Group Proposes Closer Ties With Venezuela

[Judi Lynn]

Associated Press
Group Proposes Closer Ties With Venezuela
10.25.2004, 08:09 PM

After several years of feuding, Venezuela's largest business chamber has proposed closer ties with President Hugo Chavez's government to create employment and spur economic growth.

Lope Mendoza, president of the Conindustria industry chamber, proposed "measures ... that we want to establish to save businesses, help (create) employment and, above all, help the small and medium-sized businesses."

Mendoza's statements Monday came after a closed-door meeting with Venezuelan Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel.

Conindustria was pushing for closer ties with the government despite past criticism of economic policies and ongoing feuds between other business groups and the leftist president, Mendoza told the state-run Venpres news agency.
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http://www.forbes.com/business/feeds/ap/2004/10/25/ap1609142.html

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Either this group has turned a new leaf, and decided to support Hugo Chavez in making Venezuela less heartbreaking for the poor, or _Bush's people have found a new plan through this association to get next to Hugo Chavez in order to destroy him.

Do you think if the wealthy entrenched companies would have let the country get this destitute if they had any interest in sharing their country with the indigenous and other poor?

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

1. It seems to me that they have seen that trying to oust Hugo is NOT in

their best interest. If they would see that the impoverished masses, if their fortunes improved, would also improve their own fortunes - a mutally beneficial solution could be found. Praise Hugo for standing firm - and he's right - they have only thereselves to blame. Man it feels good to see a champion of the poor.

[bemildred]

2. Yes.

And one can play divide-and-rule with the greedheads too, and
Hugo is just the man to do it. I think that is what is going on
here. He is telling those that will listen to get on board, there
are things to be done and money to be made.

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

3. And we can uplift the masses at the same time - win/win

And why not?

[On the Road]

4. I've Seen Those Little Houses Going Up the Hillsides

and unlike a lot of other Latin American countries, they're not made by squatters putting up sheets of tin, cardboard, or whatever they can get their hands on. They're made from materials like cinder blocks, there are paved roads and concrete drainage from the frequent rains. The residents are occupied, calm, friendly, and composed. Not all of this is due to Chavez, but a lot of it is.

[Judi Lynn]

5. I thought he had only been president since 1998.

Those houses precede Chavez by many years.

I have read that some of them do have poured concrete slabs, but the concrete breaks, leaving the shack with that popular "split-level" look, which means a sheer drop off of several feet between parts of the room.

Also, it's well known that mudslides wash down the hills, destroying the houses in some of these areas from time to time killing many at once. That wouldn't leave a lot of people feeling overly tranquil.

The country has a horrendous number of its citizens living in poverty. Shocking.