It is important to not only look for what is going wrong in Venezuela

<a href=www.vheadline.com>Venezuela's Electronic News Posted: Friday, May 16, 2003 By: Dawn Gable

Date: Fri, 16 May 2003 18:57:00 +0000 From: Dawn Gable morning_ucsc@hotmail.com To: Editor@VHeadline.com Subject: Re: Fwd: Get the true facts

Dear Editor: In response to <a href=www.vheadline.com>Daniel Alejandro Rivas Casanova's letter: Oh, Come on now ... if you don't know where that money is going, you are not paying attention.

Let's see ... first of all, there was a landslide emergency to start out the President's term ... relocation and aid to the victims cost bundles ... then there was the building of all the rural schools etc.

But the real price tags are attached to the billion US$ coup, several months of NO oil production, loss of personal income due to economic warfare waged by Coca-Cola and friends against small scale vendors (a.k.a. Chavistas) and drop in tourism due to the opposition creating and maintaining a state of chaos that scares away tourists and investors.

You should be thanking Chavez, for he is directly responsible for raising the price of oil for the first time in decades, putting an end to the wholesale liquidation of Venezuela's resources.

This is why the United States of America is even paying any attention to the Bolivarian Revolution ... and you should be down right peeved with the opposition for squandering this opportunity to re-supply the national reserve and rebuild the nation ... they are the money sink ... they are stealing the people's money ... they are shooting themselves in their own foot to regain control of the resources and pocket the income.

As for the state of the infrastructure in the cities: this is nothing new. In Venezuelan culture, littering is completely acceptable. Everyone does it.  I had the hardest time breaking my ecology students from doing it!

Yes, Maracaibo is a filthy city ... but the city began a city beautification program about 2 years ago that has put many to work cleaning up the place and they are doing a great job!

Vargas State is another place in which this has occurred ... both programs have been tremendously successful and there are others around the country as well, but these are the only places that I have first hand witnessed the change, so I will only speak of what I know as fact.

Then there is always the question I have...

If things are such a mess why don't the people themselves take it upon themselves to go out and clean up their neighborhoods? We do that in the States. And guess what? The Bolivarian Circles are doing it too. Bravo! I have seen them filling in the potholes on the roads in Apure State. Men who do not own cars ... in the 110ºF sun ... filling in potholes and asking passersby (users of the road) for Bs.300 each ... about 20 US cents. Bravo!

It is important to not only look for what is going wrong in Venezuela, but to look for what is going right ... and it is extremely important to be sure of where you place blame, and to whom you give credit.

In this situation it is pretty clear: Chavez has raised national oil income and he has inspired "El pueblo" to take pride and responsibility for their community.

The opposition has wasted vast amounts of money on juvenile rebellion, closed down production, cashed in their Bolivares for US$ (= giving away Venezuela's capital to foreign interests) and have slandered and marred the reputation of their nation on the world stage.

Whose side do you want to identify with?

Count me Chavista! Bravo!

Dawn Gable morning_ucsc@hotmail.com