The Mirror October 22, 2003, Wednesday

TOMMY SHERIDAN'S COLUMN: A REVOLUTION GROWING FOR THE PEOPLE



THERE are new winds blowing across Latin America according to Guillermo Garcia Ponce. I met Guillermo the other day. He's a fascinating man. He is 75 years old and, until his recent retirement, was a key figure in Venezuela's revolutionary government. Over the past 60 years, Guillermo has been repeatedly imprisoned for standing up against repression and injustice. My few stints behind bars pale into insignificance compared to this man's life-long struggle for democracy, freedom and socialism. He is furiously denounced by Venezuela's rich elite as a dangerous man. After chatting with him for a few hours I tell him that the world needs more dangerous men like him.

Venezuela today is at the heart of a radical new movement across Latin America. This new movement opposes the power of the USA and corporate capitalism. It stands for genuine national independence and freedom from the stranglehold of the White House and Wall Street. It wants to use Venezuela's oil and other resources for the benefit of the working class and the poor. The country's president, Hugo Chavez had himself been imprisoned back in 1992 for organising a people's revolt against the right-wing Venezuelan government.

IN one of the most oil-rich nations in the world, 80 per cent of the people lived a hand-to-mouth existence. Chavez was released in 1996 and has since become a national hero to the poor and ordinary workers across Venezuela. A former paratrooper in his countryis conscript army, he was elected national president in December 1998 with twice as many votes as all his opponents combined. He set about land reform to shift the balance away from big landowners to small farmers. He built schools, hospitals and homes for his people. He carried out wealth redistribution from rich to poor. He drew up a new constitution to protect Venezuelan oil from the multinational vampires. As a result, Chavez was re-elected in an even bigger landslide in August 2000.

The revolution unfolding in Venezuela today is not really a socialist revolution. But it's a democratic revolution which strikes at the heart of US power in the region. Chavez has expelled US troops from Venezuelan soil. His government opposed the bombing of Afghanistan and the invasion of Iraq. Inevitably, his government provoked the wrath of the rich. In April 2002, the president was imprisoned following a CIA-backed coup. The rich elite were jubilant. But then ordinary people of Venezuela took to the streets in their millions to demand the return of their elected president.

Within three days, Chavez was reinstalled as president. But still the rich refused to accept the will of the people. Last December a bosses' lock-out was organised in a bid to bring down the elected government. The country was crippled. Oil production plummeted. In response, Chavez renationalised and reorganised the oil industry to save it from the corrupt American influenced management. It is now run democratically with its profits used to benefit the people of Venezuela.

I've visited the barrios or shanty towns surrounding Caracas. I've been interviewed by the new community media network and local radio station which broadcasts to two million people. The whole experience has been exhilarating and inspirational. Truly, a revolution is taking place in this country.

In nearby Bolivia, the right wing president has been forced to flee and Chavez is being blamed. What is happening in Venezuela is having a knock-on effect. In other Latin American countries, governments have become less willing to act as Washington's poodles. New winds are definitely blowing across Latin America. Socialism and national independence are in the air.

Tommy Sheridan