[DEBATE] : (Fwd) Debating Venezuela inequality

[Patrick Bond]

Calvin Tucker

November 15, 2006 08:30 PM

As Venezuela approaches its presidential elections on December 3, the 
predictable attacks on Hugo Chávez - that he is a dictator in the 
making, a ballot rigger, a populist buffoon - are becoming increasingly 
difficult to sustain. For sure, the eight years since Chávez was first 
elected president have not been short of drama. Against the odds, he 
managed to defeat a US backed coup in 2002 and an oil executives' strike 
which brought the economy to its knees, and went on to win, fairly, a 
recall referendum that threatened to cut short his term in office.

Many rulers (Bush and Blair spring to mind) might have responded by 
suspending civil freedoms and elections. Yet instead, Chávez risked 
invoking the wrath of his own supporters by sticking resolutely to the 
constitution and the rule of law. No opposition newspapers or TV 
stations were closed down, opposition political parties remained free to 
organise and most extraordinarily of all, almost all of the participants 
in the coup escaped prosecution. One of those who signed the decree that 
abolished the National Assembly and democratic institutions was a little 
known state governor from Zulia called Manuel Rosales. He is now the 
opposition's presidential candidate.

As these basic facts about Venezuela become more widely known, so the 
attacks on their Bolivarian Revolution have become more subtle and 
sophisticated. Yesterday's Guardian was a case in point. Rory Carroll 
penned a long piece which questioned the redistributive policies of the 
Bolivarian Revolution. You can get a flavour of its contents from the 
headline: "Welcome to the Chavez revolution - where the rich keep 
getting richer."

Carroll spent what must have been a delightful afternoon at the Caracas 
Country Club interviewing millionaires, all of whom claimed to have 
become even richer under Chávez. Whilst this is probably good news for 
the Guardian accounts department (which won't have to pick up the tab 
for the "Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon, the chef's famous flan and a round 
of espressos"), it isn't, strictly speaking, true.

Whilst household income for all social classes is currently rising, 
Datanalysis, the main opposition leaning pollster, reported in September 
that the richest 5% have actually experienced a drop in income of 28% in 
real terms over the entirety of the Chávez administration. By contrast, 
the poorest 60% have seen their income rise by a staggering 45%. Voting 
patterns mirror income changes, with 75% of the poor supporting Chávez, 
compared with just 25% of the rich.

***

Welcome to the Chávez revolution - where the rich keep getting richer

Rory Carroll in Caracas
Monday November 13, 2006
Guardian Unlimited

    The Caracas Country Club
The Caracas Country Club, which has been threatened with expropriation 
of its land for social housing. The club hopes for an amicable solution. 
Photograph: Leslie Mazoch/AP
 
Another agreeable lunch ended at the Caracas Country Club with a bottle 
of Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon, the chef's famous flan and a round of 
espressos served on a silver platter.

 From their table in the sun-kissed courtyard the three businessmen 
could hear only the fountain's gurgle, the murmur of other diners, the 
clink of glasses and the swish of waiters in wine-coloured waistcoats. A 
socialist revolution is supposed to be clanging through Venezuela but 
from this oasis of wealth in the heart of the capital it is inaudible, 
just like the traffic. "The revolution is blah blah blah. We don't feel 
threatened," said one of the trio, a shoe factory owner.

Article continues
Much of the country's elite, it seems, feel the same way. President Hugo 
Chávez has warned that "capitalism will lead to the destruction of 
humanity" but seldom has there been a better time to make, spend and 
enjoy money.

The economy is surging at 9.4% and banks and credit card companies are 
reporting exponential increases in deposits and loans. Car sales are 
expected to more than double this year to 300,000, many of them luxury 
models, and property price rises rival Manhattan. The reason is oil. As 
the world's fifth biggest exporter Venezuela has thrived as the barrel 
price hovers around $60.

Unlike previous petro-booms, however, this one is supposed to be 
different as there is a powerful president who wears a red beret, quotes 
Che Guevara and praises Cuban communism. Mr Chávez has garnered global 
attention with promises to "transform the structures of capitalism".

Billions of dollars have been spent on improving health care and 
education for the country's poor and in the countryside a small minority 
of sugar plantations and ranches have been turned into socialist 
cooperatives.

But property rights and the structure of the economy remain intact, 
largely because the government does not want to impede its revenue, 
prompting relief from the elite and grumbles from the radical left who 
want greater redistribution of resources. "If you look at what it has 
accomplished, it is a neoliberal government," Douglas Bravo, a former 
Marxist guerrilla who was once close to Mr Chávez , lamented to the 
daily El Nacional.

Mr Chávez has described his eight years in power as a transition and 
promised a more radical phase, inspired partly by Fidel Castro's Cuba, 
if he wins another term in an election next month. Polls predict a 
landslide.

Alberto Garrido, a historian and leading pundit, said there was 
revolutionary intent but that an Americanised consumer culture in love 
with baseball, McDonald's and designer labels obliged the government to 
tread cautiously.

A notable example is golf. In August the mayor of Caracas and 
presidential ally, Juan Barreto, threatened to expropriate swaths of 
Caracas Country Club and Valle Arriba golf club to build houses for the 
poor.

Three months later Chávismo has not conquered the fairways. The 
vice-president, Vincente Rangel, scorned the idea and Mr Chávez, not 
wanting to pick this particular fight in the run-up to an election, said 
not a word, leaving the mayor to fight a lonely battle against the 
clubs' lawyers.

Caracas Country Club, founded in 1918 and with 8,000 well-heeled 
members, went on the offensive last week by claiming the expropriation 
threat was based on fraudulent documents. "We feel it will be resolved 
rationally, we are confident in the rule of law," said the club 
president, Fernando Zozaya. Asked about the revolution Mr Zozaya was 
wary, not wanting to provoke the government. "Let's say it's a very 
special type of socialism."

The three businessmen lunching in the courtyard were more explicit in 
mocking it as empty bluster. "It hasn't touched my work, I'm left 
alone," said one.

That did not stop them loathing Mr Chávez, whom they blamed for 
inflation, crime, corruption and a climate of intolerance which blocks 
government critics from state jobs.

Tellingly, none of the trio wanted to give his name. "You don't know the 
way it's going to end up so you don't want to jeopardise yourself," said 
one.

Stories abound of money being spirited abroad and of lobbying for US and 
European visas, lest hasty emigration become necessary.

A US opinion pollster, Alex Evans, said the boom was insufficient reason 
for the elite, comprising 5% of the population, to support the 
incumbent. "They just don't like the guy."

There is a paradox that the more Mr Chávez denounces the United States, 
which he calls an empire run by a devil, the closer the countries' two 
economies become.

Bilateral trade soared by over a third to $40bn (£21bn) last year. Most 
was oil but it also included car production and financial services from 
the likes of Halliburton, a company linked to the US vice-president, 
Dick Cheney.

The fruits were on display at a Caracas expo of luxury vehicles and 
speedboats. Staff at six stands interviewed by the Guardian all said 
business had never been so good.

"It's ironic, this revolution. The rich are even richer now," said Rene 
Diaz, who was selling Humvee-type 4x4s which cost up to $150,000.

The most popular drink at the bar was the most expensive - an 
18-year-old whisky. "They don't want the cheaper stuff," shrugged a barman.