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reducing the debt, since 1980 SAPs have increased African debt by 500 per cent, creating a domino effect of disasters (prolonged famine, conflict, abject poverty, environmental exploitation) linked to an estimated 21 million deaths and, in the process, transferring hundreds of billion dollars to the West. reducing the debt, since 1980 SAPs have increased African debt by socialised the Venezuelan government. One of his most controver- 500 per cent, creating a domino effect of disasters (prolonged sial moves was to nationalise Venezuela's oil company, PDVSA. famine, conflict, abject poverty, environmental exploitation) linked Venezuela is the fourth-largest oil-producing nation and the third- to an estimated 21 million deaths and, in the process, transferring largest oil provider to the US. With Venezuela the leader of hundreds of billion dollars to the West. OPEC, Chavez has encouraged lowering oil production to raise prices. He also changed a 60-year-old agreement with oil compa- 11. United States Implicated in Taliban Massacre nies that raised royalties for Venezuela. A documentary entitled Massacre at Mazar, released in 2002 by Chavez has irritated the US in many ways. He changed the Scottish film producer Jamie Doran, implicates US troops in the Venezuelan Constitution in 1999, granting more land rights to the torturing and deaths of approx. 3,000 men from Mazar-i-Sharif, poor, who make up over half of the 24 million people in Afghanistan. Venezuela. He refused to allow US planes to fly over Venezuela Doran's documentary follows the finding of Physicians for during their military activities in Colombia. President Chavez was Human Rights (PHR) that there is evidence for the disposal of also the first head of state to visit Saddam Hussein in Iraq since the human remains at two mass gravesites near Mazar-i-Sharif. In the imposition of embargoes in 1990. documentary, two witnesses claim that they were forced to drive Because of the close relationship that many of Venezuela's into the desert with hundreds of Taliban prisoners who were held wealthy have with the United States, the coup took place with little in sealed cargo containers. The witnesses allege that the orders opposition from Venezuela's long-established business and politi- came from a local US commander. Prisoners who had not yet suf- cal community. The Bush Administration was quick to endorse focated to death inside the vans were shot by Northern Alliance the change in government, which put Pedro Carmona, a wealthy gunmen while 30 to 40 US soldiers stood watching. businessman and former business associate of George Bush, Sr, Irfan Azgar Ali, a survivor of the trip, informed the London into office. Carmona's first move as President was to "dissolve the Guardian newspaper: "They crammed us into sealed shipping Constitution, national legislature, Supreme Court, Attorney- containers. We had no water for 20 hours. We banged on the side General's office and Comptroller's office". of the container. There was no air and In the United States, corporate press it was very hot. There were 300 of us covered the coup from a sympathetic in my container. By the time we anti-Chavez perspective. Television weaver | Prisoners who had not yet Be ncoup protests, choosing insted One Afghani truck driver, forced to suffocated to death inside to run their regular program schedules. drive the containers, said the prisoners the vans were shot b Five out of the six major networks are began to beg for air. "Northern . y owned by a single owner, who support- Alliance commanders told us to stop Northern Alliance gunmen ed US involvement in Venezuela. CIA the trucks and we came down," he said. A A Special Operations psychological war- "After that, they shot into the contain- while 30 to 40 US soldiers fare (PSYOPs) agents produced televi- ers to make air holes. Blood came stood watching. sion announcements, purportedly by pouring out. They were screaming Venezuelan political and business lead- inside." Another driver in the convoy ers, saying Chavez "provoked" the cri- estimated that an average of 150 to 160 people died in each container. When the sis by ordering his supporters to fire on peaceful protesters in Caracas. containers were unlocked at Sheberghan, the bodies of the dead Despite the distorted media coverage in Venezuela, a huge anti- tumbled out. coup civil protest involving hundreds of thousands of people Another witness stated that they observed a US soldier break an _—_— began. Several branches of the Venezuelan military joined the Afghani prisoner's neck and pour acid on others. anti-coup forces. The streets of Caracas were flooded with protest- The filmmakers allege that, in addition to bodies of Taliban pris- ers and soldiers vehemently chanting anti-Carmona slogans. oners, thousands of Afghanis, Pakistanis, Uzbeks, Chechens and Within two days, Carmona stepped down and Chavez returned to Tajiks may also be buried there. power. The film has been shown on television in 14 countries, and Doran was able to show the documentary to the Italian and 13. Corporate Personhood Challenged German parliaments in December 2002. On January 15, 2003, he Since the founding of the USA, a debate has raged over the was also able to get the film shown to members of British nature of corporations and whether they should be entitled to the Parliament. As a result, quietly, the United Nations has agreed to same right to legal "personhood" as actual people. This idea of undertake an investigation into the incident. corporate personhood has recently come unde: wtrae hank in 1QQK that a Cunrama Cnn Prisoners who had not yet suffocated to death inside Northern Alliance gunmen while 30 to 40 US soldiers power. 13. Corporate Personhood Challenged Since the founding of the USA, a debate has raged over the nature of corporations and whether they should be entitled to the same right to legal "personhood" as actual people. This idea of corporate personhood has recently come under scrutiny. It was back in 1886 that a Supreme Court decision (Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad Company) ostensibly led to corporate personhood and free speech rights, thereby guaranteeing protections under the First and Fourteenth Amendments. However, according to author Thom Hartmann, the relatively mundane court case never actually granted these personhood rights to corporations. In fact, Chief Justice Morrison Waite wrote, "We avoided meeting the Constitutional question in the decision". Yet, when writing up the case summary—which has no legal status— the Court reporter, a former railroad president named J. C. Bancroft Davis, declared, "The defendant Corporations are persons 12. Bush Administration Behind Failed Military Coup in Venezuela The April 11, 2002, military coup in Venezuela was supported by the United States government. According to intelligence ana- lyst Wayne Madsen, the CIA actively organised the coup. "The CIA provided Special Operations Group personnel, headed by a lieutenant-colonel on loan from the US Special Operations Command at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, to help organize the coup against Chavez," he said. Since his 1998 election, President Hugo Chavez has increasingly NEXUS #15 the vans were shot by stood watching. DECEMBER 2003 — JANUARY 2004 www.nexusmagazine.com