Venezuela (November 15, 2004 to November 22, 2004)

I spent a week in Venezuela, giving a speech and some interviews at an event which invited speakers from all across Latin America. During the event, the state oil company PDVSA announced its decision to switch 100% to free software. Their decision is not based on convenience or cost; it is based on sovereignty.

During the event, the state oil company PDVSA announced its decision to switch 100% to free software. Their decision is not based on convenience or cost; it is based on sovereignty

Their computers used to be handled by a US company, SAIC. When opponents of President Chavez tried to drive him from office by shutting down oil protection, the US government helped out by telling SAIC to prevent them from using their computers. PDVSA therefore knows from experience that using non-free software means you are at the mercy of the developers, and has decided to solve the problem for good and all.

I was supposed to be interviewed on a breakfast TV show, and had to wake up at 0530 for it. When we arrived at the station, we found out that everything had been pre-empted; the prosecutor in charge of cases against people who participated in the Bush-sponsored attempt to overthrow Chavez had been killed with a bomb in his car. This act of terrorism was most likely carried out by some of the same people that Bush supports. But there are no plans to respond by abolishing civil liberties, as has been done in the US.

Avila national park in Venezuela

On Sunday I went for lunch with Sergeant Torres, who has converted many of the Venezuelan Army’s servers to GNU/Linux. He brought his wife and son; his son is something like 8 years old and already starting to use free software.

For dinner I went with some Venezuelan free software activists to a restaurant near the top of the mountain ridge that separates Caracas from the Caribbean. We couldn’t see the sea as we sat down to eat, around 540pm, because clouds were in the way. The appetizer, a soup, was marvelous but the rest of the dinner was not quite as good.

After dinner we went to sit at a table just outside the restaurant to have coffee or tea. I felt like doing something else, so I played a Bulgarian tune on the recorder. A person sitting at another table nearby said, “That sounds Celtic, or Breton.”

It is very common for people who are not accustomed to Balkan folk dance music to think it sounds Celtic, but few say something so specific as “Breton.” So I played a Breton dance tune and said, “That was a Breton dance, Kost-ar-c’hoed.” Then I realized the man was speaking Spanish with an unusual accent, so I asked him, “Etes-vous français?” He said that he was, and in fact from Brittany. We got into a conversation and I explained free software to him and the man with him, who turned out to be the restaurant’s owner. Since he was interested, my friends then joined the conversation. Meanwhile, by this time the clouds had dissipated and we could see the shore and the sean, beautiful 6000 feet below.

Colombia (November 22, 2004 to November 24, 2004)

The following day I went to Colombia. The strength of the free software community there really surprised me. I met with people from several user groups, and on Tuesday met with enthusiastic representatives of Colombiás major universities as well as the Mayor of Bogota, to whom I suggested that the most important way to support free software was to switch to it in the city’s schools. We agreed they would have a plan ready when I return in March.

The strength of the free software community there [in Colombia] really surprised me. I met with people from several user groups, and on Tuesday met with enthusiastic representatives of Colombiás major universities as well as the Mayor of Bogota

Venezuela (December 1, 2004 to December 6, 2004)

I returned to Venezuela after Mexico, for a conference called Artists and Intellectuals in Defense of Humanity. On Saturday, our main activity was a meeting where President Chavez would speak. I had lunch that day with Sergeant-Major Torres, who has converted the Venezuelan Army’s servers to GNU/Linux, and his wife.

On Saturday, our main activity was a meeting where President Chavez would speak. I had lunch that day with Sergeant-Major Torres, who has converted the Venezuelan Army’s servers to GNU/Linux, and his wife

Since we’ve become friends, I encouraged him to come back to the hotel and try to get into the meeting too, figuring the security would probably ok his entry, and they did.

The first speaker was Sr. Perez Equivel, a Nobel Peace Prize winner. He told a fable of a chef who called together various animals to ask each one, “What sauce would you like to be cooked with?” The chicken responded, “Actually I’d rather not be cooked at all”, but the chef said, “That’s outside the discussion—all you can decide is which sauce.”

An invited American speaker then compared the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq to the wars of aggression for which the Nazi leaders were convicted. (I supported the invasion of Afghanistan because of the totalitarian cruelty of the Taliban, which goes beyond Bush.) He described Fallujah as the Guernica of the 21st century, and warned that all countries now feel fear of being attacked by the new empire of the US. He referred to the celebration of torture, in Guantanamo as well as in Abu Ghraib, as a brutal threat against the whole world. Regime change imposed by the US, over and over, has led to a regime much worse than what preceded it; he cited the Congo, with its 37 years of tyranny, and the US-organized coup in Haiti this year, and accused the US of being behind the attempted coup in Venezuela in 2002. (The US recognized the coup leaders’ government immediately.) But the US is not merely a global scofflaw; Bush intends to be above the law, as shown by the US plans to exempt itself from the International Criminal Court—feeble as that is.

His remarks in English were interspersed with Spanish translations that were often absurdly and ridiculously incorrect. The interpreter seemed to translate most of the concepts that had just been mentioned, but often garbled their relationship. Most amazingly, she translated Martin Luther King’s famous words as “tengo sueño” (I feel sleepy) instead of “tengo un sueño” (I have a dream). I can’t imagine how a native Spanish speaker could make that mistake.

Then Daniel Ortega, former president of Nicaragua, entered the hall and people applauded him.

A deputy (congressman, more or less) from Argentina then spoke, and referred to the problem of the dictatorship of the unidimensional corporate media. He proposed setting up a Latin-American alternative to CNN which would break its dominance over news. He then referred to the bombing of Hiroshima as an act of terror—a somewhat controversial idea to an American, but possibly justified.

Then President Chavez spoke. He covered many topics, and I wished I had asked for a simultaneous translation receiver, because I couldn’t always follow his Spanish.

Chavez is greatly admired by Venezuelans, who praise him in more glowing terms than I would praise anyone (even the people I most admire)

Chavez is greatly admired by Venezuelans, who praise him in more glowing terms than I would praise anyone (even the people I most admire). But Chavez doesn’t ask people to praise him—he directs people’s admiration to Bolivar, San Martin, and various others who fought against the colonial rule of Spain. He refers to them often, not just to their names but also to their writings and their deeds, in a way that Americans used to talk about Washington, but probably with greater accuracy. The national anthem, which I think was changed under Chavez, praises the “brave people”.

He spoke about the recent first graduation of Project Robinson 2, a project for teaching literacy and basic school knowledge to adults who didn’t have a chance to learn before. (This project is named after Bolivar’s teacher.) He hopes to extend this program to over a million people, to help them escape from poverty. He spoke of the kitchens established for poor people, including street children, and how they have been situated near to Project Robinson 2 so as to lead them to get an education also, so they could “be their own liberators”. He spoke of educational grants of $100 a month that have been given to half a million people so they can study. He responded to criticism that this money should be spent on building “infrastructure”, saying that building a sovereign people with dignity is more important than constructing buildings or highways. If my memory is right (I’m not sure of this), I think he also read a description from an old book of some of Bolivar’s educational policies.