More antacid for BushCo! :nopity:
Published on Sunday, December 3, 2006 by the lndependent/UK
Viva Chavez! Venezuelan President Set for Election Victory
A third term as President of Venezuela beckons for man who looks after the poor.
by Andrew Buncombe in Caracas
THEY arrived in a steady stream throughout the morning, bearing with them a stack of Tupperware-style containers and the expectation of a decent feed. Young and old, women and men, they handed over their tubs and then took them back, steaming full of rice, chicken and soup.
"We come every day. We come to get lunch - mainly for our children. It's really great," said Lilian Ibarra, a mother of three and a grandmother of nine, as she waited for her food. "We all ate before but now we eat better, with fruit and vegetables, the things the children need. we have healthcare, doctors. Whenever we have any problem the doctors are right there."
She added, rather unnecessarily: "We are all Chavistas."
Venezuela votes today, with polls suggesting incumbent Hugo Chavez will be easily reelected to a third term with a lead of anything up to 20 point over his centrist challenger, Manuel Rosales.
His victory will be cemented by people such as Mrs Ibarra, for if Mr Chavez's vision for the future of Venezuela was first forged during his years in the armed forces - and then further burnished as he cooled his heels in jail following a failed 1992 coup attempt - it is in the hard-pressed barrios of Caracas that such a vision is now being realised.
In places such as the scruffy neighbourhood of El Guarataro, scores of " missions" have been established using the country's oil wealth to help feed and educate the poor. The Independent on Sunday was escorted on a tour by Mariella Guzman, a 53-year-old Chavez activist who two-and-half years ago established a government soup kitchen which feeds 150 people, six days a week.
Ms Guzman, wearing a bright red Chavez T-shirt showing 10 fingers (referring to the hoped-for 10m votes in support of the president), insisted that anyone in need - and not just supporters of Mr Chavez - were welcome at the mission. Yet the kitchen was full of Chavez election posters and Mrs Guzman made no attempt to pretend that anyone coming to eat would not receive a portion of proselytizing. "The idea is not to exclude anyone," she added. " if anyone says anything bad about Chavez I will tell them not to come to my house because this is a revolutionary house."..........
The complete article is at:
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/1203-03.htm 
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