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The Scotsman - 27 Jun 2005 <br>
<a href="http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm" eudora="autourl">
http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm</a> <br><br>
Venezuela's 'Social Revolution' Continues <br><br>
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has announced plans to deepen his
social<br>
“revolution” for the poor by expanding state-subsidised markets and
speeding<br>
up land reform.<br><br>
Speaking during his weekly television and radio show yesterday, Chavez
said<br>
that by the end of this year state-run markets should be providing
15<br>
million Venezuelans with food or about 60% of the population of 25<br>
million.<br><br>
The government says the markets currently serve about 10 million<br>
Venezuelans, providing food at lower prices than standard supermarkets
with<br>
the help of government subsidies.<br><br>
Chavez, who says he is leading the country away from capitalism and
toward<br>
socialism, also said there is a pressing need to eradicate
corruption.<br><br>
“Corruption is a poison,” he said. “Every one of us should be a
warrior<br>
fighting to the death against corruption, against inefficiency.”<br><br>
Chavez spent about seven hours in the north-western city of Coro to
promote<br>
his program, inspecting cheese and bologna at a state-run market, and
later<br>
singing songs to the applause of supporters.<br><br>
He visited cooks inside a soup kitchen for the poor one of 1,000
such<br>
programs that he said were being inaugurated yesterday, bringing the
total<br>
to more than 5,000.<br><br>
Chavez said the number of “feeding houses” should reach more than 6,000
next<br>
month, making sure the poorest Venezuelans receive enough to
eat.<br><br>
With Venezuela the world’s No. 5 oil exporter, Chavez has been able to
take<br>
advantage of windfall oil profits to spend billions of dollars on
social<br>
programs and public projects.<br><br>
There are now more than 14,000 state-run Mercal markets in Venezuela,
Chavez<br>
said.<br><br>
He urged authorities to shut down any private markets that disregard<br>
government price controls, and he said the state-run markets would
continue<br>
to grow because they offer Venezuelans better prices.<br><br>
“Venezuela is going through positive times,” said Chavez, who pledged
the<br>
government would “accelerate” a land reform program that has begun
turning<br>
over ranch lands to the poor in cases where officials say ownership
hasn’t<br>
been proven or the land isn’t being adequately used.<br><br>
Government opponents call the land reform an assault on private
property,<br>
while Chavez’s supporters defend it as a necessary move to increase
food<br>
production and help the poor.<br><br>
Chavez also said the state-run oil company, Petroleos de Venezuela, is
for<br>
the first time using dividends from its Houston-based subsidiary
Citgo<br>
Petroleum to fund social programs.<br><br>
“Now we decide here how the earnings are spent,” he said, claiming
that<br>
untold millions were “stolen” by US executives in the past while no
funds<br>
were sent back to Venezuela.<br>
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