Achievements of the Venezuelan government in 2009

[Peace Patriot]

I figure you won't get this info from our corpo-fascist press, so here is Venezuelan vice president Elias Jaua's report to the National Assembly on the government's achievements and projects during the previous year...

Venezuelan Government Reviews 2009 Projects and Achievements
Published on February 27th 2010, by Tamara Pearson - Venezuelanalysis.com
http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news/5164

----------------------

Some notable items...

--increased social investment by 5.29% despite a budget reduction in light of the global financial crisis and a decrease in the price of oil.

--949 medical works, including hospitals, blood banks, emergency areas, surgery, hemodialysis.

--44 new schools and 86 preschool rooms, renovated 364 buildings and provided maintenance to 2,872 schools.

--30% increase in education workers' wages.

--four new universities completed, 27 buildings added to current universities and colleges and 103 modules of integral community medicine set up.

--116,000 new students joined the university education system.

--18 million books and magazines distributed for free.

--22 agro-industrial plants, and 800 food processing and distribution centres, inaugurated.

--450 million plates of food were provided for free to 900,000 Venezuelans.

--increased national production of gold by 12%; discovered coltan reserves, valued at $100 billion. (Coltan is a mineral is used for conducting electricity).

--set up 2,319 satellite points in remote and hard to access areas for communications purposes.

--137,000 people trained in the national plan of technology literacy.

--273,000 people added to the total of 997,000 with home access to broadband internet.

--$697 million to the public sector for agricultural projects; imported 1,500 tractors and assembled 1,300 in the country, and obtained 500 harvestors.

---------------------------

Gee, while the U.S. government and states and city governments cut, cut, CUT social services--cruel cuts like elder home care and dentistry at free/low cost clinics for the poor, with some clinics closely altogether; deeply wounding cuts in education--i.e., canceling the future--and the deaths of a thousand cuts and fees to pensioners, the sick, the jobless, the underpaid, families, the middle class, the underclass, and more, much more--in order to have plenty of money for billion dollar bankster bailouts and healthcare for congresspersons, and wars, the Chavez government--despite the Bushwhack Financial 9/11 of Sept 2008 and the Bushwhack worldwide depression, and the steep drop in oil prices 2008-2009--kept its priorities straight and INCREASED social spending by 5.29%!

[naaman fletcher]

1. Your "news" source has Chavez's Bolivar

This is actual "propaganda", as opposed to the standard "propaganda" that people call news stories that they find disagreeable

[Peace Patriot]

3. You think that the Associated Pukes, et al, are not propagandistic? Har-har!

Every headline about the Chavez government, here, points to problems in Venezuela, never, ever, EVER about the government's achievements, which have been significant. There is never even a balancing word in the articles. It is relentless PROPAGANDA. That is WHY I reported this speech here, because people cannot get "a balancing word"--let alone the full truth--in corpo-fascist 'news' articles.

And please tell me how you know that this vice president's report to the National Assembly on the government's achievements is "propaganda," rather than, oh, a vice president's report to the National Assembly on the government's achievements?

Is it not right and proper that a president or vice president report to the National Assembly? And which--of the points reported in the article--is "propaganda" and not mere FACT?

Please be specific and point out the lies, exaggerations, disinformation, distortion, etc., that characterize propaganda, in these reported FACTS?

If the Chavez government did not "increase social investment by 5.29%" ("despite a budget reduction in light of the global financial crisis and a decrease in the price of oil"), what was the true percentage of increase or decrease in social spending?

If the Chavez government did not institute "949 medical works, including hospitals, blood banks, emergency areas, surgery, hemodialysis," how many did they really institute?

If the Chavez government did not build "44 new schools and 86 preschool rooms, renovate 364 buildings and provide maintenance to 2,872 schools," what are the real numbers for educational construction?

If the Chavez government did not increase education workers' wages by 30%, how much did they increase or decrease education workers' wages by?

If the Chavez government did not build "four new universities" and add "27 buildings added to current universities and colleges" and did not set up "103 modules of integral community medicine set up," what are the real numbers?

If the Chavez government's educational spending did not result in "116,000 new students" entering universities, and what is the real number?

If the Chavez government did not distribute "18 million" free books and magazines, how many did they distribute?

If the Chavez government did not inaugurate "22 agro-industrial plants, and 800 food processing and distribution centres," how many did they inaugurate?

If the Chavez government did not provide "450 million plates of food for free to 900,000 Venezuelans," how many did they provide?

Etc. Down the list. And if you can't answer these questions, how do you know that what this vice president said is "propaganda"?

It was a report. The facts are checkable. Venezuelan government facts are checked by the UN, by the OAS, by the Millennium Project, by numerous national and international entities, by the opposition, by the members of the National Assembly, by scholars and various investigators (--though never, apparently, by the so-called 'journalists' of our corpo-fascist press). So check the facts and get back to me--and explain to me how it is "propaganda" for a government to report to the people on what it did.

You rely solely on your reaction to a picture--the logo of the web site, not even a picture attached to the article! Typical of the rightwing, that is the paltry basis of your judgement. So put some oomph in your judgement by doing the research necessary to labeling this report "propaganda"!

[naaman fletcher]

7. I didn't say the ap was always correct.

And I don't know the answers to your questions, but you don't know them either. I do know that your news source has the subject (Chavez) on their masthead, and that therefore it is propaganda and not news. Of course propaganda is sometimes true.

[Peace Patriot]

8. It's the sites that DON'T have their agendas up top that worry me most!

Venezuelanalysis.com, I know I'm getting some articles that are favorable to the government, or put a favorable light on things, some articles that seem merely objective--providing facts and peoples' statements and various opinions--and a few that are critical. But I see no reason whatsoever that favorable articles on Chavez government topics are any less credible than corpo-fascist 'news' monopolies that routinely lie, disinform and propagandize to favor the rich, multinational corporations and war profiteers. I am saying WE CAN'T GET THE CHAVEZ GOVERNMENT'S SIDE ON ANYTHING, EVER, NOR ANY STATS OR FACTS THAT FAVOR THE GOVERNMENT, FROM THE EXTREMELY BIASED AND DISINFORMATIONIST CORPO-FASCIST PRESS.

They ought to put the World Bank and the IMF in their logo and the Pentagon and Exxon Mobil, et al. That's all they are--the entire Associated Pukes 'first world' press corp--fucking liars and P.R. agents for the rich and powerful. I have made that judgment on the basis of their handling of many issues, but I have never--since the leadup to the Iraq War--seen such a relentless propaganda campaign as they have ALL waged against the Chavez government. So this is just my humble way of saying, "Whoa! Can't we have some balance here?"

The Miami Hairball recently published an editorial headlined, "Venezuela heads for disaster" but how is that possible when they INCREASED social spending in 2009, and from budget articles I've read, project continued FULL FUNDING of social programs? We NEVER get to hear the other side. NEVER! So this post is what they're saying about themselves, what they did last year. Weigh that against the Hairball's relentless negativism, NEVER balanced with ANY attempt at objectivity, let alone the other side.

[naaman fletcher]

9. OK, that's a decent point i.e. at least they are upfront about it. nt.

[naaman fletcher]

2. Excuse typos, I meant, "Chavez's picture next to Bolivar". nt.

[Peace Patriot]

4. I just want to point out why I boldfaced "assembled 1,300 tractors in the country."

"--$697 million to the public sector for agricultural projects; imported 1,500 tractors and assembled 1,300 in the country, and obtained 500 harvestors."

One of the most egregious instances of malfeasance of previous, rightwing governments in Venezuela, particularly attributable to the rich, pampered, urban oil elite--who supported the 2002 rightwing military coup attempt, and the oil bosses' lockout of 2003, aimed at crippling the Venezuelan economy and bringing down the Chavez government another way--is the failure of this elite to use Venezuela's oil wealth to create local manufacturing and local jobs for their fellow and sister Venezuelans. They skimmed off oil profit for themselves, gave the rest away to multinational corporations and failed to develop their country, in any way--education, health care, land reform and food security, infrastructure, local manufacturing. They even imported machine parts for the oil industry--along with glitzy items for themselves in their artificial, U.S. imitation "culture."

This rich, spoiled, unpatriotic, urban oil elite were turned out of office for good reason--they lived on the oil and utterly neglected their own country. They are kind of like our banksters and war profiteers, living off U.S. taxpayers--a pariah class of leeches.

Venezuela assembling 1,300 tractors "in the country" is a notable achievement--and it is characteristic of Chavez government efforts to reverse Venezuela's decline into a rich vs poor, import-dependent country serving multinational oil corporations. Once the Venezuelan people had elected a government that serves THEIR interests, and had peacefully defeated the oil elite's rightwing coup, and had peacefully defeated the oil bosses' strike--circa 2003-2004--the Venezuelan economy took off, with five straight years of sizzling, 10% economic growth, with the most growth in the private sector (not including oil). Would this have happened if the rightwing oil elite had succeeded in their coup attempts? No! What would have happened in that case, is Chavez and members of his government and other leftists would have been shot, thrown out of airplanes, tortured, imprisoned--as this rich elite clearly demonstrated was their intention in the first acts of the coup regime: suspending the Constitution, the courts, the National Assembly and all civil rights. They wanted to CONTINUE making themselves rich off of a national resource while neglecting everything that makes a decent, well-ordered, prosperous society.

The rightwing commenters at DU, and our corpo-fascist press, and the United States government--which funnels U.S. taxpayer money to rightwing groups in Venezuela through agencies such as the USAID--supports this rich oil elite in Venezuela and wants to overturn all of the gains of the Venezuelan people, and the forward-looking programs of the Chavez administration. The U.S. corporate rulers want Venezuela to have to buy tractors from U.S. corporations. This is the linchpin of "neo-liberalism"--and of all the ills brought about by the U.S. dominated World Bank/IMF, the WTO and other "first world" globalisation mechanisms: forcing U.S. products on "third world" countries and destroying local industry, self-sufficiency and sovereignty.

The Chavez government was one of the first to stand up to this U.S. world domination regime, and the rather amazing economic and social accomplishments of the Chavez government have occurred in spite of relentless scheming against Venezuela's government and Venezuelan democracy, to put the disastrous rich oil elite back in power. And we can be sure that the gains in local manufacturing, local food production, jobs, education, health care and fundamental social decency would be quickly undone if that ever occurs.

[protocol rv]

5. Tractor Assembly doesn't help people getting killed

I don't think that tractor assembly plant from Iran make much of an impact on people in Venezuela.

It would be a lot more sensible to reduce inflation, reduce crime, and improve hospital services. Picking up the garbage would also be a lot of help. And they ought to figure out all what to do about gasoline prices, they're too low.

It's really amazing, they're just like the old Soviets, publishing meaningless statistics as the country social structure and infrastructure crumbles.

[Vidar]

6. K&R.

[protocol rv]

10. Update on Government Accomplishments

It seems the government's accomplishments are made by incurring enormous debt, and milking cash from PDVSA. A local wag reports:

"Petrobras officials in Brazil say that Pdvsa to date has not paid $300 million that it owes as part of the joint venture agreement to take a 40% stake of the Abreu de Lima refinery. Pdvsa also hasn’t made a move yet to assume its 40% share of the 9 billion Reais debt on the refinery project. Why? Pdvsa doesn’t have the cash."

"Pdvsa’s debts are also impressive. The company’s direct financial debt climbed to over $21 billion in 2009 from $15 billion at end-2008. Moreover, Pdvsa owes $8 billion worth of oil shipments to China, not including any new debt acquired if the joint fund is increased to $20 billion. Pdvsa also owes 76 expropriated services companies about $3 billion, by some estimates. Pdvsa also is in international arbitration proceedings with Exxon and Conoco, which together reportedly are pressing compensation claims of at least $20 billion against Pdvsa."

[Wilms]

11. Did you not post the link for that because it's from Caracas Gringo?

Did Chavez steal his silver spoon or somthin'?

[protocol rv]

12. No

I don't always post the link. But it's a good synopsis. I happen to know the debt levels are climbing at a very steep rate. This is reflected in the bond ratings, which are below investment grade, and PDVSA's poor payment record.

The government is indeed running out of money. Did you know the Supreme Court justices just passed a resolution to retire as a group? Their salaries were cut by the National Assembly, so they elected to retire right now to preserve their retirement cash flow, which is a function of their last salary. Do you want me to post you a link for that too?

The way the economy is going is something we have to worry about, these guys are mortgaging the nation's future, and the money is being wasted. I don't think it makes sense to buy a refiney in Santo Domingo, give cheap loans to Cuba, invest in a refinery in Brazil, buy Russian fighter bombers and tanks, and so on. It's irresponsible.

[protocol rv]

13. I don't know if Chavez took his spoon

I try to read sources from the left and the right, to figure out what's in between. Everything seems to be so garbled and interpreted, slanted and cooked, it's important to grab as much information as possible.

Tell me, what do you think about 911? Americans seem to be so confused about it, tend to think it was an attack on the US.