GETTING SETTLED IN VENEZUELA; SOME OBSERVATIONS ABOUT THE COUNTRY AND PRESIDENT CHAVEZ; RESULTS OF USA MIDTERM ELECTIONS
La Guardia, Isla Margarita, Friday, November 10, 2006
Getting settled in Venezuela
We are still getting sorted out here. La Guardia, where we are staying, is quite a way away from the touristy bits or even a supermarket. Things are pretty quiet here and this posed a problem for our predecessors as caretakers, David and Estela. There is no doubt that we are a bit isolated without transportation to Porlamar, the island’s main town and commercial centre. As cruisers we are fairly used to the quiet life, but we shall have to see just how bearable or unbearable it is here.
In their mid-30’s, David and Estela are Virginians though Estela is of part-Mexican descent. She is very beautiful and has a wonderful warm singing voice. David is a bass player and is in love with Latin American music. It is great to here them practising together. When they leave here next week after our handover period they will be heading back to Lima, Peru. They love that city and the cool musicians they have met there. Eventually, however, they will be heading back to small-town Virginia where they want to build an ecologically friendly house, start a family and found a cultural centre to build up the relationships with Latin-American musicians.
Although he favours terms like ‘cool’, ‘dude’ and ‘groovy’, David especially is both very aware politically and able to articulate his thoughts precisely. Both before and after the midterm elections in the USA earlier this week, we spent a lot of time after dinner in the balmy evenings or over morning coffee in hot political discussions, alternatively worrying that the elections were going to be stolen, that the voters had still not got how bad the monster they created in 2000 really was, or that the Democrats and Republicans were too much alike. The horror with which David and Estela (and indeed Kathleen too) have watched while their country has sunk to naked and unprovoked aggression abroad and the curtailment of political and civil liberties at home has been very difficult and frustrating for them. Apparently it got too much for a lot of other Americans too. (More on the topic below.)
One day we rented a little car from Jens, the resident German, an ex-yachty who has swallowed the anchor and now lives alone in a small house nearby. He picks up money by fishing and doing odd jobs. We spent the first few hours driving out to the arid and relatively empty western end of Isla Margarita before swinging back along the coast to spend a few hours at a mid-island beach (fabulous warm water of a lovely green colour). Two large sailboats passed by on the near horizon before disappearing around the point to San Juan Gregio (St John the Grey?), one of the attractive small harbours scattered around the island. It felt a little strange for us to be watching them from the shore!
We then made a swing by Playa del Agua, at the northeastern tip of the island, the main tourist beach (not crowded and very, very nice). We ended the trip with a frenetic visit to SIGO, a big-box retail operation near Porlamar. Horridly crowded around rush hour (rush hour!), American-level prices despite the duty-free status of the island and definitely a lot more dear than Ecuador.
Some observations about Venezuela and President Chavez
From what we have seen of Venezuela so far, - i.e., Caracas Airport and Isla Margarita, so not very much yet – it definitely looks more prosperous than Ecuador. Visually, of course, although there are mountains they are nothing like the Andes and the coastal areas are nothing like as tropical as Ecuador’s banana coast. There are also very few indigenous people around and there is a very strong African influence. Lots of pretty girls!
Gasoline is so cheap (20 cents a gallon) that all the taxis are monster 1980’s US-built barges. Cheap fuel is, I think, one way that the Chavez government spreads the oil wealth around (there are lots of other ways too.) This is totally comprehensible, of course; Ecuador does some of the same by pegging the price of diesel at about US$ 1.03 per gallon everywhere in the country. And it is also great to see the broad spectrum of the people get some direct benefits from the black gold.
Still, petroleum remains a finite resource both for Venezuela and the world, and making fuel so cheap only encourages wastage and pollution through those big cars, SUV’s, inefficient air-conditioners and appliances, etc.
Perhaps the fact that the wastage here is not greater is because, for one, despite cheap fuel only a still relatively-small percentage of the population actually own things like cars, air conditioners and appliances. The country is not as poor as Ecuador but definitely not as rich as the USA, Canada or Western Europe. Moreover, for whatever reason there seem to be a lot of intermittent power outages at least here on the island.
David and Estela (who speak Spanish well) confirm our impressions formed eaarlier that President Chavez is very popular and will certainly be re-elected in another election landslide in early-December. He got 60 percent of the popular vote the last time and may do even better this time around. For Venezolanos, Chavez is neither the mad man or the clown that he is sometimes painted as in the foreign press. He is a real person and the voters believe he is working on their behalf. He actually spends a lot of time on TV making the voters aware of the problems and selling his solutions. It is government-owned TV and I have no idea at all what the viewer ratings are. But David says Chavez is really impressive when he gets out his charts and his pointer and starts explaining things in un-patronising and entertaining detail, something that America politicians, for example, pointedly cannot or do not do (hard to imagine a commercial station giving any politician except perhaps occasionally the president any reasonable amount of air time.)
Americans (and Canadians, Europeans and other Latin American leaders) will have to get used to the fact that Chavez is popular, that he has been honestly and popularly mandated, that, until the USA ends its dependence upon imported oil (15 percent of USA oil imports come from here), the USA in fact needs Venezuela more than Venezuela needs the USA, and that Chavez is likely to be around for quite a while. The USA would be wise to mend fence. To demonize Chavez the way the USA has done with Fidel Castro for fifty years, a man who is popular across Latin America, is very short-sighted. Not that American foreign policy has been governed by anything much more than ignorance and arrogance lo these many decades! Is it likely to change?
Results USA midterm elections
For those of us who have been praying for the nightmare to end in the USA, for an end to the antideluvians’ hold on Congress and the pre-cambrians’ grip on the White House, the results of the mid-term Congressional elections come as rain in the desert. How long has it taken to even begin to learn that the ideas the neo-conservatives brought with them do not work.
The voters may have come to the realization that, internationally at least, they have failed. America is now seen as an arrogant bully abroad. Inside six years and remaining true to the principles of the Strategy for a New America Century, George W. Bush has increased the rate of international tension, the spread of nuclear weapons and the level of suspicion abroad and at home of any and indeed now of every American initiative in the world. The word is now a much more dangerous place – because of American aggression and the blowback from that aggression.
At home in the USA, the citizenry is slowly becoming aware – why has this taken so long? – that as their empire expands they are losing not only whatever respect they once had abroad but whatever civil and political rights they were born with. To top it off, as George & Co. wastes the economic patrimony, domestic society becomes not only more uncivil, more dictatorial, it is also becoming more polarized economically as the rich get richer and the poor increase in number. This began, of course, under previous presidents (both Democratic and Republican) but has received a strong kick from the Bush II administration and Republican Congress.
It is frequently stated that oppositions don’t win elections, governments lose them. Perhaps that is one way to view Tuesday’s results. Certainly the Democratic politicians have been very, very slow to wake up and to provide an alternative. Too many Democrat Congressmen and Senators voted for the war, voted for the Patriot Acts, voted for the tax cuts, voted for torture; i.e., the whole neo-conservative agenda. Some are even spinning the election results as a vote for moderation when clearly the voters voted against the war and voted for the politicians who were outspoken.
Leadership can be rewarded. The Democrats should articulate a progressive social contract and they will find they have everybody but the selfish-rich and the corporations behind them. Just give a lead and finish the job! Send the liars packing. Listen to the voters and speak truth!
I am not a big fan of the Conservative (Steven Harper) Government in Ottawa. But I liked what happened when the Finance Minister closed a big tax loophole for Canadian corporations and the wealthy. I think they had found a way to shelter wealth and earnings in a quasi-trust or tax-free charitable foundation. It was clearly a dodge. The Finance Minister got rid of the loophole and said (more or less as follows), “Oh, come on! Everyone knows we have bills to pay, we have programmes that have to be financed. Everyone has to pay their fair share!”
That seems like almost too much common sense coming from a politician. But there you are! Maybe there were two political miracles this week!
La Guardia, Isla Margarita, Friday, November 10, 2006
Getting settled in Venezuela
We are still getting sorted out here. La Guardia, where we are staying, is quite a way away from the touristy bits or even a supermarket. Things are pretty quiet here and this posed a problem for our predecessors as caretakers, David and Estela. There is no doubt that we are a bit isolated without transportation to Porlamar, the island’s main town and commercial centre. As cruisers we are fairly used to the quiet life, but we shall have to see just how bearable or unbearable it is here.
In their mid-30’s, David and Estela are Virginians though Estela is of part-Mexican descent. She is very beautiful and has a wonderful warm singing voice. David is a bass player and is in love with Latin American music. It is great to here them practising together. When they leave here next week after our handover period they will be heading back to Lima, Peru. They love that city and the cool musicians they have met there. Eventually, however, they will be heading back to small-town Virginia where they want to build an ecologically friendly house, start a family and found a cultural centre to build up the relationships with Latin-American musicians.
Although he favours terms like ‘cool’, ‘dude’ and ‘groovy’, David especially is both very aware politically and able to articulate his thoughts precisely. Both before and after the midterm elections in the USA earlier this week, we spent a lot of time after dinner in the balmy evenings or over morning coffee in hot political discussions, alternatively worrying that the elections were going to be stolen, that the voters had still not got how bad the monster they created in 2000 really was, or that the Democrats and Republicans were too much alike. The horror with which David and Estela (and indeed Kathleen too) have watched while their country has sunk to naked and unprovoked aggression abroad and the curtailment of political and civil liberties at home has been very difficult and frustrating for them. Apparently it got too much for a lot of other Americans too. (More on the topic below.)
One day we rented a little car from Jens, the resident German, an ex-yachty who has swallowed the anchor and now lives alone in a small house nearby. He picks up money by fishing and doing odd jobs. We spent the first few hours driving out to the arid and relatively empty western end of Isla Margarita before swinging back along the coast to spend a few hours at a mid-island beach (fabulous warm water of a lovely green colour). Two large sailboats passed by on the near horizon before disappearing around the point to San Juan Gregio (St John the Grey?), one of the attractive small harbours scattered around the island. It felt a little strange for us to be watching them from the shore!
We then made a swing by Playa del Agua, at the northeastern tip of the island, the main tourist beach (not crowded and very, very nice). We ended the trip with a frenetic visit to SIGO, a big-box retail operation near Porlamar. Horridly crowded around rush hour (rush hour!), American-level prices despite the duty-free status of the island and definitely a lot more dear than Ecuador.
Some observations about Venezuela and President Chavez
From what we have seen of Venezuela so far, - i.e., Caracas Airport and Isla Margarita, so not very much yet – it definitely looks more prosperous than Ecuador. Visually, of course, although there are mountains they are nothing like the Andes and the coastal areas are nothing like as tropical as Ecuador’s banana coast. There are also very few indigenous people around and there is a very strong African influence. Lots of pretty girls!
Gasoline is so cheap (20 cents a gallon) that all the taxis are monster 1980’s US-built barges. Cheap fuel is, I think, one way that the Chavez government spreads the oil wealth around (there are lots of other ways too.) This is totally comprehensible, of course; Ecuador does some of the same by pegging the price of diesel at about US$ 1.03 per gallon everywhere in the country. And it is also great to see the broad spectrum of the people get some direct benefits from the black gold.
Still, petroleum remains a finite resource both for Venezuela and the world, and making fuel so cheap only encourages wastage and pollution through those big cars, SUV’s, inefficient air-conditioners and appliances, etc.
Perhaps the fact that the wastage here is not greater is because, for one, despite cheap fuel only a still relatively-small percentage of the population actually own things like cars, air conditioners and appliances. The country is not as poor as Ecuador but definitely not as rich as the USA, Canada or Western Europe. Moreover, for whatever reason there seem to be a lot of intermittent power outages at least here on the island.
David and Estela (who speak Spanish well) confirm our impressions formed eaarlier that President Chavez is very popular and will certainly be re-elected in another election landslide in early-December. He got 60 percent of the popular vote the last time and may do even better this time around. For Venezolanos, Chavez is neither the mad man or the clown that he is sometimes painted as in the foreign press. He is a real person and the voters believe he is working on their behalf. He actually spends a lot of time on TV making the voters aware of the problems and selling his solutions. It is government-owned TV and I have no idea at all what the viewer ratings are. But David says Chavez is really impressive when he gets out his charts and his pointer and starts explaining things in un-patronising and entertaining detail, something that America politicians, for example, pointedly cannot or do not do (hard to imagine a commercial station giving any politician except perhaps occasionally the president any reasonable amount of air time.)
Americans (and Canadians, Europeans and other Latin American leaders) will have to get used to the fact that Chavez is popular, that he has been honestly and popularly mandated, that, until the USA ends its dependence upon imported oil (15 percent of USA oil imports come from here), the USA in fact needs Venezuela more than Venezuela needs the USA, and that Chavez is likely to be around for quite a while. The USA would be wise to mend fence. To demonize Chavez the way the USA has done with Fidel Castro for fifty years, a man who is popular across Latin America, is very short-sighted. Not that American foreign policy has been governed by anything much more than ignorance and arrogance lo these many decades! Is it likely to change?
Results USA midterm elections
For those of us who have been praying for the nightmare to end in the USA, for an end to the antideluvians’ hold on Congress and the pre-cambrians’ grip on the White House, the results of the mid-term Congressional elections come as rain in the desert. How long has it taken to even begin to learn that the ideas the neo-conservatives brought with them do not work.
The voters may have come to the realization that, internationally at least, they have failed. America is now seen as an arrogant bully abroad. Inside six years and remaining true to the principles of the Strategy for a New America Century, George W. Bush has increased the rate of international tension, the spread of nuclear weapons and the level of suspicion abroad and at home of any and indeed now of every American initiative in the world. The word is now a much more dangerous place – because of American aggression and the blowback from that aggression.
At home in the USA, the citizenry is slowly becoming aware – why has this taken so long? – that as their empire expands they are losing not only whatever respect they once had abroad but whatever civil and political rights they were born with. To top it off, as George & Co. wastes the economic patrimony, domestic society becomes not only more uncivil, more dictatorial, it is also becoming more polarized economically as the rich get richer and the poor increase in number. This began, of course, under previous presidents (both Democratic and Republican) but has received a strong kick from the Bush II administration and Republican Congress.
It is frequently stated that oppositions don’t win elections, governments lose them. Perhaps that is one way to view Tuesday’s results. Certainly the Democratic politicians have been very, very slow to wake up and to provide an alternative. Too many Democrat Congressmen and Senators voted for the war, voted for the Patriot Acts, voted for the tax cuts, voted for torture; i.e., the whole neo-conservative agenda. Some are even spinning the election results as a vote for moderation when clearly the voters voted against the war and voted for the politicians who were outspoken.
Leadership can be rewarded. The Democrats should articulate a progressive social contract and they will find they have everybody but the selfish-rich and the corporations behind them. Just give a lead and finish the job! Send the liars packing. Listen to the voters and speak truth!
I am not a big fan of the Conservative (Steven Harper) Government in Ottawa. But I liked what happened when the Finance Minister closed a big tax loophole for Canadian corporations and the wealthy. I think they had found a way to shelter wealth and earnings in a quasi-trust or tax-free charitable foundation. It was clearly a dodge. The Finance Minister got rid of the loophole and said (more or less as follows), “Oh, come on! Everyone knows we have bills to pay, we have programmes that have to be financed. Everyone has to pay their fair share!”
That seems like almost too much common sense coming from a politician. But there you are! Maybe there were two political miracles this week!
posted by rjb @ Friday, November 10, 2006
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