Venezuela's Chávez as Everyman

[TinaTyson]

Cui bono (who benefits?)

http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/articles.php?artno=1143

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When he addresses the nation on the popular Sunday broadcast, “Hello Mr. President,” his somewhat darker-skinned crowds gather in Plaza Bolivar to listen to him carry on over government-installed television screens and radio speakers. For five hours. He answers questions from everyday citizens in an engaging conversational tone, without notes, without hesitation, but with an air of calm informality that sets him apart from the pretentiousness of his competition.

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The untold story in Venezuela is that this new society is sprouting legs and moving off the drawing board. Chavez has not yet turned the tide on poverty - not by any means - but he has set the stage for a fundamental shift in economic and educational opportunity. He banned school entrance registration fees for students which previously served as a barrier to much of the child population. “Bolivarian” schools have opened in poor neighborhoods, often maintained and run by parents and volunteers, but supported by the government. Literacy is increasing rapidly as millions of new students have entered school.

Chavez’s “Inside the Barrio” health plan is setting up clinics in the poorest communities, often staffed by respected Cuban doctors and nurses who are on loan to a society that in return provides cheap oil to the island nation. Some of the better new Venezuelan students, previously unable to even dream of college, have found themselves enrolled in Cuban medical schools. His land reform legislation limits individual ownership to 5,000 hectares (12,350 acres), and allows idle land to be redistributed to peasant cooperatives, which will likely lead to much greater fairness in a nation where 2% of the people own 60% of the territory.


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In the old English passion play, Everyman asks Death to give him more time. Death complies, although Everyman eventually must succumb, taking only his good deeds with him to the afterlife. Chavez is asking for more time. But in the Venezuelan version of the play, his good deeds may never be fully implemented. And Death, in some form, may be forced upon him prematurely.

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[TinaTyson]

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