Maggie's Farm

Sorry in advance for mi English, because it is not mi native tongue... In a way, it is the usual "loony rants" of Chomsky...on the other hand, it is true that Chavez has consolidate a certain amount of influence and that his ties with China has no precedent among other Latin leaders...and that implies indeed a challenge to US policies in Latin America, a region usually contaminated with a high level of anti America ideology. I live in fact in Venezuela, and I know from first hand experience and knowledge -because I live here- the true nature of Chávez policies.
A great deal of what you write about what is Chávez doing is the absolute true, but I don't think the US should lift up the so called embargo... I don't think the US should show an open hand to Chávez. Chávez is an anglophobic of extreme vehemence; he says his problems are only with George W. Bush but it is just an excuse to persist in his anti-american-extreme-left agenda. You should know that Chávez are estatizing large sectors of the Venezuelan economy for no other reason that his belief in the supremacy of the state vs. the individual an private initiative as the only path leading to prosperity... he statized one of the largest milk and juices manufacturer, and you know what? He decided no to produce anymore Apple Juice...Why? Because -says he- the Apple is an IMPERIALISTIC FRUIT so if we are patriotic and love our country we should not drink apple juice but only mango juice -and ironic choice since mango, no matter how traditional a fruit in Venezuela, is an original fruit from India...I know this sounds like some surrealistic-funny scrip for a bad comedy about an insane banana republic dictator, but it's completely true...and we Venezuelans have to live on a daily basis without knowing what to expect next every time Chávez appears on t.v. announcing whatever passed on his mind any given day...
Chávez statized without any reason beyond is uncontrolled will the Venezuela's largest bank... Chávez kicked out of Caracas's La Carlota Airport, all private and civil planes.... Chávez statized the phone and electric light services in the country, and he did so, without any observance to legal procedures established for this kind of actions... and since the State took control of this services, they had rapidly deteriorated... Chávez and is accolades, the leaders of the National Assembly, have accused opposition leaders of desestabilizing actions without offer any solid proof but recorded tapes of private conversation between them where there is not a single word about and explicit desire to overthrow the goverment. But you know, this tapes are indeed illegal because they are obtained without any legal procedure established for this type of intrusion in the private life of the citizens.... Chávez closed RCTV, the main network of open signal TV of the country... RCTV is in fact a pioneer company for they started the television era in our country. Of course it is run by a member of a wealthy traditionalist Venezuelan family, but contrary to populist theories, the so called ELITÈ constitutes a factor of progress and development in many countries. We even have the paradoxical fact that the founder of the Communist Party of Venezuela, was a respected member of this ELITÈ... of course, this happened in a time were there were a certain amount of prestige among left wing parties....but my point is that the role of an ELITÉ in the development of societies is sometimes underrated... the main media and enterprises, as well as the largest cultural and social foundations of our country are funded and ruled to a large extend by members of this ELITÉ..They are well educated people who believed in chance and work for the good of the country.... it was an excess of this faith and no their deeds what lead Chávez to power, for he received an unprecedent support from the media and economic private sectors of our country, even from intellectuals, academics and well educated and powerful people in general... Chávez never talk about Marx and socialism in his campaign, Chávez talked about private investment about how he tough Castro was a dictator and about how he believed in democracy... but once he were in power slowly started to show his true agenda...he slowly has been changing the use of the word democracy for socialism, he now speaks openly about the teachings of Marx...
But, my point was the closing of RCTV...I remember hearing Sean Penn talking about this... he said in David Letterman's show, that Chávez closed the channel because since he took power RCTV was once and again instigating his assasination... but Penn speaks with total lack of responsibility... because you can't find a single piece of broadcast made by RCTV in which someone invited the audience to kill Chávez... it is obvious that Penn even had no idea of what RCTV does as a TV channel... so, I can go for long but I have things to do...
Chávez is not even loved by the masses as the international media believes... you only have to take the subway any given day -as I do, cause I'm no some sort of privileged citizen- to hear the complaints that even poor and uneducated people make about the government. You know, people has more common sense that stereotypes suggest. Too many people have the idea that Latin America is populated with thing, small poor people who are every day on their knees praying with tears in their eyes to Almighty God for a savior or a miracle. This is not the truth. Of course we have very extreme poor people here, but you can't draw a line between poor and rich... we are a complex and rich society... many poor people are working in overcome their status and they are no waiting for some GIFT OF GRACE from the government. The believed in themselves, and they want just the chance to make business and to progress, many of them are pursuing superior studies, and the vast majority of Venezuelans, poor and rich, love to buy things, to get the latest technology, good movies, ipods, good cars, communication systems, computers... for Christ shake! everybody her loves The Simpsons!!! And this common Venezuelan people completely dislikes Chávez, and his divisionist and hateful speech, and the way he's destroying the economy and the opportunities for business, we are not a country of indigenous people gathering around the some sort of communistic primitive village sharing chickens and mangos as a droned collective, people here want to make business, they want money and the time to enjoy it, they want internet and and a cosmopolitan way of life. As for me, I have the luck to pursued a career at college but Chávez has destroyed our economy to such extend that not even most of the professionals can afford to buy even the cheapest car on the market...you can´t event rent a place if you are moving alone..it´s to expensive (the average income for a professional is about 25.000 USD per year, and for renting a place you have to give some 35.000 per year) and that's a situation created by Chávez...