With his communist ally Fidel Castro of Cuba (R) on hand, leftist Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez (C) launched Petrocaribe, a new cut-rate oil diplomacy vehicle that could greatly increase Chavez's regional influence(AFP/Presidencia-HO/Str)
Posted on 07/23/2005 3:07:45 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
Two polls showed Venezuelans' support for Cuba's form of socialist government is increasing but remains unpopular with the majority.
CARACAS - Venezuelans' support for Fidel Castro's model of government and the installation of socialism here has been growing, two recent polls show, although a majority remains critical of the Cuban system.
The polls suggest that President Hugo Chávez, Castro's closest ally, is succeeding in shifting public opinion toward the left as he pushes his ''revolution'' among a population that historically identified more with the values of Miami than Havana.
Chávez, whose own approval rates are running at over 70 percent, makes frequent pro-Cuba speeches, and more than 20,000 Cuban medical personnel and sports instructors work in poor neighborhoods here.
A poll released last weekend by the Caracas-based Datanálisis company showed 11.6 percent approved using Castro's Cuba as a model for Venezuela, while 63.2 percent said they were opposed.
The percentage of pro-Cuban sentiment represented a significant increase. In July 2002, in response to the same question, only 3 percent expressed support and more than 91 percent were opposed. As recently as this January, the support was under 6 percent.
Another nationwide poll, carried out by Seijas & Asociados in late May and early June, showed that about 48 percent of respondents preferred a socialist over a capitalist system, with less than 26 percent preferring the latter.
After years of denying that his ''Bolivarian revolution'' -- named after independence hero Simón Bolívar -- was socialist, Chávez now openly calls himself a socialist and attacks what he calls the ''perversions'' of capitalism.
Datanálisis director Luis Vicente León warned, however, that the various poll results must be analyzed ''with tweezers'' and do not necessarily mean that Venezuelans want a Cuban-styled system in their country.
Venezuelans, León said, associate the Cuban system not with socialism but with communism, which the majority abhors. ''There remains a very high level of rejection of extreme models such as communism,'' he said.
''Chávez has not succeeded with his discourse in diminishing people's association of capitalism with well-being and development,'' León told The Herald. ``Nor has the opposition succeeded in demonizing socialism by reference to Chávez's relationship with Fidel.''
Venezuela and Cuba recently agreed to increase by the end of the year the number of Cuban medical personnel here to 30,000. The Information Ministry has reported that more than 9,000 Venezuelans have been treated in Cuba for everything from cataracts to heart disease.
''Socialism is just another word for the social work the government does,'' said Cuban doctor Angel Sosa, who works in a housing project in western Caracas. ``Some people who come to the clinic are pro-government, others are not. We don't care what they think.''
The government clearly does, however, and has been using its Cuban-inspired health and social welfare programs as a major element in its electoral propaganda.
According to the Datanálisis figures, almost one in two Venezuelans does not believe Chávez intends to create a ''second Cuba,'' while about 37 per cent are convinced he does.
The poll also showed support for President Bush is running at less than 14 percent and for imitation of the U.S. system at under 16 percent.
''What the majority wants is a home-grown model,'' León said.
With his communist ally Fidel Castro of Cuba (R) on hand, leftist Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez (C) launched Petrocaribe, a new cut-rate oil diplomacy vehicle that could greatly increase Chavez's regional influence(AFP/Presidencia-HO/Str)
Hugo is in charge.
In the end, it really doesn't matter what the people think.
This is news?
Seriously, Castro and the Venuzuela despot are identified pals and Castro sure is incentivized to find someone to carry on after he's gone. The oil pact these two have forged is also a problem.
It might also explain placating Vicente Fox, what with his relationship with Castro and Chavez. I really hate this, I have to say...Chavez and Castro are like two heads on a bad rattlesnake, and Fox the...the...well, tail of the beast.
It's machismo run amok, no dobut about it. And that's only the good part.
If I was a business person or land owner in Venezuela I'd be packing. Either there will have to be the normal South American coup or the country will have to hit rock bottom before this runs its course. You can't do it through elections since they're now rigged.
Exactly.
..."Venezuelans' support for Fidel Castro's model of government and the installation of socialism here has been growing, two recent polls show..."
Because the majority with any brains left between their ears and the means to do so are getting the hell out!
Venezuela; Atlas Shrugged with a Latin twist.
Venuzuela is not an island and this certainly is not the late 50's. Could be a much tougher sell. Recent polls I believe do not give him a lot of support on his economic ideas.
Since the 80s, Chavez has been steadily working to cement his influence and control over the entire Latin region.
But Jimmy said...
I worked on a refinery project in Venezuela in 1999 (actually worked on the control systems in the Houston office) and dealt with a lot of the end user personnel. Not just engineers, but also plant operators and technicians who were present for the system test before shipping it to Venezuela. Not one of them liked Chavez, and this went as far as the maintenance technicians, not just the managers.
I am not identifying any companies or locations, I do not know if any of these people still have jobs. I do know that Chavez has ordered the firing of any PdVSA employee who did not toe the line of 100% loyalty to the regime, anyone who was suspected of having any doubts were fired for being "too stupid to do their jobs."
If you disagree?
Venezuela: Four who led recall vs. Chávez face trial
TV and print media can't criticize him or they're breaking the law passed his packed legislature passed.
He's packed the court.
He's conficating private land.
And now.....
Chavez to Confiscate " Idle Factories"
Venezuela's Chavez Seeking to Create 'Bolivarian Army' to Counter 'U.S. Imperialism'
He's purged the Venezuelan military of any anti-Chavez people.
Bump!
Those pesky hidden taxes threaten to plunge Venezuala back into the jungle where it came from.
El Presidente Hugo Chavez told British oil companies that he’s “discovered” a new communist law called confiscation requiring them to pay billions in back taxes.
“Pay or leave,” said the Marxist bandito Chavez to oil companies operating in this socialist paradise.
Chavez the drug runner said he will start an investigation that will find evidence of tax evasion, royalty debts, production over the limit set by the government and irreversible damage to some wells. This is in spite of contracts signed by the government with the oil companies back in 1990s.
Chavez - “Contracts? We don’t need no stinkin’ contracts.” - said the companies will be charged with retroactive interest.
Venezuela is the world’s fifth oil exporter which produces about 3 million barrels a day. How much tax it will collect when it produces zero barrels of oil a day should do wonders for the economy.
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