Re: [OPE] Venezuela is the most democratic country in Latin America

In the account that the authoritarian left gives about Latin America, Venezuela and Costa Rica are always two elusive cases. Since “The War on Democracy” by John Pilger spins around Hugo Chavez revolution, I have been trying to find an account of the 4th Republic, the pre-Chavez Venezuela.   John Pilger summarizes his extremely simplified and propagandistic account with the following statement:   “In the old Venezuela the United States played the part of a Godfather. The deal was simple: they supply us cheap oil and the Venezuelan reach capitalize lot of the profits. The election of Hugo Chávez ended the deal.”   It is a pity that a documentary so full of truth, discredit itself with a sectarian and false account of the more demanding chapters of Latin American history. It is symptomatic of the biased perception of the authoritarian left: pre-Chavez Venezuela and Costa Rica are two black holes in this account.   Regards, A. Agafonow ________________________________ De: GERALD LEVY <gerald_a_levy@msn.com> Para: Outline on Political Economy mailing list <ope@lists.csuchico.edu> Enviado: viernes, 27 de febrero, 2009 2:55:43 Asunto: RE: [OPE] Venezuela is the most democratic country in Latin America  > One needs to be willfully blind not to notice the tendancy towards   I AGREE, Paul C, that the issue of democracy in Venezuela and elsewhere in Latin America should be put in *historical context*. A good place to start is by understanding the *WAR ON DEMOCRACY*:   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwnvmEoogmg   John Pilger: "In my lifetime (born in 1939, JL) the following countries (in Latin America) have been assaulted by the US directly and indirectly  - their governments replaced by dictators and other pro-Washington leaders -   Argentina Belize Bolivia Brazil Chile Colombia Cuba Ecuador El Salvador French Guiana Grenada Guatemala Guyana Honduras Nicaragua Panama Paraguay Peru Surinam Uruguay Venezuela" (from Part 5)   One has to, indeed, be willfully blind not to recall these experiences and apply the lessons learned from them to ensure that similar events don't happen again. This is a major part of the *real* context in which the strategy of socialists in Latin must be developed.  To not do so would be irresponsible and an invitation to a repeat of  bloodbaths that we saw in Chile in 1973 and elsewhere (some of which are documented in Pilger's film).  For Venezuela in particular, it is *ALWAYS* important to recall the experiences of 2002.   In solidarity, Jerry

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Received on Fri Feb 27 03:38:49 2009