As a close observer of the massive social transformation currently taking place in Venezuela right now, I take issue with Eric Chianese's column Wednesday. Media pundits love to paint Hugo Chavez as a dictator, but look at the facts.
Chavez has been re-elected several times with landslide majorities (garnering 60 to 70 percent of the vote) in elections with massive turnout, which international election monitoring agencies called clean, open and fair.
When Chavez was overthrown by a military coup orchestrated by rich oligarchs of Venezuela (with CIA support), he was successfully returned to office by the working people of Caracas, who surrounded the presidential palace and deposed the illegitimate government.
Chavez pardoned the plotters, despite their crimes against the Venezuelan constitution. Does this seem "thuggish"? Chianese says Chavez has a "Stalinist cult of personality," yet any honest observer should see no difference between Chavez's popularity and the recent "Obama mania." No term limits? France and Great Britain also have no term limits.
Here's the real list of Chavez's "greatest hits." How about Chavez's war on illiteracy, which educated millions of children and illiterate adults? The campaign against malnutrition among children? Or the initiative to establish thousands of worker cooperatives in every sector of the economy, guaranteeing workers control over their working lives?
Frankly, I think America would be lucky to have a president like Chavez. We've had enough smooth businessmen sell America down the river.
