Tuesday August 11, 2009, 9:56 am
Chavez cherishes his Chinese-built satellite

Thanks to a Chinese-built satellite, Venezuela's space agency has joined an elite group in Latin America. The satellite, along with other planned Chinese infrastructure projects in Venezuela, involve a total investment of more than US$4 billion. Beijing and Caracas say Venezuela's satellite is working properly; critics don't agree.

Tuesday August 11, 2009, 10:30 am
The satellite is not merely about prestige. It actually enables the transmission of TeleSur (Latin America's leftwing version of the USA's CNN), and communications, and possibly this includes surveillance and military defence.

With the increased importance of communications and the internet in the economy, and with the threat of invasion by the U.S. and its proxies, such as Colombia's military and Colombia's fascist paramilitaries, Venezuela is wise to have bought this satellite.

Wednesday August 12, 2009, 1:41 pm
Much has been talked about this the last time I was in Venezuela. One big problem is a lack of cement. In the past, capitalists never had need to build roads, or houses, for people, so they never invested in the infrastructure. Now that some of Chavez's economic programs have already been very successful, measured both by the U.N.'s human development index, and by medium income statistics, this has made it possible for millions of Venezuelans to actually have a home for the very first time, hence there is this problem of material shortage, such as cement, and in these basic things the government has now been making special investments.

Wednesday August 12, 2009, 8:19 pm
Viva Venezuela...and homes for all...thanks for the positive news...

Wednesday August 12, 2009, 8:50 pm
I am sorry. I am not agree with previous comments. To me only Chavistas can have a good comment about Chavez. Chavez is the worst President of Venezuela . Every day people are losing their jobs, every day food is increasing prices, every day people is more poor. Every day Chavez is creating a new problem for the country and for our people. The last one.... he is afraid about to have american army close to Venezuela and wants a war with Colombia. We need more security no war. Thiefs are free around the streets and people afraid. During weekend died more people than a war. This man is a nightmare!!! I am a Venezuelan citizen and no telling lies. Ahhh,,,,, the Chinese Satellite is a rumour it does not work.

Wednesday August 12, 2009, 9:02 pm
Not from the barrios then Migda? No doubt Chavez is standing between you and the exploitation of your fellow citizens. My advice is to move to Miami with the other facsists from Latin America.

Thursday August 13, 2009, 4:58 am
One thing is true is that inflation has been on the rise recently. And even as much as 30% at times. However, prior to Chavez taking office, inflation was typically over 100% per year! It is true not everyone can get new housing because of things like the cement shortage. However, millions no longer literally live in huts and urban slums without access either to running water or electricity, as they and their families did before Chavez. To be a Venezeulan before Chavez, that is one who had wealth, presumably through oil, and doing nothing, as so many lived with so little, is something that is to me monstrous and disgusting. That to me is the nightmare. The reason Chavez exists is precisely because of people that think like you, Midga. To understand why Venezuelans want and need social change, to see who is responsible for this happening, the wealthy only need to look in the mirror, and they will see the monster of their own selfish greed.

Thursday August 13, 2009, 9:03 am
Hi David : ) You wrote: "Much has been talked about this the last time I was in Venezuela. One big problem is a lack of cement. In the past, capitalists never had need to build roads, or houses, for people, so they never invested in the infrastructure. Now that some of Chavez's economic programs have already been very successful, measured both by the U.N.'s human development index, and by medium income statistics, this has made it possible for millions of Venezuelans to actually have a home for the very first time, hence there is this problem of material shortage, such as cement, and in these basic things the government has now been making special investments."

I agree, David : ) I also want to add something:

yes, there WAS a problem with cement, when the capitalist class owned and controlled the cement industry, with their agenda of corporate greed, instead of human need. And so the democratic socialist government nationalised the cement industry, to use it to benefit the people of Venezuela, e.g. to build housing. Now that the cement industry is accountable to the people of Venezuela, they can expand it, to meet the needs of the people, disregarding the rich people's greedy agenda.

Thursday August 13, 2009, 10:05 am
Migda wrote: "I am sorry. I am not agree with previous comments. To me only Chavistas can have a good comment about Chavez."

That is a truism. It is like saying "only people who like Mozart can have a good comment about Mozart". Well, so what? What is your point?

Migda wrote: "Chavez is the worst President of Venezuela ."

Worst for the privileged classes, yes. But he is the best President Venezuela has ever elected, for the majority of Venezuelans: the working class and Indigenous and Black Venezuelans and ALL Venezuelan women... and for the working class of Latin America and the Caribbean in general... and for the Indigenous people and other poor people of the northern USA, and for Venezuela's environment... and for the people of the Middle East, and for the people of the OPEC nations... etc... etc....

Migda wrote: "Every day people are losing their jobs, every day food is increasing prices, every day people is more poor.""

What you wrote above are LIES. A huge number of jobs have been created in the revolution, and the unemployment rate has DECREASED from about 14% when the people of Venezuela first elected Hugo Chavez in 1998, to about 7% in 2009.

Yes, the price of food is increasing - everywhere in the world. And yes Venezuela is experiencing inflation. This is what generally happens when an economy grows, didn't you know? However, The inflation rate in Venezuela since the revolution began in 1998 has been an average of about 30%, compared to the average of the last 2 governments, which was about 50%!!! And while the obscenely bloated salaries of some rich people may have decreased, the minimum wage has increased IN REAL TERMS (real buying power, which takes into account inflation), by a huge amount. I forget the exact figure, but it is at least DOUBLE.

The government has been campaigning to keep prices down with price controls and a chain of subsidised, discounted food stores for working class people. And the capitalist class has not invested enough in Venezuela's food production (because they don't profit enough from food prices as low as they are in Venezuela), so the government has been investing in food production, creating more and more food-production cooperatives, which is making it more and more possible for Venezuela to produce its own food needs, and stop relying on food imports.

And the revolution has DECREASED poverty in Venezuela by a huge amount! It has been decreased by about half (from about 50% to about 26%), since the revolution began in 1998!

Migda wrote: "Every day Chavez is creating a new problem for the country and for our people."

Problems for the privileged classes, perhaps, but not problems for the working class - who support him, because he is doing what they want their government to do!

Migda wrote: "The last one.... he is afraid about to have american army close to Venezuela and wants a war with Colombia."

NO. Of course Hugo Chavez does not want a war with Colombia. That is the kind of lies that Venezuela's corporate media says. Colombia's far-right government, without evidence, is accusing Venezuela of arming the FARC guerrillas, while Venezuela's government is encouraging Colombia's government, paramilitaries and FARC and ELN guerrillas to make a peace deal!

And President Chavez is trying to get Colombia to stop sending paramilitaries into Venezuela, where they are dealing drugs and threatening and killing many peasant activists and labour unionists for Venezuela's large landowners and capitalist class. And President Chavez, like all people who know about U.S. imperialism, knows that the USA has attacked 30 countries (directly or by proxy), since the end of WW2, including invading Haiti, Grenada, Panama, Afghanistan and Iraq, and supporting the terrorist "contras" invasion against the people of Nicaragua, and btutal coups against the governments of Guatemala, Chile and against democratically-elected President Chavez in VENEZUELA in 2002!!!

Any country that allows a U.S. military build-up next to Venezuela is of course helping the USA for a possible direct or proxy invasion to conquer and oppress people who are currently making a socialist revolution.

Migda wrote: "We need more security no war. Thiefs are free around the streets and people afraid."

And the paramilitaries from Colombia who make death squads against peasant activists and labour unionists are dealing drugs, threatening people and killing people. And what is your solution? Chavez and the Venezuelan government are campaigning for peace and security. And I support Venezuela's new socialist initiatives (some of which I posted news articles about recently), to end crime. In largely socialist Cuba, the government has largely ended crime. And Venezuela's community-police cooperation program will be great - if you don't just criticise, but actually start participating!

Migda wrote: "During weekend died more people than a war."

Well, what are YOU going to do to stop the Colombian paramilitaries who are infiltrating Venezuela, and killing so many people for the capitalist class, to prevent egalitarian land reforms and prevent workers' rights? What are YOU going to do to reduce Venezuela's selfish, greedy, capitalist, consumerist culture, which encourages theft and violence? What are YOU going to do to help reform the old corrupt, inefficient, capitalist police force, and replace it with socialist community-police cooperation?

Migda wrote: "This man is a nightmare!!!"

How would you feel if people say that YOU are a nightmare? Please don't say such things. Maybe Hugo Chavez is a nightmare for privileged white racists who don't like living with a Black-Indigenous president, and who don't want to lose their privileges to enable equality for the poor people of Venezuela.

Migda wrote: "I am a Venezuelan citizen and no telling lies. Ahhh,,,,, the Chinese Satellite is a rumour it does not work."

I heard a rumour that you are CIA or Colombian secret service or a fascist... could that be true? :P

Just because people say something (e.g. in the media), does not mean it is true. The capitalist media tells many lies, because it is a propaganda machine for the capitalist class - they are the ones who own the capitalist media.

The capitalist media says what you say. The capitalist media is the voice of the capitalist class, and the capitalist class is against the egalitarian and democratic reforms that President Chavez and the people of Venezuela are making in their revolution, so of course the capitalist media says bad things about Venezuela's revolution.

The non-capitalist media says positive things about Venezuela's revolution. My friend Tamara Pearson (from the same political party as me in Australia - the Socialist Alliance), says positive things about the revolution in Venezuela, and she participates in teh revolution, along with many millions of other working class people in Venezuela. Here is her blog:

http://gringadiary.blogspot.com/

And here is a website where she publishes many news articles that she writes in English:

http://www.venezuelanalysis.com

Now tell me, should I trust you and the capitalist media (with its agenda of corporate exploitation), or should I trust my friend Tamara and the non-capitalist media???

Thursday August 13, 2009, 10:13 am
Noted Simon, thanks. I congratulate Venezuela for its housing program, expecting this to ease the other negative points with Chavez. I don't know exactly if he deep (very deep) inside is willing to improve things for his country but, well... at least between Mexico and Venezuela the tension is being difficult since he's the president there. Anyways, this is afterall good news. Noted with pleasure. Hugs.

Thursday August 13, 2009, 10:15 am
I agree, David. : ) But I think it is important to be careful to be diplomatic in how we address people.... That said, I have often been tactless and I have often been quick to anger, so I don'tclaim to be a role model in how to communicate with people. ; )

Thursday August 13, 2009, 10:20 am
Hi Rocio, if you look at the non-capitalist articles that I have posted in Care2, you will see that Hugo Chavez and the people of Venezuela have already improved Venezuela VERY MUCH in their revolution. However, probably you have been getting your news from Mexico's capitalist media, so you have been hearing pro-corporate/anti-socialist lies about Venezuela.

Do you want articles in Spanish? I can recommend many non-capitalist Spanish language news websites, including those on the Aporrea website, the Rebelion.org website, the Tele Sur website, the A.L.B.A. website, etc., etc.. Do you want me to give you the links?

Thursday August 13, 2009, 11:12 am
Sounds great... but is he looking for another feather in his cap... Not to sure what his real agenda is.... more hosues more votes

Thursday August 13, 2009, 12:17 pm
Hi Chaz Gaily Berlusconi, if you read the dozens of non-capitalist news articles that I have posted in Care2 about Venezuela, you can much better understand the people of Venezuela, the revolution they are making, and the current President who they elected (Hugo Chavez), and who is doing what they want him to do. : )

The people of Venezuela want their human rights: housing fit for human beings, sanitation, food, clean water, quality health care, a truly representative government, equal access to education, etc.. That is what governments are for - to direct the economy to ensuring that everyone gets their human rights, including housing. And the people of Venezuela and their democratically-elected government are making a revolution, transforming the old exploitative capitalist system in Venezuela, into a democratic socialist system - a system in which everyone can get their human rights.

Surely you don't prefer that the government acts like the capitalist politicians who ruled Venezuela before the people elected Chavez and his socialist allies? Those old capitalist politicians ruled Venezuela for the rich, while condemning the working class majority to poverty, in squalid slums made of crates, cardboard and sheets of rusted corrugated iron, without sanitation or electricity, and in danger of mudslides when it rained.

Now the people of Venezuela have achieved 100% adult literacy, free, quality health care, equal access to all levels of education (including free food for school children, so that poor children go to school instead of work to feed themselves), have doubled the number of people in education, have been strengthening their economy with food sovereignty and economic diversification, have achieved about half the inflation rate (~30%) of the previous 2 governments (~50%), have created a huge number of jobs (halving the unemployment rate from ~14% to ~7%), have at least doubled the minimum wage in real terms (this takes into account inflation, i.e. the buying power of those on the minimum wage has doubled)... and many other achievements, too.... Venezuela, with its socialist revolution, has met the U.N.'s Millenium Development Goals. No capitalist Third World country has met the U.N.'s Millenium Development Goals.

If you don't know how to find my articles about Venezuela in Care2, then at least please look at this website, which collects news about Venezuela's revolution, from the non-capitalist media:

http://www.venezuelanalysis.com

Also, my friend Tamara Pearson (from the same political party as me in Australia - the Socialist Alliance) now lives in Venezuela. She says positive things about the revolution in Venezuela, and she participates in the revolution, along with many millions of other working class people in Venezuela. You could read what she writes about her experiences in Venezuela, in her blog:

http://gringadiary.blogspot.com/

Thursday August 13, 2009, 1:00 pm
Rather than hysteria, hyperbole, superstition, fiction and fantasy, there has been a long enough period where we actually can scientifically and objectively measure the actual effects of Chavez's government. It is for example an indisputable fact that both poverty and unemployment has been reduced by about half in the country since Chavez took office. We can also measure and compare Chavez's time in office with periods prior as well, when abysmal poverty was unchanged for decades, and represented about half the population. Other important achievements include universal literacy for the first time and a functional healthcare system available to everyone equally.

I was hospitalized briefly when I was in Venezuela in 2005, and the level and quality of care I both saw and received was actually superior to anything I had ever experienced in a U.S. hospital (though that is such a low barrier that in truth most nations do better, not just Venezuela...), where, especially in the "for profit" ones, patients are openly segregated between those who have no insurance but clearly can afford to pay cash (shortest wait), those who have insurance (which may choose not to pay, so they are both lower priority and often are subject to often unnecessary extra tests in the hope that at least some will be paid), and the rest who often wait 14 hours or more with the hospital apparently hoping they will just leave and conveniently die somewhere in the streets, something I have personally experienced at Chicago's Michael Reese hospital.

Thursday August 13, 2009, 1:49 pm
Thanks, David. :) And my friend Tamara has said similar positive stuff about her experiences with the health system in Venezuela (it's on her blog). :)