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| Britain |
| Mayor Ken Livingstone in "Chavez legacy" rebuttal to The Times (London) |
| 2006-05-20 |
| Letter to the Editor: The Times May 19, 2006 -- Chavez legacy Sir, Your coverage of President ChavezÂ’ visit to London (reports and Thunderer, May 16) misrepresents the record of the PresidentÂ’s administration in Venezuela. Far from ChavezÂ’ opponents being repressed, as you suggest, they control the vast majority of the media, including 95% of the countryÂ’s 180 newspapers, and five out of five private TV stations, which pump out anti-Chavez propaganda around the clock. You claim Chavez has contributed to a steep recession when in reality, since the defeat of the strike by oil industry managers early in 2003, Venezuela has enjoyed the most rapid economic growth in the region. GDP grew 9.3% last year and is projected to be 7% for 2006. You claim poverty has increased when in reality it has decreased, with massive increases in spending on education and health care, in particular. UNESCO certifies that under Chavez illiteracy has been eliminated in Venezuela for the first time. Seventeen million Venezuelans have been given access to free healthcare for the first time in their lives. A quarter of a million people are having their sight restored, shantytown dwellers are being given title to their homes and millions are being given the opportunity to continue their education in adulthood. That is why, despite an overwhelmingly hostile media, Chavez stands at more than 70% in opinion polls and his supporters have won ten elections over the past seven years, all judged free and fair by international observers. That is also why more than a million people took to the streets to defeat the attempt by the opposition to remove him through an anti-democratic military coup widely thought to have been orchestrated from Washington. Hugo Chavez is one of the most popular leaders in his own country, and in the world today, because the combination of democracy and social justice, which he represents, is something to which the majority of people on this planet aspire. Ken Livingstone Mayor of London |
| Posted by:ryuge |
| #5 Chavez is a piker when it comes to popularity. Saddam Hussein got 98% of the vote in the last truly free Iraqi election. Now that's popularity. |
| Posted by: Perfessor 2006-05-20 11:03 |
| #4 Yep, George should invite in some Cubans to run some Misions (soup kitchens) to run up his poll scores. Pay for this help with 90,000 bbl/day from the SPS. And discount gas for the poor. Yep, that would help GW's poll numbers and maybe get him a 25 year term like Hugos. |
| Posted by: 6 2006-05-20 10:06 |
| #3 70% sure beats , what 35% , I'm not sure how low its fallen lately, but it aint very high. |
| Posted by: bk 2006-05-20 10:03 |
| #2 LOL what a moron. I am pretty sure the newpaper checked it's facts, unlike Red Ken who is full of some much agitprop it is a laugh. |
| Posted by: SPoD 2006-05-20 06:17 |
| #1 Only 70% approval? He needs to take more lessons from his good buddy Fidel. |
| Posted by: Desert Blondie 2006-05-20 04:28 |