Venezuela's Chavez Endorses Creation of Election Agency

[Say_What]

<clips>

Aug. 26 (Bloomberg) -- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez endorsed the formation of a new five-member election agency, which will decide later this year whether to hold a referendum that could remove him from the presidency.

Venezuela's Supreme Court named the five members last night, breaking a six-month deadlock over the appointments. The court named Oscar Bataglini, Jose Rodriguez, Sobella Mejias, Ezequiel Zamora and Francisco Carrasquero to the agency's board.

``We have a referee now,'' Chavez said during a press conference with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. ``We hope its decisions will be just and impartial.''

Nomination of the agency removes an obstacle to holding a vote on Chavez, who was elected in 1998 and re-elected in 2000 to a six-year term. Opposition leaders who have been trying to force a vote on Chavez's presidency led a national strike in December and January in a bid to force the former paratrooper from office.


<http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000086&sid=aou4zGpIuICw&refer=latin_america>

[bemildred]

1. Another tidbit on Venezuela for the interested:

(Thanks to pescao.)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3167225.stm

When Venezuela's leftist
President Hugo Chavez
announced the launching
of an urban gardens
programme, he said it
would produce jobs and
reduce the country's
dependence on imported
food.

It has. But Mr Chavez may not
have bargained that the rows
of lettuce, cucumber and mint
now thriving amidst the traffic
and high-rises of downtown
Caracas would also produce a
harvest of controversy.

---

In the farm plot's five months'
existence, the co-operative's
members have harvested
some four tonnes of produce
from what was previously a
piece of barren, weedy land.

The co-operative's members,
who are paid by a share of the
garden's sales, are
previously-unemployed
residents of a nearby poor neighbourhood.

[Say_What]

2. Great article and I miss seeing Pescao's posts :-)

From the article:

The co-operative's members, who are paid by a share of the garden's sales, are previously-unemployed residents of a nearby poor neighbourhood.

"I never imagined that I'd work in this," said Francisco Riqueno, 24, a shoemaker by trade. "I like the physical labour."

The Cuban doctors, too, have produced good reviews in the poor neighbourhoods where they are stationed.

"In my 40 years, there's never been work like (the Cubans) are doing," said Paula Bastidas, a member of the Health Commission of San Augustin neighbourhood.

Ms Bastidas said that before the Cubans' arrival, residents had to travel long distances to public hospitals, which often make poor patients wait hours before being seen.

[AP]

3. I'm sure that's a very popular program with Ven's agribusinesses.

[bemildred]

4. Heh.

No doubt.
The medical community is already complaining loudly
about the doctors.

[Judi Lynn]

6. I saw that in your article, and in a few others, too.

Your article was tremendous, bemildred. Thanks for a chance to read it.

Admired the final paragraph:

(snip) "We came here to help these barrios," Dr Fernandez said. "If we get kicked out, then will remain like it was before - marginalised. Because no Venezuelan doctor ever comes here." (snip/)

I imagine that truth won't be forgotten.

[bemildred]

7. I was referring to this one too:

Venezuela court bars Cuban doctors from working
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N21340967.htm

If I remember correctly, Hugo later told to court to buzz off.
I don't know what happened after that, I imagine its still being
litigated.

pescao sent me the link (credit where credit is due).

[Judi Lynn]

8. Ooooh, yeah!

Interesting.

The changes Hugo Chavez is bringing really upset their apple cart. They had everything JUST they way they wanted, with control of the country definitely in their clutches, for decades, and now the controlling interests are going wacko.

Lots of work to do demonizing the people Chavez has enlisted to help.

From the article:
(snip) They also accused the Cubans of being political activists, said they do not have proper medical training and said they were taking jobs away from local medical professionals.(snip)

As other articles point out, the poor of Venezuela have simply been ignored. There is NO medical group coming forward from within Venezuela to tend to the needs of the poor. It's not PROFITABLE enough to treat poor people, a problem that's creeping into our own national reference, too!

[bemildred]

9. Yes!

But fortunately, the degenerate, communist Cubans don't
NEED to make a profit to treat poor people. Who knew this
sort of thing was possible? Why next thing you know, people
could all be working together, not fighting dog-eat-dog
against one another. Whole new vistas open up. Everybody
could have enough to eat. People could have jobs that were
useful EVEN if they weren't profitable. The sky is the limit
once you start thinking this way.
:-)

[Judi Lynn]

5. Great article. Looks as if Chavez is game for this challenge, doesn't it?

A DU'er who was contributing a ton of information, during the coup in Venezuea, who had lived there, like Pescao, said that "poll results" from Venezuela will be totally misleading for ages, as the vast majority of the poor in Venezuela, over 80%, don't even HAVE home phones to allow them to be contacted for polling!

I definitely believe that, and I believe this kind of dissinformation is accepted practice by ALL right-wing organizations, in their view that the poor simply don't matter.

In countries with such appalling ratios of wealth concentrated in small groups, and suffering masses living from hand-to-mouth, the media simply use the people with material wealth as the "official" face of their country, as if the indigent population is practically invisible. Disgusting.

That disrespected, unimportant poor group elected Hugo Chavez in a landslide, TWICE, already,