Reaction in Ottawa to the death of Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez:
Prime Minister Stephen Harper in an e-mail statement:
“I would like to offer my condolences to the people of Venezuela on the passing of President Chávez. Canada looks forward to working with his successor and other leaders in the region to build a hemisphere that is more prosperous, secure and democratic. At this key juncture, I hope the people of Venezuela can now build for themselves a better, brighter future based on the principles of freedom, democracy, the rule of law and respect for human rights.”
Leader of the Official Opposition, NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair speaking to reporters outside his caucus meeting Wednesday:
“The country is going to be going through important moments right now. Some parts of what he’s done over the years, of course, very controversial. I know when something like this occurs we always try to remember the best parts so I’m sure that the people of his country who democratically elected him will have fond memories of him. There are other things that are far more controversial in his actions over the recent years and I hope like everyone that the people of Venezuela are able to democratically find stability and prosperity for themselves.”
And there’s the reaction from the folks at Rabble.ca, nicely introduced by the National Post’s Jonathan Kay:
Rabble.ca delivers good old fashioned (unironic) Soviet-style martyr-to-war-against-capitalism sendoff to Hugo Chavez rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers…
— Jonathan Kay (@jonkay) March 6, 2013
Hugo Chavez was definitely sincere about social justice, but I don’t think he choose the best road to achieve his goal. On the long run, socialism has always been detrimental to the nations it was supposed to serve. Besides that, I dont understand why Chavez hated the US so much. By the way, I noticed that countries whose leaders hate the US are usually countries where atrocities are commited on a daily basis…
Though Hugo Chavez’s revolution in Venezuela was controversial from the viewpoint of the capitalistic economic establishment, he has achieved a great deal towards redistributing the immense wealth of the region and galvanizing a movement in South America. There is a huge proportion of the population in South America that is under-educated and underserviced. Chavez brought this to the attention of the powers-that-be. Those with much to lose by such a change in government policy, fled to friendlier political environments. That has resulted in a “brain drain” out of Venezuela, and the net loss to the country was significant. Chavez recognized the importance of an educated and properly supported population. Under the previous corrupt regime, huge segments of the population were used and abused. They were under-educated, under-medicated, lived in substandard housing and were searching for a saviour to help them off the treadmill that was their lives. For that reason Hugo was supported through his revolution by a large majority of the people.
In his tenure as Presidente, Mr. Chavez nationalized companies that were making obscene amounts of money from Venezuelan resources and exporting those profits elsewhere. He stopped the drain of capial from the country. Those monies were then redirected to the people who needed schools, medical clinics and care, and to much better housing than they previously had. Infrastructure was built and overall, the country is in a better position to enjoy a much brighter future.
Canada’s Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, showed his ignorance with a backhanded statement of condolence implicitly indicating that Mr. Chavez’s policies were harmful to the people of Venezuela. As with most things emanating from this right wing ideologue, he has no credibility and should be ignored.
I wish Mr. Maduro well and Venezuelans a bright and more prosperous future based upon their own natural wealth.