Colombia, Chile, Peru, etc getting F-16s and many other weapons from the USA

by Carlos M. Pietri
Through the reading of Mr. Charles Dewey article, "How the Chavistas love to talk about to their new kind of Democracy". and assuming his good will towards us, I must conclude that Charles, really, does not know the real Venezuela and its culture.

For example, in our new kind of democracy, Charles:

We have seen the alphabetization of a million compatriots who did not have access to education for more than 40 years. Now they are getting primary, secondary school certificate and soon they will enter the Bolivarian University or join the "Vuelvan Caras" mission which consists of training them for the work. Our citizens learn some technical skills and the State grants them a scholarship while doing so. After they have learned their skills and agro-industrial techniques, the government grants them creditsso that they are freed from the specter of unemployment.

* In the health, Mission "Inside the neighborhood" is today a program with a Latin American projection ... it began with a Cuba-Venezuela agreement, Cuban doctors (20,000 communists) ... our brothers ... came to collaborate with Venezuelans in the most distant points of our national territory.

Please, remember that the privatizing neo-liberal cultural had also arrived to the health sector and Venezuelan doctors were horrified to be asked to work in poor neighborhoods ... thank God, that's changed and there are a great number of Venezuelan compatriots in tune with the revolution who are taking the reins in the health sector.

* In economics, a different vision from that of neo-liberalism exists ... it is social economics where the State provides resources for any citizen to produce or to serve in cooperatives.

The world is watching to see how the newborn Bolivarian Revolution takes its first steps towards Latin America and the world with help in the field of energy already put to use by Chavez ... including the good people of the United States of America who receive our humanitarian contributions.

With regard to Mr. Dewey's assertion about freedom of press, saying that nobody would dare to make fun of Chavez ... let me tell him that he is mistaken. There has never been as much disrespect shown toward a President as has been shown by his friends against Chavez. And they continue doing it ... and in spite of all this, there is not one of them imprisoned for it.

But, if your friends tell you otherwise, please ask them to give you a name of one of these people who is allegedly imprisoned or being persecuted for his/her opinions and I promise that I will seek to corroborate and publish the information by whatever means.

Mr. Dewey's comments about the 100,000 AK-47 rifles coming from Russia, seems to me as if I were reading a declaration from Ms. Condoleezza Rice… With the acquisition we are only replacing the old FAL that our Army has for more than 50 years.

The only problem with this purchase is that we did not get it from United States of America and they are not well pleased about that! Please think about it, Colombia, Chile, Peru, etc. are getting F-16s, high-tech helicopters and many other armaments from the United States.

But Mr. Dewey does not seem to be worried about this, is he?

I hope these few examples, help Mr. Dewey understand how these socio political changes led by Chavez have helped us Venezuelans to believe and know that we are in the presence of a true and legitimate democratic revolution in our country.