By Steve Ellner- Latin American Perspectives, May 6th 2013
The rapid unfolding of change and radicalization, which have characterized the presidency of Hugo Chávez since its beginning in 1999, have impacted non-elite social groups in different ways, sometimes favoring one at the expense of another.
The death of Hugo Chavez has produced a heavily polarised debate over his legacy. In a new essay for Ceasefire, Samuel Grove takes issue with the eagerness of the Western left to cloak Chávez in a liberal garb, and argues this is symptomatic of a deeper conservative ambivalence towards what Chávez represented: a unapologetic fighter and leader for the Venezuelan working-class.
Chávez captivated the stadium for hours, talking about baseball and Simón Bolívar, criticizing George W. Bush’s war in Iraq and congratulating Bolivia for recently ousting a neoliberal president in popular protests. Here was a president marked by the movements and politics that surrounded him.
With the death of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez after a two-year fight with cancer, we host a roundtable discussion on a revolutionary leader whose democratic-socialist policies not only transformed his country, but helped steer the entire Latin American region away from U.S.-backed neoliberalism.
The transformation of Latin America is one of the decisive changes reshaping the global order. The tide of progressive change that has swept the region over the last decade has brought a string of elected socialist and social-democratic governments to office that have redistributed wealth and power, rejected western neoliberal orthodoxy, and challenged imperial domination.
Venezuelan political scientist and former president of the Latin American Parliament, Amilcar Figueroa, discusses the coming challenges for the Bolivarian revolution and outlines possible opposition strategies to prevent a Chavez victory in the 7 October presidential election.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is the 4th most popular president in the Americas, according to a new study of presidential approval ratings in the region.
Dubbed the “ambassador without borders”, the ship left Venezuela in February and visited the Dominican Republic, Canada, Cuba, Curazao, Panama, Mexico, and Colombia, then came back here earlier this month. It was its twenty-fourth training cruise for navel cadets, but brought a message of peace, union, independence and anti-imperialism.
By Rachael Boothroyd - Venezuelanalysis.com, May 29th 2012
Juan Manuel Sánchez Gordillo, a history lecturer, representative for the United Left Party in Spanish Parliament and Mayor of Marinaleda in Andalucia, Seville, is currently visiting Venezuela for the first time in solidarity with the Venezuelan process. Here, he talks about the relevance of Venezuela's struggles for Europe.
In this interview with the Ministry of Communication and Information in April, Venezuelan Vice-president Elias Jaua discusses the opposition, the dynamics of the PSUV party and his time as Minister of Agriculture. Jaua has recently been granted some presidential authorities, such as the right to approve expropriations, and would assume the presidency should Chávez become unable to continue governing.
