Tag Archives: Chávez Regime

Apr
3
2012
Posted by
admin
Comments

The “Great Housing Mission,” Or The Great Hotel Hijack?

In 2010 and 2011, 140,000 Venezuelans were left homeless by severe flooding. Many of these families were stranded by the natural disasters, refugees in their own country.

Just as any community would pull together in the wake of tragedy, many Venezuelans who hadn’t lost their homes came to the aid of their countrymen, offering them shelter and support. So, fifteen months ago, when the Chávez government “respectfully” asked the hotels of Anzoategui state to allow refugees to stay for free under their roofs for two weeks until the government could find a suitable solution, the owners of those hotels patriotically obliged.

However, two weeks quickly turned into fifteen months and at present, the hotels are still being forced to shelter the refugees. Hotel owners have not been compensated and, with little noteworthy progress made toward finding a permanent home for the refugees, there is no end in sight to the government’s hijacking of their property.

cmimg 53759 The “Great Housing Mission,” Or The Great Hotel Hijack?

It’s only the latest offense committed in the name of Chávez’s so-called “Great Housing Mission,” under which Chávez recently promised to build 200,000 new homes. And while the government continues to seize private property in order to build the homes, the housing itself has yet to materialize, leaving many stripped of their private property and even more without a home. For instance, after the flooding, Calogero Alotto lost his mechanic shop and parking lot to the government. Today, the promised houses do not exist on his property and he is still waiting to get paid.

“I worked for 42 hard years to build my business and it didn’t count for anything,” said Alotto, 57. “I’ve been left without property and without a job. I’ve had to sell two trucks just to keep surviving.”

While many would rightly point out that these stories typify the Chávez administration’s disrespect for property rights, the more important lesson is that his policies have made this a losing situation for all parties involved.

The hotel owners, even after 15 months, must continue to provide uncompensated housing for droves of flood victims, which not only hurts the hotel’s bottom line but also damages the local economy, as paying customers remain unable to secure the rooms held down by the refugees. What’s more, the policies have hurt the refugeesthemselves who, thanks to the lackluster results of Chávez’s program, remain homeless nearly a year and a half after a natural disaster destroyed their houses. And many of the displaced haven’t been lucky enough to receive shelter in a hotel. These families live in constant uncertainty, spending their nights in car-parks and warehouses, waiting for their government to take action.

 
Apr
2
2012
Posted by
admin
Comments

ICYMI: Venezuelans lose their homes for government housing program

The Miami Herald
April 2, 2012
By Jim Wyss

Like many Venezuelans, Calogero Alotto was sympathetic to the estimated 30,000 families left homeless by flooding during 2010 and 2011. When government officials told him they needed his small parking lot and mechanic shop to build housing for the refugees, he accepted it as a patriotic duty.

But 15 months later, the housing has yet to materialize and Alotto is still waiting to get paid.

“I worked for 42 hard years to build my business and it didn’t count for anything,” said Alotto, 57. “I’ve been left without property and without a job. I’ve had to sell two trucks just to keep surviving.”

As President Hugo Chávez, 57, heads into a tight presidential race, housing is at the center of his campaign. The government says it will plow $16 billion into building 200,000 homes this year under a program called The Great Housing Mission. The initiative is popular in this oil-rich nation, where many still live in wooden and tin shacks. And Chávez has said it’s key to his “Socialist Revolution” that aims to reduce the gap between the rich and the poor.

A recent poll by the Venezuelan Institute of Data Analysis found 75 percent of those surveyed said they expected to receive a house sometime during the next two years, thanks to the program.

But as the government has been seizing property in middle- and lower-class neighborhoods to build the projects, it’s starting to create a backlash from some of those who once considered themselves as Chávez supporters.

When police tried to evict home and business owners out of a three-block stretch of the Catia neighborhood in February, residents revolted. The government backed down, but many fear that if Chávez wins the Oct. 7 election, the evictions will continue.

“We know that people need housing, but what happens to us?” said Carlos Rubio, who has joined forces with 20 other small business owners in resisting the evictions. “Now that Chávez is trying to win the presidency, he’s promising homes to everybody.”

Driving the backlash are stories of people such as Alotto who were never compensated for their property.

Alotto and 19 of his neighbors — mainly the owners of parking lots — began receiving eviction notices in late 2010. All of them were assured the government would expedite payments for the property. But that hasn’t happened.

Nelson Rojas said he was forced out of the home that he shared with his physically disabled son. The government put him in a public housing complex, where they are crowded into a two-bedroom apartment with two other families. Rojas and his son share a bed and cook in their room.

“We always heard about big consortiums or foreign investors getting expropriated,” said Rojas, who had lived and worked on the site for a decade. “But I never thought it would happen to me. We’re not rich, we’re not bourgeoisie.”

It’s unclear how many people find themselves in Rojas’ and Alotto’s situation. Venezuela’s Ministry of Communications, which handles all media requests, did not respond to phone calls or questions sent via email.

The Front for National Property, an organization that defends private ownership, said that from 2006 to 2008 it registered 241 expropriations representing 4,000 dwellings in the capital alone. Of those expropriations, the government only paid for 12, the organization said. In addition, over the last three years, the organization has tracked another 100 expropriations, including Alotto’s.

The government has minimized the problem. Housing Minister Ricardo Molina recently said 80 percent of the land used in the program is state-owned. Of the private property seized, some of it was owned illegally. But when rightful owners are found “we determine the value of the property and pay the owner,” he said.

It’s not clear how often, or how quickly, that’s happening. The government just announced it’s planning to indemnify farmers who had their land seized in 2005. And the problems are likely to get worse. Molina said the government needs an another 231 square miles to fulfill the housing initiative.

Whatever pain might be caused to those who lose property, the housing program, and other “missions,” have been key to Chávez’s popularity. In power for 13 years and battling an undisclosed form of cancer, Chávez retains high approval ratings and is leading in most presidential polls.

His presidential rival, Henrique Capriles, 39, has accused the government of lying about its housing efforts and using the misery to win votes. During a recent conference, Capriles said the government’s math doesn’t add up. The administration claims it built 146,000 homes in 2011 — more than enough to house the 30,000 families it said had been left homeless by the flooding. Yet, the country still has more than 800 shelters holding more than 27,000 families.

“It’s a lie that the government built 140,000 homes last year,” Capriles said. “If that’s true, why are there still so many people in shelters?”

The homes are not just for flooding victims, the government has said. It’s priority also is to move homeless families out of shopping centers, office buildings and apartment blocks that have been turned into shelters.

Like many hotels, the four-star Hotel President in Caracas has been forced to house flood victims. The families have a private exit so they never mingle with paying guests and elevators don’t stop on that level. Workers said the administration was hoping to keep the residents’ presence a secret to customers. One worker said if the hotel has a problem with a family, staff calls the military. “The official threatens to move them to one of the other shelters and they usually don’t cause anymore problems,” the worker said. “They have it really good here.”

Yolis has been living in one of those “other shelters” — a gray office building, just blocks away from Caracas’ JW Marriott hotel.

For the last 16 months, Yolis, her husband and two children have been sharing a small cubicle in the building. There’s no running water and the building leaks, she said. Despite promises that they would be moved to a new home, they were recently told that wouldn’t happen until 2013. “We can’t take this anymore,” said Yolis, who feared she might be evicted if she gave her last name. “These are not conditions under which you would raise children. It’s dark and dirty.”

Security personnel would not allow The Miami Herald into the building, but other residents confirmed Yolis’ claims. Despite the problems, Yolis said she was grateful to Chávez for helping her get a new home.

From the roof of his home, Alotto has a commanding view of his old parking lot. On a recent weekday, he said workers there hadn’t moved a brick in 11 days. The rumor was that the government has run out of cement. As far as Alotto is concerned, the government is building on top of what he hoped would be his retirement. “I don’t dislike the president,” Alotto said. “But I can’t vote for a party that ruined my life.”

To read this article on the Miami Herald website, please click here.

 
Feb
24
2012
Posted by
admin
Comments

Venezuela’s Opposition: Now for the Hard Part…

DSC 0754 150x150 Venezuela’s Opposition: Now for the Hard Part…José R. Cárdenas served in several foreign policy positions during the George W. Bush administration (2004-2009), including on the National Security Council staff. He is a consultant with Vision Americas in Washington, DC.

The Venezuelan opposition celebrated another milestone on its path back to credibility and influence when more than three million Venezuelans turned out to select Miranda Governor Henrique Capriles Radonski as its unity candidate for the scheduled October 2012 presidential elections.

For their efforts, they now get to face a politically agile, autocratic incumbent, armed only with their determination and commitment to democratic principles.

On paper, the candidate and the prevailing situation in the country appear to provide Venezuelan democrats their most propitious moment in more than a decade to launch a serious challenge to Hugo Chávez.

Governor Capriles is young, telegenic, and untainted by associations with the old political parties that brought the opposition into such ill repute. He understands Chávez’s appeal with the masses and knows he must win over disaffected Chávez supporters to have any chance in October. He is also campaigning on a platform of reconciliation and an end to the confrontational politics that have defined the Chávez era.

Secondly, conditions in Venezuela would appear to favor a new direction in the country. Chávez’s working class base has been buffeted by an array of problems recently, including the highest inflation rate in the region, rampant crime, unemployment, and shortages of basic goods and services.

Then, there is the question of Chávez’s health. His claim to be cured of cancer is unlikely as evidenced by his recent announcement of a new “lesion” that needs to be surgically removed in the same spot as a previously extracted tumor. As a result, the prospect of whether or not he will even make it to October if his health should take a turn for the very worst remains very much alive in people’s minds. That uncertainty — created first and foremost by him — means many voters will likely start contemplating alternatives.

All three factors are clearly in Capriles’ favor. But, as one prominent oppositionist put it bluntly, “Venezuelan elections may be free, but they are not fair.” Capriles conceded the point himself when he said after the primary, “This will not be easy.”

Indeed, it won’t be. Already the vicious personal attacks against Capriles have begun, with Chavistas making vulgar slurs about his supposed sexuality and his Jewish heritage.

Moreover, for all its current vulnerabilities, Chávismo remains a formidable force. With his populist personality backing fueled by billions in petro-dollars, his control over most mass media, and his street militias ready to intimidate and threaten anyone perceived as an opponent, Chávez is not about to relinquish power quietly or democratically.

Add to this toxic mix the interests of regimes in Cuba, Russia, Iran, and China, who likewise are not about to accept the end of their lucrative associations with Chávez.

Finally, recent appointments of military cronies — one under sanction by the U.S. for drug trafficking — to powerful positions has led to speculation of whether there will be an election at all, if Chávez or his successors see their fortunes going south.

As Bruce Bagley, a Latin American expert at the University of Miami, told the Wall Street Journal, “The possibility of a pro-Chávez military coup, an ‘auto golpe,’ can’t be discarded if the opposition mounts a serious electoral challenge to President Chávez. Too many of the Chávez government’s top officials, including newly named defense minister Gen. Henry Rangel Silva, are subject to U.S. or international indictments and possible extradition if the Chávez government is ousted from power to willingly permit such an adverse outcome.”

What this means is that the U.S. and other like-minded democracies in the region need to stand in solidarity with the Venezuelan opposition’s demands for some semblance of transparency and accountability of the Chávez government during the electoral campaign. Everyone knows Chávez will not play fairly in the elections. The question is whether his behavior — or that of his successors — can be mitigated in some way by strong international monitoring, giving the democratic opposition the closest thing to a level playing field and thus a fair chance to win in October.