President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela died today, and although I make no claim to expertise on the man or his country, his career and accomplishments deserve appreciation by those of us on the broad Left who believe in the people's right to self-governance and to use democracy to better their lives.
One point that bears repeated emphasis: Despite grossly inaccurate language that will appear in the corporate media--and even by folks on this site who should know better, Hugo Chávez was neither a dictator nor a "strongman," he was the elected President of Venezuela. He was elected twice in elections that were free and fair, and no-one seriously doubts that he was the people's democratic choice. Over the years, Chávez submitted himself and his agenda to 14 national referendums, winning 13 by large margins, in polling deemed by Jimmy Carter to be “best in the world” out of the 92 elections that he has monitored.
Human rights in Venezuela, while not ideal, have actually improved under Pres. Chávez, and are better than in many Latin American countries, like Colombia and Guatemala, that are U.S. clients/puppets and whose records never get the same level of scrutiny. Even by the broad definition of political prisoner used by the Venezuelan opposition, there are at most 11 political prisoners in Venezuela. Using the same definition, I feel confident there are at least that many political prisoners right here in the good ole USA.
Above all else, President Hugo Chávez attempted to distribute the benefits of his nation's economic system more equitably and simultaneously to change that system to make it more just and egalitarian.
Among his accomplishments, between 1999 and the present are the following:
GDP per capita has more than doubled.
Infant mortality has been cut by 35%.
Extreme poverty has been cut by two-thirds.
Unemployment has been cut by half.
The literacy rate has nearly doubled, to 93%. Just one observation here: dictators and their ilk prefer their people to be ignorant, the better to cow them into submission, they do not sponsor big government programs to teach everyone how to read.
The poor have access to health care for the first time.
Venezuela's GINI Index, a widely used statistical measure of economic inequality, improved from 49.5 to 39, meaning that the country has become more egalitarian. By way of comparison, Colombia went from 58.7 to 55.9, and the U.S. went from 46.2 to 47.7.
Literally hundreds of state-owned, worker-run cooperatives have been formed.
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Thanks for the fitting tribute
And especially for the responding to the predictable propaganda we will hear.
I do take issue with one contention--that dictators never promote literacy. I believe there are other examples of this. But the point is that Chavez did more to improve literacy than any recent US president. I do think there are always problems inherent in politics based on personality--we are seeing here in the US how easily such situations are manipulated. But that does not change the fact that by his speech, by his actions, and by his results we see that Hugo Chavez worked to be the "president of everyone" that Barack Obama has never been. The raw fact is that his democratic ruling and his commitment to creating functional governance which serves the people are the precise reasons that he is reviled by the anti-democratic, anti-human rights, anti-common welfare forces that currently in control of the USG.
When we look back at the response from world leaders to the criminal administrations of Bush and Obama, Chavez will stand out as one person who spoke the truth, flamboyant as he may have been while doing so. How many of us Americans will feel the shame of the fact that our government is working overtime to undermine a country in which conditions are improving?
Thank you, Le Gauchiste
You will find no pathetic agit prop in a response diary from here. Your facts specifically the GINI index speaks for itself.
That list of accomplishments is the best possible tribute to ..
..a true man of the people, who lifted the majority of his people up by the simple expedient of using the country's oil wealth to benefit them instead of an elite few who served mostly American corporate interests.
"You can always judge a man by the quality of his enemies." --Oscar Wilde
Considering who Chavez' enemies were--Bush, Obama, Wall Street, and other corporatists and capitalists galore--I cannot help but be impressed. For years they have been waiting for, if not actually trying to cause, his death. But they should be careful what they wish for.
Chavez' successor, Vice President Nicolas Maduro, is a true scion of the Venezuealan working class. He started off as a bus driver, appears to be very intelligent, and by some accounts is even more leftist than Chavez himself.