Venezuela is Socialist? Whaaa?

Our resort, LagunaMar, featured a fairly common form of entertainment each night. After the sun set behind the mountains, dancers and comedians would take the stage, a plywood & particleboard masterpiece, and squeeze laughter and smiles from the audience.

One night they shouted to the audience only in Spanish.

Upon hearing "Benezuela!" the Venezuelans erupted in cheers. The Columbians took their turn when "Columbia!" was shouted. And, as Chile, Argentina, Brazil, U.K. and Canada echoed across the stage, each corresponding nationality cheered for their country. Even Germany was mentioned, to the joy of two.

The United States, where half of my family lives, was never mentioned. And during our stay we didn’t come across any Americans. But Suz and I did meet a couple from Venezuela, on a 3-day vacation from Caracas. We learned a lot from them, including the astonishing price of gas. At 2 cents per litre, they filled their tank for less than $2.00 U.S, and drove 3 hours to the ferry which took them to the resort. Gas in Venezuela isn’t taxed, and is among the cheapest things they can possibly purchase.

So what’s the deal with Venezuela and the States? Why were there no American tourists? Why wasn’t the U.S. even acknowleged at our resort? It’s no secret that Bush hates Chavez and vice versa, but are flights from the U.S. actually restricted from entering Venezuela?

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina Bush was unable to supply enough oil for his own country, prompting Chavez to swoop in on his golden oil barrel and donate in the neighbourhood of one million barrels. It’s been said that the only reason Bush accepted Venezuela’s offer was because they already had a network of Venezuelan-owned distributors in place: Citgo.

Yet, despite this act of kindness in a time of devastation, Bush has put Venezuela on his blacklist of countries not cooperating with the war on drugs. The two are not related, unless you consider Bush’s double standard when it comes to Venezuela.

The U.S. relies heavily on Venezuelan oil, but at the same time tries to de-legitimize Venezuela’s government due to their close ties with socialst countries like North Korea and Cuba. It’s really too bad, because Cuba isn’t a threat to the U.S.

Of course, that’s debatable.

Bush’s administration tries so hard to protect their country from terrorists, but can’t protect them very well from hurricanes, as evidenced by the Katrina fiasco.

Hurricane Charley caused only 4 deaths in Cuba, yet was responsible for 30 deaths in the States. Wilma caused only 4 deaths in Cuba, but 36 in the States. And Ivan was responsible for a mere 3 deaths in Venezuela, zero in Cuba, and 54 in the States.

During our ‘orientation’ on our second day, a fellow Canadian asked our Venezuelan guide whether or not Venezuela was socialist. He replied, "we are leaning towards that direction… but we should not talk politics," then nervously laughed, and went on to the next question.