[Peace-discuss] FW: The real Venezuela is not what you think

[David Johnson]

Image removed by sender. Newly re-elected Venezuelan President Nicolas
Maduro

1


The real Venezuela is not what you think


The U.S. press doesn't tell you what Maduro has done for the poor

  

DANIEL KOVALIK

https://www.post-gazette.com/opinion/2018/05/25/The-real-Venezuela-is-not-wh
at-you-think/stories/201805240020


 
<https://www.post-gazette.com/opinion/2018/05/25/The-real-Venezuela-is-not-w
hat-you-think/stories/201805240020> Image removed by sender.

 
<https://www.post-gazette.com/opinion/2018/05/25/The-real-Venezuela-is-not-w
hat-you-think/stories/201805240020> The real Venezuela is not what you think
| Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The U.S. press doesn't tell you what Maduro has done for the poor.

www.post-gazette.com

 

  

MAY 24, 2018

  

11:00 PM

Daniel Kovalik teaches international human rights at the University of
Pittsburgh Law School. His most recent book is "The Plot to Attack Iran."

.

I just returned from observing my fourth election in Venezuela in less than
a year. Jimmy Carter has called Venezuela's electoral system "the best in
the world," and what I witnessed was an inspiring process that guarantees
one person, one vote, and includes multiple auditing procedures to ensure a
free and fair election. 

 I then came home to the United States to see the inevitable "news" coverage
referring to Venezuela as a "dictatorship" and as a country in need of
saving. This coverage not only ignores the reality of Venezuela, it ignores
the fact that the U.S. is the greatest impediment to democracy in Venezuela,
just as the U.S. has been an impediment to democracy throughout Latin
America since the end of the 19th century.

Prior to the Venezuelan presidential election on May 20 - an election which
included an opposition candidate, Henri Falcon, from the business community
- the U.S. government announced that it would not recognize the outcome, no
matter who won. The U.S. had gone so far as to threaten Mr. Falcon with
sanctions if he even ran in the election. The U.S. also threatened further
economic sanctions on Venezuela if incumbent leftist Nicolas Maduro won -
sanctions that even Mr. Falcon's economic adviser has said were leading to
the collapse of the Venezuelan economy. President Donald Trump kept to his
promise in this regard, announcing more onerous sanctions the day after the
election, which will further immiserate the Venezuelan people.

Meanwhile, while members of the more radical, right-wing opposition had
themselves been calling for presidential elections and had agreed to hold
them in May, the U.S. leaned on them to back out of this deal before it was
signed. Following this, the radical opposition, backed by the U.S., called
for people to boycott the vote.

The result was that Mr. Maduro won in a landslide. But it was not only the
boycott - observed mostly in wealthier communities, as I witnessed - that
won the day for Mr. Maduro. There were other reasons you will never hear
about in the U.S. press.

First, the true patriots of Venezuela, not surprisingly, resent the United
States' devastating economic sanctions as well its constant call for regime
change. Some U.S. officials even talk of military intervention to overthrow
Mr. Maduro. In part, the vote for Mr. Maduro was a vote against U.S.
meddling in the affairs of Venezuela.

In addition, despite the real hardships in Venezuela - for which the U.S. is
largely to blame - most of Venezuela's poor are better off now than they
were before the Bolivarian Revolution of Hugo Chavez and Nicolas Maduro. For
example, over the past 7 years, the government has built 2 million units of
housing for low-income Venezuelans. In a country of only some 30 million
people, these units are now home to a large proportion of the Venezuelan
population. The current government also has provided free health care and
subsidized food.

Before Chavez, the sprawling poor barrios which ring the cities were
literally not on any government maps, and they had no utilities and no
election centers. After Chavez, the existence of these barrios was
recognized for the first time, and they were provided with utilities, health
service, election stations and, most important, dignity. Chavez even started
a world-class music program which has now provided 1 million underprivileged
children with music education. One graduate of this program, Gustavo
Dudamel, is now considered one of the greatest conductors in the world!

Grateful for a government on their side and flouting U.S. extortion, the
poor came out to vote in large numbers for Mr. Maduro. These are the same
poor, by the way, who came down from the mountains in 2002 to demand the
return of Hugo Chavez to power after he was overthrown in a U.S.-backed coup
and kidnapped.

But you never hear the voices of these poor people in the U.S. press. You
never hear their side of the story, how they have benefitted from the
Bolivarian Revolution and how desperately they do not want to go back to how
things were before.

While they have been given a voice in Venezuela, it remains muzzled in this
country, and by a press which passes off pro-intervention and pro-war
propaganda as journalism. It is no wonder the United States continues to
careen into one disastrous military adventure after another.

 

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