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<P style="MARGIN-TOP: 0.06in; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0in"><FONT size=4
face="Arial, sans-serif"><STRONG>A Black Agenda Radio commentary by Glen
Ford</STRONG></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN-TOP: 0.06in; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0in"><FONT size=4
face="Arial, sans-serif"><STRONG>Hugo Chavez has won six more years as president
of Venezuela and a model for standing up to the United States. Chavez’s
longevity in the face of implacable imperial hostility shows that the
“Washington Consensus” is defunct. “Latin America is the corner of the world
that has achieved the greatest success over the last 20 years in throwing off
the dead weight of the North.”</STRONG></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN-TOP: 0.06in; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0in"><FONT
size=4><STRONG></STRONG></FONT> </P>
<P style="MARGIN-TOP: 0.06in; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0in"><FONT color=#280099><FONT
size=4 face="Arial, sans-serif"><STRONG>Chavez Beats the Devil,
Again</STRONG></FONT></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN-TOP: 0.06in; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0in"><FONT size=4
face="Arial, sans-serif"><STRONG>A Black Agenda Radio commentary by Glen
Ford</STRONG></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN-TOP: 0.06in; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0in" align=center><FONT
color=#2323dc><FONT size=4><STRONG>“<FONT face="Arial, sans-serif"><I>In the
United States, his ten percent winning margin would be considered a
landslide.”</I></FONT></STRONG></FONT></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN-TOP: 0.06in; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0in"><FONT size=4
face="Arial, sans-serif"><STRONG>Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez won a
resounding victory in last weekend’s elections. If you’ve been following U.S.
corporate media coverage of the campaign, that may have come as a surprise to
you. Chavez is routinely referred to as a “strongman” and other variations on
“dictator” by the U.S. media when, in fact, he remains one of the most popular
persons in all of Latin America. In the United States, his ten percent winning
margin would be considered a landslide, but all the American media can talk
about after Chavez’s latest victory at the polls is how much his lead has shrunk
since the 2006 election, when he won by 25 percent.</STRONG></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN-TOP: 0.06in; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0in"><FONT size=4><STRONG><FONT
face="Arial, sans-serif">Every time Chavez and his Bolivarian socialists win at
the polls, the corporate media have to eat crow</FONT><FONT
face="Arial, sans-serif">.</FONT><FONT face="Arial, sans-serif"> One would think
all that heartburn would force the U.S. press to finally admit that Chavez is
the leader of oil rich Venezuela because large majorities of its citizens want
him in the presidential palace, and are enjoying the fruits of his wealth
distribution policies. </FONT></STRONG></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN-TOP: 0.06in; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0in"><FONT size=4
face="Arial, sans-serif"><STRONG>It is also impossible for American media, which
are mouthpieces for their corporate owners and take their day-to-day cues from
the State Department and the White House, to understand that most Venezuelans
agree with Chavez when he denounces the imperialists in Washington. They knew
what Chavez meant when he called President Bush “the devil” and said that he
stank of sulfur, back in 2006. Venezuelans remembered how Bush backed a coup
that almost toppled Chavez in 2002 – a coup that was reversed by a
counter-rebellion of the people and loyal soldiers. They remember that the coup
leaders’ first act was to abolish the Constitution and start drawing up lists of
people to be thrown into prison, or worse. They remember the dark days when
nearly all of Latin America was placed under the rule of generals allied with
Washington, and the hands of the torturers and the death squads could reach into
every family with impunity. They know who was the author of that nightmare: the
United States.</STRONG></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN-TOP: 0.06in; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0in" align=center><FONT
color=#2323dc><FONT size=4><STRONG>“<FONT face="Arial, sans-serif"><I>Every time
Chavez and his Bolivarian socialists win at the polls, the corporate media have
to eat crow.”</I></FONT></STRONG></FONT></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN-TOP: 0.06in; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0in"><FONT size=4
face="Arial, sans-serif"><STRONG>That’s why Latin America is the corner of the
world that has achieved the greatest success over the last 20 years in throwing
off the dead weight of the North, by rejecting the so-called Washington
Consensus. And that’s why, this time around, the Venezuelan opposition chose a
candidate who pretended to be a leftist, himself. Challenger Henrique Capriles,
a young state governor, styled himself as a protégé of former Brazilian
president “Lula” da Silva, a more business-friendly type of leftwing politician.
But Venezuela’s poor know the who opposition really are: the affluent, mostly
light-skinned people that live in swank neighborhoods and whose hearts dwell in
Miami. The people who draw cartoons in opposition newspapers depicting Chavez as
a monkey and openly sneer at his mixed race heritage – the heritage of most
Venezuelans. They know what real democracy feels like, because they remember
what living under the yoke of a rich white minority felt like. Democracy is
having a government that’s not made up of those people whose hearts are in
Miami. Democracy calls the top Yankee a devil, and the people cheer, and then
the people vote. </STRONG></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN-TOP: 0.06in; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0in"><FONT size=4
face="Arial, sans-serif"><STRONG>For Black Agenda Radio, I’m Glen Ford. On the
web, go to BlackAgendaReport.com.</STRONG></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN-TOP: 0.06in; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0in"><FONT size=4><STRONG><FONT
color=#280099><FONT face="Arial, sans-serif"><I>BAR executive editor Glen Ford
can be contacted at </I></FONT></FONT><FONT color=#0000ff><U><A
href="mailto:Glen.Ford@BlackAgendaReport.com"><FONT color=#280099><FONT
face="Arial, sans-serif"><I>Glen.Ford@BlackAgendaReport.com</I></FONT></FONT></A></U></FONT><FONT
color=#280099><FONT
face="Arial, sans-serif"><I>.</I></FONT></FONT></STRONG></FONT></P>
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<H2 class=comments><FONT size=4>Comments </FONT></H2><A id=comment-33684></A>
<DIV class="comment odd clear-block">
<H3 class=title><A class=active
href="http://blackagendareport.com/content/chavez-beats-devil-again#comment-33684">Fine
article!</A></H3>
<DIV class=submitted><FONT size=4><STRONG><SPAN
class=comment-name>ProfessorEmeritusPB</SPAN> - <SPAN
class=comment-date>10/13/2012 - 16:07</SPAN> </STRONG></FONT></DIV>
<DIV class=content>
<P><FONT size=4><STRONG>Chavez is their FDR. Thank God some one has a nation not
run by the D. Rockcefeller, Soros, the Goofball Koch (or is it Coke)
brothers and the Rothschilds.</STRONG></FONT></P></DIV>
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<DIV class="comment even clear-block">
<H3 class=title><A class=active
href="http://blackagendareport.com/content/chavez-beats-devil-again#comment-33729">I
was there: The People Loved Chavez</A></H3>
<DIV class=submitted><FONT size=4><STRONG><SPAN class=comment-name>AlaraD</SPAN>
- <SPAN class=comment-date>10/19/2012 - 09:56</SPAN> </STRONG></FONT></DIV>
<DIV class=content>
<P><FONT size=4><STRONG>I was in Venezuela when Chavez was running for President
for the first time (around 1998). I recall my tour guide telling me that
his brother's girlfriend was an Afro-Venezuelan, and that she would always
comment on how Chavez was for people like her. He explained to me that the
rich, white Venezuelans were against Chavez because they knew that, if elected,
relations with the US would sour. This would mean an end to the money
train that rich, white Venezuelans were experiencing. On the other hand,
the poorer Venezuelans, which included most Venezuelans of color, looked forward
to having a President who was an advocate for the poor and working
classes.</STRONG></FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=4><STRONG>Had I not been in Venezuela during that time, I
probably would have believed the mainstream media's erroneous characterization
of Chavez. I am shocked by their characterizations of him as a dictator
and madman because I know how much he was adored by the working class and the
poor in Venezuela. In essence, the characterization is a huge
lie.</STRONG></FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=4><STRONG>The rise of Chavez of Venezuela and Morales of Bolivia
are extremely significant to world politics because they are proof that populist
movements can prevail even in the age of Western (i.e., white, elite, corporate)
hegemony.</STRONG></FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=4><STRONG>Thanks for the article.</STRONG></FONT></P></DIV>
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