Monthly Archives: August 2010

Aug
26
2010
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Venezuela’s crime rate a liability for Chávez

This article was originally posted by Sun Sentinel

 It all started last week when El Nacional, one of Venezuela’s few remaining independent news organizations, published an unquestionably gory front-page picture of the morgue in Caracas.

The picture, almost the size of the full front page of the newspaper and showing dead bodies partially covered by sheets, was meant to illustrate the violence that plagues Venezuela, and has plagued the South American country for years.

Venezuela and Iraq have almost the same population. Yet in Iraq, a country at war with violent and indiscriminate acts of terrorism, the number of civilians killed in 2009 was 4,644. In Venezuela, a country at peace, the number of people killed by violence that same year was more than 16,000; a number almost four times higher than the number in Iraq.

In Venezuela, this is both a social and a political issue.

It is social, because despite of all of its petro-dollars and the money the Hugo Chávez government has spent on social programs within the country, much of it has been stolen and the gap between rich and poor is still enormous.

But it also is political because the Chávez government, which slowly but surely has moved to control all aspects of life in Venezuela by expropriating private property and censoring or persecuting those who dare to criticize the president, has been unable to control the rampant violence that plagues the country.

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Aug
25
2010
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Chavez’s popularity down in Venezuela, polls finds

This article was originally posted by The Associated Press

President Hugo Chavez’s allies launched their campaigns Wednesday for crucial congressional elections that come just as recession, crime and inflation have pushed the socialist leader’s popularity to a seven-year low.

A survey by the Venezuelan polling firm Consultores 21 indicates just 36 percent of Venezuelans approve of Chavez’s performance, the lowest figure since 2003, when Chavez survived an opposition-led strike that devastated the economy, pollster Saul Cabrera said.

The results suggest Chavez allies could face a difficult struggle to keep control of the National Assembly in the Sept. 26 election.

The survey of 1,500 people nationwide in late June and early July had a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points, said Cabrera, who is vice president of the polling firm. He said the poll was financed by a group of private businesses, which he declined to identify.

Chavez’s popularity has suffered a decline of 12 percentage points over the past year and a half, Cabrera told The Associated Press.

Critics accuse Chavez’s government of severe incompetence and corruption, and many people are unhappy that Venezuela’s oil-driven economy remains in a recession while all other South American countries are seeing growth.

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Aug
25
2010
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Santos and Chavez to meet again

This article was originally posted by Colombia Reports

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos and his Venezuelan counterpart Hugo Chavez will meet in the near future to discuss security and defense issues, Colombia’s foreign minister announced Tuesday.

The presidents’ summit is part of a series of meetings between high government officials to improve trade relations and discuss security issues involving the presence of Colombian illegal armed groups and drug traffickers in Venezuelan territory.

Santos and Chavez met earlier this month less than three days after the inauguration of the Colombian president. This first encounter was followed by meetings of ministers from both countries and the forming of five bilateral commissions to work out outstanding trade and security issues.

Foreign Minister Maria Angela Holguin did not say where and when the meeting will take place, but stressed that relations between the two countries are improving rapidly.

“We are not triumphalist, but feel satisfied with the progress being made with Venezuela,” she told press.

Relations between Colombia and Venezuela hit rock bottom at the end of the administration of Alvaro Uribe, when – following accusations that Venezuela is harboring FARC and ELN guerrillas - Chavez cut all diplomatic ties. Trade relations had worsened in 2009 when Colombia and the United States signed a military pact that according to Chavez was a threat to the sovereignty in the region.