You Won't Believe These 50 Shockers Venezuelan Gov't Did To People (Photos)
President Hugo Chavez, who died March 5, 2013 of cancer at age 58, marked forever the history of Venezuela and Latin America. Throughout his time in power, and equally after his death, the real truth about what he did to his people has been censored in the United States.
Here are 50 of those shocking truths, first presented by Salim Lamrani on Global Research.
1. Never in Latin America’s history, has a political leader had such incontestable democratic legitimacy. Since in power in 1999, there were 16 elections in Venezuela. Hugo Chavez won 15, defeating with 10-20 percentage points.
2. All international bodies, from European Union to the Organization of American States, to the Union of South American Nations and the Carter Center, were unanimous in recognizing transparency of the vote counts.
3. James (Jimmy) Carter, former U.S. President, declared Venezuela’s electoral system “best in the world.”
4. Universal access to education introduced in 1998 had exceptional results: About 1.5 million Venezuelans learned to read and write, thanks to the literacy campaign called Mission Robinson I.
5. In December 2005, UNESCO said Venezuela eradicated illiteracy.
6. The number of children attending school increased from 6 million in 1998 to 13 million in 2011. The enrollment rate is now 93.2%.
7. Mission Robinson II was launched to bring the entire population up to secondary level. Thus, the rate of secondary school enrollment rose from 53.6% in 2000 to 73.3% in 2011.
8. Missions Ribas and Sucre allowed tens of thousands of young adults to undertake university studies. Thus, the number of tertiary students increased from 895,000 in 2000 to 2.3 million in 2011, assisted by the creation of new universities.
9. With regard to health, they created the National Public System to ensure free access to health care for all Venezuelans. Between 2005 and 2012, 7873 new medical centers were created in Venezuela.
10. The number of doctors increased from 20 per 100,000 population in 1999 to 80 per 100,000 in 2010, or an increase of 400%.
11. Mission Barrio Adentro I provided 534 million medical consultations. About 17 million people were attended, while in 1998 less than 3 million people had regular access to health. 1.7 million lives were saved, between 2003 and 2011.
12. Infant mortality rate fell from 19.1 per thousand in 1999 to 10 per thousand in 2012, a reduction of 49%.
13. Average life expectancy increased from 72.2 years in 1999 to 74.3 years in 2011.
14. Thanks to Operation Miracle, launched in 2004, 1.5 million Venezuelans who were victims of cataracts or other eye diseases, regained their sight.
15. From 1999 to 2011, the poverty rate decreased from 42.8% to 26.5% and the rate of extreme poverty fell from 16.6% in 1999 to 7% in 2011.
16. In rankings of the Human Development Index (HDI) of the United Nations Program for Development (UNDP), Venezuela jumped from 83 in 2000 (0.656) at position 73 in 2011 (0.735), and entered into the category Nations with ‘High HDI’.
17. The GINI coefficient, which allows calculation of inequality in a country, fell from 0.46 in 1999 to 0.39 in 2011.
18. According to the UNDP, Venezuela holds the lowest recorded GINI coefficient in Latin America, that is, Venezuela is the country in the region with least inequality.
19. Child malnutrition was reduced by 40% since 1999.
20. In 1999, 82% of the population had access to safe drinking water. Now it is 95%.
21. Under President Chavez social expenditures increased by 60.6%.
22. Before 1999, only 387,000 elderly people received a pension. Now the figure is 2.1 million.
23. Since 1999, 700,000 homes have been built in Venezuela.
24. Since 1999, the government provided / returned more than one million hectares of land to Aboriginal people.
25. Land reform enabled tens of thousands of farmers to own their land. In total, Venezuela distributed more than 3 million hectares.
26. In 1999, Venezuela was producing 51% of food consumed. In 2012, production was 71%, while food consumption increased by 81% since 1999. If consumption of 2012 was similar to that of 1999, Venezuela produced 140% of the food it consumed.
27. Since 1999, the average calories consumed by Venezuelans increased by 50% thanks to the Food Mission that created a chain of 22,000 food stores (MERCAL, Houses Food, Red PDVAL), where products are subsidized up to 30%. Meat consumption increased by 75% since 1999.
28. Five million children now receive free meals through the School Feeding Programme. The figure was 250,000 in 1999.
29. The malnutrition rate fell from 21% in 1998 to less than 3% in 2012.
30. According to the FAO, Venezuela is the most advanced country in Latin America and the Caribbean in eradication of hunger.
31. The nationalization of the oil company PDVSA in 2003 allowed Venezuela to regain its energy sovereignty.
32. The nationalization of the electrical and telecommunications sectors (CANTV and Electricidad de Caracas) allowed the end of private monopolies and guaranteed universal access to these services.
33. Since 1999, more than 50,000 cooperatives have been created in all sectors of the economy.
34. The unemployment rate fell from 15.2% in 1998 to 6.4% in 2012, with the creation of more than 4 million jobs.
35. The minimum wage increased from 100 bolivars ($16) in 1998 to 247.52 bolivars ($330) in 2012, ie an increase of over 2,000%, the highest minimum wage in Latin America.
36. In 1999, 65% of the workforce earned the minimum wage. In 2012 only 21.1% of workers have only this level of pay.
37. Adults at a certain age who have never worked still get an income equivalent to 60% of the minimum wage.
38. Women without income and disabled people receive a pension equivalent to 80% of the minimum wage.
39. Working hours were reduced to 6 hours a day and 36 hours per week, without loss of pay.
40. Public debt fell from 45% of GDP in 1998 to 20% in 2011. Venezuela withdrew from the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, after early repayment of all its debts.
41. In 2012, the growth rate was 5.5% in Venezuela, one of the highest in the world.
42. GDP per capita rose from $ 4,100 in 1999 to $ 10,810 in 2011.
43. According to the annual World Happiness 2012, Venezuela is the second happiest country in Latin America, behind Costa Rica, and the nineteenth worldwide, ahead of Germany and Spain.
44. Venezuela offers more direct support to the American continent than the United States. In 2007, Chávez spent over $8,800 million in grants, loans and energy aid, against $3,000 million from the Bush administration.
45. For the first time in its history, Venezuela has its own satellites (Bolivar and Miranda) and is now sovereign in the field of space technology. The entire country has internet and telecommunications coverage.
46. The creation of Petrocaribe in 2005 allows 18 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, or 90 million people, secure energy supply by oil subsidies of 40% to 60%.
47. Venezuela provides assistance to disadvantaged communities in the U.S. by providing fuel at subsidized rates.
48. The creation of Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA) in 2004 between Cuba and Venezuela laid foundations of an inclusive alliance based on cooperation and reciprocity. It now comprises eight member countries that place humans in the center of the social project to combat poverty and social exclusion.
49. Hugo Chavez was at the heart of the creation in 2011 of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) that brought together for the first time the 33 nations of the region, emancipated from the tutelage of the United States and Canada.
50. Hugo Chavez played a key role in the peace process in Colombia. According to President Juan Manuel Santos, “if we go into a solid peace project, with clear and concrete progress, progress achieved ever before with the FARC, is also due to the dedication and commitment of Chavez and the government of Venezuela.”
Democratically elected President Maduro has continued in the path of Chavez.
Sources: Global Research article by Salim Lamrani in 2010, Translation by Tim Anderson, Slightly edited for brevity by Deborah Dupré
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Whistler Blowers, Insiders
So…. are you stumping for marxism and a dictator? I get that you are saying a Dictator {Hugo Chavez} helped better his country but there have been horror stories coming out of Venezuela for decades now about people who voted {for the wrong candidate}and were exterminated. Sure Hugo did some great things for his country but he was also a tyrant to those that didn’t hold his point of view.
Examples please. Rhetoric is what’s used to fuel the propaganda machine against Chavez and Maduro. If you have examples to back up your hostility against these leaders, please tell us.
Libyans had a similar high quality of life until US illegally invade and brought its brand of “democracy to it with same propaganda so Americans would support the atrocities it committed there. Same in Venezuela. It has a quality of life far more satisfying than what Americans have – but you would not know that because it is censored in the US.
So what’s your point? Thank you.
Thanks for acknowledging Chavez did some good. The record is very clear. But you don’t seem to be paying attention on its its form of government. Venezuela is neither Marxist nor a dictatorship. International observers have documented that V has one of the most transparent, democratic electoral processes in the world, and they also have some of the most frequent referenda on policy issues.
I lived in Venezuela and there has been a long-standing struggle of the people to get out from under the iron fist of the oligarchy descended from Spanish colonialism. The US has always supported the oligarchy because they were willing puppets, and we engineered many attempted coups to put them back in power since Chavez was first elected. Like all our other regime changes all over the world, overthrowing democratically elected leaders, we are the ones who are anti-democratic.
Viva Venezuela!
It is amazing what American aid can finally do when it trickles down to its people. Meanwhile, here in America our taxes and inflation seem to go through the roof at the same time. Wonder why? Is this the great transfer of wealth the negro keeps talking about?
Seems like theft to me.
Sorry, but you’re misinformed. US aid is minuscule compared to our military budget and our myriad front groups like National Endowment for Democracy. If you want to know why our society is economically unsustainable, look to the one percent and their overextended military-intelligence-corporate complex and top-down economics. Venezuela has provided more aid to Latin America and the Caribbean than the US has, clearly a much larger fraction of their GDP, and their economy is improving much better than ours.
I don’t like Obama either, although maybe not for exactly the same reasons, but I don’t resort to hate speech. Shame on you. Seriously.
Don’t forget Latin American countries have been forgiven BILLIONS in debts for many decades. Now, don’t tell me theft is not involved there.
The governments down there are about as stable as our negro president when he has a thought.
Nice try about mentioning the one percent nonsense when you misrepresent the 99% of what it gave.
And just because he is negro does not mean you like him.
@iamamerican – How misinformed Americans are about the world they live in. The USA is a dictatorship, a fascist, corporate dictatorship, and the only time justice is handed down now is when popular indignation is so great that the controllers lose their nerve, because they don’t quite yet have the whole society in lockdown. That is coming. As for Chavez, you don’t know anything more about him than you knew about Muammar Gaddafi. By their fruits ye shall know them. And millions of people were better off because they lived on earth… until Chavez was killed with a planted cancer-causing poison; and until Gaddafi was slaughtered by an American-paid mob of thugs. As for America, when 70 years of its global reign of bloody, rapacious terror is over, it will be 2015, 70 years after WWII. The Soviet Communist USSR lasted 70 years after 1917. Red China has a few more years after that, since it took its first murderous breaths in 1949. After the change comes everywhere, none of us will even deserve to survive, because we have been eating the flesh of the innocent martyrs of this rotten world system all our lives, in so many ways…. our dissipations, our rationalizations, our sins, our prejudices, and our delusions have fueled everything that is evil. We claim to know God. There will be a big, thunderous, echoing laugh that shakes Hell itself. You will wish you were deaf, as deaf as you have always been to the truth. But wait for that day. You will hear that laugh deep in your bones, all the innards crawling with vermin, burrowing deep, in acid burns from your blood on fire. (Ps. 2)
Properganda.
Ha! Show that any one among the list of 50 are not true. The propaganda is what the right-wing paid ops are using to sway naive and war-profiteers against Venezuela.
We’re waiting…. Just one please.
“Right wing”? Of which party is the current POS who invaded Lybia?
HumanBeing: you think the Democrats aren’t right wing? Wrong. Dems and GOP are two wings of the same one-party system. That’s why we should only vote for independents or third-party candidates with proven track records of working for the people instead of the corporations. If we all did, we could throw the bums out.
Thank you for this story. It’s sad for the people of Venezuela that they lost a great leader. I have no doubt in my mind that he was taken out by the US extermination squad after he wouldn’t bend over for the central bankers.
Thank you. We need to recognize that Pres. Maduro has maintained the legacy of Chavez, beloved by Venezuelans. They’ve done far more for their citizens than US leaders have done to protect and provide for Americans.
The original Bolivarian revolution led to freedom of Latin America from Spain. This one is leading to freedom from the US. Venezuela is a model for the world of nations ensnared by US dominion. Let’s hope it spreads to them, and to our own country.