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The Trial (And Errors) of Hugo Chavez

Venezuelans are debating whether Chávez is putting the windfall of revenue from oil revenues to good use or squandering it through disorganization, corruption and misplaced priorities

By Steve Ellner

In April 2006, after a failed attempt to demolish the structurally unsafe bridge on the highway connecting Caracas with the Port of La Guaira, the Chávez opposition expressed outrage at government incompetence. Manuel Rosales, the opposition candidate in the December 2006 presidential elections, accused President Hugo Chávez of “allowing the Caracas-La Guaira bridge to collapse” and “having inaugurated scores of… return to article

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    Thanks to Steve Ellner for a thoughtful discussion of Chavez and his politics and challenges. Given the close relationhip between Chavez and Fidel, and thus between Venezuela and Cuba, readers of this might be interested in the CubaNews list, a free Yahoo news group which has been active for seven years. Lots of material about Venezuela and about Cuba’s relations with Venezuela can be found in this news group, including a database with over 70 thousand items which is easily searchable and you don’t have to be subscribed to use it.

    Details:
    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaNews/

    My father and his parents lived in Cuba from 1939 to 1942. They were German Jewish refugees from Hitler’s holocaust. That’s where my own interest in Cuba comes from. Cuban society today represents an effort to build an alternative to the way life was under the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista. Some things work, some don’t. It has its flaws and contradictions, as well as significant achievements. No society is perfect. But we can learn a few things from Cuba’s experience.

    Thanks,

    Walter Lippmann
    Los Angeles, California

    United States Posted by walterlx on Aug 27, 2007 at 4:28 PM

    Interesting, but I would strongly recommend people check out an analysis in Revolution newspaper that gets into the economic nitty gritty of why, although there have been some advancements, Chavez’s strategy can never be truly liberating.

    Hugo Chavez Has an Oil Strategy...but can this lead to liberation?

    United States Posted by MLMrev on Sep 2, 2007 at 5:16 PM
    Page 1 of 1 pages
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