News

A Benign Revolution: In Defense of Hugo Chavez
Ambassador Bernardo Alvarez
Foreign Affairs Magazine
July/August,2006
Page 2

More important than simply promoting economic growth, though, is paying down the social debt that the government built up over four decades of neglect of Venezuela’s most pressing problems. President Chávez is overseeing an ambitious program of social missions meant to correct some of Venezuela’s most outstanding inequalities in education, housing, health-care, food security, and job training. Government spending on social programs has risen dramatically since President Chávez took office, and it now stands at roughly 15 percent of gdp. 15 million Venezuelans— roughly half the population—have received free health care from 20,000 doctors located in Venezuela’s poorest areas through Mission Barrio Adentro, while some 9 million have benefited from subsidized prices on basic foodstuªs through Mission Mercal. The various educational missions—for basic, secondary, and university education—have benefited millions more, allowing the country to declare itself free from illiteracy last year. In fact, Venezuela’s social programs will allow the country to meet the un Millennium Development Goals in 2012, three years ahead of schedule, and the country’s ranking on the un’s Human Development Index (a broad measure of economic and social welfare) continues to rise. Although some critics have called these programs clientelistic, they are simply responding to long-ignored needs and building much-needed human capital in Venezuela. The Venezuelan people are being provided with the basic tools to become productive and competitive, so much so that even members of the opposition have recognized the inherent value of the social missions.

It is no secret that relations between the United States and Venezuela remain tense. But Venezuela is simply not a threat to the United States, much less an enemy. Many in the Bush administration—still convinced that the Cold War has not ended in Latin America—see it as such, going so far as to try and have Venezuela listed as a state sponsor of terrorism, despite lacking evidence to prove such a claim and even while cynically refusing to extradite Luis Posada Carriles, a well-known Cuban terrorist, to Venezuela to stand trial for the 1976 killing of 73 innocent civilians. Internally, Venezuela seeks to implement the measures needed to promote growth and secure social development; externally, it seeks regional political integration with which to ensure that Latin America can spur internal markets and more fairly negotiate with other global powers, the United States included.The Bush administration continues to view changes in Venezuela as a threat and has sought to use every political means at its disposal to isolate President Chávez. The people of Venezuela and the region know better. The changes occurring in Venezuela reflect the true spirit of the country’s people, and if these changes did not happen now, they would happen eventually. President Chávez’s emergence is not an accident, nor should it be taken as a surprise. The model of economic development and democratic governance imposed by the United States for decades failed to secure social progress, and the results were obvious: increased poverty, instability, and disillusionment with democratic governments. In the wake of the structural reforms instituted in 1989, the percentage of Venezuelans living in extreme poverty jumped from 43.9 percent to 66.5 percent in a single year. Consequently, the percentage of Venezuelans who demanded radical changes increased steadily from 51 percent in 1995 to 63 percent in 1998, according to Consultores 21, an independent polling firm. Because the country’s two dominant political parties had become an extension of business interests and had a dismal record on promoting growth and social justice, they were peacefully and democratically replaced.

Thankfully, Venezuela’s changes are occurring with the approval of its people and are having an impact on their daily lives. I wish some of Washington’s policymakers and thinkers would finally realize this.

Bernardo Alvarez Herrera is Venezuela’s Ambassador to the United States.

Back >>>

NOTE: The Venezuela Information Office is dedicated to informing the American public about contemporary Venezuela, and receives its funding from the government of Venezuela. More information is available from the FARA office of the Department of Justice in Washington DC.

Venezuela Information Office
733 15th Street NW, Suite 932 Washington, DC 20005  tel: (202) 347-8081  fax: (202) 347-8091