Hugo Chávez Editorial

[Joanne98]

http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/articles.php?artno=2113
By: Ignacio Ramonet - Le Monde Diplomatique

Few governments in the world have been victims of devastating campaigns full of hatred. The Venezuelan government, led by President Hugo Chávez, is one of those victims. His enemies have tried everything: Coup d’État, oil strike, flow of capital, plots… After the attack against Fidel Castro, a similar situation has not ever happened in Latin America.

The most miserable lies have been said about Chávez, all of them orchestrated by the new propaganda office called -National Endowment for Democracy, Freedom House, financed by Bush Administration. With unlimited financial resources, this lying machine manipulates important media and organizations for the defense of Human Rights which are at the service of sinister plans.

Likewise, part of the social-democrat left-branched party surrender before these groups of liars.

Why so much hate? Nowadays, the social-democracy in Europe is experiencing a crisis of identity. The historic circumstances seem indicating that Chávez has the responsibility of assuming the international leadership of the left’s recognition.

While in the old continent the European construction has made impossible any alternative to neo-liberalism, in Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia and Ecuador, inspired in the Venezuelan model, some experiences keep alive the emancipation hope of poor people.

In this regard, Chávez’s sense of balance is outstanding. This is the reason why he has become into a reference in many poor countries.
Has not Venezuela been refounded on a new base, legitimated by a new constitution that guarantees people’s participation in the social changes, always within the most painstaking respect of democracy and liberties? (1)

Has the government not given back the dignity to five million poor people?

Has it not recovered for the public the state owned oil company PDVSA?

Has it not de-privatized and given back the main telecommunication company to people, as well as the electric company of Caracas?

Has it not nationalized the Orinoco oil fields?

Finally, has it not assigned part of its oil income to obtain autonomy before the international financial institutions and to finance social programs?

• More than three million hectares of land have been distributed among peasants.
• Millions of children and adults have been taught to read and write.
• Thousands of medical centers have been settled in the popular suborns.
• Thousands low-income people with eye diseases have been operated for free.
• Basic food products have been subsidized and offered to poor people at a low price, 42% less than in the market.
• The weekly working hours have been reduced from 44 to 36 and the minimum wage was about 204 euros per month (the highest in Latin America after Costa Rica).

The result of all these measures is that between 1999 and 2005 poverty dropped from 42.8% to 33.9% (2). The population that works in the informal economy decreased from 53% to 40%. This decrease of poverty allows the maintaining of economic growth, which - in the last three years – reached 12% (one of the highest in the world), supported by a consumption rate that has increased up to 18% during a year. (3).

Given these results, without mentioning the achievements reached in the international policy, is it not surprising that President Chávez has become a target for where the owners of the world and their agents want to shoot?

Notes:
(1) The lies concerning RCTV have just been denied since this channel has resumed its programs by cable and satellite from July 16.
(2) Poverty Rates in Venezuela. Getting the Numbers Right, Center for Economic and Policy Research, Washington DC, May 2006.
(3) Read the repport "Chávez, not so bad for business", Business Week, New York, June 21, 2007.
http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/articles.php?artno=2113

[acmavm]

1. Uh oh, you're in for it now. While I agree with this editorial, there are

people here who see Chavez as being the South American equivalent of Dick Cheney (I would say Chimpy but I don't believe for a minute that he runs the show).

[Joanne98]

2. I don't care! I see defending Chavez as part of my job around here!

[Demeter]

3. You Will Not Fight Alone!

Count me in on the truth squad.

[Joanne98]

22. Thanks Dementer

:hi:

[Demeter]

24. It's Demeter

Dementor is a Republican--sucking the joy out of life and one's very soul.

[Joe Chi Minh]

25. His very name sounds like that of a person who drives people mad.

[Joanne98]

29. Sorry.

[Demeter]

31. No Problem!

I just didn't want to be confused with the villains of Harry Potter!

[mithnanthy]

5. Count me in...

on the truth squad too! He has already done so much for the poor. He should be commended for his efforts so far!

[BornagainDUer]

7. I'm with you. I love those stats. Great post Joanne! K&R.

:hi:

[Vidar]

20. And you do that "job" magnificently. Your efforts are much appreciated.

[Joanne98]

23. Thankyou so much Vidar.

:yourock:

[Vidar]

32. Chavez gives me hope, and my main source of Chavez reports

are your & judy lynn's posting, for which I'm very grateful.

[rjones2818]

4. Hugo fights the neoliberal concensus

Which for some strange reason is something liked by the neoconservatives. He fights for the greatest numbers of Venezuelans. He fights to improve people's lives.

No wonder Dick and W hate him.

Viva Hugo Chavez!

[BornagainDUer]

8. Pelosi called him a thug. That about made me barf.

[rjones2818]

10. You didn't expect anything better from Madame Speaker, did you?

I have little faith in Pelosi after the FISA debacle and the caving on the Iraq supplemental bill.

[BornagainDUer]

12. Yer one of the few who cite neoliberalism as the real problem in

the US. I'll be honest, I'd rather have a neocon than a neoliberal in office because at least the former are seen for what they are. Big money owns 90% of the political spectrum in this country.

I dont' give a damn anymore about political expediency and the supposed gradual movement toward a progressive era. It's all just games to keep us under the corporate yoke IMHO.

[Joe Chi Minh]

11. Now, I'm finally convinced she's a politician and nothing more.

DLC. Period.

Actions speak louder than words. Contrast Christ's words concerning the Samaritans and Pharisees, respectively. They pay lip-service to God, while thwarting his purpose with the traditions of men, thereby falling well short of the common decency of ordinary folk.

Christian is as Christian does. PARTICULARLY on a larger, in this case, national, scale.

Straining at a gnat, only to swallow a camel, paying their tithe of mint and cumin while negecting the greater demands of justice will not go down well with God, no matter how well she convinces heself she has a strong faith.

I can't see God or Saint Peter saying to Ugo, "You knew what I wanted was love, not sacrifice, knowledge of God, not holocausts", and you have been found wanting. Go away to my left with the goats", etc., etc. But I can't see how members of the DLC can avoid it. It's not as if Christ didn't warn us enough times or with enough vehemence.

[BornagainDUer]

13. There is just something so phony about these neoliberal democrats. They don't

have a sense of history. They don't have any gravitas because they don't know anything. Their politicking is so trivial it makes me sick. Since they have taken the Congress Bush has increased our involvement in Iraq and surveillance powers. They are not doing shit!

[Joe Chi Minh]

15. Political families are almost always bad news, imo. Professional

politics is what succeeding generations are brought up to.

However, 'professional', in relation to politicians tends very much, unfortunately, NOT to have the connotation of sedulous care and excellence the word normally conveys, since, as you commented, with them, the 'mechanics' of gaining and retaining power, is all; clearly not men of straw in the legal sense, but very much so, in a spiritual sense. Reeds bending in the wind.

[Name removed]

21. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[CGowen]

6. The NED

How many Americans could identify the National Endowment for Democracy? An organization which often does exactly the opposite of what its name implies. The NED was set up in the early 1980s under President Reagan in the wake of all the negative revelations about the CIA in the second half of the 1970s. The latter was a remarkable period. Spurred by Watergate-the Church Committee of the Senate, the Pike Committee of the House and the Rockefeller Commission, created by the president, were all busy investigating the CIA. Seemingly every other day there was a new headline about the discovery of some awful thing, even criminal conduct, the CIA had been mixed up in for years. The Agency was getting an exceedingly bad name, and it was causing the powers-that-be much embarrassment.

Something had to be done. What was done was not to stop doing these awful things. Of course not. What was done was to shift many of these awful things to a new organization, with a nice sounding name-the National Endowment for Democracy. The idea was that the NED would do somewhat overtly what the CIA had been doing covertly for decades, and thus, hopefully, eliminate the stigma associated with CIA covert activities.

It was a masterpiece. Of politics, of public relations and of cynicism. Thus it was that in 1983, the National Endowment for Democracy was set up to "support democratic institutions throughout the world through private, nongovernmental efforts". Notice the "nongovernmental"-part of the image, part of the myth. In actuality, virtually every penny of its funding comes from the federal government, as is clearly indicated in the financial statement in each issue of its annual report. NED likes to refer to itself as an NGO (non-governmental organization) because this helps to maintain a certain credibility abroad that an official US government agency might not have. But NGO is the wrong category. NED is a GO.


.......

http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/CIA/National%20EndowmentDemo.html

[BornagainDUer]

9. Thanks for that information. I didn't know that about NED.

[CGowen]

30. more

The CIA's Attempts to Destabilize Venezuela
How RCTV President’s CIA Connection Links Venezuela and Nicaragua

...
Nicaragua’s La Prensa: A model for Venezuela’s RCTV

...
In its attempts to create a hostile media atmosphere, the United States aided, created, and financed media outlets both inside and outside Nicaragua in order to shape public opinion and destabilize the Sandinista government. In the early years, the CIA broadcast into Nicaragua from radio stations in neighboring countries like Honduras, and gave financial assistance to existing opposition radio stations inside Nicaragua.
But later, the United States eventually set up its own station inside the country called Radio Democracia with money from the CIA’s National Endowment for Democracy (NED). The mission, according to the director of the station, would be to “offset the instruments for consciousness formation.”<8> This was logical, after all, since a conscious population might not agree with Washington’s plans for “Somocismo without Somoza.”

The most important media for the U.S., however, would be the well-known opposition newspaper La Prensa. From the very beginning of the Sandinista government, the Managua daily received millions of dollars in payments from the CIA and NED, much of it funneled covertly through third-party connections like Eladio Larez and the Venezuelan government of President Carlos Andres Perez.

...

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=6505

[Joe Chi Minh]

14. I believe Chavez's government has also helped other countries in

South America to free themselves from the extortion of the IMF racketeers.

[CGowen]

16. They have their own bank now "Bank of the South"

http://www.worldpress.org/Americas/2852.cfm

The launch of the Bank of the South is an ambitious and strategic gambit in regional integration, one that could result in a truly regional development bank. Despite Brazilian concerns, this new institution is ready to be launched.

"Positive," Joseph Stiglitz, Nobel Laureate in Economics, concluded in a recent speech to the Argentine business association in Buenos Aires. He noted that the new Bank of the South (BoS) would allow South American nations to assist each others' economies, adding that a major obstacle for emerging markets is a lack of long-term financing, and development banks have been successful in the past at filling this void.

On May 22 in Asunción, Paraguay, the six founding states—Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, Ecuador, and Venezuela—reached an agreement on the Bank of the South after two months of negotiations. The BoS will begin operations in 2008. It was to be formally presented to the public at the presidential summit in Venezuela on June 26, but the date has been delayed. Unlike the International Monetary Fund (I.M.F.) and World Bank, the BoS assigns a single vote to each member country, independent of the size of its financial contribution

............

[RufusTFirefly]

17. K & R for Hugo and Joanne! n/t

[nealmhughes]

18. Once again, the Catalan in Paris nails it. There are few writing at the caliber of Ramonet,

and certainly not in English these days, it seems. Gore Vidal is old and tired and full of nostalgia, Cornel Wilde is not popular, and who is there for us to turn, save back across the Atlantic and hope to read some Fisk or Ramonet occasionally. . .

[superkia]

19. I just know that Buch and friends hate him, so he must be doing something right?

[bvar22]

26. Hillary & Obama hate Chavez too.

They include Chavez in a short list of the World's most evil dictators.

Chavez has been elected and re-elected in Fair, transparent elections and enjoys the passionate support of a HUGE majority of Venezuelans.

I pray that the Bolivarian Reforms migrate to El Norte!

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

33. "They include Chavez in a short list of the World's most evil dictators." Sources, please. -nt

[bvar22]

34. During the Obama/Hillary "Would you negotiate with"

Venezuela was lumped in with North Korea, Iran, and Syria.

From the "Hillary for President" website in a hitpiece targeting Obama:

"Less than 24 hours after that comment, Senator Obama suggested he would be willing to meet with Chavez and other notorious leaders around the world..."

http://www.hillaryclinton.com/blog/view/?id=10870


The Democratic Party is a BIG TENT, but there is NO ROOM for those
who advance the agenda of THE RICH (Corporate Owners) at the EXPENSE of LABOR and the POOR.

[The Magistrate]

27. An Excellent Article, Ma'am: Thank You For Presenting It Here

[Voice for Peace]

28. Barbara Walters' interview & opinion

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDaSJ23DRjs

[Prophet 451]

35. Oh dear

I like Chavez for the most part but you're going to catch an awful lot of flames here.

[rAVES]

36. I think anyone with a sense of history

concerning South America can commend Chavez as a brave man, willing to stand up tall for the Poor.

Everything he does for the poor is at odds with washinton and the wealthy of his own country.. it wont last.

The vast majority of Venezuelans who support him are too poor to defend him online or in the media.. he is an easy target for the propagandists.

Its a sad horrible world where defending the poor makes you an iron fist dictator.