What Chávez had done, in essence, was to replace existing state programs with his own “revolutionary” programs, staffed by volunteers and visiting Cuban professionals, and with an ideological, rather than an economic or social, mission. The largest sum of money was spent subsidizing consumption, which did not change the underlying conditions, and often replaced programs that might have done so. As a result, rather than improving life, these programs actually caused a sharp decrease in the material conditions of the rural-migrant poor.posted by readery at 3:31 PM on March 5 [1 favorite]
This time of year in Boston, we’re used to seeing ex-Congressman Joe Kennedy on late-night TV, reminding us that “no one should be left out in the cold.” It’s a plug for the home heating oil assistance program run by his non-profit, Citizens Energy, in partnership with CITGO, the Houston-based oil refiner owned by PDVSA, Venezuela’s national petroleum company.Politics aside, many have thanked Chavez and CITGO for "stepping up to the plate" while other oil companies and countries refused Kennedy's request for oil assitance.
Now in its eighth year, the program began in 2005 as a response to fuel price hikes after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. According to CITGO, it has helped more than 1.7 million poor and working families in the United States stay warm through the donation of 200 million gallons of Venezuelan heating oil worth more than $400 million.
The program currently operates in 25 states and the District of Columbia, including 240 Native American tribal communities. This year, at least 100,000 families are expected to benefit. “Venezuela’s commitment to the poor transcends all boundaries, ideological and geographical,” said Claudia Salerno Caldera, Venezuela’s Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs for North America, at the kick-off for the 2013 program in Baltimore. *
And one of the things about somebody like Chavez is that it's hard to get a proper picture of him and his government, how well it's doing or not if you rely on the normal American or European media sources.I think this is key. An awful lot of what everyday folk "know" about Venezuela is worthless media crud. I'm not saying that Chavez was good, or that he was bad, as I truthfully don't know. But I believe that getting a true picture of Chavez is hard, and many of us don't have one.
Here is what Jimmy Carter said about Venezuela's "dictatorship" a few weeks ago: "As a matter of fact, of the 92 elections that we've monitored, I would say that the election process in Venezuela is the best in the world."posted by mrgrimm at 4:05 PM on March 5 [15 favorites]
Over the past four years, Venezuela has witnessed alarming signs of state-directed anti-Semitism, including a 2005 Christmas declaration by President Hugo Chávez himself: “The World has enough for everybody, but some minorities, the descendants of the same people that crucified Christ, and of those that expelled Bolívar from here and in their own way crucified him. . . . have taken control of the riches of the world.”Intriguingly, Venezuala's Jewish leaders rushed to defend him, denying that Chavez had been referring to Jews. On the other hand, half of Venezuala's Jews have left the country since Chavez came to power; there may have been a degree of intimidation at play.
1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 Venezuela, RB 20 22 18 19 25 33 32 38 44 37 37 45 48 52 49 Euro area 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 United States 8 7 7 6 6 6 6 6 6 5 6 6 6 5 5 Brazil 26 27 29 30 30 30 31 32 33 31 29 31 29 30 23
In the decade when he dominated Venezuela, one of the world's largest producers of oil, General Pérez Jiménez was feared and hated inside his country and mocked elsewhere as the prototype of the Latin American military despot. His virulent anti-Communism and his tolerant attitude toward foreign oil companies, however, gained him the backing of the United States. In 1954, nearly four years before his fall from power in a coup and uprising, it even awarded him the Legion of Merit.The Legion of Merit that Eisenhower awarded Jimenez is the highest honor the US military can give to a foreigner. And that is another example of what American Democracy means. Helping the poor, taking back control of natural resources, and denying American interest is called Slavery. Annihilating social programs and murdering the opposition while selling the poor out to American interests is called Freedom.
...
With his authority secure, General Pérez Jiménez forced many former associates into exile and tortured, murdered and incarcerated hundreds of other opponents. Many were sent to the Guasina Island prison in the Orinoco jungle. The national university was closed, independent labor unions were abolished, and the press was intimidated.
The main pillar of General Pérez Jiménez's rule was the much feared National Security police force. It was run by a cruel but loyal underling, Pedro Estrada, whom Hubert Herring in ''The History of Latin America From the Beginnings to the Present'' called ''as vicious a manhunter as Hitler ever employed.''
Government spending on education and health was slashed, and the earnings from oil sales were diverted into lavish, costly and often superfluous construction projects. General Pérez Jiménez presided over the opening of a highway between Caracas and the Caribbean coast, the building of a copy of Rockefeller Center and a luxury mountaintop hotel that overlooks Caracas and what was said to be the world's most expensive officers' club. His cronies pocketed much of the remaining government budget.
There are three possibilities in descending order of preference: a decent democratic regime, a continuation of the Trujillo regime, or a Castro regime. We ought to aim at the first, but we really can't denounce the second until we are sure we can avoid the third.I can imagine what is said when a dove isn't in the White House.
John F. Kennedy, June 7, 1961
That probably explains why a woman (and Ortega supporter) I went on a date with in Nicaragua told me with a straight face: "Of course, I don't blame you for what your government does -- everyone knows that the Jews and the Freemasons control everything." She seemed kind of taken aback that I disagreed with that, and thought I was terribly naive.And if you read the link I just posted to Lenin's Tomb you find the following quip from a Contra Leader:
posted by symbioid at 12:53 PM on March 6The CIA introduced the anti-Semitic slur. The rather sick irony is that it is the CIA which backed anti-Semitic forces, not just in Latin America but in most of its counter-insurgency wars - from ex-Nazi Argentinian generals in Nicaragua to the use of General Reinhard Gehlen in Europe after the Second World War.
Edgar Chomorro recalled a meeting with three CIA officers in the spring of 1983 to discuss ways of promoting the contras inside the United States. One propaganda idea was to target American Jews by portraying the Sandinistas as anti-Semitic. According to Chamorro, the CIA officers "said that the media was controlled by Jews and if we could show that Jews were being persecuted it would help a lot."
Chavez invested Venezuela’s oil wealth into social programs including state-run food markets, cash benefits for poor families, free health clinics and education programs. But those gains were meager compared with the spectacular construction projects that oil riches spurred in glittering Middle Eastern cities, including the world’s tallest building in Dubai and plans for branches of the Louvre and Guggenheim museums in Abu Dhabi.posted by Harald74 at 12:46 AM on March 9 [6 favorites]
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posted by Wordshore at 2:09 PM on March 5