RE: An Ongoing Food Crisis In Venezuela

[jimbobbill]

I wonder how Venezuela would be faring now if not for constant attack both economically and politically from the United States and it allies (lackies)? No country that tries anything other than neoliberalism/capitalism is allowed to succeed and this has been the case for decades.

The same goes for Cuba. If not for the 50+ year economic blockade by the US, how much more advanced would the country be? Cuba's health system is already better than the United States and at least the poor of Venezuela have seen their lives improve since Chavez came to power and Maduro is trying to stay on that path, but it is difficult when the United States arbitrarily designates your country as a 'threat' and does its upmost to force a change of government and cripple the country to try to get the Venezualans to turn away from Bolivarianism.

The recent elections were a kick in the teeth for the US and it's allies and showed that the Venezualan people have not yet given up and will stand up to the vicious policies of the United States.

They have seen what happens to countries that fail keep out the US menace.

Comments

[molfzart92]

This is an interesting point, but you don't think that the downfall of these nations had anything to do with the negative/corrupt influence of their own leaders that drove their people into the ground and completely limited their own abilities as a nation to succeed?

[jimbobbill]

I think the improvement seen in the lives of the poorest Venezuelans since Chavez took power speak for themselves. Here are a few facts and figures. The source is Telesur and I do not have time to check them but there is little doubt that the lives of Venezuelans have improved following the Bolivarian revolution instigated by Chavez. ('today' in these figures refers to March 2017)

When Chavez arrived in office in 1998, Venezuelan poverty levels were at 44 percent. The Revolution has reduced this substantially to 27 percent today. Whilst extreme poverty has declined from 20% to 5.4%, according to figures released earlier this week.

Inequality has also been tackled. Using the internationally recognized measurement, the Gini coefficient where zero represents perfect equality, inequality fell from 0.48 at the time of Chavez's election to 0.38 today.

In 1998, 21 percent of the population suffered from undernourishment according to the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations definition. Today that figure is just 2 percent.

Likewise, the number of underweight children at the end of the pre-Chavez was 5.3 percent, a figure that had halved by 2012. Today 95.4 percent of Venezuelans eat three times per day according to the National Institute of Statistics (INE). Social programs providing subsidized food, free meals, and free school dinners have played a significant role in eradicating hunger and child malnutrition. Access to drinking water has significantly improved too, from 80 percent in 1998 to 96 percent today.

In the 15 years prior to Hugo Chavez, from 1983 to 1998, just 37 percent of the state budget went on social investment. In the 15 years of the since Hugo Chavez initiated the Bolivarian Revolution that figure has shot up to 61 percent.

I personally believe that Hugo Chavez was a good man who wanted the best for his country and also believe that Mr Maduro is as committed as Chavez was but just lacks the leadership skills and charisma.

If the oil prices hadn't crashed (or been crashed deliberatley) then Venezuala would probably be in a better state today than it was but you will have to ask the United States and Saudi Arabia about that. It was interesting that Russia and Venezuela were hit the hardest and they just happen to be the official 'enemies' of the United States.

Source of the figures was - https://www.telesurtv.net/english/analysis/Chavez-Legacy-in-Venezuela-Transforming-Millions-of-Lives-20150304-0035.html

[molfzart92]

Yes, everyone knows about that, but it has nothing to do with what caused him to miss utilize all of their resources. They were filthy rich in oil, so what happened the United States came in and fucked that up? Can you find me a source other than your opinion on how the United States caused this, because I could easily find an article and post about people who believe that Chaves was a Commy rat! So your point is they became the poorest country in Latin America strictly because of the United Staes, I just don't think anyone is going to buy into that. It 's a perfect point for today's society though where you point fingers at everyone else instead of reflecting to see what could have been done differently from within. If you actually spoke to middle class intelligent citizens from the area (my girlfriend is Colombian/Venezuelan duel nationality) only the poor ignorants approve of Chaves because yes, he brought them out of the dirt, but ultimately ran the country into what it has become.