Venezuela, Oil Rich, Dirt Poor

With the United States still importing over 10 million barrels of oil per day of which about 10% comes directly from Venezuela it should come to no surprise that the United States is practically sanctioning Hugo Chavez's regime. Least we forget it was last Springs uprisings in Egypt and Lybia by suppressed populations where entrenched rulers continued to ignore the plight of so many stands out that similar reprisals against tyranny will only continue. Example, the latest assault against the tyrannical rule by suppressed populations in Syria continues to harvest more horrific atrocities against the masses. The rule of might where a sitting ruler who manages to stay in power for too long only to continue to thwart all attempts in relinquishing absolute authority over their people takes a horrendous toll on humanity.
 
South America where some countries are ruled with authoritarian like governments, Venezuela in particular, has yet to explode in violent over throw. A regime that has managed to "keep the wolfs at bay" sort of speaking in the reforms and policies which has firmly entrenched Hugo Chavez as the one rule of law. In order to fully understand why the native people of Venezuela continue for the most part to openly embrace a ruler who continues to be so self serving is to understand the history and the current conditions of a country that is not so much different. 
 
Venezuela is a country that is economically limited to one major export, oil. Other countries that have extensive oil reserves like Saudi Arabia, the exportation of oil continues to reap great dividends to the general public. Their quality of life is so much better because of the one commodity that has made everything else possible. In Venezuela, the export of oil has had very little effect on improving the overall quality of life. Much of the way of life in most of Venezuela is as it has always been. If it wasn't for the oil that is continually exported Hugo Chavez who has been in power for so long the likelihood of a Arab Spring type revolt would be a real possibility. A ruler whose profligate squandering of the countries extensive oil reserves for short term fixes where deep seeded problems have existed for generations is pretty much what the Hugo Chavez's Presidency is all about. Sound familiar?
 
From the 1920's till around 1970 Venezuela was the worlds leading oil exporter. Today Venezuela ranks fifth, but there is more oil money coming in now than ever before. This is because since the war in Iraq and in Afghanistan with the shrinking oil reserves worldwide have all combined to push the price of oil from the time Chevez came to power from $9 per barrel to now over $60 per barrel. With the rest of the world especially the United States still having to rely on oil to keep feeding our enormous appetite for energy we continually import more oil from countries such as Venezuela, The Chevez led government will more than likely stay in power because of it. But underneath the image that Hugo Chevez is showing the rest of the world lies those deep rooted problems of a country that have existed for far too long.
 
Like many South American countries and some would say even right here in the United States there are really only two class distinctions in populations, the poor, and the wealthy. What makes Venezuela so unique and yet so similar whose economies are fueled by oil is that currently the majority of the population seems to acknowledge that what reforms and proposals that Chevez implements seem to immediately satisfy the same majority of the public. But there remains much more to be done to upgrade a country who still is so impoverished.
 
Here is a President although some would equate Chevez's Presidency like a dictator. A one rule of law that has managed to garnish complete control and authority over the government. Chevez has come across as one who is even considerate of a populations needs and opinions as long as those opinions favor Hugo Chavez. Today, the Venezuelan President is playing a very serious game given in wake of what has happened in the Mid-East. This game of Brinkmanship with the rest of the world can only be played if a leader who chooses to play remains in power.
 
There are other factors involved in Venezuela today that have keep a society from gaining a better quality of life. For example in the United States the ability to acquire, hold, and even trade private property is considered an inalienable right. For as long as Hugo Chavez has been in power those private property rights are now almost extinct. In keeping his hold on power he has managed to obtain absolute authority to intervene at any time, anywhere in private entities, without due process and for any reason. What he has effectively done is not only curtailing foreign investors but is stifling the economy.
 
Before Hugo chevez ca me to power private property was guaranteed. Every person had the right to use, possess, and dispose of his goods: the right of free commerce. Now Chevez has taken it upon himself to have complete control and take over any property deemed unfit to "meet the needs of the population" or in Chavez's case his best interest. The expropriating important sectors of the economy and completely running them into the ground is essentially what Hugo Chevez has done for the past 12 years. So many businesses have turned into industrial ghost plants. What factories that turned out manufacturing goods and services don't any longer. What ever sugar mills are left operating do so at a loss. Meanwhile companies that produce packaging for perishable goods are now so inferior that perishable spoil before they ever reach market. This is the reality of today's Venezuela under the regime of Hugo Chevez. 
 
21st century socialism in it's worst form. When the world today has so many times as many poor people so desperate for a future than there are rich people whose future is pretty much assured is the unflalable lesson that Chavez has managed to learn. It is this knowledge and his ability as a very effective politician has enabled Chevez to beguile the public even though he is continually admired by the nations poor. The equality that was promised, more opportunity that was to come, and the increased prosperity that was guaranteed when Hugo Chavez gained power has yet to materialize. Whatever economic visibility there was before Chavez has been lost. The only assurance of stability today is in the exportation of oil. But once that is exhausted there is no other economic opportunity available to take it's place. This is the reality of a country whose leader who continues to be so self serving. Will the lessons of this past Arab Spring take hold of a country that is now overcome in economic delusion? Maybe, but only when the rest of the world finally stops relying on fossil fuel. What remains is a country that has continued soaring food prices, persistent blackouts, the highest inflation in the Americas and one of the worst unemployment rates in all the Americas.