[Marxism] On the road in Venezuela, President Chavez connects with the masses

["Fred Fuentes" <fred.fuentes@xxxxxxxxx>]

On the road in Venezuela, President Chavez connects with the masses
By IAN JAMES
Sunday, June 10, 2007


MANTECAL, Venezuela (AP) - The Toyota 4Runner pulled to a stop on the
country road and a tinted window rolled down. Passersby gawked, then
broke into a run, screaming "President!" when they realized Hugo
Chavez was at the wheel. "I love you!" cried a middle-aged woman with
tears in her eyes, thrusting a fistful of flowers into the car.

The president clasped hands and planted kisses on cheeks, heads and
hands of the people who turned out in the pouring rain to see him - an
emotional connection that he called the driving force behind the
socialist revolution that has pitted him against Washington.

"What hurts me most is poverty, and that's what led me to become a
rebel," Chavez said during six hours of conversations with The
Associated Press, conducted Saturday during a day-long road trip
across the southern plains, a helicopter flight and a visit to a
cattle ranch.

Throughout the trip, as he sipped coffee and sang verses from folk
songs, he stopped to talk with poor men and women of all ages who
crowded around his car. Many asked Chavez for help - to build a home,
to arrange medical care - and Chavez barked out instructions to his
aides, who noted them down.

At one stop, a boy peered into the car and asked Chavez for money. "It
isn't good for you to be asking for money," he said. He bought some
quenepa fruit from another boy in the group, and asked about their
homes and schools.

They live in shacks and have no school computers, so Chavez offered
houses and technology - and more. "Do you have water? Do you have
books? ... That's the kind of help we can give you, the revolution
gives to you. ... The day will come when kids don't have to sell
quenepa fruit anymore."

Government statistics show poverty has declined during Chavez's eight
years in office, and he rattled off lists of other improvements, from
hospitals to new roads. His opponents charge he has accomplished
little considering the billions of dollars in oil proceeds flowing
into the country.

Chavez said he's satisfied with his progress, but "I'm not singing
victory yet. It's a long road."

Driving through the plains of southern Venezuela where he was raised,
Chavez said the wide-open geography influenced his thinking.

"You don't see barriers," he said. "You see the horizon, and that gets
stuck in your heart."

The tour with Chavez offered an unusual glimpse into the life of a man
who has transformed Venezuela and spread a socialist, anti-American
message throughout the world.

Chavez said he enjoys watching Clint Eastwood movies, and liked the
film "Gladiator" so much he saw it three times. He sometimes plays
late-night pick-up baseball games with ministers and others using a
rubber ball. He relishes his contact with the public, reads
voraciously and makes hours-long speeches.

But overall he has few escapes from politics, a situation he blamed on
attempts to kill him, including open calls for his assassination from
Venezuelans in the United States.

"I'm condemned to death, like Fidel (Castro) has been for a very long
time, and as such forced to take security measures that are so extreme
one ends up not having a personal life," Chavez said. "One ends up
being a prisoner on a personal level."

One of Chavez's five children, 27-year-old Maria Gabriela, accompanied
him on the trip and handed him cookies from the back seat. Though the
twice-divorced 52-year-old former lieutenant colonel often speaks
fondly of his children, Chavez said "there is no possibility" of
marriage on the horizon.

"I don't have a life to share with someone," he said. "My life doesn't
belong to me."

Chavez defended himself against opposition allegations that he is
trying to be president-for-life, saying he will only stay on if
re-elected. He has pledged constitutional reforms that if approved in
a referendum would allow him to run again in 2012.

Chavez said he is transforming Venezuela into a socialist state, but
will respect private property.

"There will continue to be all the individual freedoms, collective
freedoms, fundamental rights," Chavez said. "We accept private
education. We accept private health care, as long as it's regulated
and in keeping with national policy. ... The same goes for banks."

Chavez defended his decision not to renew the broadcast license of
opposition-allied TV station Radio Caracas Television, which set off
two weeks of protests by university students who called it a move
against free speech.

Chavez said the move was long overdue, saying the station backed a
2002 coup against him and consistently broke the law. The channel has
sought to challenge the decision in the Supreme Court.

"We want there to be critical media," Chavez said. He warned, however,
that if other private broadcasters "call for a coup d'etat, call for
assassination... their concession has to be revoked."

Chavez said no new nationalizations of businesses are planned - for
now - after a series of state takeovers in the oil, telecommunications
and electricity industries. But he wouldn't rule out expropriations in
the future.

His government has also taken over what it considers underused
agricultural lands, including the cattle ranch he visited Saturday. He
described plans for housing, more cattle and cooperative farms on the
giant plot as he circled overhead, and vowed to change Venezuela's
dependence on imported food.

"The agrarian revolution has arrived," he said.

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