Chavez "Didn't Fall from the Sky" The victory of the 'Bolivarian' socialist in Venezuela is proof that Hugo Chavez enjoys real popularity at home -- and it is the direct consequence of the traditional elites' failure to address the issue of poverty for so many years.
<http://www.spiegel.de/international/0,1518,grossbild-751930-452614,00.html> <http://www.spiegel.de/international/0,1518,grossbild-751930-452614,00.html> Großbildansicht <http://www.spiegel.de/international/0,1518,grossbild-751930-452614,00.html> REUTERS The Chavez landslide shows that the his socialist program is popular with his fellow Venezuelans. Hugo Chavez won a ringing endorsement from the Venezuelan electorate on Sunday. He garnered over 60 percent of the votes to secure another six-year term as president. The triumph of the socialist may not be welcome news in Washington but it reflects the satisfaction of the majority of Venezeulans with the Chavez project of using oil revenues to finance social programs for the poor. For many Chavez is redressing decades of neglect by the traditional elites. It remains to be seen whether he will now embark on meaningful reforms. What is more certain is that he intends to continue his attempt to export his <http://www.spiegel.de/international/spiegel/0,1518,451581,00.html> "Bolivarian" revolution to the rest of Latin America and to compete with the United States for influence in the region. The German press cautiously welcomes the Chavez victory and many commentators examine the reasons for the swing to the left in so much of Latin America. The center-left Süddeutsche Zeitung sees the Chavez phenomenon as the legacy of the deep social divisions in Venezuela: "Following Chavez's latest victory, proponents of democracy can no longer doubt that the majority of the voters really want the man. Since his first election victory in 1998 he has won vote after vote, he even survived a putsch and a general strike by the desperate opposition. His obstinate alternative in the name of the liberator Simon Bolivar can sometimes seem absurd, economically risky and authoritarian. But this upstart in a red shirt understands better than the others how to channel the fears and hopes of the poor and to provide them with the promise of a way out. The former parachute trooper didn't fall from the sky. President Hugo Rafael Chavez Frias is the answer to the failure of the traditional elite." "The example of Venezuela illustrates what is also going on elsewhere in the resource-rich Latin America. In principle, 26 million people live on one of the biggest oil reserves in the Western world. The upper and middle classes barricade themselves behind walls and barbed wire and drive their big cars on gas that is cheaper than mineral water and then are shocked to realize that another part of society is living in shacks. It was Chavez who first gave the marginalized a voice and the feeling of participating in politics and resources." "One must take the movement towards men like Chavez and Morales seriously. Behind them are simple but far-reaching questions. Who does the land belong to? How can wealth be used and distributed justly? ... The concentration of power and wealth up until now has given rise to the revolutionary mood and the new resource nationalism." The Financial Times Deutschland comments on Chavez's victory speech in which he described the result as a "defeat for the devil" -- the US president: "Chavez should have thanked US President George W. Bush. He had played a big part in his re-election. Latin America's heart beats to the left. Social democrats or socialists are now governing in almost all of the big states in a region that is still considered by the US as its sphere of influence." "Three-fifths of all Latin Americans surveyed have a poor opinion of the 'gringos' ... this anti-Americanism is a consequence of a failed foreign economic policy. In the 1990s, the US used promises and massive pressure to persuade many countries to liberalize their economies and to open them up to free trade. Although many of the affected countries saw rapid growth, the wealth went almost exclusively to a narrow upper class ... Many Latinos now completely reject globalization and privatization, and view Washington's maneuvers with mistrust." "This makes it easy for Chavez to play Robin Hood: But the fact that the 'petro-populist' can afford all of these good deeds is thanks to the US. The country is by far the biggest customer for Venezuelan oil. Washington could ruin Chavez in no time with an import boycott. The opposite is the case at the moment: This year the US bought more than 60 billion liters of the black gold from Venezuela -- thus giving the archenemy more than $20 billion for his crusade against itself. Chavez has every reason to be grateful to Bush." The left-wing Tageszeitung describes the Chavez victory as part of a wave of Latin American emancipation from the US. "Although the neo-liberal establishment was able to hold on in Costa Rica, Peru, Colombia and Mexico ... Since July the progressive candidates have been prevailing once again: in Brazil, Nicaragua, Ecuador and now Venezuela. And the defeat of the Republicans in the US Congressional elections should also have positive affects in the medium term. The continent has again moved a bit further to the left." "The question remains if Chavez can succeed in implementing a freer socialism than that of as his role model Fidel Castro in Cuba. His long-derided 'Bolivarian' vision has been taking shape in the region: an integration of Latin America under a social banner that will develop independently of the US. Not all presidents get down to business quite as decisively as Chavez, but the direction is the right one." "The message from Venezuela is clear: A stable 60 percent majority want the radical change of system that their head of state has promised them. And that is why the self-proclaimed 'Socialist of the 21st century' is more secure in his position than ever." The left-leaning Berliner Zeitung writes: "There is nothing to quibble about in this victory. And no way of glossing over the defeat of the opposition. Chavez is no longer the man of the hour in Venezuela -- he is the man of the decade." Forum <http://forum-international.spiegel.de/showthread.php?t=322> <http://forum-international.spiegel.de/showthread.php?t=322> Forum <http://forum-international.spiegel.de/showthread.php?t=322> Is Hugo <http://forum-international.spiegel.de/showthread.php?t=322> Chavez the new Ché or a dangerous ideologue? Discuss the issue with other SPIEGEL ONLINE readers! 127 <http://forum-international.spiegel.de/showthread.php?t=322&goto=lastpost> Posts, Neuester: 06.11. von moscow mike "If one takes the schools and doctor's offices that have been set up under Chavez, if one counts the streets and bridges that have been repaired or built, if one essentially judges the incumbent's achievements by the criteria used in Latin America and elsewhere, then Venezeula's president richly deserved reelection. Poverty has by no means disappeared, but it has lessened ... For the majority of Venezuelans the balance sheet after eight years of 'Chavism' is positive, the progress is tangible. The president's opponents, however, argue that a lot more was possible. Oil, which accounts for 50 percent of tax revenues and 80 percent of export revenues, only cost $11 a barrel when Chavez first entered office, today it stands at $56. Measured by this additional income, the government's successes seem negligible, goes the argument. The citizens are being fed the 'crumbs,' says opposition candidate Rosales." "Yet citizens' memory of the time before 1998 is stronger than the opposition campaign propaganda. They remember that the Social Democrat and Christian Democrat parties thrown out of power by Chavez had done nothing to tackle the impoverishment of a country so rich in natural resources. 'I am not the cause, I am the consequence,' Chavez recently said to describe himself. Until the opposition understands this sentence, it will remain the opposition." -- Siobhán Dowling, 2 p.m. CET http://www.spiegel.de/international/0,1518,452614,00.html [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
