It’s a little over four years since the failed military coup took place in Venezuela. On April 11, 2002, the head of the Chamber of Commerce, Pedro Carmona, and Carlos Ortega, head of CTV, a trade union with strong political ties to the old political establishment in the country, forcefully removed from office the most popular president in Venezuelan history: Hugo Chavez. Such is his popularity among the majority of Venezuelans, that it was the ordinary voter, loyal to the last, who marched on the palace just two days later to demand the return of their President, and by April 14, he was back in his elected place.
It has long been suspected that Washington had a strong hand in the attempted coup, and while Washington still denies any involvement, it is a fact that both Carmona and Ortega were speaking with top Washington officials prior to the coup. Not too long after the failed attempt to set himself up as Venezuela’s president, Carmona turned up in Miami. Additionally, after Chavez was arrested and taken to a secret island location, it was reported that a plane registered to the United States that was supposed to carry Chavez out of Venezuela. This neat plan sounds remarkably like the coup that ousted Haitian President Jean Bertrand Aristide in 2004. According to Aristide, who spoke with Democracy Now!’s Amy Goodman a short time after being forced out of Haiti, he was taken on a US plane to Africa - he was not told where he was going, was not allowed to open the shutters on the plane during fuel stops, and was not free to leave. Despite calls for an international investigation by countries such as South Africa and the CARICOM nations, Aristide, the democratically elected head of state in Haiti, is yet to resume his rightful position as President.
In the time leading up to the Venezuelan coup, two Irish documentary filmmakers, Kim Bartley and Donnacha O’Briain, had arrived in Venezuela to get a more in depth look at the reason why Chavez was so popular among the people. They had not counted on being within the palace walls at the time of the coup and the subsequent re-taking of the palace. The result is a moving and triumphant documentary, The Revolution Will Not be Televised, which dispels the media wash surrounding Chavez and his self-proclaimed ‘Bolivarian Revolution', revealing the potential power that can lie in the hands of ordinary people when they are encouraged by their own government to play an active role in the politics of their country.
<!--[endif]-->
“Politics meant nothing to us," said one woman, filmed in Caracas by Bartley and O’Briain. “One group got rich while we got nothing. But now we’re really interested in politics. Because politics now are about participation and democracy."
<!--[endif]-->
A year after Chavez was voted into power in a landslide victory in 1998, he held a referendum to vote in the new constitution, and ever since he has encouraged ordinary people to read it, analyse it, and to be aware of the rights it gives them. According to a report by the BBC’s Greg Palast, which aired on Democracy Now! on April 12 this year, there are many such fundamental changes to Venezuelan society. “Chavez has finally tackled the health and education problems suffered by Venezuela's poor. He's imported 15,000 Cuban doctors and teachers, too. Before Chavez spread the oil wealth, 55% of the population lived in poverty. Now poverty is down by a third, and a million-and-a-half people have been taught to read."
But Washington is uneasy, and not just because of Chavez’s close ties with Cuba: Venezuela has una fuente extensa de aceite - a vast supply of oil. On June 1 this year, Venezuela, the only Latin American member of OPEC (the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries), will be hosting the organisation’s annual meeting, where he will formally request that his country be recognised as sitting on the world’s largest oil reserves - even larger than Saudi Arabia’s famed supply. He will also be requesting that oil maintain a steady price of US$50 a barrel, which Chavez considers a fair, not a high, price.
<!--[endif]-->
To add to Washington’s dismay, Chavez has put the nation’s oil back into the hands of the people, and as well as using the funds for Venezuela, he has also surpassed the United States in supplying funds to other Latin American countries. Additionally, he has also actively pursued a programme that aims to supply cheap oil to poor people both in Europe and, to Washington’s horror, the US. It’s no surprise that the US refused the offer.
<!--[endif]-->
For as long as Venezuela has exported oil, it has only ever served to line the pockets of a few before Chavez came into power. The link, believes Chavez, is neo-liberalist policies, which have dictated where the profits of oil have gone in the past. “Here in Venezuela, and in the rest of Latin America, we were being taken over by the savage project of neo-liberalism," said Chavez, as recorded by Bartley and O’Briain. “With it’s claim that there’s a hidden hand which regulates the market. It’s a lie, a lie! A lie a thousand times over!"
That claim may not be too far from the truth. Organisations such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in particular have come under heavy scrutiny in recent years for their neo-liberalist approach to development. The IMF doles out large, conditional loans, many of which developing countries have no hope of repaying. The conditions include the privatisation of natural resources such as water and, of course, oil. However, according to the Observer's Faisal Islam, an IMF report released in 2004 stated that countries that follow IMF suggestions "often suffer a 'collapse in growth rates and significant financial crises.'"
<!--[endif]-->
Palast revealed that, according to an internal document from the US Department of Energy, Chavez’s estimated oil reserves might even be modest, as they suspect he may have five times the official figures given. This is very good news for the average Venezuelan, but Palast suggests that the Bush Administration’s close ties with Saudi Arabia will keep the pressure on Chavez. It seems, though, that the people of Venezuela have his back.
For more information on Chavez, try these sites:
Democracy Now! and the Greg Palast report:
Click here
"The Revolution will not be Televised" Documentary:
http://www.chavezthefilm.com/index_ex.htm
Politics
Factzone: The truth about Kim Jong Il
Kim Jong Il, the leader of the free world, has decided to move on to more fertile grounds, leaving with us just the memories of 8-color rainbows, singing Korean women and couple of nuclear weapons. But who was this man whose next ambition would have been to get the next Nobel Peace prize? Here are just a few facts you should know about.
more
Top 5 Conspiracy Theories Related to John F. Kennedy's Assassination
26.Aug 2011
Since just after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, conspiracy theories abou...read
ISRAEL KEEPING GHADDAFI AFLOAT
10.Mar 2011
...read
Glen Beck Is NOT the Anti-Christ!
10.Mar 2011
Hurtful and fiery rhetoric is now media’s default setting! This slippery and m...read
Recipe for A REVOLUTION! (10 easy steps - try not to get burned!)
28.Feb 2011
Rebellion is cooking in the air. People are mad as hell, and not going to take...read
Opinion
World governments charged with criminal negligence (in response to Megaupload case)
EARTH (thecheers.org) - Federal authorities of the universe have charged the governments of all the countries in the world as well as the operators actually in power in these countries with operating a criminal enterprise, the Galaxy warriors announced Today.
more
The Great OSCARS 2011 – or so it would seem
5.Mar 2011
So, how exciting......a morning off, the Academy Awards. I wish I could say the...read
Top 7 Expensive Bordellos. Prostitution: Shakedown, Tier Down, and Priced Out
31.Jan 2011
According to a report of the Washington DC-based US Department of State, The Ph...read
The Great Secret and Reason for the JFK Assassination
11.Oct 2010
The great question is why the great secret? On June 4 1963, President Kennedy s...read
Don't Do it! The 3 Worst Times to Get Tattoos
4.Oct 2010
As a general rule, tattoos gotten after 2 am are a bad idea. But in a bigger pi...read
|
Travel
Travel Warning 13 September 2010 - DO NOT TRAVEL TO IRAN
13.Sep 2010
TRAVELWISE has been watching the situation in Iran for some months in relation ...read
more
TRAVELWISE TRAVEL ADVISORY 5th June 2010. DO NOT TRAVEL TO ISRAEL.
5.Jun 2010
Given the recent incident whereby the Israeli intelligence agency, Mossad, used...read
TRAVELWISE. 16 APRIL 2010. EUROPEAN TRAVEL ALTERNATIVES
16.Apr 2010
Travelwise issues the following advice in relation to cancelled flights to, fro...read
TRAVELWISE 6 APRIL 2010. AUSTRALIAN AIR TRAVEL. THE BEST WAYS TO TRAVEL BY AIR IN AUSTRALIA.
5.Apr 2010
Regular readers might have seen and read the various advisory and no-fly notice...read
TRAVELWISE 2 APRIL 2010. QANTAS.
2.Apr 2010
Some concerns have been raised in relation to some of the maintenance practices...read
No Payoff From the Playoffs
$16.50 will Get Anyone in the Hall Mr McGwire
Stupid Athlete Tricks
Think Big! Think the World's Largest International Trade Show
Top 9 cool laptop accessories for laptop geeks
Twittering: I'm not that interesting
Cheers
|
