Congressman Charles Rangel of the state of New York, with the simple approach of meeting with the Mr. Fidel Castro (the president of Communist Cuba for the last 49 years), only raises the questions of his leftist and communist tendencies that are very divergent to the Democratic ideas of the great majority of residents that share the free land of the United States.
You may also want to forecast the possible negative consequences of any contributions from congressman Rangel to your campaign since he has an open relation with CITGO, and now mostly due to the recent events regarding the detention of individuals at several international airports, for carrying suitcases with excessive amounts of us currency entering the United States illegally and without any accountability of their origins the so called “Maletinazos”
Its Individuals like the Mr. Charles Rangel, that should exercise the experience of living in countries that they consider true Paradises, such as Cuba or Venezuela, where freedom of expression its only a concept used and practiced when describing the United States as the capitalistic demon of the world.
It is for this reasons that the members of the Independent Venezuelan American Citizens recommend that Mr. Joe Garc�a renounce the support of the Mr. Charles Rangel along with his influence towards the left, since far from helping, it may harm his campaign immensely.

Independent Venezuelan American Citizens

www.ivac.org

Venezuelan Web radio struggles

Venezuelan Web radio struggles
A struggling Doral station keeps Venezuelans in their South American country informed about what's happening there as President Hugo Ch�vez cracks down on press freedoms.
Posted on Mon, Apr. 07, 2008
BY CASEY WOODS
cwoods@MiamiHerald.com
Venezuelan Paul Sfeir, music producer and online radio pioneer, leans toward the computer screen in his Doral studio and points to the screaming headline on a blog that calls him a coup-plotter and an ``immoral bastard.''
''It's all lies,'' says Sfeir, the owner of Radionexx.com, an online radio station dedicated to challenging the leftist government of Venezuelan President Hugo Ch�vez. ``I learned a long time ago not to pay attention to it.''
Right now Sfeir has more immediate enemies. Among them: the rent and the electricity bill. The station, on which thousands of Venezuelans depend, is struggling to survive.
With the Venezuelan government forcing opposition voices off the air and pressuring others into self-censorship, reliable information on events in the South American country can be hard to come by. Thousands depend on Sfeir's scrappy operation to pierce that news vacuum.
Listeners in Venezuela dial a local number that rings in the South Florida studios, providing an immediate outlet for local reports. During the student protests last fall, the Venezuelan government at times insisted there were no protests in smaller Venezuelan towns, but calls to the station from those places told a different story -- one of burning tires and dissent.
Sfeir and his wife started the station in their garage four years ago, eventually bankrolling its expansion to the small warehouse studio with more than $150,000 from the sale of the family's Doral home. Now the cash has run out.
Other fundraising attempts have failed. Because it is controversial, Venezuelan businesses inside the country will not advertise. U.S. foundations have turned down grant requests. Many of the Venezuelans living in South Florida fled their country's ideological controversies and left family behind and so they shy away from politics.
Without a cash infusion, the station will go dark within a few months.
''They want someone to take on Ch�vez but they don't want to do it themselves because they're terrified,'' said Sfeir, 42, a lanky man with a handlebar mustache and a quick laugh. ``Their fear makes them passive.''
Ch�vez has steadily squeezed press freedom, most dramatically with his refusal to renew the license of opposition television station RCTV last year -- effectively shutting down the nation's most popular channel. The move sparked massive student protests.
Ch�vez has since threatened the remaining opposition station, a 24-hour news channel called Globovisi�n that is generally only available to those with cable or a satellite antenna.
ALTERNATIVE VOICE
Ch�vez regularly takes over the private news outlets to broadcast political speeches -- a practice known as a cadena or chain. He has racked up 1,000 such hours since 1999.
During those cadenas, and in periods of high national drama, Radionexx's audience skyrockets. The Web traffic monitoring company Alexa reports that 97 percent of the station's listeners are in Venezuela.
On the day of the Dec. 2 referendum on Ch�vez's proposed constitutional reforms, Radionexx operated 24 hours straight, receiving 4,000 phone calls and eight million hits, Sfeir said.
''People in Venezuela turn to Radionexx in times of crisis,'' said Ernesto Ackermann, of the local activist group Independent Venezuelan American Citizens. ``All of us listen to Radionexx because it is the only way to know what is happening in Venezuela.''
With Venezuela passing through a relatively tranquil moment, the station draws about 3,500 listeners to its live daily shows, Sfeir said.
Human rights activist Patricia Andrade uses her weekly Behind Bars show to give updates on the cases she has filed before the Inter-America Court of Human Rights on behalf of some Venezuelan prisoners.
In the weeks before the December referendum, Johann Peña dedicated several of his Dossiers programs to a crash course in ``How to conspire against Ch�vez and survive the attempt.''
A former police officer in Venezuela, he taught listeners ways to foil surveillance attempts. He suggested chemicals that would help them overcome the effects of tear gas. He described how to send messages covertly by taping notes to park benches and tables.
REACHING OUT
The most popular program is Sfeir's own A Little Time With You evening show. The freewheeling affair ranges from the ruckus -- Sfeir and his co-hosts joking about Ch�vez's nursing habits as an infant -- to the serious, such as an interview with U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen on her efforts to have the State Department declare the Venezuelan government a sponsor of terrorism.
The main attraction on Sfeir's program and others, however, are the calls from Venezuelans living there. Listeners complain about the violent crimes, the four hours they spent in line trying to buy milk or the arrest of a student protester they just witnessed. There are many regulars, with on-air nicknames such as ''Franky Boy,'' ''The Cousin,'' and the James Bond-esque ``Max 5.''
With people calling in from countries including Qatar, Spain and the United Kingdom, the station has also become a fragile link between the scattered branches of this newborn diaspora.
During a fundraising drive to buy school supplies for the children of prisoners, a woman called Andrade from Holland, frustrated that there was no way for her to easily donate from Europe.
With the affection Radionexx commands in Venezuela and abroad, Sfeir's frustration with its current financial plight is palpable.
''Everyone says we always are the best, we are the only station that is still truly free, that we are the voice of Venezuela,'' he said.
``They say they depend on us, but we need to be able to depend on them. We need their help.''

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