{"id":16892,"date":"2013-03-26T13:06:05","date_gmt":"2013-03-26T20:06:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/?p=16892"},"modified":"2013-03-26T13:06:05","modified_gmt":"2013-03-26T20:06:05","slug":"hugo-chavez-1954-forever","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/?p=16892","title":{"rendered":"Hugo Ch\u00e1vez: 1954-Forever"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Hugo Ch\u00e1vez: 1954-Forever<\/strong>
\n22 March, 2013 – By Jordan Katz<\/p>\n

Just inside the entrance to New York\u2019s Church of St. Paul the Apostle, a line to sign a book of condolences for the late Hugo Ch\u00e1vez snaked around tables at the ecumenical service held just over a week after the former Venezuelan president\u2019s death. Piled on the tables were t-shirts imprinted with the slogan, \u201cYo Soy Ch\u00e1vez.\u201d Beneath the slogan in smaller print: \u201c1954-Forever.\u201d <\/p>\n

Mourners from Venezuela and throughout the Americas filled the church on the night of March 13 to pay their respects and look toward the future. According to Venezuela\u2019s recently appointed Minister of the People\u2019s Power for Foreign Affairs, El\u00edas Jaua, who spoke at the event, Venezuela\u2019s future holds an expansion of the Chavista socialist program, and most importantly, a \u201cradicaliz[ing] of participatory democracy.\u201d Jaua expressed confidence that Chavez\u2019s predecessor and Venezuela\u2019s interim president, Nicolas Maduro, will win the election scheduled for April 14th. <\/p>\n

Jaua\u2019s words were met with cheers from an emotional and inspired audience, which included a host of progressive organizations. The Workers World Party, the Urban Justice Center, and leaders of several unions attended the memorial.<\/p>\n

Among the slew of political activists who came out to show their support were some familiar faces. Actor Danny Glover sent a letter to be read in his absence and former Congressman Joseph Kennedy gave a speech, condemning those who spoke ill of Ch\u00e1vez and praising his redistribution of the country\u2019s wealth. Citing Ch\u00e1vez\u2019s reorganization of Venezuela\u2019s previously ailing state oil program, PDVSA, he asked, \u201cWhat possible benefit could that oil monster have been to the poor of Venezuela?\u201d<\/p>\n

The speakers glorified rather than analyzed Ch\u00e1vez, but individual audience members\u2019 reactions were more critical. A Venezuelan national who attended the service and wishes to be named only as Max, said things in Venezuela are progressing little by little. \u201cYou have to give it time,\u201d he said. \u201cCh\u00e1vez did quite a lot. He had his problems, but no one is perfect in this life. He achieved more than anyone else did, especially in education, which is what the people need…We\u2019re not going to become like Cuba. To become like Cuba, where people can\u2019t even leave their country, we\u2019d have to move backward.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carmen Martinez, an occupational therapist originally from Venezuela, said her support for Ch\u00e1vez largely stems from what he did for the handicap community. \u201cThe president actually was the one who promoted the love for the handicap people there,\u201d she said. \u201cIn the past, they didn\u2019t have any wheelchairs. They really didn\u2019t have any equipment there… and [Ch\u00e1vez] created a mission where he was able to provide not only the care, but also all the equipment that they lacked before.\u201d She said she was deeply saddened and devastated by his death, but believes Nicolas Maduro is the right person to carry out the programs that Ch\u00e1vez put in place. <\/p>\n

When asked about Maduro\u2019s opposition, Henrique Capriles, Martinez said she doesn\u2019t think that his campaign has been honest. \u201cBecause of the campaign, they were saying \u2018Oh, well we promise every handicapped child a wheelchair.\u2019 Well we had that… They forgot that we already have the mission,\u201d she said. \u201cSo somebody who can lie on the TV just to try to make people happy, I don\u2019t think I can trust.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite controversy surrounding the constitutionality of Maduro\u2019s taking over the presidency in the interim, he is the favored candidate. And considering Maduro\u2019s recent declarations that the United States was behind Ch\u00e1vez\u2019s illness, it doesn\u2019t look like U.S.-Venezuelan relations will be softening in the near future. Whoever wins the election inherits some of the highest inflation rates in the world and an extremely high crime rate\u2013Venezuela\u2019s homicide rate is second only to Honduras. The best way to tackle those challenges is by constructing programs that have lasting positive impact, whether the president is Chavista or not. …more<\/a><\/p>\n

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Hugo Ch\u00e1vez: 1954-Forever 22 March, 2013 – By Jordan Katz Just inside the entrance to New York\u2019s Church of St. Paul the Apostle, a line to sign a book of condolences for the late Hugo Ch\u00e1vez snaked around tables at the ecumenical service held just over a week after the former Venezuelan president\u2019s death. Piled more \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[247],"tags":[3885],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16892"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16892"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16892\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16895,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16892\/revisions\/16895"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16892"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16892"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16892"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}