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<a href="http://vheadline.com/readnews.asp?id=57783" eudora="autourl">
http://vheadline.com/readnews.asp?id=57783<br><br>
</a>Published: Friday, May 19, 2006<br>
Bylined to: <a href="mailto:features @ vheadline.com">Ken Livingstone
</a><br><br>
</font><font face="Georgia" size=5 color="#7F0000">Mayor Ken Livingstone
in "Chavez legacy" rebuttal to The Times (London)<br><br>
</font><font face="Georgia" size=2><b><u>Letter to the Editor: The Times
May 19, 2006 -- Chavez legacy<br><br>
</u></font>
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<dd><font face="Courier New, Courier" size=2 color="#000080">Sir, Your
coverage of President Chavez’ visit to London (reports and Thunderer, May
16)</i> misrepresents the record of the President’s administration in
Venezuela. <br><br>
<dd>Far from Chavez’ opponents being repressed, as you suggest, they
control the vast majority of the media, including 95% of the country’s
180 newspapers, and five out of five private TV stations, which pump out
anti-Chavez propaganda around the clock. <br><br>
<dd>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. <br><br>
<dd>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. <br><br>
<dd>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. <br><br>
<dd>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. <br><br>
<dd>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. <br><br>
<dd>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. <br><br>
</b></font>
</dl><font face="Georgia" size=5 color="#000080">Ken Livingstone<br>
</font><font face="Georgia" size=4><i>Mayor of London <br><br>
</i></font><x-sigsep><p></x-sigsep>
<font size=3 color="#FF0000">The Freedom Archives<br>
522 Valencia Street<br>
San Francisco, CA 94110<br>
(415) 863-9977<br>
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