http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=109634&version=1&template_id=46&parent_id=26
Controversial Chavez is a champion of the poor Published: Tuesday, 26
September, 2006, 10:03 AM Doha Time
By Cesar Chelala
NEW YORK: Of only one thing you can be sure with Venezuela's President
Hugo Chavez. You won't be bored listening to him. Chavez's recent criticism of
President George W Bush at the United Nations is only the latest in a war of
words with the US president. Chavez has accused the Bush administration of
trying to assassinate him, a charge US officials have denied. For the Bush
administration, Chavez represents indeed the biggest threat in the region,
although not necessarily for the reasons US officials state.
Who is Chavez, and what explains the current antagonism between him and
the Bush administration?
Chavez is essentially a product of the failure of Venezuelan traditional
parties to bring progress with economic justice to Venezuelans. He is as
disliked by the elites in Venezuela as by members of the Bush administration -
many of whom have been special targets of Chavez's scorn.
The feeling is mutual. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has accused
Chavez of meddling in the affairs of Venezuela's neighbouring countries.
Chavez, by contrast, has accused the United States of trying to topple him and
has charged that US Drug Enforcement Agency officials stationed in Venezuela
have been conducting espionage and ordered them out of the country. In
addition, to increase the Bush administration's displeasure, he hired 16,000
Cuban doctors to provide free medical attention to the poor. The Bush
administration has been a severe critic of Chavez's close ties to Fidel Castro.
Since elected, Chavez has embarked on a Latin American crusade that has
won him popular support in several countries in the continent. Many, however,
also resent his interference which may have been responsible for his candidates
in Ecuador and Mexico losing in their countries' presidential elections.
But Chavez is not to be deterred. He has entered important economic
co-operation agreements with countries in Latin America such as Argentina,
Brazil and Uruguay. Through the PetroCaribe programme, he has offered
Venezuelan oil in very favourable conditions to Caribbean nations. He has also
signed economic and energy deals with France, India, China and Iran, among
other countries.
Chavez has taken advantage of his country's enormous oil reserves to
improve the economic status of Venezuela's poor. Seventy-five percent of
Venezuelans are poor, and 45% live in extreme poverty. Although many dislike
his vociferous and authoritarian style, Chavez has done more for the poor and
dispossessed in his country than any Venezuelan president in recent memory.
His government is pursuing an ambitious agrarian reform programme. In
addition, he is carrying out an educational programme for people in the
shantytowns of Venezuela aimed at bringing the disfranchised and ignored into
the country's political process. Through the creation of the Women's Bank, the
government is trying to improve women's economic situation.
Chavez has used oil revenues to finance infrastructure development,
conduct literacy programmes and create scores of small-scale workers'
co-operatives in agriculture and other sectors. In 2004 Venezuela's state oil
company, Petruleos de Venezuela (PdVSA) spent more than $3.7bn in housing for
the poor, free medical clinics, schools, and literacy programmes. More than
1.2mn adults have learned how to read since Chavez came into office, and the
country now has one of the highest literacy rates (93.4%) in the hemisphere.
Although Chavez is in general not accused of corruption himself, he has
not been exempt from charges of economically favouring his allies. Critics of
his government contend that his reforms are unsustainable, and that he is
squandering valuable state resources.
He has also been accused of increasingly concentrating power in his own
hands, since he has now complete control of all state institutions.
Why do Venezuela's elite hate him so? Maybe it is because he has sharply
curtailed their benefits. Through his "Zero Evasion Tax Plan", he has forced
large corporations and landowners to pay taxes to an extent that they haven't
done in the past. The mainly white elite may also hate him because, in this
racially divided country, he is a darker colour than they are.
Chavez's bold political initiatives have clearly put him on a collision
course with the US, a course in which he has the overwhelming support of the
Latin American masses. Unless the relationship between both countries is more
carefully managed, both are to lose from this confrontation.
* Cesar Chelala is an international public health consultant and
co-winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award for an article on human
rights.
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