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Venezuelan News
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Aldeas de Paz has no political, corporate, religious or other affiliations. For those looking from an
unbiased perspective like this it is very difficult to find
satisfying analysis of the current situation in Venezuela. It seems that there are many who love Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, many who hate him, and very few who are neutral. Presented here is a list
of some news sources, each with its own slant on current issues in Venezuela. Peace Villages cannot make any claims about the accuracy or lack there of of the information on any of these pages!
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A visit to Venezuela contradicts the picture our leaders are
painting
Asheville Citizen Times
March 19, 2006
by Molly Sweetser
On Feb. 2, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld compared Hugo Chavez,
the democratically-elected leader of Venezuela, to Adolf Hitler.
Sitting in the morning sun, the sounds of life on the streets below
me and thinking back on my two weeks here in Venezuela, nothing
would lead me to compare this bright diverse country to Nazi
Germany. I spent the last two weeks traveling in and learning about
Venezuela with the San Francisco-based Global Exchange. Our
delegation of almost 200 met with students of all ages, officials
from PDVSA (the Venezuelan oil company), community leaders, doctors,
farmers and many other Venezuelans.
The experience that best illustrates the feeling I find here in
Venezuela was an evening spent with students in Mission Ribas, one
of the social missions set up by the Chavez government. This center
allows people who never had the opportunity to attend or finish high
school to study and get a high school degree. One teacher wiped
tears from her eyes as she told us how moving it was to empower her
students to reach goals that had previously been impossible for
them. The teacher had studied at a university before Chavez was
elected and had not thought much of the educational missions until
her mother began studying at the Mission Ribas school. The pride and
knowledge that her mother received from the school then motivated
the young teacher to get involved and to work at the Mission Ribas
school.
Other students from their 20s to their 70s stood and told us how
good it felt to finally be able to help their children with their
homework or to have a whole new world of opportunities because they
learned to read.
I have encountered the same pride and sense of empowerment
throughout the communities I have visited. These are people who feel
that Chavez has opened doors for them and is helping them to lift
themselves up out of dependence and destitution.
_small.jpg) These are not people who feel that they live in an oppressive
dictatorship. Chavez, like any human being, is not perfect and there
is a significant opposition and important questions left to be
answered. However, much of the opposition is fueled by the United
States.
Before the April 2002 coup that replaced the Chavez administration
for two days, the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and
U.S.-AID gave large grants to the nongovernmental organization
Sumate to develop its anti-Chavez platform. Resolution 328,
currently in the House of Representatives, would continue this
disrespectful and dangerous policy of funding anti-Chavez
organizations. Many of the accusations in this bill are very
misleading. In fact, the processes here have been very democratic.
For example, the new constitution was drafted in 1999 by an elected
constitutional assembly and then ratified with 72 percent support in
a national referendum. Today, Chavez continues to have a high
approval rating, much higher than our own president, and he was
democratically elected not once but twice after the April
referendum.
Coming from the United States, where our government regularly
insults and threatens Venezuela's democracy, I have been met with
open arms and an overwhelming obligation to report back to the
people of my country. The truth is that there is no dictatorship
here.
As one student, a young man who had graduated from Mission Ribas and
spoke impeccable English, said, "We want to be big people too. Why
not?" That is my question — why not? The United States of America
was founded on the principles of democracy and freedom. Would it be
so wrong to stop meddling in Venezuela so that it too can enjoy its
free and democratic government?
Molly Sweetser graduated from the North Carolina School of Science
and Math and has deferred admission to the University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill. She lives in Asheville.
Newspapers:
Venezuelanalysis
El Universal
IndyMedia Venezuela
Crisis Venezuela
Hands Off Venezuela
Radio Nacional de Venezuela (Government website)
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