What does it mean to study Venezuela - or did someone say "Patriot Act?"

It has been an interesting week to be a scholar studying Venezuela. First I received this forwarded email:

Estimado/as Colegas,

I write to inform you that yesterday during my office hours (Tuesday 2:30 -4:30) I was visited by two agents of the LA County Sherrifs/FBI Joint Task Force on Terrorism (JTFT). The arrived at about 2:40-2:45 pm sat out side my office while attended to a students, and then asked to see me. They had with them a copy of my profile from the Pomona Web page, and other materials I could not see.
After identifying themselves, they proceeded to ask about my relation to Venezuela, the government, the community, my scholarship, my politics. They were especially interested in whether or not I had been approached by anyone in the Venezuelan government or embassy to speak up on Venezuelan related matters. In addition, they raised a whole host of other troubling questions, too long to summarize here.
They also indicated that the visit to my office was part of a larger effort to interview academics in the area. I do not know if this is happening at other schools.
After they departed, the three or four students who were outside my office informed me that these individuals had asked them about my background, my classes, what I taught, my politics and they even wrote down the cartoons that are on my door.
I consider this to be an attempt at intimidation and cast a pall on matters of academic freedom.
I am planning a response, and I am open to your comments.

Saludos

Miguel

The professor who wrote this is at Ponoma College and is a US citizen even though he was born in Venezuela. His web site is here.

Then I received a copy of this email from the president of Ponoma College:

To the Pomona College community:

On Tuesday, March 7, Miguel Tinker Salas, Arango Professor of Latin American History and Chicano Studies, was visited in his Pearsons Hall office by two men from the Los Angeles County Sheriff/FBI Joint Task Force on Terrorism. To avoid rumors, I wanted the Pomona College community to be aware of the facts.

The agents asked Professor Tinker Salas a number of personal questions as well as questions about the Venezuelan government and the Venezuelan community in the U.S. During the meeting, they told him that he was not a subject of investigation. The tone and content of the questioning, however, troubled him deeply. He was also troubled by the fact that the agents reportedly questioned some of the students outside his office while waiting to see him.

Miguel, as all of you know, is a superb Wig Award winning teacher and a fine scholar on Latin American history, politics, and culture who is sometimes asked by the news media to comment on topics related to his research, including Venezuelan politics. The College supports him and his scholarly work without reservation.

I am extremely concerned about the chilling effect this kind of intrusive government interest could have on free scholarly and political discourse.
I am also concerned about the negative message it sends to students who are considering the pursuit of important areas of international study, in which they may now feel exposed to unwarranted official scrutiny.

The College is currently consulting with legal advisors about the most effective way to register a strong official protest about this intrusion into our scholarly and educational activities, and we will take appropriate action as soon as their advice is received. We are also asking for their help in assuring that all members of the College community are fully informed about their rights and their options in such situations.

David Oxtoby
President Pomona College

Evidently the FBI has since issued a statement that it was a misunderstanding and that they certainly didn't mean to create such an uproar. There are a number of news sources that have written about this, though most of them are in Spanish. Reuters had an article.


Gives one pause. It's beginning to feel like Joe McCarthy has risen from the dead.

Saludos de Venezuela.

What's in a flag?

Yesterday was flag day here in Venezuela and to celebrate the occasion President Chavez introduced a new flag. He made two changes. The Venezuela flag since 1863 has been three stripes - yellow on the top, blue in the middle, and red on the bottom, with seven stars white stars on the blue stripe, and the coat of arms in the upper left corner. Here's the old flag:


What he did was add another star and change the coat of arms. Now the horse, which was looking back over his right shoulder, is now looking to the left. Here's the new one:


Now, lots of people are very upset about this. There were marches yesterday to protest the changes, with some fights breaking out. The star supposedly is to recognize the role of the province of Guyana in the independence movement and to carry out what Simon Bolivar wanted. The horse is now supposed to be looking forward rather than backward. Of course, he is looking left, which some people see as a metaphor for Chavez's left-leaning politics.

Here's what CNN said about it.

What have I been doing?

That is a good question - what have I been doing? I complain that life is pretty boring down here, but I do manage to stay busy. I've been trying to watch less television, but that translates into spending more time online doing who knows what. During the week I go to the archives, though last week I took a couple of days at home to get more organized. I am beginning to realize that my time here is growing short and I need to try to make sure that I'm focusing on what's most important. It's strange. When I first got here it felt like I would be here forever, and now the time is rushing by. For example, I was amazed when I logged on here and saw that it had been over two weeks since I had posted something. It seems like it was just last week. I'm sure there's some kind of scientific principle that explains this phenomenon - something to do with Einstein I'm sure - but it's real, that's for sure.

Yesterday I went with a couple of friends to see Brokeback Mountain. I really liked the film. The acting was amazing and the story was very moving. My only complaint was the audience - they were obnoxious. I'm sure I would have enjoyed the film more in the US than here, with an apparently homophobic crowd. Saturday I went to see a couple of museums here in Caracas. The Museum of Natural History was disappointing and many of the displays were blatently political. I know that sounds nearly impossible, but nevertheless, true. The Museum of Art (Bellas Artes) was better. We then walked to an area known as La Candelaria, which is known for its Spanish restaurants and had a very nice tapas lunch at a tasca. Then, being absolutely stuffed, we walked all the way back - about 5 metro stops.

The weekend before I went with my friend and her mother to El parque de los chorros (chorros are streams or small water falls). It is a pretty little park at the foot of Avila. From the parking lot you walk down quite a ways (via stairs) to get to the park. There is a waterfall (see picture), though of course, nothing significant here in the land of the world's largest waterfall (Angel Falls - more on that later after I visit there!). But pretty. The stream then continues through the park, rippling over the rocks, etc.