Venezuela’s Climate of Crime

[naaman fletcher]

The Petare slum is one of the most violent areas of Caracas, Venezuela, one of the most violent cities in the world. In Caracas two people are murdered every hour, a homicide rate that has tripled since President Hugo Chávez was elected in 1998. Perhaps as disturbing is the fact that about 90 percent of killings go unsolved in Venezuela.

http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2010/08/22/world/americas/VENEZ.html

[Wilms]

1. Violent Teabaggers bent on destabilizing the country?

That would be harder to solve.

[VioletLake]

2. Yes

Not sure if this was posted here:

http://www.counterpunch.org/kovalik08052010.html

Latin American oligarchs have murdered people for less.

[Wilms]

3. Well, well, well. No I have not seen that before.

I recommend it for a thread.

As an additional note, after all the Teabagging hand-wringing over unionist murders in VZ, we come to find this:

According to the ITUC’s 2010 Annual Survey, of the 101 unionists assassinated in the world last year (2009), 48 (almost half) were Colombian. And, a recent, July 8, 2010 press release from the AFL-CI0 indicates that another 29 Colombian unionists were assassinated in the first half of 2010.

It is well-known that the assassination of unionists in Colombia is largely carried out by right-wing paramilitary groups linked to the Colombian government or by Colombian security forces themselves.

Thanks for your post.

:hi:

[bherrera]

4. Inefficient government, I think

I suspect it is more a case of inefficient government. I saw the rankings shown in the Discussion general board, of all countries. Venezuela is ranked very low, but they have had this so called socialist government for more than 10 years. Yet the poor people suffer, with high crime, and very high inflation. This tells me this guy Chavez is more like one of those fascist thieves who rule in Latin American nations. They must be stealing all the money they get from the oil, and sending it to secret bank accounts. Otherwise, it is impossible to explain why the oil prices are so high, and they make so much oil, and they are performing so terribly. These guys are not socialists, they don't care for the people, they are just thieves.

[Judi Lynn]

5. Their presidents have been the ones who have the massacres on their records.

THOSE pieces of #### were just FINE with the right wing garbage, of course!

[bherrera]

6. The question is, is Chavez good for socialism?

You see, the subject is this President Chavez. I think everybody who is ethical and supports social justice realizes the world has many terrible rulers, and this includes many Latin American rulers, and US presidents, and leaders from other countries.

But one very dangerous type is the one who calls himself a socialist, but is engaged in the game to enhance his own fortune, and control the power in an autocratic way. It is possible to observe a man in his interviews, and read what he says, and from this, understand the emergence of megalomania and the feeling of absolute power which degenerates the character of a ruler.

President Chavez shows all these signs, of an autocrat who is tending towards enhancing the cult of his person, and towards fascism. Why do I say fascism? Because fascists create alliances between the state and private corporations. The corporations are thus given power over workers, if they cooperate with the state. And I see Chavez making many alliances with foreign corporations, in the form of these "joint ventures" which disguise the fact that these companies are still very active. I also see the weakening of the labor unions, and the other things which tell me the man is a disjointed thinker.

Who but a madman would conceive of a system using swapping of goods by comunes, as if they were living in the caves? Who claims he is nationalizing some industries, when at the same time he creates mega corporations in which foreigners hold shares, and control the work activities?

This is terrible, and the true signs are there to see, they are suffering from high inflation, and increasing their national debt when they also enjoy very high oil prices. So where is all this money going? I think it is being stolen, sent to bank accounts for these fascists who are the new rulers of Venezuela, people who call themselves socialists but are nothing but thieves. They are not socialists, they give socialism a terrible image, and they should call themselves something else.

[Judi Lynn]

7. Please, do yourself a favor, and invest your time in thinking these things over.

We know what fascism is, and you flatter yourself by imagining you are going to teach anyone here any lessons.

You need to learn the lesson correctly yourself, unfortunately. Take your time, do your RESEARCH, do that homework yourself, get to know what you're talking about FIRST, then tell others about it. It's a much more practical way of communicating.

Learn it first, THEN talk about it.

[VioletLake]

8. You use words the way a Teabagger does:

without regard for their actual meanings.

If Chavez were creating alliances between the state and private corporations in order to give corporations power over workers, he would be the American Empire's BFF. If he were a thief looking to enhance his own fortune, he would have aligned himself immediately with the Venezuelan oligarchs--who had enhancing their fortunes at the expense of the people down to a science.

The relevant question is: is Chavez good for the people of Venezuela? And the answer is for the people of Venezuela to decide. You, the Venezuelan oligarchy, the American Empire, and rightist tools everywhere are going to have to continue living with that reality, bherrera.

[bherrera]

9. Chavez is definitely a fascist, not a real socialist

This is my observation: Chavez takes companies and converts them to joint ventures with multinationals. The multinationals own a portion of the stock, and they have some controls over the way these companies are run. The company management, which is blessed by the government, then fails to negotiate in good faith with the unionized labor force, and they suffer. The labor contracts are not really followed. Because inflation is very high (above 25 %), the workers suffer because their pay contracts are not indexed to the inflation rate. This gives management of these companies the ability to break the workers, who depend on the management's (the government's) decision to give them some raises.

The inflation rate, in alliance with the formation of these joint ventures, then becomes a weapon of power for the central government over the labor unions, and therefore they control the workers. I suspect many of the people who will vote for Chavez will do so because they are afraid of losing their jobs. This has been documented in the use by the government of the infamous Tascon list, which registered those who voted against the government, and was used to deny people employment and other benefits.

Another power mechanism they use is the currency controls, which are used in a very corrupt fashion to favor business owners who support the government. Other controls are used via the customs office, and the police, of course. If a business owner does not support the government, then he can not obtain foreign currency, or the permit to import spare parts and other materials. And because Venezuela imports almost everything it consumes, then this is a deadly weapon the government uses to control business. Only those who are allied with the government, in a fascist fashion, can survive.

There are many instances of arbitrary and illegal nationalizations, but the government autocracy owns the courts, which are puppets and dictate sentences according to the President's instructions.

Thus what we observe is the emergence of a nominally socialist (as we call socialism in Europe), but really fascist (that is, national socialist as practiced by the nazi party of germany under Hitler). The fascist tendency is also observed in the purchase of weapons, the militarization of society, and the seeking of conflict with other nations. For example, the Venezuelan president has insulted, in public, the presidents of almost all its surrounding countries, except for those who bow down to him such as the one in Ecuador. He has also threatened to go to war against Colombia, and even threatened the harmless Netherland Antilles, a group of small islands located near the Venezuelan coast.

Finally, there is the introduction of personality worship and the requirement of party members to swear allegiance to the maximum leader. Conclusion? This regime in Venezuela is closer to the fascism seen in nazi Germany than the socialism practiced in Europe. This government of Venezuela gives socialism a bad name. QED.

[VioletLake]

10. Your "observation" is false.

But you get an A+ for effort.

[dipsydoodle]

11. You really shouldn't believe everything you

think.