[R-G] Three cheers for Chávez

[Anthony Fenton]

Three cheers for Chávez

Hugo Chávez's 10 years in office have led to better healthcare and  
education for the majority of Venezuelans

     * Benjamin Dangl
           o Benjamin Dangl
           o guardian.co.uk, Monday 2 February 2009 12.00 GMT

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2009/feb/02/venezuela-hugo-chavez-anniversary-election/print

A few years ago, when I first visited Venezuela, I met countless  
enthusiastic supporters of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez. One of  
them was Peggy Ortiz, a blonde, self proclaimed Chavista (Chávez  
supporter) who at the time was working as a radio producer in Caracas.

On a walk through the city's Plaza Bolivar she introduced me to her  
friends who were all, in her words, revolucionarios. One of them was a  
Che Guevara impersonator. He had the same smile, beret and goatee as  
El Comandante, and proudly rode a black moped around, giving high  
fives to street vendors selling Hugo Chávez T-shirts, key chains and  
alarm clocks.

"People believe in Chávez. I believe in him," Ortiz explained as we  
walked past the stalls. "He's a clean president, he doesn't hide  
anything. Most people who are against Chávez don't understand this  
political process."

That is as true now as it was three years ago. Today, 2 February, the  
day that marks 10 years since Chávez was first sworn into office, is a  
good opportunity to reflect on Chávez's rise to power and the positive  
changes his policies have brought to Venezuela.

Chávez first entered the national limelight in the wake of a popular  
rebellion in Venezuela against neoliberal economic policies and state  
repression. Economic inequality, rampant in Venezuela throughout the  
20th century, came to a breaking point in 1989, when right-wing  
President Carlos Andres Perez arrived in office. Perez implemented  
harmful International Monetary Fund structural adjustments, accepted a  
massive loan and subsequent debt which plunged the country into an  
economic recession. The Caracazo, a February 1989 uprising in Caracas  
against the Perez government and his economic policies, was met with  
brutal military repression. Hugo Chávez, then a young colonel in the  
army, refused to participate in the Caracazo crackdown. He led an  
attempted coup d'état against the Perez government in 1992. When the  
coup failed Chávez took the blame for it and was imprisoned until 1994.

Soon after his release Chávez began a presidential campaign that took  
him across the country, gaining support from diverse sectors of  
society. He started out with little financial backing, often traveling  
in a broken-down pickup truck and giving speeches out of the back. His  
humble background — he grew up in a poor family — and fiery speeches  
offered a radical alternative to the wealthy, right-wing politicians  
in power and gave hope to a disenfranchised population, 60% of which  
lived below the poverty line.

Shortly after winning the 1998 presidential election, Chávez re- 
nationalised the country's oil reserves. Under the new constitution,  
the state was granted full ownership of the Petroleos de Venezuela SA  
(PDVSA) gas and oil company. This keeps the government, instead of  
corporations, in control of the industry. The constitution also  
established that revenue from the oil business should be used  
primarily to finance social and development programmes that alleviate  
poverty.

With the new funds, Chávez's government began literacy campaigns,  
undertook land reform, constructed free dentist offices, hospitals and  
schools in the poorest neighbourhoods and created systems of  
subsidised supermarkets and business cooperatives all over the country.

The Chávez government has faced many challenges, particularly from the  
disenfranchised elite that used to run the country. In April of 2002,  
a US supported coup d'etat was staged against Chávez. Yet the  
rebellion was short-lived. After an outpouring of support among  
civilian and military Chavistas, the illegitimate government was  
pushed from office. Chávez was back in the presidency within two days.

During one visit to Venezuela, I stopped by a newly built community  
center in a Caracas neighborhood. In one room, women over the age of  
70 were attending literacy classes decorated with murals of Chávez.  
The literacy campaign, known as Mission Robinson, has reached millions  
of people of all ages. Other occupational classes teach carpentry,  
auto repair and other skills to help people gain employment.  
Programmes in education and literacy have lowered Venezuela's poverty  
rates by giving citizens new skills to improve their standard of living.

Nearby the literacy classrooms were the octagonal health clinics that  
are located throughout the country. In the clinics, Cuban doctors  
offer emergency medical care, vaccinations, check-ups and medicine for  
common illnesses. Free healthcare improves the quality of life for  
many Venezuelans. The work of Cuban doctors in Venezuela's new clinics  
and healthcare systems has allowed for the quick expansion of  
services. In some cases, poor families are able to visit the doctor or  
a dentist for the first time in generations.

A local resident led me to a building under construction that was soon  
to be a Mercal. Mercals, government subsidised supermarkets providing  
basic food for low prices, are now all over the country. Beans, bread,  
milk, vegetables and other products, largely from Venezuelan  
producers, are available in the markets.

Everywhere I went across the country, I ran into Chávez supporters.  
William Barillas, a tall, bearded volunteer at Radio Horizonte, a  
community radio station in Merida, Venezuela, believed the Chávez  
administration was a significant improvement from previous  
governments. "This government has left the era when governments never  
did anything for the country. They used to just help capitalists,  
which were a minority of the population. This government actually  
cares about the education and health of poor people."

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About this article
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Benjamin Dangl: Hugo Chávez cares about the education and health of  
poor Venezuelans
This article was first published on guardian.co.uk at 12.00 GMT on  
Monday 2 February 2009. It was last updated at 12.00 GMT on Monday 2  
February 2009.
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