By Steve Ellner - Latin American Perspectives, May 13th 2013
The democratic, peaceful road to socialism, which has been pursued by the governments of Venezuela, Bolivia and Ecuador and serves as an inspiration for much of the Latin American left, hardly represents a new approach.
Following last month's elections, the legacy of Hugo Chávez was raked over the coals one last time, but the same old stats on poverty, inflation, and crime miss the real story.
Cannon writes, "All commentators with whom I had the pleasure to spar - I in the red corner, they in the blue - had three essential messages to transmit: beginning with the statement that Hugo Chávez was a tyrant - albeit - and said without the slightest irony - an elected one".
After a short but bitterly fought, insult-laden campaign, Chávista standard-bearer Nicolás Maduro defeated challenger Henrique Capriles, thus assuring continuity in Venezuela after the death of the former president, Hugo Chávez, last month. But the election was much closer than the polls predicted: a margin of just 1.6%, or about 275,000 votes.
On April 14th we will once again determine the destiny of our homeland. However this election is very distinct, as we must do more than choose a president.
El barrio 23 de enero is a solid bulwark of the Bolivarian Revolution. Originally named December 2 to evoke the date when the dictator Marcos Perez Jimenez came to power, its humble neighbors decided in 1958 to rename it with another date; his overthrow.
In this interview with Panorama, current interim president Nicolas Maduro told of his experiences with Chavez during his last days, the arrangements made afterwards, and how he himself coped.
Translated here is the moving speech Nicolas Maduro gave at Chavez's funeral. He discussed the importance of Chavez in history, and the legacy of tasks he leaves behind for his country.
By Manuel Larrabure – The Bullet / Socialist Project, Apr 1st 2013
The death of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez has prompted the international left to acknowledge two key features about him and Venezuela's Bolivarian Revolution, writes Manuel Larrabure.
Venezuela will carry weight in the world in the 21st century, just as it did in the hemisphere in the 19th under Simon Bolivar’s influence – but with even larger significance. That is the fruit of Hugo Chavez’s international policies over the last 15 years.
When Americans ask me why there is such an outpouring of emotion among Venezuelans over the death of this man, I point out that the ordinary people of Venezuela saw themselves in President Chávez. The President was a compendium of the very fabric of the country.
