Venezuela
Neida Atencio
Venezuela has a chance to build “a new socialism of the 21st century,” said Neida Atencio in Anzoátegui’s Diario Impacto. Unlike in China, Vietnam, or North Korea, where socialism was “imposed” from above, in Venezuela the people have chosen their revolutionary path. President Hugo Chavez campaigned for re-election promising to “replace representative democracy with Bolivarian revolution.” He won a decisive victory. Now “all the conditions are in place” to guarantee his success. Revolutionary “Chavistas” control all levels of the state and, increasingly, the media. With last week’s nationalization of the oil industry, the state controls a powerful economic engine. And Chavez himself already enjoys “immense respect on the international stage,” both because of his stirring speech at the U.N. denouncing U.S. imperialism and because of his close relations with the revered socialist leader Fidel Castro. The only thing missing now is the “revolutionary mind-set.” The next project for Venezuelans is to rid ourselves of the “sick consumerist consciousness” and nurture one of justice. “National liberation” is at hand.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Home Depots are the new epicenters of ICE raidsIn the Spotlight The chain has not provided many comments on the ongoing raids
-
Why does Trump keep interfering in the NYC mayoral race?Today's Big Question The president has seemingly taken an outsized interest in his hometown elections, but are his efforts to block Zohran Mamdani about political expediency or something deeper?
-
The pros and cons of banning cellphones in classroomsPros and cons The devices could be major distractions
