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Originally posted by Gools
You know if there was an ATS award for most ignorant post of the month I think we would have a winner here.
Chavez has won TWO general elections and SIX referendums since he has been in power and has survived a US backed coup.
Yep... that sure makes him a dictator all right.
Venezuela to implement Cuban-style anti-corruption system
Venezuelan Executive Vice-President José Vicente Rangel Wednesday met with a Cuban delegation that is to advise the Venezuelan Government to create a commission that is to implement an internal control system to fight corruption in the Venezuelan public administration.
"This system is not hard to design, and implementation requires the willingness of public agencies," said National Superintendent of Internal Audit, Vice-President's Office, Neida Camacho Montenegro.
"Long live the socialist revolution! Destiny has been written," Chavez shouted to thousands of flag-waving supporters wearing red shirts, according to The Associated Press.
"That new era has begun," he declared with religious fervor, raising a hand in the air. "We have shown that Venezuela is red! ... No one should fear socialism... Socialism is human. Socialism is love."
Originally posted by Gools
His crime?
Raising taxes on exported oil to pay for education, infrastructure, and medical services. Taking care of his poor and standing up to the wealthy class. Bartering oil with Cuba for medical technology and selling oil to countries other than the US. Wow what a commie MONSTER! Let's nuke him!
.
World: Americas
Venezuelan doctors to strike
Doctors' unions in Venezuela say up to twenty-four thousand doctors in public hospitals across the country will stop work indefinitely from tomorrow for all but emergency cases.
A spokesman said they were protesting at the sacking of more than one-hundred-and-forty doctors from one of the main hospitals in Caracas.
The staff there had been on strike, along with several thousand colleagues at other hospitals in the capital.
The doctors, who earn on average three-hundred dollars a month, want a three-fold increase.
The government, which has cut public spending to try to contain a widening fiscal deficit, says it cannot afford to pay more.
both first initiated in June 2005 with the stated aim of constructing, funding, and refurbishing secondary (integrated diagnostic center) and tertiary (hospital) public health care facilities nationwide; and "Mission Miranda, which established a national citizen's militia. Meanwhile, Venezuela's doctors went on strike, protesting the siphoning of public funds from their existing institutions to these new Bolivarian ones, run by Cuban doctors.
Take, for example, the Ministry of Planning’s statistics on the weight and stature of children. According to this series, the percentage of underweight newborns and babies who are below the standard height for a newborn actually increased from 8.4 to 8.8 percent since Chávez took office in 1999. Infant mortality and newborn mortality rates have decreased, but their reduction is not dissimilar to that achieved by Venezuela in previous years or by other Latin American countries. Indeed, there is little evidence that the Venezuelan government is even trying to do anything different from its predecessors: The share of social spending in relation to total public spending, currently at 40.6 percent, is almost identical to the level reached during the period of application of free market reforms in 1992-93 (40.1 percent).
Despite these realities, government officials routinely make sweeping claims about the success of their social programs—claims that are commonly taken at face value by international public opinion. Consider, for example, the government’s official declaration of Venezuela as an “illiteracy-free territory” on October 28, 2005, when it announced that the Cuban-designed Misión Robinson literacy program had succeeded in teaching 1.5 million Venezuelans how to read and write in just over two years. Some of the highest-ranking representatives of international bodies and foreign governments, including Spanish president José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero and UNESCO director general Koichiro Matsuura, voiced their recognition and approval of this supposed achievement.
Given the extensive academic literature documenting the very low success rates of large-scale literacy programs, one would have expected a little more skepticism. Even a cursory look at the government’s figures will reveal deep inconsistencies in the official story. For starters, it seems awfully difficult to teach 1.5 million people how to read and write given that, according to the 2001 census, there were only 1.08 million illiterate persons in Venezuela. Indeed, the number of illiterate Venezuelans has never exceeded 1.5 million adults since the nation started collecting statistics in 1936. The government also claimed to have mobilized 1.8 percent of the country’s labor force as paid trainers in the program. The problem is that official employment statistics show no evidence that these trainers were ever employed and official budget figures show no evidence that they were ever paid.
In a recent paper I co-authored with Daniel Ortega and Edward Miguel, I used the raw data files of the Venezuelan National Institute of Statistics’ Household Surveys to estimate literacy rates in Venezuela during the period that the Robinson program was implemented. Our results show no evidence of the dramatic reduction in illiteracy claimed by the Venezuelan government. According to our estimates, in the second half of 2005—the first period after the government declaration regarding the eradication of illiteracy—there were still 1,014,441 illiterate Venezuelans over age 15, only slightly less than the 1,107,793 illiterate people registered during the first half of 2003 (before Robinson began). The statistical analysis carried out in our paper shows that most of this absolute decline in the number of illiterate Venezuelans can be traced to changes in the age structure rather than to any effect of the government’s literacy program.
Originally posted by djohnsto77
He has packed the courts with supporters and enacted new laws stifling any bad press coverage of his administration by the media.
Chavez is also stripping property from wealthy landowners and giving it to squatters, buoying his popularity among the poor.
Chavez's interest in new military spending is also worrisome.
Originally posted by djohnsto77
Look at what he's doing now, he's wanting the government to take over telecommunications, electrical, and other utility companies,
Critics say it is starting to look like old-fashioned totalitarianism by a leader obsessed with power.
Originally posted by Benevolent Heretic
.........
It seems if Chavez does something, he's a socialist dictator and deserves our wrath. If Bush does VERY SIMILAR things, it's all for our own good and he's a good president protecting the people and acting in the best interest of his country. Take a look:
You have voted Benevolent Heretic for the Way Above Top Secret award. You have used all of your votes for this month.
Originally posted by niteboy82
..................
I have far too many problems to worry about with my country to even have an hour to start contemplating the actions of an elected leader in Venezuela.
Originally posted by Muaddib
Originally posted by niteboy82
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I have far too many problems to worry about with my country to even have an hour to start contemplating the actions of an elected leader in Venezuela.
Then don't respond to this particular thread....
Instead of checking the facts, you want to downplay this....
Originally posted by intrepid
Wow Muaddib. When were you promoted to a staff position here?
THE PCP AND THE REFERENDUM IN VENEZUELA
August, 17th 2004
The confirmation of Hugo Chavez as President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela according to the preliminary official results announced by the Electoral National Council, constitutes a great victory of the patriotic and progressive Venezuelan forces that the PCP greets and salutes with profound joy and solidarity spirit. The fact that the referendum had an enormous turn out and held under conditions of great serenity and democratic transparency strongly underlines the political significance of this huge demonstration of popular support to the democratic process in which Hugo Chavez is the more outstanding personality.
In this moment of great joy for all those who in Venezuela, in Latin America and in the world fight for social progress, against imperialism and for a freer and fairer world, the PCP fraternally salutes the workers and people of Venezuela, the Communist Party of Venezuela, the Movement Fifth Republic and all forces engaged in the defence of sovereignty, in the deepening of democracy and in the social progress of this country.
The PCP alerts against any attempts of the international reaction or of imperialism, to challenge the results of the referendum and to destabilize Venezuela with the purpose of regaining privileges, namely the control of the oil, and to restore the power of a corrupt oligarchy submitted to North-American interests.
Our Party, confirming its solidarity position translated into the presence of a member of the PCP’s Central Committee in Venezuela, warmly greets the workers and the Venezuelan people and wishes them the best in their intervention and struggle for the consolidation and advance of the revolutionary Bolivarian process.
The Secretariat of the CC
After seeing thousands of Venezuelans fired from the state oil company after the strike, and thousands more fired after the referendum, ordinary Venezuelans are terrified of voting against the government.
In a recent study to determine how the fear factor influences voters, the Hannah Arndt Foundation polled 1,200 Venezuelans using colored pencils stenciled with political slogans: red, the color of Chavez's MVR party, blue, the color of Rosales's Unity Movement, and neutral. When potential voters believed they were being polled by Chavez's pollsters, 55% said they would vote for Chavez, and 45% opted for Rosales. When others thought they were being polled by Rosales's pollsters, 52% said they would vote for Rosales, and 48% would vote for Chavez. The neutral colored pencil with no political markings gave Chavez only a three point lead, 51% over 49%. Given a three point margin of error, the last result yields a technical tie.
Originally posted by The Vagabond
Originally posted by djohnsto77
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is slowly turning Venezuela into a socialist dictatorship.
That's more than a little up for debate. Right or wrong he clearly has the mandate of the people. They saved him from a US backed coup attempt not long ago.
[edit on 6-2-2005 by The Vagabond]
Chavez to seek unlimited terms
Chavez said he would model his socialist system on the writings of Marx, Lenin and the Bible [EPA]
Hugo Chavez, Venezuela's president, has said he wants to amend the constitution to let presidents seek an indefinite number of consecutive terms.
Chavez, president since 1999, made the comments when he was sworn in for a new six-year term on Wednesday.
Originally posted by Masisoar
The United States doesn't support this man simple enough, I support him, U.S. Special Interest doesn't however. That should be a new department in the U.S. - The United States Special Interest Office with a motto: "Screwing America since before it was born".