President Chavez was elected twice by an overwhelming majority of the popular vote, and survived a "Recall" sponsored by Venezuelan Aristocracy and financed by US Money. The elections were verified by the Cater Center as "FREE & FAIR" (the Carter Center was unable to certify the 2004 US Elections). Chavez also survived several coup attempts, also financed by the US!
President Chavez has "diverted" a percentage oil profits to fund Housing, Education, and Medical Care for the poor.
President Chavez is using profits from the mining of Venezuela's Natural resources (Commonwealth) to:
*Feed the Hungry
*Heal the Sick
*Shelter the Homeless
*Educate the Poor
NO wonder the Republicans and Corporate Democrats HATE him!From the OP:
"With substantial income from oil production, Venezuela is a highly urbanized country with enough food available to meet requirements. But poverty remains widespread, affecting almost half the population. And up to one-third of the children in some impoverished rural states show signs of repeated or prolonged periods of undernutrition." While the statement may be true, it IS DECEPTIVE. Poverty is NOW DECREASING (2003-2004) under the Chavez administration. He INHERITED a severe problem, one that was getting WORSE. In the short time he has been in power, Chavez's policies have completely changed the direction of the problem of Poverty in Venezuela. The poverty situation in Venezuela is
getting better!!!
The poverty situation in the US is getting WORSE!!
No wonder the Chavez Bolivar Revolution scares the CRAP out of the American Plutocrats!Here are the
FACTS that will counter the Anti-Chavez propaganda being disseminated by the RIGHT WING!
A February opinion poll released by Datanalysis — a company associated with Chavez’s opponents — found support for Chavez at 70.5%, an increase on the 60% support Chavez received in a August referendum. The reason for the growth can be guessed:
Datanalysis found that 73% of the population had benefited from the social missions.<snip>
Despite the progress, Venezuela still has a huge legacy of dire poverty to overcome. On June 5, Venezuela Analysis’s Jonah Gindin reported that a study by market research company Datos Information Resources identified a “dramatic impoverishment” of Venezuela over the
last 20 years. As a result of harsh neoliberal measures, since 1984 the number of poorest Venezuelans has increased from 40% to 58%, while the number of middle-and-upper-class Venezuelans has decreased from 28% to 4%. One direct cause was that government spending decreased almost 50% between 1987 and 1997.
The anti-Chavez opposition makes much of the fact, reported in the March 31 Miami Herald, that, by the end of 2004, the number of households living in poverty was greater than when Chavez was first elected in 1998 (53% up from 49%).
However, this ignores two important things. Firstly,
poverty is now decreasing and the figure was lower in 2004 than 2003. Indeed, according to the Datos study, the living standards of the poorest 84% of Venezuelans, thanks to the missions and increases in the minimum wage, increased by one third last year, after inflation is taken into account.
<snip>
The Venezuelan economy grew by over 17% in 2004 and is set grow this year as well, with both unemployment and inflation decreasing. A crackdown on business tax evasion has increased government revenue, as has rising world oil prices, and a government push to recoup $4 billion. With these funds, the future looks brighter than ever for Venezuela’s poor majority."
http://www.greenleft.org.au/back/2005/632/632p19.htmPlease read the rest of this article. The POLL Results and Economic Figures cited in this article are independently verifiable.
The Democratic Party is a BIG TENT, but there is NO ROOM for those who advance the agenda of THE RICH (Corporate Owners) at the EXPENSE of LABOR and the POOR.