Hugo Chávez is the current president of Venezuela. He was elected in 1998, just six years after he orchestrated a failed coup d'état. He was re-elected in 2000, with over 60% of the votes.
Here are some highlights from Hugo Chávez’s tenure as president of Venezuela:
- He is a democratic socialist.
- Seeking to snap Venezuela out of social and economic decline, he launched the Bolivarian Missions, a series of social justice, social welfare, anti-poverty, and educational programs.
- Opposed the Washington Consensus and opted for alternative forms of economic development.
- Set up a free healthcare system in Venezuela.
- Put together a committee that drafted a new Venezuelan constitution that saw a significant increase in the number of human rights promised to the people of Venezuela.
Much like the way that John F. Kennedy dealt with Fidel Castro, the US government has decided to portray Chávez as a crazy commie, hell-bent on destroying everything that democracy stands for.
Here is what Rumsfeld has to say about Chávez’s influence in Latin America:
“We saw dictatorships there. And then we saw most of those countries, with the exception of Cuba, for the most part move towards democracies,” he said. “We also saw corruption in that part of the world. And corruption is something that is corrosive of democracy.”
Chávez has made it clear that he views the US as imperialist. He doesn’t trust them and he doesn’t want their help and does not want their presence in his country.
So naturally he is being subjected not only to a media smear campaign, he is also being watched and probably have a bunch of people trying to kill him on a daily basis.
I'm sure Chávez has his bastard moments and is certainly not the perfect politician. However, he seems to be actually trying to do good by his people and like most people just want to be left the fuck alone by the Bush administration.
3 comments:
nice post ... i wasn't aware of Chavez' social innovations. i was aware that in early 2000 he was making moves to try and convince the arabian states to sell oil in euros rather than US dollars. i think that is the primary reason he is on the US hit list. but then again, as one friend keeps telling me - i just love a conspiracy!
Once again the Yanks have put their finger in the honey pot, harassing poor old South America with bad policy. Some are wondering if Canada should be capitalizing on the horrible relations that the States have been keeping with most South American countries. My two cents? They should.
Viva la P-many!
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