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After I was deported last year to Germany I had to find out that many (of the remaining) "leftists" - mainly Trotskyists - were/are making massive propaganda for the "Socialism of the 21st century", aka the "Bolivarian Revolution" in Venezuela. Actually I had no real idea about what was/is going on in this country..

Of course I knew about the "liberation struggle"  in Latin America, for example in Columbia (CPC/ML, EPL, ELN, FARC..), the history about the anti-fascist resistance in Chile, the "Shining Path"(C.P.Peru).. But about Venezuela - I had no real idea, not really. But I remember that in the middle of the 90's we, our "communist party" in Germany had once visitors from Venezuela (Partido Bandera Roja, Red Flag Party/RFP). And they "promised" us that "in the next year" they will make in their country "the revolution". But actually it wasn't happen. Instead in 1998 Chavez, a former miltary officer won the election. Later I'd to learn that the RFP was/is in strongest opposition to the Chavez gov't, and even supported the failed coup against the gov't..(harrharr, f.. "communists"!)

Just a few days ago I saw on a friend's blog something about Chavez' "revolution" and on jinbonet.blog there is also something about it since yesterday or so..

Anyway(perhaps in the coming days I'll write some of my thoughts about this issue here).. just three days ago I found in The Guardian following article:

Welcome to the Chávez revolution - where the rich keep getting richer

Venezuela's surging economy means its world of country clubs, fine wines and luxury cars still flourishes 
   
Another agreeable lunch ended at the Caracas Country Club with a bottle of Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon, the chef's famous flan and a round of espressos.
From their table in the sun-kissed courtyard the three businessmen could hear only the fountain's gurgle, the murmur of other diners, the clink of glasses and the swish of waiters.

A socialist revolution is supposed to be clanging through Venezuela but from this oasis of wealth in the heart of the capital it is inaudible, just like the traffic. "The revolution is blah blah blah. We don't feel threatened," said one of the trio, a shoe factory owner.

Much of the country's elite, it seems, feel the same way. President Hugo Chávez has warned that "capitalism will lead to the destruction of humanity" but seldom has there been a better time to make, spend and enjoy money.
The economy is surging at 9.4% and banks and credit card companies are reporting exponential increases in deposits and loans. Car sales are expected to more than double this year to 300,000, many of them luxury models, and property prices rival Manhattan.

The reason is oil. As the world's fifth biggest exporter Venezuela has thrived as the barrel price hovers around $60.

Unlike previous petro-booms, however, this one is supposed to be different as there is a powerful president who wears a red beret, quotes Che Guevara and praises Cuban communism. Mr Chávez has garnered global attention with promises to "transform the structures of capitalism".

Billions of dollars have been spent on improving health care and education for the country's poor and in the countryside a small minority of sugar plantations and ranches have been turned into socialist cooperatives.

But property rights and the structure of the economy remain intact, largely because the government does not want to impede its revenue, prompting relief from the elite and grumbles from the radical left who want greater redistribution of resources. "If you look at what it has accomplished, it is a neoliberal government," Douglas Bravo, a former Marxist guerrilla who was once close to Mr Chávez, lamented to the daily El Nacional.

Mr Chávez has described his eight years in power as a transition and promised a more radical phase, inspired partly by Fidel Castro's Cuba, if he wins another term in an election next month. Polls predict a landslide.

Alberto Garrido, a historian and leading pundit, said there was revolutionary intent but that an Americanised consumer culture in love with baseball, McDonald's and designer labels obliged the government to tread cautiously.

A notable example is golf. In August the mayor of Caracas and presidential ally, Juan Barreto, threatened to expropriate swaths of Caracas Country Club and Valle Arriba golf club to build houses for the poor.

Three months later Chávismo has not conquered the fairways. The vice-president, Vincente Rangel, scorned the idea and Mr Chávez, not wanting to pick this fight in the run-up to an election, said not a word, leaving the mayor to fight a lonely battle against the clubs' lawyers.

Caracas Country Club, founded in 1918 and with 8,000 well-heeled members, went on the offensive last week by claiming the expropriation threat was based on fraudulent documents. "We feel it will be resolved rationally, we are confident in the rule of law," said the club president, Fernando Zozaya. Asked about the revolution Mr Zozaya was wary, not wanting to provoke the government. "Let's say it's a very special type of socialism."

The three businessmen lunching in the courtyard were more explicit in mocking it as empty bluster. "It hasn't touched my work, I'm left alone," said one.

That did not stop them loathing Mr Chávez, whom they blamed for inflation, crime, corruption and a climate of intolerance which blocks government critics from state jobs.

Tellingly, none of the trio wanted to give his name. "You don't know the way it's going to end up so you don't want to jeopardise yourself," said one.

Stories abound of money being spirited abroad and of lobbying for US and European visas, lest hasty emigration becomes necessary.

Bubbling beneath the economic bonanza is a widespread sense of unease that the country has been here before. During two huge oil booms in the 1970s there was giddy talk of "La Gran Venezuela" in which petrodollars would permanently transform the economy and in which everything was possible.

Instead the economy was slowly strangled by overdependence on one exploitable resource which created production bottlenecks, inefficiency, corruption and mismanagement, paving the way for a crash when oil prices fell.

A US opinion pollster, Alex Evans, said the boom was insufficient reason for the elite, comprising 5% of the population, to support the incumbent. "They just don't like the guy."

There is a paradox that the more Mr Chávez denounces the United States, which he calls an empire run by a devil, the closer the countries' two economies become.

Bilateral trade soared by over a third to $40bn last year. Most was oil but it also included car production and financial services from the likes of Halliburton, a company linked to the US vice-president, Dick Cheney.

The fruits were on display at a Caracas expo of luxury vehicles and speedboats. Staff at six stands interviewed by the Guardian all said business had never been so good.

"It's ironic, this revolution. The rich are even richer now," said Rene Diaz, who was selling Humvee-type 4x4s which cost up to $150,000.

The most popular drink at the bar was the most expensive - an 18-year-old whisky.

"They don't want the cheaper stuff," shrugged a barman.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/venezuela/story/0,,1947026,00.html

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