[lbo-talk] Fidel on Libya

[Somebody Somebody]

Dissenting Wren: As for Chavez - this demonstrates what those gringos in love with Chavez have been ignoring for a long time. Chavez's success in Venezuela has been based on high oil revenues that have permitted a large increase in social spending, the use of that spending to encourage pro-Chavista mobilization, and pitch-perfect political skills that include a redefined sense of Venezuelan nationhood.... There are many positive features in the Chavista experiment, but anyone who takes it as "socialism for the 21st century" is confused. 

Somebody: I wonder whether the gringos really even believe in 21st century socialism in Venezuela anymore. Notice how little attention the country receives these days. After more than a decade of Chavez in power, I think reality is starting to set in.

What's surprising to me is that despite the billions of dollars of PDVSA money being plowed into social development, Venezuela's figures in health and mortality show no discontinuity between before the Bolivarian Revolution, and after. As a matter of fact, the country's lead in living standards a generation ago compared to Latin American countries like Mexico and Brazil has virtually disappeared. This is not a commentary on Chavez per se, but on the fact that the historical trajectory for the oil exporting nation hasn't really changed much since he took office, in stark contrast to past revolutions. But then, no revolution has occurred in Venezuela.