I need information on Chavez

[colombiano]

I need good realiable sources for information on CHavez and the situation in Venezuela. The other day I was in a rather heated debate with 3 Venezuelan women who had nothing positive to say. Charges that he has seized power of all three branches of the governement, one claimimng that she and many other middle class were forced from their homes to relocate while giving their home to someone else. CHarges that many Professionals were fired from their jobs and now driving taxis and doing other low income jobs , while Chavs brought in Doctors and other professionals from Cuba to perform their jobs. The charges of him taking over the media during the riots and how he continues to try and silence the media with intimidation. These are middle class people not rich. So with that being said I need ammo. I have been all over the internet and found only articles. I need your help with sources and proof. Anything would be appreciated . Thanks and good day!

[Colombia]

Why not check handsoffvenezuela.org and the links there as well?

[JazzRemington]

I forget what it was called, but there was a documentry on Free Speech TV about the popular revolution that put Chavez in power.

[Reuben]

Ok to take on some of the claims one by one:

On chavez taking on other branches of the government:

The supreme court prior to chavez's intervention was not a bastion of democracy - it was the opposite: this much is demonstrted by the fact that it PREVENTED the prosecution of those who had lead the 2002 coup, in the context it was not only reasonable but oalsoi necessary for the security of democracy and the revolution for chavez to change its make up substantially.

On bringing in doctors from cuba to replace professionals this is simply not true: the doctors brought in from cuba are being sent to slums which had never seen doctos brefore rather than replacing anyone.

There are however, in the oil industry especially, a layer of professionals who tried to force the government out by sabotaging the economy - they of course may have been fired and rightly so

yes he did intevene in the media during the riots (i assume they mean april the 11th 0002 when an insurrectionary riot formed part of the military coup) yet as was shown opely once the coup was in power the private tv channels had been playing an integral role in helping the coup to take place. one week before the coup all of the private TV channels had broadcast an army general calling for troops to withdraw there support for the democratically elected government of chavez. The tv channels further undermined their own democratic credentials when on the day of the coup they used images and camera angles selectively to falsely claim that chavez supported had - without provocation - fired on a peaceful demonstration. Basically the right to journalistic free expression relies on journalists taking responsibility for behaving honestly and with integrity. If journalists behave dishonestly and unethically (tha is to say they broadcast generals calling for military rebellion and distort the truth) then journalistic freedom becomes not so much a pillar of democracy as a thrreat to democracy. THis is the context in which chavez took the ation he did against the private tv stations

[bayano]

venezuelaanalysis.org (http://www.venezuelaanalysis.org) and aporreas.org

[colombiano]

Thank you for the Info my friends, I never new so much was out there. Also what about
one claimimng that she and many other middle class were forced from their homes to relocate while giving their home to someone else? One also stated she was forced to flee because of her political beleifs.

Do you think there is Any validity to this ?

[colombiano]

commieguerilla that is a porn website you posted

[Colombia]

:D Who would post a porn site here?

I doubt it is as simple as that. Perhaps she was part of the oil industry that exploited the workers and after Chavez came in power, she was pressured to leave.

Need more info on these ladies to make any conclusions.

[Bolshevist]

Originally posted by [email protected] 23 2005, 07:57 PM
commieguerilla that is a porn website you posted
The correct link is of course http://venezuelanalysis.com/

[-JakeH-]

Originally posted by [email protected] 23 2005, 01:56 PM
Thank you for the Info my friends, I never new so much was out there. Also what about
one claimimng that she and many other middle class were forced from their homes to relocate while giving their home to someone else? One also stated she was forced to flee because of her political beleifs.

Do you think there is Any validity to this ?
The middle class in Venezuala may not relate directly to the rich, but they are still the upper crust of their society. In Venezuala the middle class really do prop up the rich, as they too benefit from the rich folks endevours. Chavez works for the good of the poor, thus the middle class (having always acted as a prop for the the wealthy) become "victims" of Chavez' policy.

However in the true context of things, the poor make up more than half the nation. As such these women do truly have legitimate problems regarding Chavez, but they are not seeing it in the proper context. It's simple to see how they would feel that way, they themselves are being made to suffer to help the poor. Chavez does reposses wealthy estates and redistribute them, he is nationalizing industries. It is a bad thing for the wealthy, which also equates to problems for the middle class.

Who cares about the middle class, let them have a little taste of suffering. They know nothing of the destitution that their support of the wealthy helped foster. Generally (also true in the case of Cuba) most refugee's that end up in America are former wealthy folks, that could no longer exploit their native system well enough to keep them wealthy. Hence their abandonment of their nation, simply to be able to have the "opportunity" to exploit folks somewhere else.

Edit:

You asked for sources.

http://www.wsws.org/sections/category/news/am-samer.shtml

The world socialist website does a really good job of dissecting world problems from a workers stand point. Scroll down to the beginning of the entire Chavez conflict to see what happened.