In 1999, under newly elected President Hugo Chavez, the Venezuelan people were given a rare opportunity: to participate in the writing of what would become arguably the world’s most radical constitution. The result of an extensive constitutional process and an assembly voted on by Venezuelan citizens contrasts with the United States constitution, one created […]
Geography Archives: Venezuela
Chavez Supporters and Opposition Rally in Venezuela on Anniversary of Overthrow of Dictator
In politically polarized Venezuela, both supporters and opponents of President Hugo Chavez marched peacefully in the capital, Caracas, on Saturday to mark the anniversary of the civic-military uprising that overthrew US-backed dictator Marcos Pérez Jiménez on January 23, 1958. Addressing tens of thousands of red-clad supporters in O’Leary Plaza, in western Caracas, Chavez used the […]
Hugo Chavez Did Not Accuse the U.S. of Causing the Haitian Earthquake
On January 19, Spanish newspaper ABC, a newspaper of record in Spain, published a story entitled “Chavez Accuses US of Causing Earthquake in Haiti.” The story was quickly picked up by websites around the globe — most quoting Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez as saying the U.S. used a new tectonic weapon to induce the […]
Venezuela’s Currency Adjustment: Necessary, But Is It Socialist?
There is little doubt, even among some opposition leaders (who normally oppose just about anything the government does), that the recent currency adjustment of the bolivar was economically necessary. It is a matter of basic math to realize that if inflation averaged 22% between 2005 and 2009 and each bolivar thereby lost about 72% of […]
We Send Doctors, Not Soldiers
In my Reflection of January 14, two days after the catastrophe in Haiti, which destroyed that neighboring sister nation, I wrote: “In the area of healthcare and others the Haitian people has received the cooperation of Cuba, even though this is a small and blockaded country. Approximately 400 doctors and healthcare workers are helping the Haitian […]
Securing Disaster in Haiti
Nine days after the devastating earthquake that struck Haiti on 12 January 2010, it’s now clear that the initial phase of the U.S.-led relief operation has conformed to the three fundamental tendencies that have shaped the more general course of the island’s recent history. It has adopted military priorities and strategies. It has sidelined Haiti’s […]
Americans in Haiti
“Cuba, Venezuela, Spain, and other countries send in the medical brigades; the Yankees send in the troops.” “It must be so they won’t go out of character.” Alfredo Martirena Hernández was born in 1965 in Santa Clara, Cuba. This cartoon was published by Rebelión on 21 January 2010. Translation by Yoshie Furuhashi (@yoshiefuruhashi | yoshie.furuhashi […]
What Happened in Chile?
Sebastián Piñera obtained half a million more votes than in the first round, despite the fact that the total number of voters in the second round declined by 34,161 compared to that in December. Eduardo Frei added 1.3 million votes to his December results (2,043,514), but he still lost by 222,742 votes. The null […]
Haiti: Another U.S. Military Occupation
On Monday, six days after the earthquake in Haiti, the U.S. Southern Command finally began to drop bottled water and food (MREs) from an Air Force C-17. U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates had previously rejected such a method because of “security concerns.” The Guardian reports that people are dying of thirst. And if they do […]
Haiti’s Classquake
Just five days prior to the 7.0 earthquake that shattered Port-au-Prince on January 12th, the Haitian government’s Council of Modernisation of Public Enterprises (CMEP) announced the planned 70% privatization of Teleco, Haiti’s public telephone company. Today Port-au-Prince lies in ruins, with thousands, possibly hundreds of thousands dead, entire neighborhoods cut off, many buried alive. Towns […]
The Spirit of Cooperation Is Being Put to Test in Haiti
The news reported from Haiti describes a great chaos that was to be expected, given the exceptional situation created in the aftermath of the catastrophe. At first, a feeling of surprise, astonishment, and commotion set in. A desire to offer immediate assistance came up in the farthest corners of the Earth. What assistance should be […]
Venezuelan Electricity Minister Resigns, Electricity Rationing in Capital Suspended
N.B. The statement in the article below simply attributed to FETRAELEC President Angel Navas is actually one first published by Marea Socialista. — Ed. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez ordered the suspension of programmed power outages in the capital city on Wednesday, and asked for the resignation of his minister for electricity, citing errors in the […]
Iran: A Good Time for Goodbye to Subsidies
See the Oil Wars blog for a similar perspective on the contradictions of populist political economy (especially the difficulty of making a sensible trade-off between consumption and investment) in Venezuela. How do you respond to the kind of perspective represented by Djavad Salehi-Isfahani (regarding Iran) and Oil Wars (regarding Venezuela)? Thoughts on this question will […]
Emir Sader: The Post-Neoliberal Challenge
With the passing of a year and the coming of another, it’s time to look at the balance sheet and define the prospects. Who can help us do so better than Brazilian sociologist and political scientist Emir Sader, one of the best-known critical thinkers in our America today? Sader is currently executive secretary of […]
Check It Out: WSJ Favors Socialist Market Controls After All
So for the last 2 years the Wall Street Journal has been predicting the total fucking COLLAPSE of the Venezuelan economy because they stubbornly refused to devalue their currency. Well guess what? Over the weekend Venezuela finally bit the bullet and devalued the bolivar, so today the Wall Street Journal took their predictable victory […]
Year of Resistance: Interview with Eva Golinger
Listen to Sheehan’s interview with Golinger: Eva Golinger: Venezuela is a very wealthy country in oil and gas reserves. It’s actually one of the largest oil producers in the world. It has over 24% of oil reserves in the entire world. That’s a lot for a country of 27 million people. And of course […]
Venezuelan Government to Invest in Production and Combat Speculation Following Devaluation
It should be noted that the words of the four trade unionists quoted in the last section of this article — Vilma Vivas, Stalin Pérez Borges, Ismael Hernández, and José Meléndez — are all part of the statement of Marea Socialista (mentioned but once in the article), so they should not be regarded simply as […]
Chávez Stresses the Importance of Getting Rid of the Oil Rentier Model in Venezuela
Caracas, 10 January (PL) — Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez insisted today on putting an end to the oil rentier model in order to ensure that the economic measures taken by the government last Friday will stimulate domestic production. The dual exchange rate with the oil dollar of 4.30 bolivars per dollar and other measures announced […]
Labor Leaders of Venezuela’s Heavy Industries Respond to Electricity-Saving Measures
The Venezuelan government’s measures to reduce national electricity consumption amidst nationwide shortages and rolling power outages have provoked varied responses from unionists in the basic industries, especially the steel and aluminum sectors. Venezuela’s electricity consumption has increased by more than 40% over the last ten years, driven largely by five years of consecutive high economic […]
Venezuela Implements Measures to Curb Commercial Energy Use
Following months of regular blackouts in some regions of Venezuela, the government has implemented energy-saving measures, requiring companies to submit plans to save 20% of their electricity usage, regulating the usage of lighting for advertising, and creating schedules of electricity usage for shopping centers, casinos, and bingo halls. The Ministry for Electricity‘s measures went into […]
