The first story is from this account, which the BBC ran on 24 November, 2004:
Venezuela ignores IMF advice on oil money
The government of Venezuela has instituted a program of social spending that is unprecedented in that country's history, including a literacy program that the government in Caracas says has taught over a million adults to read and write in the last year and may be the largest public literacy program ever undertaken anywhere. It is part of a series of social initiatives that have received a boost in funding in the wake of the $6 Billion windfall that PDVSA (the government-run oil monopoly) has experienced in the last year as a result of the higher-than-expected price Venezuelan oil has brought on the international market. At $33 a barrel, revenues have been 65% higher than was predicted in last year's budgeting.
The added state expenditures are in addition to the $3 Billion in social services that the PDVSA administers as part of its regular budget. Funding is going to education as well as sustainable living projects and increased medical care, particularly in impoverished rural areas. The medical care programs are benefiting from the presence of 13,000 Cuban doctors and dentists. Cuban teaching methods are also being used in many of the new educational programs. The Cuban connection has been of special interest to U.S. critics of the Chavez administration.
Venezuela has been selling oil to Cuba at preferential prices throughout Chavez's term as president, and has drawn fire for working directly against the longstanding U.S. strategy of economic isolation towards Cuba.
The drastic increases in domestic spending run counter to the IMF's (International Monetary Fund's) advice to oil-rich countries that they save the extra income from increased oil revenues in order to stave off future economic uncertainty. However the IMF has been under heavy criticism itself in recent years from South American observers who point to examples such as Argentina, which was engaged in an IMF-sanctioned series of economic reforms just prior to its 2001 financial crisis. Many believe that extreme budgetary restrictions advocated by the IMF left Argentina unable to meet even basic infrastructure-maintenance spending levels, and that privatization of key national resources further exacerbated government shortfalls.
Hugo Moyer, head of PDVSA's Social Programs, defended his country's spending initiatives by saying they should be considered an investment rather than an expenditure:
"This country, like many others in Latin America, has a huge social debt to its population."
Story number 2 comes from this Feb 22nd 2005 BBC story:
US denies plotting to kill Chavez
Speaking this Sunday on his weekly TV broadcast, Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez openly alleged that the U.S. was seeking his assassination, saying "If they kill me, the name of the person responsible is [President] George Bush."
He did not offer any evidence to support these claims. He went on to threaten a cutoff of Venezuelan oil exports to the U.S. should such an assassination attempt occur (Venezuela is the second-greatest source of foreign oil in the U.S., trailing only Saudi Arabia.) His accusations come following similar statements made last week in the press by Fidel Castro, saying "If Chavez is assassinated, the blame will fall on Bush."
The Chavez administration has for some time contended that the 2002 coup was covertly encouraged and even given material support by U.S. interests in the region, including the CIA and State Department, said to be operating through various front organizations.
State Department spokesman Richard Boucher called Chavez's statements "ridiculous and untrue." He did say, however, that the U.S. had "various policy issues" with the Venezuelan government, and expressed "concern" that recent actions taken by the Chavez administration were "disruptive to the region."
These statements echo other recent State Department and CIA statements. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has called Chavez a "negative force" in Latin America. CIA chief Porter Goss has indicated that Venezuela is seen as a possible source of regional instability. Major criticisms leveled against Chavez include his use of military units to suppress opposition strikes, restrictions on the press, large weapons purchases from Brazil and Russia, and ongoing concerns that FARC revolutionaries in neighboring Colombia may be staging cross-border raids from bases within Venezuela.
Speaking during hearings before her confirmation as Secretary of State, Rice singled out the "unhelpful and unconstructive trends going on in Venezuelan policies" as a particular cause for concern, saying "we are very concerned about a democratically elected leader who governs in an illiberal way."
Comments:
Holy cow! It looks like Venezuela's government is in the hands of a full-on conspiracy theorist! How did this guy get to be so paranoid? President Chavez would do well to remember the motto of Complete Coincidence Theatre:
Nothing is connected to anything!
Sleep well, my friends.
Posted by flamingbanjo at March 5, 2005 11:56 AMSo glad you wrote this series! Thanks!
-Eva