AU panel on venezuela

Venezuela
By Travis Mitchell

The policies of controversial Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez are often misunderstood, two leading Latin American scholars said Tuesday in a heated debate before a packed audience in the Mary Graydon Center at American University.

The dialogue between Diego Arria, a former U.N. ambassador to Venezuela, and Mark Weisbrot, an economic policy researcher, was held in conjunction with Chavez’ 10th year as president. It drew an audience of about 200 students from American, George Washington, and Georgetown universities.

The main point of conflict centered on whether Chavez’ socialist policies are helping or hindering the current and future development of Venezuela.

It’s a revolution whether you like it or not,” Arria said of the current situation, known as the Bolivarian revolution. Named after the 19th century Venezuelan revolutionary leader, Simon Bolivar, its philosophy revolves around building up equal distribution of goods and promoting popular democracy within the country.
Chavez was elected in 1998 with 56 percent of the popular vote, and his focus has been on the nation’s poorest citizens, and he has made it a point to cut down on illiteracy, malnutrition, and disease. But, according to Arria, there is growing concern among the wealthy that Chavez is pushing the country too far towards socialism.

But both panelists agreed that the disagreement between Chavez and the majority of Venezuelan citizens often portrays the president as the antagonist.

“It’s not easy to be objective,” Weisbrot said of covering issues surrounding the Venezuelan government. “It’s very intense at times, especially in the media.” He said there is too much emphasis on Chavez, and that the media needs to focus more on the actual change that has occurred in Venezuela.

He said that although prominent publications often label Chavez a “dictator, the past ten years have seen improvement, including significant reductions in the national rates for poverty, unemployment and infant mortality.

Weisbrot, who runs the Center for Economic and Policy Research, also noted that the country’s economy doubled in size between 2003 and 2008. But, he said, there is still work to be done in controlling corruption, inflation and crime.

Although many native Venezuelans may not be happy with the direction Chavez is taking his country, Arria agreed that it is important to acknowledge the progress that has been made.

“The last 20 years before Hugo Chavez were not much better,” said Arria, who served under two Venezuelan presidents as well as on the U.N. Security Council. But, he said, Chavez is perhaps too focused on the future by undertaking “a systematic effort to destroy [Venezuelan] history.”

As the night drew on, Weisbrot drew jeers from the crowd after downplaying corruption in Venezuela, comparing the problems there to scandals in the management of U.S. financial institutions.

“There is corruption in every country I know of in this hemisphere,” he said. He said that instead of focusing on corruption, Chavez needs to continue pushing for greater economic diversification.
Arria said that despite the problems in the media and government, the youth of Venezuela remain one of the most positive and effective groups in the progression of social change

“Chavez is the past. We don’t like the present, and we want a different future,” Diego said, echoing the Venezuelan young people, “Nobody will be able to take the future away from young Venezuelans today,” he said.

Arria said that the key to bringing Venezuela into world acceptance was to unify a country that has been fragmented by socioeconomic inequality.

“We have to start reuniting the Venezuela’s,” Arria told the crowd. “I believe we will have a more reunited country in the future.”

Carlos Guruceaga, a sophomore in the School of International Service who helped organize the two-hour event, said he was impressed with the diversity of perspectives represented by the audience.

“It’s not a regional thing,” he said, “It’s not an American thing, and think that was shown today,” he said.

The event was hosted by Venezuela Perspectives, a non-political, non partisan group focused on promoting awareness about Venezuela.

Eduardo Otaula is a senior in the Kogod School of business. He also helped promote the panel, and said he was very encouraged by the positive reception of the event.

“Tonight, one point proven is that there are two views and we have to learn to accept them,” He said. “I was very impressed with the amount of interest that exists.”