the US-backed
attempt to depose him in 2002.
80% of the revenue from the oil industry went to only 1% of the
population,
But the mainstream media rarely speaks for the poor
majority. Chavez has instituted a literacy program,
land-acquisition policies that benefit the poor, job training
for unskilled workers, free health care, and manufacturing
cooperatives which give the poor an active role in business
development. He was democratically elected, and recent polls
still place him about 20 percentage points ahead of his nearest
challenger.
opposes U.S. efforts to implement free trade agreements that
would surrender the country’s raw materials in return for
expensive products from abroad.
Chavez is feared because of his growing independence in a
country whose vast oil reserves are coveted by the north.
Most
of the media speaks for the people with money.

Coup D'Etat Rumblings in Venezuela

Tags: americana, destabilization on 2007-11-21 -All Annotations (0) -About

more fromsjlendman.blogspot.com

1Expand

Venezuela: Between ballots and bullets

Tags: americana on 2007-11-14 -All Annotations (0) -About

more frompetras.lahaine.org

1Expand

Ecuador Demands Military Base in Miami

Tags: americana on 2007-10-24 -All Annotations (0) -About

more fromwww.shortnews.com

The politics of oil in Venezuela George Philip

Tags: americana, globalization, resources on 2007-10-22 and saved by2 people -All Annotations (0) -About

more fromwww.opendemocracy.net

1Expand

Chris Floyd: Banana Republic

Tags: americana, corporations, corruption on 2007-10-22 -All Annotations (0) -About

more fromwww.counterpunch.com

Promised Social Change in Ecuador

Tags: americana, society on 2007-10-20 -All Annotations (0) -About

more fromsjlendman.blogspot.com

9Expand

Costa Rica and CAFTA

Tags: americana, globalization, neoliberalism on 2007-10-15 -All Annotations (0) -About

more fromwww.counterpunch.org

nventing labor leaders to serve as pro-CAFTA figureheads,
launching a publicity blitz (Costa Rican press reports that the
proponents have already spent $500 million dollars on publicity
compared to anti-CAFTA expenditures of $30 million), and conducting
a smear campaign against the opposition.
The core of the proposed strategy
is a fear campaign that, according to the memo, would stimulate
four kinds of fear: fear of loss of jobs, fear of attack on democratic
institutions ("make NO the equivalent of violence and anti-democracy"),
fear of foreign influence ("insist on the connection of
NO with Fidel, Chávez, and Ortega"), and fear of
the impact of rejection of CAFTA on the government (financial
instability, lack of governance). The memo calls for uniting
big business behind the agreement, while presenting a public
face conformed of civil society members.
While other Central American
nations spent money and lives on civil wars and fighting off
foreign intervention, Costa Rica abolished its army and invested
public funds in social programs to guarantee a basic standard
of living for the entire population. Later when other countries
clamored to create duty-free manufacturing zones, privatize state
industries, and liberalize trade, Costa Rica maintained control
of strategic public services.
The results are impressive.
In the period of rapid economic integration between 1990 and
2003, the four other Central American countries saw an increase
in malnutrition from 17% to 20% of the population, adding 2.4
million people to hunger counts.1 In Costa Rica, only 6% of children
under five suffer from chronic malnutrition, compared to 19%
in El Salvador, 20% in Nicaragua, 29% in Honduras, and a tragic
49% in Guatemala.
The current legislation demands
that rounding up poor people who sell home-made movie and music
CDs become a national crime-fighting obsession. In cities where
real crime has eroded the fabric of society and made the phrase
"public security" sound like a bad joke, the priority
is worse than misplaced.
"implementing legislation" meant figuring out a way
to make up for the approximately $823 million dollars in government
revenues lost after eliminating tariffs to imported U.S. goods.
The government's answer was to apply consumer taxes on gas and
food. Millions of dollars that used to be paid by some of the
wealthiest transnational corporations in the world must now be
paid by Dominicans struggling to feed their families. The resultant
increase in the cost of living led to a national strike Oct.
2-the second protest this year.
Other examples include limitations
on the use of generic drugs and further privatization of services
Panama-two labor leaders were murdered in broad
daylight
There's a simple folk-saying:
"If it's not broken, don't fix it." Adopting an economic
model designed to benefit the economically powerful is not a
good way to allocate the abundant natural and human resources
of Costa Rica