Venezuela Update: Several articles from last 2 days.

I'll post the other articles and editorials in reponse to this first one. I won't be around to discuss it but I thought these were very interesting and didn't see any of them on the board.

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Seems the opposition is worried that if they run in elections it will undermine their position that there isn't a democracy. Some think they should have a coup again instead.

Regional Elections Throw Wrench into Opposition’s Plans to Topple Chavez

http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news.php?newsno=1241

Both Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez governing Movimiento Quinta Republica (MVR—Movement of the Fifth Republic) and the fragmented opposition have had difficulties fielding candidates, though for different reasons. The MVR has been forced to choose from a plethora of candidates and, in the absence of regional primaries, faces the probability of dividing their support in many areas. In his weekly television address Aló Presidente, Chávez called on those candidates sympathetic to the Bolívarian Revolution but not officially representing the MVR to give their full support to MVR candidates. Yet many candidates who remain with ‘el proceso’—Chavez’s "process of revolutionary changes"—appear to be determined to run, with or without the MVR.

Conversely, as a result of conflicting political strategies, the opposition has had trouble fielding candidates in many areas. And where they have been able to field candidates, they are having the same problems creating the appearance of unity.

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As the oppositional political scientist Alberto Garrido points out, opposition parties “don’t have another option. By participating in the elections they legitimate the electoral and judicial powers, and contribute to a Chávez showcase, allowing him to display to the world the existence of a democracy with the elections in Venezuela.”

(I edited the headline above as it was very confusing in its original form, below)

Venezuela Denounced at OAS US Intervention Aimed at Ousting Chavez
http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news.php?newsno=1242
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The reaction from the U.S. government came out immediately. John Maisto, permanent representative of the United States before the O.A.S., said at the meeting that "these irresponsible and baseless accusations are being made to distract the attention of the Permanent Council and international public opinion from what we all know is the real issue at stake in Venezuela". Maisto was referring to the process of referendum underway in Venezuela to revoke the mandate of President Chavez.

“My Government is proud to promote democracy and democratic institutions in the Hemisphere,” Maisto added.

Recent claims of kidnapping of the President de Haiti by U.S. forces, and well know U.S. campaigns aimed at toppling governments in Central America and Chile; seem to contradict the U.S. government’s claims of “promoters of democracy around the world.”

The evidence of the financing by the U.S. government to anti-Chavez groups, has received coverage in foreign media, revealing before international audiences what some describe as an imperialistic attitude of the Bush administration towards Venezuela.

Venezuela's Chavez insists OPEC production cut necessary

http://www.petroleumworld.com/storyT1284.htm

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said Wednesday that OPEC's decision to slash daily production was necessary to keep prices on a fair and stable footing, after the cartel defied US calls for a delay to help rein in high energy prices.

"Production needs reducing so that prices remain stable," Chavez said in Caracas, noting that the average March price of Venezuelan crude had been 30.55 dollars per barrel.

"This is a fair price for our oil," the Venezuelan leader said, noting that the average in the first quarter of 2004 had been of an average 28.72 dollars a barrel.

In Vienna Wednesday, the 11-nation Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries put into effect a decision to cut production by one million barrels per day.

Venezuela's Chávez as Everyman

http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/articles.php?artno=1143

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When he addresses the nation on the popular Sunday broadcast, “Hello Mr. President,” his somewhat darker-skinned crowds gather in Plaza Bolivar to listen to him carry on over government-installed television screens and radio speakers. For five hours. He answers questions from everyday citizens in an engaging conversational tone, without notes, without hesitation, but with an air of calm informality that sets him apart from the pretentiousness of his competition.

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The untold story in Venezuela is that this new society is sprouting legs and moving off the drawing board. Chavez has not yet turned the tide on poverty - not by any means - but he has set the stage for a fundamental shift in economic and educational opportunity. He banned school entrance registration fees for students which previously served as a barrier to much of the child population. “Bolivarian” schools have opened in poor neighborhoods, often maintained and run by parents and volunteers, but supported by the government. Literacy is increasing rapidly as millions of new students have entered school.

Chavez’s “Inside the Barrio” health plan is setting up clinics in the poorest communities, often staffed by respected Cuban doctors and nurses who are on loan to a society that in return provides cheap oil to the island nation. Some of the better new Venezuelan students, previously unable to even dream of college, have found themselves enrolled in Cuban medical schools. His land reform legislation limits individual ownership to 5,000 hectares (12,350 acres), and allows idle land to be redistributed to peasant cooperatives, which will likely lead to much greater fairness in a nation where 2% of the people own 60% of the territory.


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In the old English passion play, Everyman asks Death to give him more time. Death complies, although Everyman eventually must succumb, taking only his good deeds with him to the afterlife. Chavez is asking for more time. But in the Venezuelan version of the play, his good deeds may never be fully implemented. And Death, in some form, may be forced upon him prematurely.

I know, boring stuff but just one :kick: