Reply #42: Here's the 80% figure again from a new article posted yesterday. [View All]

[Judi Lynn]

Hugo Chavez has given them what they never had before. Think they won't fight to keep it and him? Wouldn't you in their place if the alternative was desperate poverty? That's what 80% of them had before, they're still poor and deprived, but everyone gets free: first rate health and dental care and education through as high a level as they can attain. They also get subsidized food, the legal right they never had before to own the land their homes were built on and lots more. The result is a significant improvement in the lives and welfare of the Venezuelan poor that comprise the great majority of the population and Chavez's base of support.
(snip)

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article12788.htm

Excellent article posted by leftchick on another DU thread.