[deMolay]

The Socialist President of Venezuela, seems to be copying the policies of Mugabe of Zimbabwe. I think the outcomes will be the same. The starvation and destruction of those Venezuelians who thought they were going to get a free lunch. Instead they bit down on the free lunch and found a sh*t sandwich. http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN3012342820101231

[Dezakin]

Maybe. He definitely would be were he not sitting on a mountain of oil wealth, but given Venezuela has vast reserves of a commodity that will continue to increase in value over the next couple of decades, I'd say its premature to write off Chavez even if he's a tremendously incompetent populist.

[Tyler_JC]

Maybe. He definitely would be were he not sitting on a mountain of oil wealth, but given Venezuela has vast reserves of a commodity that will continue to increase in value over the next couple of decades, I'd say its premature to write off Chavez even if he's a tremendously incompetent populist.

That assumes that Chavez allows sufficient foreign investment to exploit those oil reserves.



There are plenty of countries with lots of natural resources that are unable to take advantage of them because of governmental obstacles.

[Keith_McClary]

It is a far cry from the oil boom days of the 1970s, when the country was nicknamed "Saudi Venezuela" and the bolivar was one of the region's strongest currencies, letting middle-class Venezuelans enjoy lots of foreign travel and cheap shopping

I think the Saudis are also much poorer (by 70% ??) since then. I mean the commoners, not the 6000 royals and their bin Laden buddies.

But that's not an issue because the Saudi royals know how to keep their fellow Oligarchs in USA fat and happy.

[SeaGypsy]

Mugabe's big mistake was his land reform system giving farms to veterans who knew nothing about farming. Chavez could easily paralell Mugabe simply by messing up a few major oil contracts; which could happen much quicker than the deacade it took to destroy Zimbabwe.

[Fiddlerdave]

Mugabe's big mistake was his land reform system giving farms to veterans who knew nothing about farming. Chavez could easily paralell Mugabe simply by messing up a few major oil contracts; which could happen much quicker than the deacade it took to destroy Zimbabwe.

People who have been thrown off land and dispossessed for some time will indeed have some learning to do, and need time to accumulate capital.

However, as we saw in South Africa, the privileged few who had taken large estates under aristocratic corrupt regimes were loath to share in the wealth by giving reasonable working conditions or wages to anyone else. This, splitting up the huge holdings, much of which was idle ground, with the accompanying temporary disruption is the alternative.

Unlike the USA, the Venezuelan "middle class" was not a large segment of society. Much of the Venezuelan populace remained in abject poverty under previous rulers, a fact the anti-Chavez factions never seem very concerned about. Chavez's introduction of food support, health care, and education for a wide swath of the poor Venezuelan population is ambitious and expensive.

[paimei01]

Yes, Chavez eats babies.
On National Geographic - a "documentary" (western propaganda), there was this cattle ranch in Venezuela, and the owner says: "we have nothing left, Chavez took our ranch". They still had - the buildings and a lot of land. Enough for them to survive. On the land where cattle grazed - 315 families were now living. Growing enough just to support themselves. The owner also says "you see, that's why supermarkets are empty!". Poor capitalist trying to fill the supermarket, to help his people ....
These people do no shop in supermarkets. Damn them for living on his land. They should just gather outside big cities and do - whatever, work like slaves, get into drug business, or even better - die. That's what they are supposed do in capitalism.

Here's a lesson for Chavez:

"An indigenous woman holds her child while trying to resist the advance of Amazonas state policemen who were expelling the woman and some 200 other members of the Landless Movement from a privately-owned tract of land on the outskirts of Manaus, in the heart of the Brazilian Amazon"


Also see the US coup:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... 689805144#

Countries like Cuba or Venezuela, where supermarkets are empty, but people don't need supermarkets, don't need banks to take their houses, don't need "economy" to live - these will laugh as the world crumbles, and "civilized people" fight for "jobs".

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2 ... anics.food

[Pretorian]

Yes, Chavez eats babies.
On National Geographic - a "documentary" (western propaganda), there was this cattle ranch in Venezuela, and the owner says: "we have nothing left, Chavez took our ranch". They still had - the buildings and a lot of land. Enough for them to survive. On the land where cattle grazed - 315 families were now living.

I didnt get the emphasis on 315. Would you be happy to let 15 gypsies into your 1-bedroom in Bucharesdt? You can do that any time

[paimei01]

They were not in his bedroom. Make the difference. He still had his buildings - and a lot of land. Enough to live on. Sure - he wanted more, so he could turn it into money, while the 315 families - who cares. And such capitalist people still say "our country". "Us" who ?

Also - cattle ranches are not sustainable. 5000 years of goat herding:

"Sidi Toui National Park, in the southern half of Tunisia.
Native vegetation can be seen returning inside the borders of this protected park (approx. 7 kilometers wide), established in 1993 to protect the region against desertification. The effects of continued agriculture, overgrazing and drought can be seen on the surrounding arid landscape"

http://www.rainbowbody.net/Finalempire/FEchap3.htm
http://www.harpers.org/archive/2004/02/0079915

[deMolay]

It seems the average poor folk in Chavezland are worried. From link.

Fri Dec 31, 2010 7:42am EST


* Second currency devaluation in 12 months

* Chavez risks political hit from poor voters

By Daniel Wallis and Deisy Buitrago

CARACAS, Dec 31 (Reuters) - Venezuelans worried on Friday that a second devaluation of their currency in 12 months would make life even harder as the socialist government of President Hugo Chavez struggled to turn the economy around.

Already suffering one of the world's highest inflation rates and the only major Latin American economy still in recession after the global financial crisis, they fear the New Year devaluation could hit their livelihoods more.

"It is a blow against the pockets of the workers, against the poorest people," said Robinson Calua, a 50-year-old security guard in downtown Caracas.

[deMolay]

Pamoei are you arguing for the Haiti model?

[eastbay]

Pamoei are you arguing for the Haiti model?

... also known as the capitalist model.