Wednesday, July 13, 2005
Venezuela round up
Previously, I have posted on how some pro-Chavez assembly members have been trying to legalize abortion in limited circumstances only to meet resistance from the opposition. Not only have they met resistance from the opposition but they have met indifference from even people who are supposed to be progressive members of the opposition. For example, Teodoro Petkoff, who seems to have at least five opinions for every subject, has been pretty darn quite on this issue.
In other countries it is often the medical community that takes the lead on this issue as they see the dire consequences for women when abortion is criminalized. But yesterday the Venezuelan Medical Association ducked the issue. They said it should just be “studied” more before anything is done. Their reasons? They are afraid it would become a method of contraception (oh, yeah, abortions are fun – women are really going to do that) and that Venezuelan doctors aren’t properly equipped and trained to perform abortions (I guess this is another reason the Cuban doctors are needed). Clearly this is just a cop out while women die. My previous post on this was called “profiles in leadership”. I guess we could call this “profiles in cowardice”.
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One of the opposition’s chronic complaints has been the high level of crime in Venezuela. To be sure, Venezuela does have very high level of crime. But the opposition, in their attempt to make political hay, always tried to pin responsibility for it on Chavez. They always neglected to mention that many local police forces were controlled by pro-opposition politicians who didn’t seem to make fighting crime a priority. It was widely hoped that when the voters ousted a number of anti-Chavez mayors and governors last Fall and replaced them with pro-Chavez leaders this would be rectified and crime would begin to go down.
Today we see evidence that is exactly what is happening. Up until last November Caracas was governed by a very anti-Chavez mayor, Pena, who used Caracas’s main police force to serve as opposition storm troopers rather than fight crime. He was voted out and replaced by Juan Barreto. Since then crime has been reduced dramtically.
In statistics released today it was shown that the number of significant crimes for the first 6 months of 2005 was 7,821 as compared to 14,177 in the first half of 2004. In other words, there has been a 50% reduction in crime in Caracas.. Further, murders fell from 848 in the first 6 months of 2004 to 640 in the first 6 months of this year. Clearly there is much more to be done. But the progress is dramatic and undeniable. Opposition politicians have truly been like a plague on Venezuela. It is amazing how much better things get as soon as we get rid of them!!
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Yesterday a few hundred students went to the National Assembly to protest the murder by police of three college students. The murder of the students certainly is inexcusable and the government has been quick to make changes in the police force that did this including firing a significant number of officers. The students wanted to meet with leaders of the National Assembly and as a result the head of the National Assembly (A.N.), Nicolas Maduro went out to meet with them and listen to their complaints. He assured them that there would be a full investigation of the incident by the A.N. and that the students would always be welcome to come and participate in the proceedings. Certainly the government is being very responsive to this tragedy. By way of contrast, in 1989 when the opposition was running the government hundreds (maybe thousands) of people were gunned down in the streets by the army for protesting against price hikes in an event called the Caracazo. Not only did the government not do anything about it (after all it was the government that sent the army into the streets to shoots unarmed civilians) it just dumped many of the bodies in mass graves.
In any event, as the student protesters were leaving the National Assembly building they were attacked by pro-Chavez demonstrators with at least one student being badly beaten up. The students returned to the Assembly building to demand that Maduro do something about it. Maduro’s response was to personally escort the students out and away to where they could safely go home. Certainly, some Chavistas yesterday conducted themselves in a reprehensible way and were just thugs. Yet Nicolos Maduro, who is vilified daily by the opposition media, went out of his way to make sure student protesters were heard and then to assist them when they needed it. This is why most Venezuelans are glad to have someone like Maduro running the Assembly.
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In another sign of the growth of the Venezuelan economy it was pointed out today that the number of passengers through Caracas’s main airport, Maiquetia, was up 18% in the first half of this year. There were 3,392,000 passengers in the first six months of this year as compared to 2,891,000 in the first half of last year. Of course, the people doing the flying are generally well off. So we have yet another indication that the middle and upper classes, for all their bitching and moaning, aren’t doing too bad.
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In other countries it is often the medical community that takes the lead on this issue as they see the dire consequences for women when abortion is criminalized. But yesterday the Venezuelan Medical Association ducked the issue. They said it should just be “studied” more before anything is done. Their reasons? They are afraid it would become a method of contraception (oh, yeah, abortions are fun – women are really going to do that) and that Venezuelan doctors aren’t properly equipped and trained to perform abortions (I guess this is another reason the Cuban doctors are needed). Clearly this is just a cop out while women die. My previous post on this was called “profiles in leadership”. I guess we could call this “profiles in cowardice”.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………..
One of the opposition’s chronic complaints has been the high level of crime in Venezuela. To be sure, Venezuela does have very high level of crime. But the opposition, in their attempt to make political hay, always tried to pin responsibility for it on Chavez. They always neglected to mention that many local police forces were controlled by pro-opposition politicians who didn’t seem to make fighting crime a priority. It was widely hoped that when the voters ousted a number of anti-Chavez mayors and governors last Fall and replaced them with pro-Chavez leaders this would be rectified and crime would begin to go down.
Today we see evidence that is exactly what is happening. Up until last November Caracas was governed by a very anti-Chavez mayor, Pena, who used Caracas’s main police force to serve as opposition storm troopers rather than fight crime. He was voted out and replaced by Juan Barreto. Since then crime has been reduced dramtically.
In statistics released today it was shown that the number of significant crimes for the first 6 months of 2005 was 7,821 as compared to 14,177 in the first half of 2004. In other words, there has been a 50% reduction in crime in Caracas.. Further, murders fell from 848 in the first 6 months of 2004 to 640 in the first 6 months of this year. Clearly there is much more to be done. But the progress is dramatic and undeniable. Opposition politicians have truly been like a plague on Venezuela. It is amazing how much better things get as soon as we get rid of them!!
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Yesterday a few hundred students went to the National Assembly to protest the murder by police of three college students. The murder of the students certainly is inexcusable and the government has been quick to make changes in the police force that did this including firing a significant number of officers. The students wanted to meet with leaders of the National Assembly and as a result the head of the National Assembly (A.N.), Nicolas Maduro went out to meet with them and listen to their complaints. He assured them that there would be a full investigation of the incident by the A.N. and that the students would always be welcome to come and participate in the proceedings. Certainly the government is being very responsive to this tragedy. By way of contrast, in 1989 when the opposition was running the government hundreds (maybe thousands) of people were gunned down in the streets by the army for protesting against price hikes in an event called the Caracazo. Not only did the government not do anything about it (after all it was the government that sent the army into the streets to shoots unarmed civilians) it just dumped many of the bodies in mass graves.
In any event, as the student protesters were leaving the National Assembly building they were attacked by pro-Chavez demonstrators with at least one student being badly beaten up. The students returned to the Assembly building to demand that Maduro do something about it. Maduro’s response was to personally escort the students out and away to where they could safely go home. Certainly, some Chavistas yesterday conducted themselves in a reprehensible way and were just thugs. Yet Nicolos Maduro, who is vilified daily by the opposition media, went out of his way to make sure student protesters were heard and then to assist them when they needed it. This is why most Venezuelans are glad to have someone like Maduro running the Assembly.
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
In another sign of the growth of the Venezuelan economy it was pointed out today that the number of passengers through Caracas’s main airport, Maiquetia, was up 18% in the first half of this year. There were 3,392,000 passengers in the first six months of this year as compared to 2,891,000 in the first half of last year. Of course, the people doing the flying are generally well off. So we have yet another indication that the middle and upper classes, for all their bitching and moaning, aren’t doing too bad.
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