Chavez staying true to pledge for U.S. poor

By ESTANISLAO OZIEWICZ, Friday, September 23, 2005, Globe and Mail

When Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said on the weekend that he was going to open the taps on subsidized heating oil for poor folks in the United States, many assumed it was a drive-by comment aimed at raising the ire of his frequent critics in Washington.

But, as it turns out, Mr. Chavez is a man of his word.

Officials at Citgo Petroleum Corp. -- the Houston-based company that is wholly owned by Venezuela's state-owned energy company -- say they are scrambling to put the fine points on Mr. Chavez's promise to supply some of the poorest neighbourhoods in the United States with cheap heating oil this winter.

"The idea is to work with communities in need, with schools, and we'll have to work through not-for-profit organizations that will serve as intermediaries," public affairs manager Fernando Garay said.

...

Ms. Buxton said that Mr. Chavez's U.S. foray was borne of pragmatism and ideology.

"He's been deeply, deeply frustrated by coverage in the U.S. media and the attitude of the U.S. government, and he's trying to counter a very Republican-directed vendetta," she said, a vendetta that included a call by U.S. evangelist Pat Robertson for his assassination.

"He clearly needed to build constructive alliances with more liberal sections of American society and open a way to insulate himself against his Washington enemies."

On the World Stage

By Robert Brubach, Z-Net

Hugo Chavez has moved onto the world stage as an advocate of profound change within his own country and abroad. At the gathering of world leaders at the United Nations this week he proclaimed: "The United Nations has exhausted its model...The twenty first century demands deep changes that will only be possible if a new organization is founded." He described the specter of a "frightening neo- liberal globalization" that has sapped the will of the United Nations. Alluding to the United States, he called for an end to the "shameless dictatorship" it exercises over the international organization and demanded that UN headquarters be moved from New York to an "international city" in a country in the South.

"Tremendous courage against the odds"

Kiraz Janicke speaks to Gregory Wilpert for Green Left Weekly

...According to Wilpert, the Bolivarian revolution led by President Hugo Chavez is “really crucial and important as an experiment, as an example, as a place to learn and as an inspiration”.

Venezuela is “a place of world historical importance right now”, said Wilpert. “I think that’s why the word has to get out about it, because most people don’t really know what’s going on and the mainstream media aren’t really doing a good job of reporting on it.”

Wilpert claims that “Venezuela is the only country in the world, as far as I know, where the government is really trying to [work] its way towards something that is anti-capitalist, something non-capitalist. [Venezuelan President Hugo] Chavez talks about it being socialism of the 21st century. Even though it’s not defined exactly which way this process is heading, it’s really the only country in the world that is trying to do something different.”

Chavez in the USA

Chavez made good use of his two days in NYC, visiting the Bronx (with Congressman Jose Serrano) and the Riverside Church (with Jesse Jackson) that hosted the historic meeting between Fidel Castro and Malcolm X 35 years ago. [Miami Herald | Globe and Mail| Journal News]

He also talked to Ted Koppel of ABC News in a wide-ranging and remarkably frank interview. He also talked to Amy Goodman on Democracy Now!. Also read this commentary.

Chavez Speaks at the UN

On the morning of September 16, 2005, Chavez brought the revolution into the halls of the UN, in a fiery speech recognizing the most precious issues facing the planet and putting Venezuela at the service of humanity and thus earning the loudest applause at the 60th anniversary summit.

See the complete video clip: English | Spanish

Read the full translated text and excerpts with commentary.

Does Hugo Chavez have a lesson for Canada?

by Jerry West, rabble.ca, September 7, 2005

Imagine, using national resources to improve the national society and raise living standards for the poorest citizens. Imagine increasing access to education, health care and affordable food. It flies in the face of modern, corporate capitalism and the demand for ever lower costs for resources and labour.

And, as far as the U.S. and its corporate sponsors are concerned, it sets a bad example for the rest of Latin America. Imagine if Chavez's programs of redirecting wealth to the people of the countries where it is produced rather than letting it be sucked out by foreign investors should catch on. That is the other part of the problem.

Helping the Blind to See - Venezuela's People First Policies

By Charley Allan, Morning Star, Tuesday, 06 September 2005

The contrast between the calls from a wealthy bible basher to assassinate Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez and the south American country's people-first policies in the region and beyond could not be larger.

So, US televangelist Pat Robertson has ordered his million-strong "brownshirt" army to assassinate Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

This powerful Bush ally, who sells "miracles" on live TV to people who really believe that he has a hot-line to God, may just be protecting his turf - after all, the Venezuelan president has just announced on his own television show that he, too, will be helping the blind see again, only for free.

Mission Miracle is a new social programme which sends poor Venezuelans to Cuba for sight-restoring eye operations.

It has been tremendously successful and Chavez recently announced that it will be extended to countries across the hemisphere, including the US.

While Bush prevaricates, Venezuela offers help to US poor

By Jorge Martin

Venezuela was the first country to offer help to the United States in dealing with the effects of Hurricane Katrina. On Wednesday, August 31st, Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez announced that Venezuelan state-owned CITGO Petroleum Corporation had already pledged US$1 million for hurricane aid. "It's a terrible tragedy that our North American brothers are living through," Chavez said. "We have a battalion from our Simon Bolivar humanitarian team ready in case they authorize it for us to go there, if they give us the green light." He offered humanitarian workers and fuel to help. "We are willing to donate fuel for hospitals, for public transport, everything we can do," Chavez said.

Venezuela Expropriates

By Jorge Martin

Yesterday’s programme was broadcast from Cumana, where Chavez also participated in the inauguration of the Cacao Agro-industrial Cooperative Union, a Cacao processing plant that had been closed for nine years and has now been bought by the workers organised in a cooperative, with a low interest loan from the government. He explained that the type of cooperativism that is being promoted is one that “generates collective wealth through joint labour, going beyond the capitalist model which promotes individualism”.

A bid to empower poor barrios

By Mike Ceaser | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor

So, on a recent warm evening, some 20 men and one woman who make their livings roaring around Caracas on motorcycles carrying people and parcels, met in a small church to organize for mutual help and economic leverage. After an hour's enthusiastic discussion, the group founded the third workers' cooperative to be created in the Los Erasos barrio and one of the latest to be formed in Venezuela, where grass-roots organizing has boomed with the encouragement of President Hugo Chávez's "Bolivarian Revolution."