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courage is contagious

Viewing cable 04CARACAS1540, THE ABCS OF THE VENEZUELAN GOVERNMENT'S POLITICAL

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
04CARACAS1540 2004-05-11 14:28 2011-08-24 01:00 UNCLASSIFIED Embassy Caracas
This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
UNCLAS  CARACAS 001540 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
NSC FOR CBARTON 
USCINCSO ALSO FOR POLAD 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KPAO PGOV PREL PINR VE
SUBJECT: THE ABCS OF THE VENEZUELAN GOVERNMENT'S POLITICAL 
PROPAGANDA STRATEGY 
 
------- 
Summary 
------- 
 
1.  (U)  The Venezuelan government (GOV) has crafted a 
targeted and generously funded political propaganda strategy 
to convince Venezuelans and the international community that 
Chavez's Bolivarian Revolution is the true democratic road to 
prosperity and to divide, discredit, and demoralize 
opposition efforts to challenge the Chavez regime.  Chavez 
terms any opposition to his government as a "Made in the USA" 
corrupt, terrorist, coup-mongering plot  to topple his 
democratic government.  His favorite punching bag is the U.S. 
government and its senior officials, whom he regularly 
derides for meddling in Venezuela's domestic affairs.  The 
GOV will likely continue its spending flurry to win the 
hearts and minds of Venezuelans and the international 
community, be it through political propaganda or through its 
number of social projects to convert the poor and middle 
classes to the revolution.  The GOV has contracted lobby firm 
Patton Boggs to improve President Chavez's image in the 
United States.  Nonetheless, Chavez's attempts to lobby the 
U.S. government are unlikely to curry favor with Washington 
as long as he insults and falsely accuses President Bush and 
senior officials of idiocy and conspiracy to overthrow his 
regime.  The GOV has a competitive advantage in that Chavez 
and his advisors have set a clear and consistent government 
line.  And, whether it is a "Bash U.S. Imperialism Day," or a 
march in support of Venezuela's elderly population, the GOV 
and its well-disciplined followers toe the revolutionary 
line.  End Summary. 
 
---------- 
Definition 
---------- 
 
2. (U)  According to the American Heritage Dictionary 
propaganda is "The systematic propagation of a given doctrine 
or of allegations reflecting the views and interests by the 
proselytizers of the doctrine."  In the following study, the 
term propaganda encompasses the instruments of misinformation 
and disinformation. 
 
--------------------------------- 
GOV Plan - Big Bang for the Bucks 
--------------------------------- 
 
3.  (U)  Political propaganda, both favoring and opposing the 
Chavez government, is commonplace in Venezuelan broadcast and 
print media.  The GOV has developed a targeted and generously 
funded political propaganda strategy to convince Venezuelans 
and the international community that Chavez's Bolivarian 
Revolution is the true democratic road to prosperity and to 
divide, discredit, and demoralize opposition efforts to 
challenge the Chavez regime.  Though precise figures on how 
much the GOV spends on propaganda are unavailable, estimates 
from private media owners run from an average of Bolivares 50 
million to 65 million per day (around USD 30,000) for 
domestic propaganda to about USD 1 million per day for the 
GOV's domestic and international political propaganda 
campaign.  According to foreign and Venezuelan media, the GOV 
signed a USD 1.2 million contract with lobby firm Patton 
Boggs in September 2002 to improve President Chavez's image 
in the United States.  The GOV has confirmed the contract, 
but not the amount. (Comment:  Chavez's attempts to lobby the 
U.S. government are unlikely to curry favor with Washington 
as long as he insults and falsely accuses President Bush and 
senior officials of idiocy and conspiracy to overthrow his 
regime.  End Comment). 
 
4.  (U)  The Venezuelan state press agency, television, and 
radio stations have openly become instruments of the GOV and 
its affiliated parties.  In February 2004 the president of 
state television station Venezolana de Television (VTV) 
publicly stated that VTV was not a state channel, but rather, 
part of the Fifth Republic Movement (MVR), President Chavez's 
political party.  GOV propaganda openly targets Venezuela's 
 
 
lower and middle socio-economic strata, which represents 
about 90 percent of the population. 
 
5.  (U)  Government media regularly broadcasts 
government-sponsored activities, e.g. the inauguration of a 
new discount market (MERCAL) or the expansion of 
Cuban-assisted medical program for poor neighborhoods (Barrio 
Adentro), to underscore the diversity of its supporters. 
However, when the government media cover opposition events, 
they zoom in on participants resembling the white elite and 
avoid images that reflect a diversity of class and color in 
the opposition.  Government media also alter images of 
opposition rallies to make it appear that the turnout was 
paltry, while it modifies footage of its own events to 
exaggerate participation. 
 
-------------- 
GOV Strategies 
-------------- 
 
6.  (U)  In order to support its objective of strengthening 
President Chavez and his Bolivarian Revolution, the GOV has 
three propaganda strategies: 
 
--Convince the Venezuelan people and the international 
community that Chavez's Bolivarian Revolution is the true 
democratic road to prosperity. 
 
--Divide, discredit, demoralize, and dismantle opposition 
efforts to challenge the Chavez regime with allegations that 
a coup-mongering, terrorist, and corrupt elite leads the 
opposition. 
 
--Accuse any entity or government whose views or policies 
challenge the Chavez government as conspiring against the 
Chavez regime or of meddling in Venezuela's domestic affairs. 
 
----------- 
GOV Tactics 
----------- 
 
7.  (U)  The GOV's tactics are to: 
 
--Hire lobby groups and media consultants in Venezuela and 
abroad; tailor propaganda products to target audiences. 
 
--Utilize print and broadcast media to advance objectives 
both in country and abroad. 
 
--Polarize Venezuelan society through the use of messages and 
images, e.g., the poor, middle class, and dark skinned are 
good people and they support the GOV; the evil are wealthy 
and fair skinned (the "squalid, oligarchy") and they support 
the opposition. 
 
--Create adversaries (United States), and ideological "soul 
mates," (Cuba), to appeal to Venezuelan nationalistic 
inclinations and to the population's inclination to support 
the underdog, e.g., Venezuela's revolutionary David to the 
U.S. imperialist, neo-liberal Goliath. 
 
--Link these external adversaries with the opposition, and 
its friends with the Chavez revolution. 
 
--Deflect the social and economic failures of President 
Chavez's Fifth Republic by blaming them on the corrupt and 
nefarious Fourth Republic, which Chavez claims he toppled 
when he assumed office in December 1998. 
 
--Discredit and demoralize opposition leadership and their 
efforts to voice their opinions through constitutional and 
electoral mechanisms. 
 
--Milk the sovereignty card and link these alleged external 
threats to the opposition. 
 
--Invite/pay foreigners to visit Venezuela and testify in 
favor of Chavez and his Bolivarian revolution, and to 
 
 
lambaste the domestic and foreign policies of the foreigners' 
respective countries. 
 
-------- 
Messages 
-------- 
 
8. (U)  The following are some of the propaganda messages 
GOV spokespersons and media repeat many times every day: 
 
--Venezuela's confrontation is between an elite white 
minority and a dark, poor majority, the latter who all defend 
President Chavez. 
 
--All members of Venezuela's popular and labor classes and a 
growing number of the middle class support Chavez. 
 
--Opposition members are coup-mongering terrorist fascists, 
who are willing to betray their country to overthrow Chavez 
with help from the United States. 
--Chavez is the legitimate, legal, democraticallyelected 
leader of a sovereign people's governmen. 
 
--Chavez, unlike his corrupt predecessors, fights corruption 
and believes in justice for all Venezuelan citizens. 
 
--Freedom of expression in Venezuela is alive and well; there 
is no persecution of those who oppose the GOV. 
 
--The GOV is nationalistic; those opposing it are traitors. 
 
--The U.S. wants to topple Chavez to seize Venezuela's oil. 
 
------------------------ 
GOV Propaganda Practices 
------------------------ 
 
9. (U)  The following are examples of GOV propaganda 
practices: 
 
--Message Distortion and Image Alteration:  VTV broadcasts 
images of the September 11, 2001 attack on New York's Twin 
Towers, compares this image with Venezuelan opposition 
strikers, and emits the message, "The people (Venezuelan) 
know who the terrorists are."  VTV and newspapers carry 
full-page ads that use altered footage to contrast huge 
turnouts at GOV rallies with supposed paltry crowds in 
opposition marches.  The GOV projects images of "dark masses" 
rallying behind Chavez, while its shots of opposition marches 
zoom in on white, well-dressed elites, even though a range of 
classes and colors attend opposition marches. 
 
--Abuse of Authority/Cadenas:  President Chavez frequently 
delivers political propaganda through his national radio and 
television broadcasts that all broadcast media must carry. 
From December 1999, when Chavez assumed office, to April 30, 
2004, he has used 578 hours to this purpose, reports leading 
conservative national daily "El Universal." 
 
--Smear Campaigns:  GOV ridicules opposition private sector 
leader Carlos Fernandez, labor leader Carlos Ortega, and 
petroleum leader Juan Fernandez.  GOV conducts illegal 
wiretaps of their conversations and broadcasts/publishes them 
in government media and juxtaposes the conversations with 
violent images.  The GOV launches particularly virulent 
attacks on private media owners who oppose the Chavez 
government and on civil associations, such as SUMATE, which 
has helped the opposition's Democratic Coordinator (CD) in 
technical and informational aspects for the presidential 
recall petition drive.  Chavez has accused millionaire 
Venevision/Cisneros Group President Gustavo Cisneros of being 
the pack leader of the private media's conspiracy against 
him.  He frequently calls the four leading private television 
stations the "Four Horsemen (or Prostitutes) of the 
Apocalypse," and he has conveyed instructions to his 
followers during his weekly Sunday program "Alo Presidente" 
and during his "cadenas" to attack certain media outlets that 
 
have allegedly defamed the President. 
 
--Appealing to Nationalism/Culpability and Innuendoes: 
Chavez employs traditional songs and jingoisms, featuring 
popular actors and musicians to appeal to Venezuelan 
nationalism.  (Note:  The opposition employs similar tactics. 
 End Note.)  GOV propaganda blames the opposition for any and 
all of the country's political and economic woes, blaming it 
on the opposition's December 2002 national work stoppage. 
GOV spots on the opposition's December 2002 - February 2003 
national strike blend images of violence and food shortages 
with the message, "Do these ends justify the means?"  (In 
Spanish, the word "medios" can signify "means" or "media.") 
The play on words attempts to create an association between 
the opposition media and the violence and food scarcities. 
 
--"Chavismo Heavy" VS "Chavismo Light":  The GOV uses 
unfounded accusations, threats, and insults to discredit the 
opposition and to convince his followers to continue their 
support for him.  He employs a similar tactic for any 
perceived international support to the opposition, e.g. using 
pro-GOV National Assembly deputies to allege on television 
that there is a CIA-directed conspiracy to topple Chavez, 
even assassinate him.  The GOV employs lighter tactics to 
attract the middle and working classes, women, and youth, all 
groups that are either ambivalent towards Chavez or support a 
leadership change.  Promotional campaigns for Chavez's social 
missions:  Robinson, Rivas, Sucre, Cristo, and Vuelvan Caras 
are form part of the GOV's tactics. 
 
--------------------- 
International Efforts 
--------------------- 
 
10.  (U)  Venezuelan Embassies and consulates are also tasked 
with spreading the revolutionary message, specifically 
through the promotion of a slick government documentary 
titled, "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised," which was 
produced by two Irish free-lance filmmakers who reportedly 
said they were BBC employees when they sought to interview 
Venezuelans concerning the April 2002 temporary alternation 
in constitutional order to some, and coup attempt, to others. 
 The video has been shown at a number of theaters in major 
U.S. metropolitan areas and at several prestigious U.S. 
universities, including Harvard, Stanford, and the University 
of California system, and most recently at the Lincoln Center 
in New York.  To date, there has been very little questioning 
of the documentary's veracity in the U.S. media.  The GOV 
also has plans to place its political ads and broadcast VTV 
programs throughout the hemisphere through regional cable 
networks and it has invested over USD 55 million to turn VTV 
into a regional 
television network rivaling Brazil's "O Globo" by September 
2005. 
 
11.  (U)  The GOV's international efforts extend far beyond 
the dissemination of videos and broadcasting and information 
posted on Venezuelan Embassy websites. 
 
--Through its extensive and expanding network of Bolivarian 
Circles ("Circulos Bolivarianos"), the GOV spreads the gospel 
of Chavez's Bolivarian Revolution.  In the United States 
alone, there are Bolivarian Circles in Florida, New York, 
Washington, D.C., Oregon, Texas, Oklahoma, and California. 
One of the Bolivarian circles organized a march in Times 
Square on May 8 to say no to U.S. and French occupation in 
Haiti and to U.S. intervention in Venezuela. 
 
--The GOV is also using the Cuban Solidarity Network and the 
Bolivarian Circle of Miami, whose director is Alvaro Sanchez 
(a2000@rockmail.com) to recruit U.S. university students to 
join the GOV's "Ingles Barrio Adentro" program.  Volunteer 
students are being recruited to teach English in Venezuela in 
the poor barrios of three cities - Caracas, Maracaibo, and 
Barcelona - specifically in neighborhoods where Cuban medics 
live and work for Chavez's Barrio Adentro health program. 
According to recruiting information, local governments will 
guarantee the safety of participating U.S. students, noting 
 
 
the presence of thousands of Cuban doctors who are already 
safely volunteering in these impoverished neighborhoods. 
 
--The pro-Chavez Women's Bank ("Banco de Mujer") deploys 
Venezuelan women to the United States to talk to audiences of 
the glories of the Bolivarian Revolution and to lambaste the 
U.S. government's hurtful neo-liberal policies that aim to 
enslave the populations of developing countries. 
 
--More recently, the Foreign Ministry has taken upon itself 
to purge or sideline to insignificant positions Venezuelan 
diplomats and other Foreign Ministry employees who refuse to 
defend and promote the revolutionary line. 
 
------------------------------- 
Examples of The Government Line 
------------------------------- 
 
12.  (U)  The Chavez government's propaganda strategy has a 
competitive advantage beyond its generous financing: Chavez 
and his advisors have set a clear and consistent government 
line.  Whether it is a "Bash U.S. Imperialism Day," or a 
march in support of Venezuela's elderly population, the GOV 
and its well-disciplined followers tow the government's 
revolutionary line.  The under-funded, unfocused, and often 
undisciplined opposition is at a clear disadvantage when it 
comes to countering GOV propaganda (septel). 
 
13.  (U)  Mega-fraud:  In the heated fray over whether the 
National Electoral Council (CNE) should or should not call 
for a presidential recall referendum, the GOV has stepped up 
its propaganda campaign against the opposition, both in 
quantity and frequency of propaganda through television, 
printed ads, billboards in television and print media and to 
a lesser degree, on the radio.  Using its message of 
"mega-fraud," the pro-GOV political party command center 
Comando Ayacucho has placed ads, including in private, 
pro-opposition papers that point to supposed inaccuracies 
(many of them distortions) in the opposition's presidential 
recall drive, suggesting the opposition drive was a massive 
fraud.  Among the papers publishing these ads are 
pro-opposition, conservative daily "El Universal," slightly 
pro-Chavez and highly popular tabloid "Ultimas Noticias," and 
pro-GOV tabloid "VEA."  An MVR National Assembly deputy, Luis 
Tascon, has a web page that encourages Venezuelans to verify 
whether their name fraudulently a 
ppeared in the opposition's presidential recall signature 
drive held for four days during November-December 2003: 
(www.luistascon.com) or to denounce any other irregularity. 
Opposition leaders insist the real purpose of the site is to 
identify those who signed, screen them for GOV employment or 
benefits and pressure them to recant. 
 
14.  (U)  Full Frontal Attack against the Opposition:  In one 
VTV ad, while classical music plays in the background, a 
cartoonist sketches a rose and a thorn and writes, "The 
opposition, without the rose of love, and with a thorn of 
hatred."  In another VTV video clip, with the backdrop of 
crowds in line to buy liquid fuel canisters (during the 
December 2003- January 2003 opposition-led national strike, a 
voice says, "The opposition unleashed terrorism on the 
Venezuelan people and it led to hunger and unemployment. 
Thanks to the new PDVSA (state oil company), PDVSA is for all 
of us, all of us are PDVSA." 
 
15.  (U)  Taking on Uncle Sam:  Pro-GOV VEA dedicates a 
generous number of its pages to discredit the U.S. government 
(U.S. Iraq policy, domestic problems, etc.) and accuses it of 
leading Venezuela's opposition.  It also lobs darts at U.S. 
Ambassador Shapiro through the use of insulting caricatures 
or altered photos featuring the Ambassador as the head of the 
opposition leadership, suggesting a cabal between the 
Ambassador/USG and the opposition.  Chavez has escalated his 
attacks on the United States in his frequent speeches.  He 
claims that Venezuela's opposition is "Made in the USA," that 
the USG masterminded and financed the April 2002 coup against 
him.  Chavez assures his audiences that U.S. troops are 
stationed along the Colombia side of the border, waiting for 
 
 
the opportune moment to invade Venezuela and topple his 
government. 
 
16.  (U)  Alo Presidente - Chavez's Weekly Bully Pulpit:  In 
his weekly Sunday "Alo Presidente" program, which often lasts 
five hours, President Chavez issues instructions and conveys 
sub-textual messages to his followers; threatens and 
discredits those who oppose him; and attacks foreign 
interests he associates with the opposition, the U.S. 
government being a favorite culprit.  He has repeatedly 
promised to unveil evidence proving U.S. involvement the 
events of April 11, 2002, including U.S. naval and air 
presence in Venezuelan waters. 
 
17.  (U)  Attacking Former Supporters:  VTV routinely airs 
three-minute clips that combine outdated/out of sequence 
images with current events to denounce opposition members, 
political parties, or civil society groups.  One example is a 
video of the Metropolitan Police chief, who once supported 
Chavez, allegedly testing a number of weapons in Europe to 
prove to Venezuelans that the police chief was an arms 
trafficker who was probably plotting violence against the 
President in February 2004.  The video footage, however, was 
from two years ago, when the police chief was still a Chavez 
supporter. 
 
18.  (U)  Kinder, Gentler Chavismo:  In his effort to attract 
the middle and working classes, youth, and women, groups that 
tend to either favor some sort of leadership change or 
support the opposition, the GOV has issued a number of soft 
and friendly "unifying" ads that appeal to these groups.  The 
Ministry of Communications and Information uses the new 
slogan "Venezuela ahora es de todos" (Venezuela is now for 
all of us) and the colors of the flag to appeal to 
patriotism.  Another ad features a woman who, thanks to a GOV 
micro-credit, has established a successful weaving business. 
Half-page ads have appeared in dailies "El Universal," 
"Ultimas Noticias," and "VEA" and on VTV in 45-second 
segments. 
 
-------------------------------- 
Opportunity Knocks, with a Catch 
-------------------------------- 
 
19.  (U)  Chavez's numerous social missions come with a 
catch; the recipients must be loyal to the Chavez revolution. 
 In one GOV ad, the GOV announces that, starting on February 
12, it will publish lists of people who have signed up for 
the latest government social program "Vuelvan Caras" (Turn 
Around), which aims to reduce unemployment.  This ad has 
appeared in "Ultimas Noticias."   On February 19, the GOV 
started publishing the cedula numbers of Venezuelans who 
signed in the opposition's recall petition and urged people 
to scrutinize the list and denounce to the GOV if their name 
had been fraudulently used.  There are numerous stories of 
Venezuelans who lost their privileges or chances for 
employment once they have signed the opposition's 
presidential recall petition; others say they declined to 
sign because they did not want to lose their benefits. 
 
20.  (U)  Using Children for Political Proselytism.  Chavez 
has used on at least three occasions children and youth to 
broadcast eloquent, memorized speeches in favor of the 
Bolivarian revolution and its leader.  Many compare this 
tactic to Castro's in Cuba. 
 
21.  (U)  Possible Use of Foreign Media and Fake Polls.  The 
following electronic December 3, 2003 "Washington Post" 
article was e-mailed to dozens of Venezuelan journalists in 
December 2003, immediately following the opposition-led 
presidential recall referendum petition drive.  The article 
distorts the possible results of the drive and suggests the 
opposition did not collect enough signatures to hold the 
recall.  The article's poor English was the first clue that 
something was amiss, and the "Washington Post" journalist who 
supposedly wrote the article (follows) confirmed to U.S. 
Embassy Caracas that the article was a fake, the result of a 
sophisticated hacking job of The Washington Post web page and 
 
 
e-mail system.  Similar incidents have occurred with "Chicago 
Tribune" and "New York Times" articles.  Whether these 
e-mailed articles were the work of the GOV or its 
sympathizers is uncertain; however, they certainly serve the 
GOV's interests and the tactic is a one commonly employed by 
the Cuban government, according to private media sources. 
 
Begin Article:  Confusion in Venezuela -- Opponents of Chavez 
Surprisingly   Claim Various Amounts of Signatures to Trigger 
Recall Referendum.  The results of the recollection of 
signatures that took place last weekend throughout the 
country, has become a contest off figures.  "El Nacional," a 
national daily newspaper, opened last Tuesday, with 3.8 
million signatures, the Coordinadora Democratica, followed 
with 3.6, Sumate, a social organization, added its own 
opinion offering 3.4 and Salas Romer, leader and presidential 
candidate of Proyecto Venezuela, a leading political party, 
expressed the amount of 3 million signatures.  On the other 
hand, the officialist Comando Ayacucho, announced in a press 
conference that took place the same day, that the 
recollection did not meet the required figure of 2.4 million 
signatures needed to recall mister Chavez. The number stated 
was 1.9 million.  End Article. 
 
22.  (U)  In February, March, and April 2004, the GOV 
referred to three polls, allegedly one by famed pollster 
Alfred Keller, and the other two by a group called North 
American Opinion Research, to demonstrate that most of 
Venezuela's business community no longer trusted its leaders, 
and preferred to support Chavez and that Chavez's popularity 
had increased substantially.  Keller refuted the first poll's 
existence and attributed it to the GOV's disinformation 
campaign.  In February, U.S. Embassy Caracas and a number of 
interlocutors were unable to find any organization called 
North American Opinion Research.    However, when the second 
North American Opinion Research poll appeared in daily 
tabloid "Ultimas Noticias," its editor gave Embassy a copy of 
the poll.  The poll had no names, contact information 
included; the editor told emboff that North American Opinion 
Research was not as Chavez asserted, a U.S. polling firm, but 
rather some sort of local endeavor.  Zeta, a liberal-leaning, 
pro-opposition weekly political events magazine, wrote that 
the poll was a fraud, and noted that the use of the word 
North American to describe a U.S. firm was uncustomary in the 
United States, while Venezuelans did often use the word North 
American to refer to the United States.  (Comment:  The fact 
that the firm has an accent over the "i" in Opinion, also 
makes it doubtful that a U.S. firm is the source of the poll. 
 End Comment.) 
 
------------- 
TV Propaganda 
------------- 
 
23. (U)  VTV and the new government educational and cultural 
channel Vive TV use images from private channels to convey 
aggression on the part of the opposition against the alleged 
large mass of people who support Chavez.  It also regularly 
airs one to five-minute segments that accuse the opposition 
of conspiring to kill Chavez and his democratic Bolivarian 
 
revolution.  Comando Ayacucho airs ads to attract undecided 
voters, using Venezuelan folk or classical music in the 
background and soft, easily digestible messages that assure 
these voters that they too may join the benign, pretty 
revolution and benefit from its resources. 
 
---------------- 
Print Propaganda 
---------------- 
 
24. (U)  Pro-GOV group "The Committee to Defend the 
Constitution" issues communiques that list a number of 
possible plans by the opposition to mount a coups d'etat. 
Its full-page, color communiques often appear in "VEA" and 
"Ultimas Noticias."  The GOV's ideological organ, the 
Bolivarian Revolutionary Movement (MBR-200) and the Farmers' 
Bolivarian Front (Frente Bolivariano Campesino) along with a 
pro-Chavez mayor issued a communique in support of Chavez and 
 
 
denouncing alleged fraud against the Chavez regime in Cojedes 
state.  A number of new print media endeavors have emerged, 
some local, others national, which support the GOV's 
revolution.  All of them serve to discredit supposed 
opposition leaders and many attack U.S. imperialism and 
interference in Venezuela's domestic affairs. 
 
---------- 
Billboards 
---------- 
 
25.  (U)  Examples of pro-GOV billboards: 
 
--La revolution bolivariana avanza a paso de vencedores." 
"The Bolivarian Revolution advances at the pace of the 
conquerors." 
 
--"Venezuela ahora es de todos."  Venezuela now belongs to 
all of us."  (Ministry of Information and Communications). 
 
--"Chavez es el pueblo".  "Chavez is the people."  (shots of 
Chavez embracing an elderly woman; listening to a young girl 
who is wearing a red beret;  laughs with a member of one of 
Venezuela's Indian tribes. 
 
---------------- 
Other Mechanisms 
---------------- 
 
26.  (U)  U.S. Support. A number of U.S. celebrities and 
black leaders have visited Miraflores and the Vice 
President's office: Danny Glover and a group of TransAfrica 
members; boxing promoter Don King; Catholic lay missionaries; 
and Roger Toussaint, president of the New York Metro and 
Transport Union.  The union leader came to Venezuela to 
express his "..concern over State Department  declarations 
and his rejection of USG interference in the referendum and 
in other GOV business."  Don King's visit was unforgettable 
after he mistook his cues and, instead of his singing "Chavez 
will not leave," he chanted "Chavez will leave." 
 
27.  (U)  Propaganda on Line.  The GOV liberally uses 
cyberspace to spread its war on the oligarchy, neoliberalism, 
the United States government, and the proposed Free Trade 
Area of the Americas (FTAA).   A sample of the numerous sites 
follows: 
 
--State press agency, Venpres: www.venpres.gov.ve 
 
--State Television Channel, Venezolana de Television (VTV): 
www.venezuela.gov.ve/vtv/ 
 
--State Radio Network, Radio Nacional de Venezuela: 
www.rnv.gov.ve/noticias 
 
--Aporrea:  www.aporrea.org 
 
--Una Sola Patria: www.UnaSolaPatria.cjb.net 
 
--Antiescualidos: www.antiescualidos.com 
 
--Chavistas: www.Chavistas.com 
 
--Red Bolivariana: www.redbolivariana.com 
 
--Revista Rebelin: www.rebelion.org 
 
--Radio Progreso: www.progresosemanal.com 
 
--Bolivarian Circles of Miami:  www.bovmiami.org 
 
--Radio Miami:  www.radio-miami.com 
 
--Venezuelan Analysis:  www.Venezuelanalysis.com 
 
--VHeadline.com. The first Venezuelan news web site in 
English.  www.vheadline.com 
 
 
--AfroCubaWeb.com 
 
------- 
Comment 
------- 
 
28.  (U)  The Chavez government is likely to continue 
investing substantial amounts of cash to win the hearts and 
minds of Venezuelans and the international community, be it 
through political propaganda or through its number of social 
projects to convert the poor and middle classes to his 
revolution.  Though some of the GOV's propaganda promotes the 
image of a beautiful and peaceful revolution, other messages 
are foul-mouthed and aggressive.  And, while some of his 
social programs appear to have drawn support from segments of 
the lower social strata, and some hit a responsive 
anti-American cord among traditional leftists, some (not all) 
of this support will last only as long as the cash flows. 
(Drafted: PAS: Victoria Alvarado.) 
SHAPIRO 
 
 
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