Venezuela
I recently stumbled on this community and thought it sounded neat.
Does anyone have a better clue than I on what's going on in Venezuela these days? Over the last few years there's been a big hubbub about President Hugo Chavez. Most mainstream US media seem to make him sound like some kind of dictator, but most American leftist press (like this article) seem to cast him as a democratically elected defender of the poor and disenfranchized. I heard a story about this weekend's referendum on the BBC and they made the situation more complicated yet, giving the impression that Venezuelans are very divided - Chavez being very popular with extremely poor people and very unpopular with the rich and middle class. Actually, to be fair to the mainstream media, CNN has a fairly similar story.
I tend to trust the BBC and American alternative media more than the American mainstream media, but I'm also sure that the situation is more complicated than any news story could make it. I'm wondering if anyone here has a more informed perspective on the issue. Please enlighten me!
Does anyone have a better clue than I on what's going on in Venezuela these days? Over the last few years there's been a big hubbub about President Hugo Chavez. Most mainstream US media seem to make him sound like some kind of dictator, but most American leftist press (like this article) seem to cast him as a democratically elected defender of the poor and disenfranchized. I heard a story about this weekend's referendum on the BBC and they made the situation more complicated yet, giving the impression that Venezuelans are very divided - Chavez being very popular with extremely poor people and very unpopular with the rich and middle class. Actually, to be fair to the mainstream media, CNN has a fairly similar story.
I tend to trust the BBC and American alternative media more than the American mainstream media, but I'm also sure that the situation is more complicated than any news story could make it. I'm wondering if anyone here has a more informed perspective on the issue. Please enlighten me!