Hands Off Venezuela

There are few things more condescending and arrogant than a journalist who arrives in a foreign country, walks around briefly in its streets, and from a few superficial observations, believes they can make a judgement on the entire economic situation of a country, as well as the social movements and hopes of millions of members of that country. In yesterday’s article “Venezuela’s economy in further slide”, BBC journalist Robert Plummer admits it’s been a long time since he set foot in Venezuela.

The researchers looked at 304 BBC reports published between 1998 and 2008 and found that only 3 of those articles mentioned any of the positive policies introduced by the Chavez administration. The BBC has failed to report adequately on any of the democratic initiatives, human rights legislation, food programmes, healthcare initiatives, or poverty reduction programmes. Mission Robinson, the greatest literacy programme in human history received only a passing mention.

During his visit to London, President Correa of Ecuador reiterated his support for regional integration processes in terms of energy, commerce and finance through the Bank of the South and the Sucre. The President gave a presentation on international economics and citizens’ participation in Ecuador, explaining in detail the characteristics of the 21st Century Socialism and the failure of the Washington Consensus in Latin America. At the end of his talk, a person from the audience asked Correa if he was copying Chavez’s model. Watch the video here.