As a Chicano living in the U.S., compared to most people in the Third World, I live a privileged life, just by chance of birth. For that reason, I don't believe it's my right to criticize what the people of the poorest countries in the world decide to do to end their impoverishment, exploitation and repression they've suffered, especially by corporations and gov't agencies of my country. Nor what their democratically elected leaders decide to do, however flawed every dream. Such debate and struggle are for the people of that country to decide.
About this "maker
of dreams":
"At this challenging time
of President Hugo Chávez’s passing, the United States reaffirms its support for
the Venezuelan people and its interest in developing a constructive
relationship with the Venezuelan government. As Venezuela begins a new chapter
in its history, the United States remains committed to policies that promote
democratic principles, the rule of law, and respect for human rights." – Statement of President Obama on the Death of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, 3/5/13
Upon awarding Hugo Chavez the José Martí Prize:
"By embodying a nation’s
aspiration to sovereignty and its struggle for liberty, his activity has
contributed to the unity and integration of the countries of Latin America and
the Caribbean and to the preservation of their identities, cultural traditions
and historical values." The UN's UNESCO International
José Martí Prize (to promote and reward an
activity of outstanding merit in accordance with the ideals and spirit of José
Martí)
"President Chavez will be remembered for his
bold assertion of autonomy and independence for Latin American governments and
for his formidable communication skills and personal connection with supporters
in his country and abroad to whom he gave hope and empowerment. During his
14-year tenure, Chavez joined other leaders in Latin America and the Caribbean
to create new forms of integration. Venezuelan poverty rates were cut in half,
and millions received identification documents for the first time, allowing
them to participate more effectively in their country's economic and political
life.
Where Chavez supporters lived |
"At the same time, we recognize the divisions
created in the drive towards change in Venezuela and the need for national
healing. We hope that as Venezuelans mourn the passing of President Chavez and
recall his positive legacies -- especially
the gains made for the poor and vulnerable -- the political leaders will
move the country forward by building a new consensus that ensures equal
opportunities for all Venezuelans to participate in every aspect of national
life." – Former U.S. President Jimmy
Carter
"President Chavez spoke to the challenges and
aspirations of the most vulnerable Venezuelans. He provided decisive impetus
for new regional integration movements, based on an eminently Latin American
vision, while showing solidarity toward other nations in the hemisphere. His
contribution to the current peace talks in Colombia between the Government of
President Juan Manuel Santos and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia
(FARC) has been of vital importance." – U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
"The death of President Hugo Chavez of
Venezuela caused a lot of sadness in Palestine and in my heart. President
Chavez stood by Palestine and supported the rights of the Palestinian people
all along." – Nabil Sha'ath, senior
Palestinian official
"Per capita [Venezuelan] income
grew about 2.5 percent annually, which is pretty good even compared to the rest
of Latin America. It's vastly better than what they had before Chavez." – Mark Weisbrot, the co-director of
the Center for Economic and Policy Research
"Today the United States lost a friend it
never knew it had. And poor people around the world lost a champion. I lost a
friend I was blessed to have. My thoughts are with the family of President
Chavez and the people of Venezuela." – American gringo actor Sean Penn
Petare, Caracas |
"He will be remembered as a
great figure of Latin America, one who spoke up for the indigenous people and
the poor and changed the whole narrative of the politics of the continent
towards redistribution of wealth and spending oil resources on people rather
than returning it to distant multi-national companies. I think he will be
remembered very warmly by a lot of very marginalized and very poor people
across the continent. His legacy is one that has asserted Latin American
cultural values and asserted Latin America in a way that very few leaders in
the whole continent ever have. I think he'll be remembered ... as somebody who
stood up against very difficult odds." – Jeremy Corbyn, member of the
British Parliament
“The Cuban people think of him as one
of their greatest sons, and have admired, followed and loved him as one of
their own. Chavez is Cuban too! He felt in his flesh and bones our hard times
and problems, and he did everything that he could, with extraordinary
generosity.” – Communiqué from the Council of State led by President Raul Castro.
(On March 5, Havana declared three days of
national mourning for Chavez.)
Others who will remember
Chavez:
Venezuela's Oil Giveaway - "In 2005, 13
U.S. Senators sent a letter to American oil companies seeking heating fuel aid
for lower-income residents in northern states, a subsidiary of the state-owned
Petroleos de Venezuela, Citgo was the
only one to step forward.
"25,000 families received affordable
heating oil for the winter, not caring that the help comes from a principle of
Chavez's Bolivarian Revolution: the redistribution of oil revenues, especially
for the poor." 5 million gallons of heating oil at a 40% discount (half
price) went to low-income Philadelphia residents.
"Following that, Philadelphia,
Boston, the Bronx and cities in Maine, Vermont and Rhode Island received 45
million gallons of the subsidized Citgo fuel, and other cities were slated for
another 5 million. Citgo set aside about 10% of its refined petroleum for the
program. Said Larry Birns, director of the Council on Hemispheric Affairs in
Washington, D.C. "Unfortunately for the Bush Administration, Chavez is
proving to be a more inventive thinker in terms of hemispheric politics."
[This was after the Bush Administration was widely accused of backing a failed
2002 coup against Chavez, a charge it denies.
Argentine
President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner: "The great legacy of
Chavez is the social inclusion of millions of Venezuelans that used to be
invisible and today are protagonists."
His strongest regional ally,
Bolivia's Evo Morales: "We are hurt. We are devasted. We feel Hugo Chávez is more
alive than ever. He will continue being an inspiration for people who fight for
liberty."
Petare, Venezuela |
Impoverished Venezuelans, like in Petare, a shantytown in western Caracas –
"Chavez focused on developing welfare programs for the poor. The programs,
called misiones sociales, have measurably reduced poverty in places like
Petare.
"I would argue his legacy goes beyond that.
Chavez ushered in a new area of populist leaders including Rafael Correa in
Ecuador, Evo Morales in Bolivia and Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua. They have all
borrowed Chavez's playbook by catering to the poor and railing against the
United States, a country they call "the evil empire." They all
benefited from cheap oil from Venezuela while Chavez made allies who helped him
slowly but surely tilt Latin American politics to the left.
"Hugo Chavez was beloved by millions around
the world. He changed the course of a continent and led a collective awakening
of a people once silenced, once exploited and ignored. Chavez was a grandiose
visionary and a maker of dreams.
"An honest man from a humble background who
lived in a mud hut as a child and sold candies on the streets to make money for
his family, Chavez dreamed of building a strong, sovereign nation, independent
of foreign influence and dignified on the world scene. He dreamed of improving
the lives of his people, of eradicating the misery of poverty and of offering
everyone the chance of a better life, el buenvivir, as he called it.
"President Chavez made dreams come true.
During his nearly 14 years of governance, Chavez's policies reduced extreme
poverty in Venezuela by more than 75%, from 25% to less than 7% in a decade,
according to statistics from the Center for
Economic and Policy Research. Overall poverty was reduced by more
than 50%, from 60% in 1998 when Chavez first won office to 27% by 2008.
"Chavez was a maker of dreams. He recognized
the rights of the disabled, of indigenous peoples, all genders and sexualities.
He broke down barriers of racism and classism and declared himself a socialist
feminist. He not only made his own dreams come true, but he inspired us all to
achieve our fullest potential."
by Eva Golinger
(a NY attorney living in
Caracas, Venezuela, since 2005; author of The Chávez Code: Cracking US
Intervention in Venezuela and Bush vs. Chávez: Washington's War on Venezuela; Editor-in-Chief
of the Correo del Orinoco International. Blog at Chavezcode.com.
Chavez was the same hombre who had to deal with "changing public schools to a full day, including nutritional meals for students. Most schools had run
only half-time, lacked air-conditioning, and were in such a state of neglect
that they were beyond repair. Before Chavez, education was truly a disaster requiring
at least 11 years of work and 4.5 billion dollars to improve."
Chavez's critics will raise questions of his stacking the Supreme Court, undermined production and shortages of basic food products, inflation, currency depreciation,
a high murder rate, revocation of TV licenses and human rights alarms about repressing
opposition and silencing dissent, and backing
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Libyan Gaddafi. That's not a complete
list.
"Christopher
Columbus was the spearhead of the biggest invasion and genocide ever seen in
the history of humanity."
"Just
look at the internal repression inside the United States, the Patriot Act,
which is a repressive law against US citizens. They have put in jail a group of
journalists for not revealing their sources. They won't allow them to take
pictures of the bodies of the dead soldiers, many of them Latinos, coming from
Iraq. Those are signs of Goliath's weaknesses."
"Israel
has gone mad. It's attacking, doing the same thing to the Palestinian and Lebanese
people that it has criticized - and with reason - [in the case of] the
Holocaust. But this is a new Holocaust." - on Israel
attacking Lebanon."
And his most notorious:
"The
Devil is right at home. The Devil, the Devil himself, is right in the house.
And the Devil came here yesterday. Yesterday the Devil came here. Right here.
And it smells of sulphur still today. Yesterday, ladies and gentlemen, from
this rostrum, the president of the United States, the gentleman to whom I refer
as the Devil, came here, talking as if he owned the world. Truly. As the owner
of the world." - on George W. Bush, who appeared
before the UN General Assembly a day earlier in 2006.
Es todo, hoy,
RudyG
4 comments:
how delightful to read obama getting the name of our country accurately, "the united states." Hugo Chavez will be remembered among the greatest American presidents in history.
mvs
I never met Chavez in person, but I spend many times in the Academia Militar de Venezuela, his alma mater, as a visiting cadet from the Escuela de Aviacion Militar. Back on those days, the Venezuelan military was decidedly anti-left wing, to the point of paranoia. I remember one day finding the “Communist Manifest” in a trash can in my barracks. I showed it to an alferez who made me burn it and swear not to tell anybody about the find, or everybody in the barracks would be in huge trouble, including calabozo time. That was the environment Chavez spent 4 years living in before getting a commission in the Army, which was indoctrinated by the infamous U.S ran School of the Americas in Panama (the same school that trained the Trujillos and Somozas). I went through the then standard anti-guerrilla warfare course, and it was a hard core course designed to eradicate (nice way to say kill) left wingers. I wonder if Chavez’s socialist ideas came after his commission or if he hid them so well for so many years. Love or hate the man, but he gave the poor in Venezuela a voice they never had, and improved their lot. Decades of previous democratic governments had failed miserably on that task, toeing the US line.
Jose Rodriguez
School of the Americas, one of the most shameful crimes-against-humanity venues for my taxes.
Best of luck, Jose Rodriguez, in your peoples' shaping their own future.
RudyG
Excellent post, Rudy. Mind control is everywhere, but first you gotta eat, and he did feed his people.
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