Tag Archives: oil

Aug
25
2010
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Chavez’s popularity down in Venezuela, polls finds

This article was originally posted by The Associated Press

President Hugo Chavez’s allies launched their campaigns Wednesday for crucial congressional elections that come just as recession, crime and inflation have pushed the socialist leader’s popularity to a seven-year low.

A survey by the Venezuelan polling firm Consultores 21 indicates just 36 percent of Venezuelans approve of Chavez’s performance, the lowest figure since 2003, when Chavez survived an opposition-led strike that devastated the economy, pollster Saul Cabrera said.

The results suggest Chavez allies could face a difficult struggle to keep control of the National Assembly in the Sept. 26 election.

The survey of 1,500 people nationwide in late June and early July had a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points, said Cabrera, who is vice president of the polling firm. He said the poll was financed by a group of private businesses, which he declined to identify.

Chavez’s popularity has suffered a decline of 12 percentage points over the past year and a half, Cabrera told The Associated Press.

Critics accuse Chavez’s government of severe incompetence and corruption, and many people are unhappy that Venezuela’s oil-driven economy remains in a recession while all other South American countries are seeing growth.

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Aug
24
2010
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Chavez’s socialist populism perpetuates inequality

Getty Images/PRESIDENCIAThis article was originally posted by The Globe and Mail

Venezuela’s escalating crime rate reflects the failure of President Hugo Chavez to address the glaring disparities between the rich and the poor.

When “el Comandante” came to power in 1998, he promised to use the country’s oil wealth to benefit the poor. But his Bolivarian socialist model has not alleviated the long-term problem of income inequality, and the attendant social ills it perpetuates.

Ironically, this runs counter to the overall trend in the region. Latin America used to be known for its acute and persistent income inequalities. But 12 of the largest economies in the Americas – including Brazil, Chile, Argentina and Mexico – actually saw a reversal of this pattern in the past decade. A new study shows that the average decline in the Gini coefficient – a measure of income inequality – was 1.1 per cent a year from 2000 to 2007. Venezuela improved the least of the 12 countries, conclude the authors, the economists Luis Lopez-Calva, of the United Nations Development Program, and Nora Lustig, of Tulane University.

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Aug
5
2010
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Colombians in Venezuela fret over conflict warnings

This article was originally posted by Reuters Africa

For millions of Colombians who came to Venezuela to find work and escape violence, warnings of war and a breakdown of diplomacy between the Andean neighbors means worries about sending cash home and their relatives’ safety.

Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez said last week he sent air defense units and troops to the border with Colombia, claiming an attack was imminent after Bogota accused him of turning a blind eye to leftist rebel camps on his territory.

Bogota’s charges also spurred Chavez, who denies he harbors Colombian guerrillas, to sever diplomatic ties and shutter Venezuela’s embassy in Bogota.

Most analysts believe conflict between the neighbors is very unlikely — Colombia says it will not happen– and in the short term Saturday’s swearing-in of President-elect Juan Manuel Santos is likely to calm the waters.

But to the mainly poor Colombians who swell Venezuela’s slums and border towns the rumblings are ominous, both for economic reasons and because they fear being caught between warring nations.

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