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First of all, as far as the relative "cheapness" of goods in Caracas: The way it's put tends to deceive since people will remember better that the goods are "cheap" than the qualifying comment. Completely aside from that, the practical meaning is this: These goods are cheap in dollars but sky high in bolivares. Fuentes writes: "It is common to find street hawkers with debit and credit card machines, and many happy to accept US dollars to overcome this problem." The clear implication is that goods are easily affordable, and that is true... for those who have access to US dollars! But this "little detail" isn't mentioned by the author, so he leaves a false impression. Who has access to dollars is the bolibourgeoisie, another "little detail" not mentioned by Fuentes. In other words, the bolibourgeoisie isn't seriously hurt by the collapse in the value of the bolivar but the masses of Venezuelans are. I find it hard to believe that the author was not aware of the effect on the reader of leaving out of these key facts. Likewise, I find it peculiar that he completely fails to mention the several million Venezuelan refugees who have fled Venezuela. I am guessing that the reporter didn't just go to Venezuela on their own but that they were shown around, so the question is: "Who is it that showed them around?" That little detail is left out, but I would bet it wasn't the socialist opposition, for instance the Party for Socialism and Freedom there. In fact, I would bet it was people associated with the PSUV, that is to say, Maduro supporters. Were they told about the FAES (government militia types) having murdered people? Were they told about how the food supplements are given to the government supporters, not to the working class as a whole? A few days ago, I posted to this list an article from the Wall St. Journal describing the desperate situation for Venezuela's poor, as well as the repression the Maduro regime is carrying out against them. Chris Slee did not deny the possibility that the article was accurate. So he is now left in a difficult position, because that WSJ article and the Green Left Weekly article cannot both be accurate. They present radically different pictures of life in Venezuela. Given the subtle misrepresentations and the failure to mention key facts (e.g. the millions of Venezuelan economic refugees) as well as the descriptions from such left sources inside Venezuela as Simon Rodriguez (laclase.info -- at the moment not working, for whatever reason), I don't find the Green Left Weekly article credible. One simple question -- *“In politics, abstract terms conceal treachery.” *from "The Black Jacobins" by C. L. R. James Check out:https:http://oaklandsocialist.com also on Facebook _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
