"Food projects of Hugo Chavez languishing in Venezuela; A year after his death, his dream goes unfulfilled" by Anatoly Kurmanaev | Bloomberg News May 11, 2014
CARACAS — The harvesters imported to overcome food shortages are gathering cobwebs near a burnt corn field in central Venezuela. A short distance away is the shell of a fertilizer plant and rows of empty red-roofed bungalows.
This is the William Lara agricultural commune, the first of five such projects that late President Hugo Chavez said would reverse a 11-year rise in food imports and put products back on the nation’s shelves.
One year after his death, the last 30 workers on the site are removing equipment, surrounded by 4,300 soccer fields’ worth of cleared land baking in the savanna heat.
‘‘The president dies and the project dies with him,’’ Eumir Perez, William Lara’s former coordinator, said in an interview in Calabozo, a town in Guarico state 60 miles from the project. ‘‘The government is too busy staying in power, fighting against the capitalists’ economic war. No one dreams big anymore.’’
The $300 million commune is one of the many projects on which the government has squandered the $50 billion Venezuela receives each year from oil exports, said Anabella Abadi, an analyst at public policy consultancy ODH Grupo Consultor. The national comptroller office’s 2013 annual report says there are 4,381 unfinished public infrastructure projects in Venezuela, a quarter of them started before 2006.
The projects include about 60 miles of an elevated train line from Valencia, Venezuela’s third biggest city, to Cagua that was halted in 2010, and Steel City — a town with houses, shops, and steel plants in Bolivar state, which remains flatland.
Work on William Lara, the rural version of the Steel City, stopped last year after about $120 million was spent on clearing the land and building the first 176 houses.
The construction will resume after the government figures out a way of bringing water to the site 125 miles south of Caracas, Agriculture Minister Yvan Gil said.
‘‘This is a technical problem, that our specialists are working to resolve,’’ Gil, 41, said in an interview in Caracas on April 10. ‘‘The project is advancing.’’
Perez said construction began without checking water availability and now a dam would have to be dug to make the project viable.
Spokesmen for Maduro’s office and the Information Ministry declined to comment on project delays in Venezuela.
Chavez set up off-budget funds that are not subject to parliamentary oversight to finance infrastructure projects. The funds have spent $112 billion since 2005, including the resources for the William Lara project, according to the Finance Ministry’s annual report.
What wars was he running?
‘‘These are part of this government’s unfulfilled promises,’’ Abadi said in Caracas.
Ribbon-cutting ceremonies at new housing blocks and playgrounds helped Chavez’s handpicked successor Nicolas Maduro win election in April 2013, while failing to revive industry, said Abadi. Non-oil exports fell to 4 percent of the total in the first nine months of 2013 from 19 percent 10 years earlier, according to central bank.
The decline of local industry and dollar shortages pushed inflation to 59 percent in March and emptied shelves of basic goods such as milk, fueling two months of protests that have left at least 41 people dead.
Honestly, you can decide for yourself whether the globe has devoted sufficient attention to such matters. It's no Ukraine or Syria, that's for sure.
Venezuela’s dollar bonds trade at the highest risk premium in the world, with investors demanding 10.33 extra percentage points to own the country’s notes instead of US Treasuries. The bolivar sank 88 percent against the dollar when the government opened a new currency market last month to ease trading restrictions.
Oh, NOW WE SEE why the U.S. FOMENTED an UPRISING in Venezuela (and may well have killed Chavez)!! they are GETTING OFF the DOLLAR, and THEY SELL LOADS of OIL!!!!!!!!!
The commune would ‘‘set the example for the development of agro-industry of Venezuela,’’ Chavez said in 2012. Dry grass a yard high now covers acres of fields cleared of stones and spindly dwarf trees.
And THAT, my friends, mu$t not be allowed!
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The more recent past regarding Venezuela, as in the previous two days:
"Venezuelans ask what now after protest camp raids" by Joshua Goodman | Associated Press May 10, 2014
CARACAS, Venezuela — In the bubbling cauldron that is politically riven Venezuela, divining the government’s motives is a favorite pastime. So as soon as security forces stormed a handful of ramshackle camps that were the haven for antigovernment protesters the past month, Venezuelans immediately began speculating what was behind the surprise raids.
(Controlled) Occupy Venezuela!
Some viewed it as a straightforward crackdown to restore order in besieged neighborhoods. Others saw an attempt to chill the nerve of student activists and keep them from returning to the streets.
Sound familiar, American kids?
And, in a reflection of the country’s bitter divisions, some in the opposition called it an effort to revive a waning protest movement as a way to distract Venezuelans from mounting economic woes.
US government and its mouthpiece media must have the same playbook.
About the only thing certain is that in the aftermath of Thursday’s raids, President Nicolas Maduro wanted to project an image of strength and attack his foes.
Same here.
Speaking on television, as he gave another batch of homes to poor people, the socialist leader criticized opponents and blamed them for the death of a police officer in street violence that erupted after the raids — the first day of deadly clashes in almost a month.
How dare he!!!!
Meanwhile, in AmeriKa, the banks fraudulently foreclose on them!
‘‘He was protecting the community of Chacao and was killed vilely by these right-wing assassins,’’ Maduro said, referring to the area in Caracas where the largest of the four protest camps sat in front of United Nations offices.
The bloodshed brought to 42 the number of people killed on all sides since protests began in February. During the raids on the camps, 243 young protesters were arrested. The government later presented what it said were dozens of homemade mortars, guns, and Molotov cocktails seized.
They look like US assets to me!
The dismantling of the camps came as protests had lost much of their fervor amid an effort by moderate opposition members to negotiate concessions such as more economic freedom for business, release of jailed opponents, and the filling of vacancies on the Supreme Court and electoral tribunal.
And their alliances and allegiances to some foreign intelligence service were just exposed.
It is a strategy the Obama administration supports.
That means they know they have a failed overthrow on their hands.
"Venezuela raids protest camps, arrests 243" by Fabiola Sanchez and Ricardo Nunes | Associated Press May 09, 2014
CARACAS — Hundreds of Venezuelan security forces broke up four makeshift camps maintained by student protesters, arresting 243 people Thursday in a pre-dawn raid.
The tent cities were installed more than a month ago in front of the offices of the United Nations and better-off neighborhoods in the capital to protest against President Nicolas Maduro’s government.
What more do I need type?
Interior Minister Miguel Rodriguez Torres presented homemade mortars, guns, and Molotov cocktails that he said were seized at the camps.
The dismantling of the camps was announced hours before opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez was to be in court. The hearing on whether he should be tried on charges of inciting violence was suspended.
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Related:
"Shares of Goodyear Tire & Rubber lost some air after the Ohio company reported a $58 million first-quarter loss largely due to $132 million in Venezuelan currency charges. The loss was compounded by extreme US winter weather that hurt tire sales."
????
Wouldn't that have PROMOTED TIRE SALES?
You gotta come up with a better excuse than that, hey, what with government hollering global warming. The same government that forced them to pay currency charges to support policy.
