For Venezuela, There is No Going Back: A Discussion with Federico Fuentes and Kiraz Janicke

[Judi Lynn]

For Venezuela, There is No Goi
g Back: A Discussion with Federico Fuentes and Kiraz Janicke
Written by Ali Mustafa
Monday, 22 March 2010 13:18

As Venezuela's Bolivarian Revolution enters a new decade of struggle and defiantly advances towards its goal of '21st Century Socialism,' serious challenges to the future of the process emerging from both inside and outside the country still abound. As a result, key questions surrounding Venezuela's mounting tensions with the West, the role played by its fiery and outspoken leader Hugo Chavez, and the future of the process itself remain as relevant today as ever before. Australian-based journalists and long-time Venezuela solidarity activists Federico Fuentes and Kiraz Janicke have been carefully following Venezuela's ongoing political transformation for several years now, countering mainstream media Spin and providing invaluable on-the-ground coverage and analysis about the process as it unfolds. I had the fortunate opportunity to sit down and speak with them both in Toronto before they were set to return to Caracas, following a 10-day Canadian solidarity tour.

Ali Mustafa: Over a decade now has passed since the beginning of the Bolivarian Revolution in Venezuela. Can you provide an overview of the type of gains that have been made since President Hugo Chavez has come to power and what Venezuela looks like today?

Federico Fuentes: Well, I think the first thing to note in regards to the gains that have been made in the 10 years of the Venezuelan Revolution is the huge improvement that has occurred in peoples' daily lives. The fact that the previously excluded majority of people now have access to free health care, free education, unemployment has fallen by more than half of what is was before, the level of poverty has decreased, and many other statistics and social indicators that show that general Venezuelan living standards have improved dramatically. But also extremely important has been the active political participation of people in daily life; we are talking about a country where, literally, something like 80 percent of the nation were excluded and felt that they were not represented at all by the sort of representative democracy and two party system that had existed.

It's the collapse of that system and the important movement for change that erupted – prior to Chavez's election but, of course, which then has been stimulated even further by Chavez's election – in the re-writing of the new constitution that's brought about these important gains that Venezuelans have been able to achieve... This reflected itself in important mobilizations that occurred particularly in 2001, 2002, 2003 that defeated a military coup and an attempt by the capitalist class to strangle the economy, which of course meant that the government basically was unable to carry out a lot of the 'missions' that it first set out for itself, but through that struggle was able to move into a position where it could begin to carry out a lot of these social programs, and as always places emphasis on the people involved in them. I think one of the most exciting things is, for instance, the health care social missions – it's not just that free health care is now being provided but that this health care is being carried out by the people, for the people.

So, I think the Venezuela that exists today is fundamentally different from what it was like 10, 11 years ago in the social aspect, in the political aspect – and I think it's a Venezuela that today, in its large bulk, refuses to go back to what existed before. That's one of the most common things that you'll find amongst Venezuelan people: that no matter what problems, or whatever they may be encountering, they strongly feel that there is no going back to what Venezuela was like before and they are willing to die to defend what they've won.

More:
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/venezuela-archives-35/2413-for-venezuela-there-is-no-going-back-a-discussion-with-federico-fuentes-and-kiraz-janicke

Editorials:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=103&topic_id=526575&mesg_id=526575

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1. One of the most exciting things is Chavez' drop in popularity

Chavez' popularity is at 43 % in the poorest sector of the population, and 35 % in the next band (poor but not the very poorest). The other three bands, lower middle class and up, are all solidly opposed to Chavez now. The poll also shows a solid majority thinks he's doing a poor job. The poor who oppose Chavez now attribute this to: crime, corruption, and the lack of electricity and water.

There's also a sense that Chavez talks a lot, promises much, delivers little. This of course is a result of 1-He does talk too much, spending hours on the TV talking on and on about all the great things he personally does. While this gave him some credit when he had a lot of cash to throw around, now that he lacks the cash, they still see him as directly linked with results. As they say in the US, he is losing his teflon.
2- The governmentis run by corrupt incompetents. This means that, even when they have cash to spend, they waste it. And of course a lot of it gets stolen in a government where corruption has become the standard operating mode.

In the past few days, they stopped publishing the water levels at the Guri dam - which were usually posted at the OPSIS website. I bet by now they consider the dam level a matter of national security or some bs like that. But we can guesstimate the water level is between 250 and 251 meters above sea level - and it has been dropping at 1 meter per week. Which tells us they have about 10 weeks left before the lights go out.

Evidently they won't let the lights go out, so in the near term they'll just keep rationing electricity, decree more made up holidays, and pray it rains - there's nothing as funny as communists getting religion when they see the mob is about to come down hard on them. But this is destroying the economy, which as it was has been in recession. And to compound matters, we have serious stagflation now - high inflation at about 30 % coupled to negative GDP running at about minus 3 to minus 5 % per year. With unemployment going up, work hours curtailed, and people not sure about the future, spending is winding down, investment is drying up, banks are going down, and this is being reflected where it usually hurts the most: the poor man's pocket.

So these are exciting times indeed - worrisome but exciting, because the elections are coming in September, and I think these communists who run the government in Venezuela just ran into a perfect storm.

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2. I don't think Chavez is getting more popular

Easter is almost over, Monday will bring the crowd back from the beach, and it isn't raining...it's going to get really ugly.