Cuba backstops Chavez revolution in Venezuela
01-30-2006
by: Patrick Moser
CARACAS, Venezuela (AFP): Cuba has no money but is playing a major role in the social revolution that President Hugo Chavez is pursuing in Venezuela and showing off to the world this week.
The six-day World Social Forum has put the spotlight on the policies that Chavez says is alleviating the poverty that plagues his country, despite its oil wealth.
Critics accuse the former paratrooper of using the anti-globalization gathering to promote himself and the policies they claim will bring Cuban-style communism to the South American country.
But like many of her neighbors in Carapita, a sprawling Caracas slum, Eglis Ramirez has nothing but praise for Chavez and the doctors sent from Havana to provide free health care for impoverished Venezuelans.
"I love the president," she gushed. "He knows we, the poor, exist and he helps us," said Ramirez, 37, who has turned part of her home into a state-financed kitchen for the poor. She earns only 83 dollars a month to prepare the meals, less than half the minimum salary. But jobs are tough to get and she is thankful to the leftist president for the income.
Launched in 2003, the education, health, housing and other social programs for the poor form the cornerstone of Chavez's "Bolivarian revolution," named after South America's 19th century independence hero.
As part of the program, Cuban President Fidel Castro has deployed some 20,000 doctors to Venezuela which, in exchange, supplies oil to the Caribbean nation. This has led to fierce criticism from the opposition who accuse Chavez of wasting the country's vast oil resources and of seeking to emulate Castro, his friend and ally.
But a recent survey showed that up to 75 percent of Venezuelans support the programs, known as "missions," while more than 90 percent of those who benefited directly said they were satisfied. The missions reach 42 percent of Venezuela's population, according to the Datanalisis institute, which does not support Chavez.
"This clearly brings political benefits to the government", said Luis Vicente Leon, who heads the polling firm.
These benefits are likely to translate into votes in December elections that are widely expected to give Chavez another six-year term.
Leon said that while there was little doubt the programs have a significant impact, they hide rather than resolve the core problem in the health, education, housing and other sectors.
Political analysts say that while Chavez has generously distributed the windfall from high oil prices to the poor, he has failed to invest in crucial structural reforms. Even staunch Chavez defenders admit the revolution has its shortcomings, citing rampant corruption as well as unemployment.
"There's still much to be improved but a lot has been done already," said Valentina Figuera, a 22-year-old student and a volunteer at the social forum, where many of the 1,800 workshops focus on the achievements of the social missions.
The 800-strong Cuban delegation conducts daily lectures to explain the role of the thousands of people deployed from Cuba to work in the poorest areas of Venezuela.
In Carapita, Ramirez says she seldom could afford medical treatment before Cuban doctors moved into her neighborhood, a chaos of shoddy brick houses hanging perilously on a hillside.
At the bottom of a steep hill that winds through the slum, a Cuban doctor and a dentist have lived and worked for the past two years in a small hexagonal building -- the trademark of the "Inside the neighborhood" medical program.
"It's a beautiful program," says Adela de la Caridad Espinosa, 54, a dentist from Havana who treats as many as 30 patients a day.
The Venezuelan opposition has criticized the Cuban presence in Venezuela, claiming it was the begining of a "cubanization" of the South American nation.
At the same time, many Venezuelans welcome what they see as Cuban solidarity, said Leon.
Among them is Figuera, who says that while still a work in progress, the "missions" have achieved a significant measure of success with help from Cuba.
She cited with pride the fact Venezuela declared itself free of illiteracy last year, and hailed the programs for improving the lot of the poorest of the poor. "I personally have not benefitted from the social missions, but my doorman has."
01-30-2006
by: Patrick Moser
CARACAS, Venezuela (AFP): Cuba has no money but is playing a major role in the social revolution that President Hugo Chavez is pursuing in Venezuela and showing off to the world this week.
The six-day World Social Forum has put the spotlight on the policies that Chavez says is alleviating the poverty that plagues his country, despite its oil wealth.
Critics accuse the former paratrooper of using the anti-globalization gathering to promote himself and the policies they claim will bring Cuban-style communism to the South American country.
But like many of her neighbors in Carapita, a sprawling Caracas slum, Eglis Ramirez has nothing but praise for Chavez and the doctors sent from Havana to provide free health care for impoverished Venezuelans.
"I love the president," she gushed. "He knows we, the poor, exist and he helps us," said Ramirez, 37, who has turned part of her home into a state-financed kitchen for the poor. She earns only 83 dollars a month to prepare the meals, less than half the minimum salary. But jobs are tough to get and she is thankful to the leftist president for the income.
Launched in 2003, the education, health, housing and other social programs for the poor form the cornerstone of Chavez's "Bolivarian revolution," named after South America's 19th century independence hero.
As part of the program, Cuban President Fidel Castro has deployed some 20,000 doctors to Venezuela which, in exchange, supplies oil to the Caribbean nation. This has led to fierce criticism from the opposition who accuse Chavez of wasting the country's vast oil resources and of seeking to emulate Castro, his friend and ally.
But a recent survey showed that up to 75 percent of Venezuelans support the programs, known as "missions," while more than 90 percent of those who benefited directly said they were satisfied. The missions reach 42 percent of Venezuela's population, according to the Datanalisis institute, which does not support Chavez.
"This clearly brings political benefits to the government", said Luis Vicente Leon, who heads the polling firm.
These benefits are likely to translate into votes in December elections that are widely expected to give Chavez another six-year term.
Leon said that while there was little doubt the programs have a significant impact, they hide rather than resolve the core problem in the health, education, housing and other sectors.
Political analysts say that while Chavez has generously distributed the windfall from high oil prices to the poor, he has failed to invest in crucial structural reforms. Even staunch Chavez defenders admit the revolution has its shortcomings, citing rampant corruption as well as unemployment.
"There's still much to be improved but a lot has been done already," said Valentina Figuera, a 22-year-old student and a volunteer at the social forum, where many of the 1,800 workshops focus on the achievements of the social missions.
The 800-strong Cuban delegation conducts daily lectures to explain the role of the thousands of people deployed from Cuba to work in the poorest areas of Venezuela.
In Carapita, Ramirez says she seldom could afford medical treatment before Cuban doctors moved into her neighborhood, a chaos of shoddy brick houses hanging perilously on a hillside.
At the bottom of a steep hill that winds through the slum, a Cuban doctor and a dentist have lived and worked for the past two years in a small hexagonal building -- the trademark of the "Inside the neighborhood" medical program.
"It's a beautiful program," says Adela de la Caridad Espinosa, 54, a dentist from Havana who treats as many as 30 patients a day.
The Venezuelan opposition has criticized the Cuban presence in Venezuela, claiming it was the begining of a "cubanization" of the South American nation.
At the same time, many Venezuelans welcome what they see as Cuban solidarity, said Leon.
Among them is Figuera, who says that while still a work in progress, the "missions" have achieved a significant measure of success with help from Cuba.
She cited with pride the fact Venezuela declared itself free of illiteracy last year, and hailed the programs for improving the lot of the poorest of the poor. "I personally have not benefitted from the social missions, but my doorman has."
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