Hugo Chavez has been taking a bit of a knocking recently as his proposed plan to serve more than two terms took a bit of a fall this week.
The opponents of the Venezuelan leader hammered away at the claim that the new constitution would make Chavez president for life when actually he was proposing the same rules that operate here in Britain, namely to serve as many terms as he was democratically elected for.
Of course it serves the capitalist countries and big business leaders to play down and even vilify the system that would see them knocked from their lofty perches which a wide uptake of Socialist ideology in most of the world would do.
Since Chavez was elected in 1998, we have seen the first serious attempt at a modern form of Socialism and only the most blinkered of McCarthy era relics would not admit that Chavez has made a mighty fine fist of things so far.
He inherited a country devastated by two decades of poverty and driven by oil revenues, increased social spending by ploughing the money into health care, education, food provision, employment, land reform, culture and the environment.
To compare 1998 to 2006 figures make astounding reading.
1628 doctors in 1998, 19,571 today while there was 250,000 free school meals in 1998 in 2006 there was 1.8m.
Access to education has dramatically increased, including more than 1 million people participating in free adult literacy classes, leading to Venezuela eradicating illiteracy by UN standards.
55% of the population was in poverty in 1998, 30.6% in 2006. The Venezuelan economy has grown by 76%. Inflation is down from 120% in 1998 to 20% now.
Don't expect those bent on condemning Chavez as a power crazed megalomaniac to applaud these impressive achievements but the rest of us can maybe agree that he has set about solving the problems of the most vulnerable in Society, namely the poor and sick and has laid the groundwork for a country where the majority and not the few, reap the most benefits. As it should be.
5 comments:
"but he's an eeeevil dictator!
who cares about poor people, anyway?"
:)
I'm not a fan of everything Chavez has done, but surely nobody could deny that he's done a helluva lot better for Venezuelans (as opposed to multinational companies) than the World Bank or Eye-Em-Frickin-Eff ever managed to do.
No wonder he's so popular over there. And so unpopular in certain other corridors of power.
I must admit a guilty pleasure at watching Chavez tweak the noses of the US and other "free" governments. Particularly watching the glee with which he does so. That speech he gave at the UN after Bush, in which he mentioned that the devil had just left the dais still reeking of sulfur, then crossed himself, still stands as sublime theater. For me, it's now as iconic a moment as Kruschev removing his shoe and using it as a gavel. Absolutely priceless!
However, for all Chavez' accolades, and for all the good he's done to help the people of Venezuela, he really is quite the megalomaniac, and his oppression of the opposition shouldn't be idly swept behind a sofa. Of course, he's not really any worse than Bush in that respect, but his manipulation of the constitution to his advantage should be cause for raised eyebrows, if nothing else. Face it, he wouldn't be tinkering with their law if he didn't see a very clear advantage for himself. It's the very nature of politics.
Ook ook
The change of the law to be able to run for more than 2 terms would just bring him in line with Britian so i did roll my eyes at the anti-Chavez crowd that tried to make him out to be some despot dictator.
Apart from him being very charismatic and humourous, what he has done for Venezuela and its poverty stricken population is admirable and could be seen as proof that Socialism, when administered correctly and not run by a murdering tyrant, is a more just system. Unless you are one of the few rich at the top that is, it stinks then.
lol@ annie!
Be careful giving Chavez big ol' cyber-hugs. Those people are watching.
You know, the man did, through Citgo, give poor Americans in the NorthEast free or discounted gas during the winter a couple of years ago when the other gas companies were gouging everyone. I'll never forget how that got swept under the rug.:) Still, if he is really doing what he's doing for the good of his people, let the man be king. Why not?
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