The death of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez is causing a lot of discussion on social media about the individual and economic ideas he had. Although opinions vary widely worldwide, Chávez was very popular among his own people. However, reporting from the United States and Europe about his legacy is quite negative and one-sided. With so much misinformation circulating in various media outlets around the world about Venezuela and President Hugo Chávez, it is time to set some things straight. Before the Chavez era, there was an unstable and bad situation in Latin America. Venezuela was a country in troubled times. Constitutional rights had been suspended and a nationwide curfew imposed. Repression was widespread, the economy was in crisis, a number of newspapers, television and radio stations had been shut down or censored, and the government had introduced forced military conscription for young men from poor communities. US capital had a strong presence and the plan was to expand it through a free trade agreement and military dominance.
Hugo Chávez grew up during domination and oppression by the United States and subjugation by multinational corporations, while the poor and working classes lived in dire conditions. He decided he wanted to change this, came to power and did so successfully. He restored his country’s economic sovereignty. Threw out the IMF and rejected a free trade deal with the US. Chávez left the basic structure of capitalism untouched. Capitalists can still make big profits in Venezuela, but they now have to do so according to conditions imposed by the state.
The revolutionary president brought self-confidence to the population throughout the region. At the same time, he showed other leaders that it was possible to govern without interference from the United States. In 2002, an attempt was made to oust him in a coup, but the Venezuelan people took to the streets in overwhelming unity, freeing Chávez from this coup. Today, many Latin American countries are proud of the independence of Latin America’s oppressed indigenous people.
The changes
The Chávez government used the country’s oil revenues for social welfare programs. There was a redistribution of land ownership and resources, which led to enormous progress for many in Venezuela. Of course, this was also divisive, but what he did was for “the greater good.” Chávez was not only interested in lining his own pockets, but in actually doing something for those less fortunate. The elite obviously thinks differently about this and has been using a lot of media propaganda for years to portray the change in a negative light.
Over the past decade, the number of Venezuelans living in extreme poverty has declined. At the same time, life expectancy and total population have increased significantly , which is the effect of better and comprehensive healthcare. One particularly important piece of information has to do with indigenous people, the group that has historically been the most marginalized. This shows that not only has the quality of care and services increased, but access to them has also grown, especially for disenfranchised population groups.
Anyone who looks at developments in Venezuela can see that Chávez may not have been the most diplomatic, but he was a powerful and energetic man, who loved his people, and who had the power to change many things in Venezuela for the benefit of its poorest people. . Chávez began his historic mission on February 2, 1999. Much has changed in Venezuela since that day. The president, fiercely criticized by the media, kept his promise to the people. The facts speak for themselves.
The Statistics
Hugo Chávez achieved record improvements in the quality of life in a short time, as shown by some of the most important indicators: Venezuela statistics .
- Since Chávez took office, the percentage of households living in poverty has fallen.
- Millions of people in the remotest corners of the country have gained access to free healthcare.
- Infant and child mortality in Venezuela has more than halved since 1999.
- Free education ensured that the number of students now pursuing higher education is double the average in Latin America.
- In 2012 alone, more than 250,000 homes were built and given to poor Venezuelan families.
- The number of people eligible for public pensions has quadrupled.
- When Chávez was sworn in, unemployment was 14.5 percent, in June 2009 it was 7.8%.
Compare this data with the current socio-economic situation in Europe, such as unemployment rates, the declining number of students and affordable housing or pension cuts.
For comparison, we can also look at US data, which shows that at least 18 million households lacked food security in 2011. And, this is just the tip of the iceberg when you consider that millions of households are not food secure.
True Democracy
Critics around the world call Chávez a dictator or tyrant, even though he was democratically elected as president of his country with 54.4 percent of the votes in October last year. Venezuela is not a dictatorship and President Chavez was not a dictator. Chávez was often accused of being a populist. That is also not correct. Populism is mobilizing the population without organizing them. That’s pretty much the opposite of what Chávez did. In fact, he gave an enormous boost to true democracy by involving millions of Venezuelans in political decision-making and the organization of society.
Venezuela inexplicably achieved a disturbing place in world rankings when it came to the protection of human rights and fundamental democratic freedoms . At the same time, according to scholars, Venezuela is much more democratic than it was in the pre-Chávez era. More and more political power is now in the hands of ,ordinary people,, who were previously excluded by the elite that ruled the country during the twentieth century. According to some, Venezuela itself has become one of the most democratic countries on earth. It is no exaggeration to say that there is no president like Chavez who listened so often to his people and discussed everything with them in transparency.
Blackouts Due to Prosperity
There is a similar situation regarding electricity. The traditional media is reporting the increasing blackouts as another major shortcoming of the Chávez government. They blame a lack of investment, inefficient state bureaucracy and rampant corruption. During the presidential campaign, opposition candidate Henrique Capriles also consistently criticized this.
However, statistics show that the problem lies more in the rapid increase in prosperity than in a lack of action on the part of the government. Poverty has been reduced and rising household consumption can be translated into higher electricity consumption. Not surprising, as more and more Venezuelans can now afford electronic consumer goods such as televisions and air conditioning. As a result, electricity consumption per capita has increased by more than 20 percent in recent years.
It would not be correct to say that the economy in Venezuela under Chavez was perfect. The country has an economy that is very dependent on oil revenues. Inflation is also relatively high. Much remains to be done and in the coming years much attention will need to be paid to growth in food production and investment in domestic industry.
In contrast, beyond just looking at the economy or inflation, we can also look at other measures to determine real poverty including: access to education, access to drinking water, access to adequate housing, and other factors in Venezuela, where not only the income counts, but the quality of life. Looking at the policies of the Venezuelan government in this way provides a much more complete picture of the socio-economic situation in the country. While in the US and the Netherlands, poverty and the issue of quality of life was conspicuously absent from the last election debates, Chávez made this the focus of the Bolivian Revolution in all aspects of society.
Threat Neoliberal Agenda
Chavez was no saint, for example, his reign also coincided with a rise in violent crime, statistics confirm this. The murder rate doubled between 1999 and 2009 when there was a total of 49 murders per 100,000 people. This number is high, much higher than the regional average. Initially, the government paid little attention to this problem. The government has now recognized that poverty reduction and social programs are not enough, and that additional measures are needed.
That said, these are very serious problems, and certainly worth harsh criticism, but this is not the main reason why Chavez has been so criticized by American-oriented politicians and media. No, Chavez’s success is an outright threat to the world’s financial elite. Not only because he provided a continuous fundamental critique of neoliberal policies, but also because his policies and advocacy for the redistribution of raw materials and wealth produced a number of undeniably positive results. Something that the population in the money-obsessed economies based on the American model can currently only dream of.
Statistics show that the reality in Venezuela is far from the picture painted by the media in recent years. The poor enjoy significant benefits, and significantly improved living standards. Social change has been so rapid that in fact, despite an impressive increase in local production, the national economy has not been able to meet growing demand. But the attention paid to these problems by Chavez opponents and media hides the important reality behind them: a threat to the neoliberal agenda.
The flamboyant ideologue was one of the few heads of state in the world who opposed the neoliberal agenda tooth and nail. It meant that he was seen as much more than an insignificant leader of a relatively small country, especially one that has valuable oil reserves. Chavez could therefore be seen as a serious threat by the transnational elite. They will breathe a sigh of relief that this man is no longer here. This is also evident from the NOS report shortly after his death: Hope in the US after Chávez’s death
Media Versus Chavez
The positive details of Chávez’s legacy have been largely left out in the media, where he is regularly demonized as a ,left-wing tyrant, and a ,dictator., The media refuses to acknowledge that Chávez narrowed the income gap, eliminated illiteracy, brought health care to all Venezuelans , reduced inequality and raised living standards. While Bush and Obama expanded their foreign wars and arranged tax cuts for the wealthy, Chávez was busy improving the lives of the population while fending off American aggression.
It is not so It is easy to ignore the untruths that politicians and mass media proclaim and write about Chávez. It is striking that the Dutch press in particular seems to be guilty of very unqualified negative reporting. The most shocking and disturbing thing about this is that the traditional media appear to create our perception, which in the case of Chávez does not even come close to reality. That’s serious!
Although Dutch politics largely rejected Chávez’s concept and instead used bailouts and subsidy schemes when it comes to predatory banks and energy companies, lessons can be learned from Venezuela’s decision to stop these subsidies. Chávez led by example by prioritizing people’s well-being rather than corporate profits. Ultimately, more than anything else, Hugo Chavez’s true legacy is enshrined in the hearts of Venezuelans.