3. "Increasingly desperate and unpopular President determined to remain in power at all costs." Desperate? At all costs? For Chavez to remain in power, he must be re-elected at the end of every term in office - and as far as he has said, he has no intention of going against this. Also, from what I see, Chavez is no more popular or unpopular than he was last year. The vast majority of the population (about 70-80%, which had been until recently relatively poor) have benefited immensely from free health care and education, and government-run food stores, all which were basically non-existent prior to Chavez' arrival. The middle class has benefited greatly from government-enabled financial restructuring in the way banks and financial institutions deal with loans and mortgages, for example. The middle class (in fact, anyone) can buy food at the government-run food outlets (Pdval, Mercal, etc.) at very low prices compared to the highly speculative and gouging traditional Venezuela food outlets. There are some people who voted for Chavez in 1998, but hate him today. I know some of these people and this is what one of them has to say about Chavez, "I voted for him because I thought that socialism meant that we would all be upper-middle class with big homes and fancy cars and easy jobs." My estimate is that his popularity is at about 50-55% today.
Then the article continues with: "While the President and his followers were celebrating the anniversary of the failed 1992 coup that first brought him to national attention, the students were protesting the deterioration of their country."
I sometimes wonder what these people mean by "deterioration of the country?" There are more schools and clinics and real homes and better roads, and now, train systems, cable-car systems, subway extensions, newly paved and expanded roads and highways - and thousands of new high-end (very expensive) apartment complex construction sites all over the country. The restaurants (very expensive in places like Las Mercedes) are almost always full, the casinos are full, the traffic in Caracas in a nightmare from so many new vehicles on the street. None of this was ever seen before Chavez was elected.
Then: "It wasn't the first time that Mr. Chavez has resorted to force to quell peaceful political opponents, but the frustration level inside the country is rising as Venezuela's political and economic situation goes from bad to worse. Rolling blackouts, currency devaluation and price inflation (the worst in Latin America), water shortages and scarce commodities -- this is what 11 years of a Chavez presidency have produced."
1. As far as I know, none of the anti-Chavez protests so far have been peaceful. I watched the recent ones live on TV as they developed in Merida and in Caracas - they were violent protests, as usual. I have also been to several anti-Chavez protests and they were all highly violent. I was attacked in Santa Ines in January 2003 by about 150 violent all-white, upper-middle-class anti-Chavez people simply because I did not want to join in their violent attacks against the mostly darker-skinned Chavez supporters. The only non-violent protests or marches I have seen or been to in Venezuela have been pro-Chavez demonstrations - filled with children and families and music - and very little booze (unlike the anti-Chavez protests).
2. The political situation would be so much more peaceful if the anti-Chavez crowds would stop committing (public and often televised) acts of hate and violence.
3. Rotating electricity blackouts (rationing) and water rationing is indeed happening throughout most of the country. In the meanwhile, the government is speeding up large already-started hydro-electric dam construction projects, they are importing and installing gigantic generators all over the country, and much more.
But, no matter what the government does and no matter how many times the anti-Chavez complainers are told and shown how low the reservoir level have become in Venezuela, they blame it on Chavez, and not on God or the Rainmaker (whoever that might be). It isn't that difficult to understand - most of Venezuela's electricity generation comes from hydroelectric dams - thus " less water in the dams means less electricity. Less water in the reservoirs means less potable water. It is quite simple really, but some people just don't get it. Furthermore, it doesn't ever occur to them to blame former governments for the fact that almost all of Venezuela's electricity comes from hydroelectric dams. Prior to the time when Chavez was elected, there was plenty of evidence that climate change could negatively affect electricity production in Venezuela, but no previous government did anything to advance, propose or build, for example, wind generation stations. They have to blame it all on Chavez, who inherited a government in a putrefied state. These anti-Chavez people do not even realize that in addition to climate change, there could very well be internal sabotage by anti-Chavez people working within the electricity and water ministries and companies. This is not at all far-fetched. PDVSA, Venezuela's state-owned oil company and the main source of revenue for the government, was internally sabotaged in 2002-2003 by anti-Chavez employees of PDVSA itself.
4. Shortages and scare commodities (and inflation and devaluation) - hummmph. Almost all shortages (and inflation and devaluation) in Venezuela occur due to hoarding and speculation (or contraband toward Colombia) by greedy individuals, some corrupt officials and many privately-owned stores, distributors and importers. The government has been addressing this problem for several months. One example is the fact that the government is in the process of nationalizing a very large private supermarket chain because the chain has refused to stop massive hoarding and speculation. However, as soon as the government takes such action (which is beneficial to society), the anti-Chavez crowd, who yells against inflation and shortages, starts to attack Chavez from the angle that he is now trying to turn Venezuela into another Cuba by the "taking over by force" of private industry. This is really confusing to the mind " but that is exactly how these people think, and worse. It is as if they have rust in their heads.
Then they go on to say: "Dismal energy program"Â As if to underline the utter befuddlement of Mr. Chavez' inept government, an advisory team from Cuba, of all places, was brought in to improve the dismal energy program. Cuba? That's like asking Scott Rothstein for advice on legal ethics.
The writers of this article have apparently not researched their information very carefully. Cuba appears to be at the top of the list, worldwide, in the energy revolution, ahead of the USA (which most of the anti-Chavez crowd would consider the most advanced). But, as with most anti-Chavez people, anything coming out of Cuba is absolutely no good. They might like to read the following - and then - research from there onward - and then make a statement based on fact instead on what appears to be hate:
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