Tag Archives: Housing Shortage

Sep
28
2012
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In Case You Missed It… Articles Roundup Week of 9/28/12

Nine days remain before the Venezuelan elections and everyone is focused on whether opposition candidate Henrique Capriles will be able to turn his successful campaign into an electoral victory. Polls have shown his support consistently rising, while President Hugo Chávez’s conspicuous decrease in public appearances raises concerns about his health and his supposedly “cured” cancer. After 14 years of Chávez rule, many Venezuelans have switched sides because they are disillusioned with the president and his policies which have resulted in rampant inflation and crime, scarcity of everyday goods, and a housing shortage. Chávez has tried to counter these sentiments with massive pre-election spending, leaving the country’s international reserves at five-year lows. Meanwhile, Venezuelans in Miami, who overwhelmingly support the opposition, are going to great lengths to help voters travel to the polling station in New Orleans.

The autocrat and the ballot box, The Economist

ON SEPTEMBER 12th a queue of stationary vehicles kilometres long blocked the coastal highway that leads out of Puerto Cabello. “Politics,” said a resident, wearily, by way of explanation.

The Challenger, New York Times

Even on TV, the energy of the crowd comes through. The opposition candidate Henrique Capriles Radonski is ripping into his stump speech, and the townspeople in the city of Maturin, in Eastern Venezuela, are eating it up: “Today,” he bellows, “I want you to think about your problems, and think: Has the government brought solutions to your problems?!”

In Venezuela, Capriles looks for an upset, Foreign Policy

The days preceding a presidential election are usually full of interesting story lines. In chaotic Venezuela, however, the narrative seems more jumbled than one would expect.

Venezuela Election Fuss: Polling Gaps, The Wall Street Journal

Venezuelan polling firms are painting starkly different pictures of the coming presidential election: One group shows President Hugo Chávez comfortably ahead, while another shows a tight race. The divide confuses voters and investors alike ahead of the Oct. 7 poll, in which the nearly 14-year incumbent hopes to win a new six-year term.

Narrowing Gap in Venezuelan Election, Fox News Latino

Venezuelans have been barraged with widely varying poll results ahead of the October 7 presidential election. The one thing that is clear is that, after nearly 14 years in office, President Hugo Chavez will face a strong rival for the first time.

Chávez Rival Rises in Venezuela Polls, The Wall Street Journal

Venezuelan opposition politician Henrique Capriles is gaining ground on President Hugo Chávez two weeks before a presidential election in this highly polarized country.

Some former allies ditch Chavez in Venezuela vote, CBS News

Liliana Carias used to hope President Hugo Chavez would change her life. Not anymore. She’s been living for years in a dirt-floor shack without running water, and after voting for Chavez in the last three presidential elections, the single mother of four said she’s tired of waiting for help.

Will Venezuela’s Pandemic of Crime Destabilize Hugo Chávez’s Regime?, Time

The three gangbangers are holed up in a small hut deep in the lush overgrowth of San Casimiro, a town two hours south of Caracas – and they’ll be there for the foreseeable future.

Venezuela’s pre-election spending spree saps exchange reserves, Financial Times

Is it a coincidence that Venezuela’s foreign exchange reserves hit a five-year low less than three weeks before presidential elections due on October 7?

Chavez Miami Foes Hire Planes to Vote in Venezuela Race, Bloomberg Businessweek

Alicia Rodriguez so dislikes President Hugo Chavez, and blames him for making her native Venezuela unsafe, that the 80-year-old retiree is flying 1,300 miles from her adopted home in Miami to cast a vote against him.

 
Feb
17
2012
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In Case You Missed It… Articles Roundup Week of 2/17/12

In this week’s roundup… Three million Venezuelans came out to the polls in Sunday’s primary election; Henrique Capriles Radonski won with an overwhelming 62 percent of the vote, and his primary opponents immediately vowed to support him; the opposition resisted the government’s order to turn over voter lists. Meanwhile, Chávez instituted a new round of price controls and shipped oil to war-torn Syria, potentially undermining Western sanctions against the country and its repressive leader, Bashar al-Assad.

Venezuela’s Capriles wins primary, seeks to beat Chávez, Reuters

Venezuelan opposition leader Henrique Capriles easily won a primary election on Sunday to become the unity candidate against President Hugo Chávez, vowing to end 13 years of socialist rule that he said has left the OPEC nation in crisis.

Chávez Opponent Surges in Venezuela, The Wall Street Journal

An intense young governor, part of a new generation of Venezuelan politicians, will be facing off against an ailing President Hugo Chávez after winning a landslide primary victory Sunday.

Chávez’s Challenger, The New York Times

A lot was at stake in Sunday’s opposition primary beyond figuring out who would take on Hugo Chávez in the presidential election this fall. Venezuelans wanted to know whether the chronically splintered opposition could get its act together enough to unite behind a single, credible contender.

And in the blue corner…, The Economist

More than a few supporters of the opposition to Hugo Chávez, Venezuela’s president, awoke on February 13th feeling the need to pinch themselves. The results of the open primary elections the night before, designed above all to pick a candidate to frustrate Mr Chávez’s bid for re-election in October, exceeded all expectations. The winner, as widely predicted, was Henrique Capriles, the governor of the state of Miranda.

Venezuela opposition: Row erupts over voter list, BBC News

Venezuela’s opposition says it has destroyed the list of voters in Sunday’s primary election, despite a court order that they be preserved. The Democratic Unity coalition said the records had been burned in accordance with a promise to ensure confidentiality.

Venezuelans Resist Order to Turn Over Voter Names, The New York Times

A furor has erupted in Venezuela over voter secrecy in an opposition primary election held on Sunday to choose a candidate to run against President Hugo Chávez, with political leaders expressing fear that the government might seek reprisals against voters if their names are publicized.

Despite housing pledges from Chávez, Venezuela’s homeless call racetrack home, The Washington Post

Venezuela already faced a housing shortage of 2 million units, the government’s own statistics show, with the state only managing to build a third of the 100,000 new units needed each year. Julio Borges, an opposition deputy in the National Assembly who frequently clashes with Chávez on housing issues, said governments that preceded Chávez’s built more housing.

Venezuela to Begin Presenting Regulated Price Caps to Companies, Bloomberg Businessweek

Venezuela will begin to present regulated prices to about 385 companies that produce personal care and cleaning products including Colgate-Palmolive Co., Procter & Gamble Co. and Unilever NV today.

Venezuela Gives Pepsi Venture 4 Days to Provide Water Receipts, Bloomberg

Pepsi-Cola Venezuela CA has four days to provide receipts to the government after the country’s price control agency received complaints that the company raised its price for mineral water ahead of price caps.

Exclusive: Venezuela ships fuel to war-torn Syria, Reuters

The government of Venezuela’s Hugo Chávez is emerging as a rare supplier of diesel to Syria, potentially undermining Western sanctions and helping the Syrian government fuel its military in the middle of a bloody crackdown on civilian protests.

Venezuela’s oil industry: Spilling over, The Economist

On February 4th Hugo Chávez, Venezuela’s president, held festivities to celebrate the anniversary of a failed coup attempt he led in 1992. He had busloads of public workers brought into Caracas for the occasion. Among them were high-ranking employees of PDVSA, the state oil company. That same day, a pipeline carrying pressurised oil fractured in the state of Monagas.

 

 
Feb
16
2012
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ICYMI: Venezuela’s homeless call racetrack home

Despite housing pledges from Chavez, Venezuela’s homeless call racetrack home
The Washington Post
February 16, 2012
By Juan Forero

CARACAS, Venezuela – The chestnut-colored 3-year-olds still take the turns hard and fast on the dirt track at La Rinconada, the once-elegant racing park inaugurated in 1959 as Venezuela began its oil-fueled heyday.

But these days, dozens of homeless families live under the vast concrete grandstands, moved by President Hugo Chavez’s government into cramped cubicles to alleviate a critical housing shortage. Water service is spotty, foul-smelling bathrooms overflow with sewage and gangs of young thieves steal what little residents have.

“God takes care of us,” explained Maria Valera, 61, saying the weekend races she sees for free are the saving grace of living at the track.

For those trying to survive here – indeed, for thousands more in similar conditions across Venezuela’s capital – it is just another symbol of this city’s long slide into squalor, decay and fear. And that is a serious problem for a leftist populist government that is frantically trying to build housing ahead of an October presidential election in which Chavez will be challenged by a young, energetic opposition candidate, Henrique Capriles.

Even among the masses of destitute in this country – for 13 years the backbone for Chavez’s so-called people’s revolution – there is a tinge of despair that El Comandante has been unable to deliver on a long-held promise: housing.

Just 200 yards from where thoroughbreds rumble, Valera said she is opting to wait for Chavez to provide a new home. But she and her family – she says there are about 50 of them here counting extended relatives – have been waiting for more than 14 months, leaving some in despair.

“We are waiting for him to resolve things because we know he will give to us,” Valera said, as her grandchildren squealed and ran along darkened corridors. “He said that all of us who are here would go to our own apartment.”

It is an often-heard refrain across Caracas, a city of about 5 million. Tens of thousands of people such as Valera were made homeless by torrential rains in 2010 that flooded over the slap-dash neighborhoods where they lived. Those homeless families left harried government officials with little alternative than to move them into shelters, abandoned buildings, love motels and even tents near the presidential palace.

Shortage of materials

Venezuela already faced a housing shortage of 2 million units, the government’s own statistics show, the state only managing to build a third of the 100,000 new units needed each year.

Julio Borges, an opposition deputy in the National Assembly who frequently clashes with Chavez on housing issues, said governments that preceded Chavez’s built more housing. “And we think it is the government’s own policies that are contributing to this problem.”

Indeed, Chavez’s government has nationalized the country’s steel and cement industries, leading to shortages in building materials, while seeking construction know-how from allies such as Cuba that have a spotty record in alleviating housing shortages. The president’s frustration was plainly evident as he spoke on national television last week after a group of homeless families took to the streets to demand government action.

“Does one pull homes out of one’s sleeve?” Chavez said.

“These are counter-revolutionary actions,” he added, referring to the demonstrators. “They act like enemies of the government.”

In more guarded moments, though, the government and its maximum leader offer rosy forecasts and issue impressive statistics. There are programs such as the “Grand Housing Mission,” designed to build tens of thousands of new units, and “My Well-Equipped Home,” in which the government provides free or low-priced Chinese furnishings being imported at a cost of $1 billion.

In all, some 200,000 homes will be completed this year, Chavez claimed. Looking ahead to his own reelection to another six-year term, he predicted the end of the housing crisis by 2019. “There should not be one Venezuelan family that does not have a dignified, good and pretty home,” Chavez said.

To be sure, with the government’s oil-funded money machine in high gear, construction is taking place. One collection of new apartment blocks is going up on a hillside overlooking La Rinconada, winning several hundred supporters ahead of the October election.

“The one I am going to thank is the president of the republic,” said Hilda Rivero, 62, who lives in a new government apartment, having been moved from slum housing, known here as ranchos. “I had a rancho and my president took me out of there and gave me a dignified home.”

‘No one responds to us’

It is hard, though, to ignore the grim realities of a city that in the 1970s was the continent’s most modern but has since become its most violent and, in some ways, anarchic.

Vast slums cover hillsides while towering housing projects have the feel of some tropical version of the brutal futuristic city in “Blade Runner.”

Hundreds of families have for years occupied one uncompleted 45-story tower, even though many of the floors lack elevator service, running water or even walls and windows to protect children from tumbling to the streets below. A block away is a vast half-built shopping mall, the expropriation of which Chavez announced in a national address and which now houses hundreds of other families.

The hallways of the tower are dark and forbidding, but “you get used to it,” said Franci Coronado, 19, her two small children wriggling playfully at her side.

Across town at the horse racing track, several residents reeled off the downside of life there: the killing of a young man thrown from a grandstand, the harrowing birth of a baby in a cubicle separated by dry wall from other living spaces, old shower stalls covered in feces.

Residents said they are on government waiting lists for housing, and asked that their full names not be used for fear that they would be punished for talking to a reporter.

“It is terrible,” said one 30-something man named Pedro, who is raising a family here. “There is no safety, the food is sometimes terrible, and no one responds to us.”

Some like Maria Valera, though, went out of their way to avoid criticizing the president, saying she believed other officials were to blame.

“There has been no president like this president,” she said. “This one has helped poor people a lot, the people who do not have the way of getting a home, who have no way to buy an apartment.”

To read the full article on the Washington Post please click here.