"Poll: Venezuelans Have Highest Regard for Their Democracy"

[Peace Patriot]

By: Gregory Wilpert - Venezuelanalysis.com

"(venezuelanalysis.com)--Venezuelans view their democracy more favorably than the citizens of all other Latin American countries view their own democracies, except Uruguay, according to a new survey released by the Chilean NGO Latinbarometro last Saturday. Also, Venezuela is in first place in several measures of political participation, compared to all other Latin American countries.

"According to the Latinobarometro survey, Venezuelans rank their democracy as being more fully realized than the citizens of all other surveyed countries do except Uruguay. On a scale of 1 to 10, where 1 means a country that is not democratic and 10 is a country that is completely democratic, Venezuelans, on average, gave their own democracy a score of 7.0. The Latin American average was 5.8, with Uruguay having the highest score, of 7.2, and Paraguay the lowest, at 3.9.

"Similarly, Venezuelans say more often than the citizens all other countries except Uruguayans that they are satisfied with their democracy. 57% of Venezuelans are happy with Venezuelan democracy, which is the second highest percentage, with 66% of Uruguayans expressing satisfaction. The average for all countries surveyed was 38%, with citizens of Peru, Ecuador*, and Paraguay, expressing the least satisfaction, of 23%, 22%, and 12% respectively.

"For Venezuela, the percentage of citizens surveyed who indicated satisfaction increased more since 1998, the year Chavez was elected, than any other country. The percentage expressing satisfaction increased from 32% to 57% in those eight years."

(MORE)

http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news.php?newsno=2179

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*(MY NOTE: Ecuador just weeks ago elected the very popular young leftist economist Rafael Correa as president, so I expect that Ecuadorans' view of their democracy will significantly improve over the coming years. Correa endorsed Hugo Chavez's view of Bush as "the devil" (he said it was an insult to the devil) during his campaign. Ecuador now joins Venezuela, Bolivia, Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil and Chile (and, in the next election cycle, Peru) in the new leftist consensus in South America, which is focused on self-determination for Latin countries, and regional political and economic cooperation toward that end. They are recovering from decades, and centuries, of U.S. exploitation, often inflicted by brutal U.S.-backed dictators and local rich elites in collusion with U.S.-based global corporate predators. They have the right idea--Simon Bolivar's idea (of a "United States of South America"): strength in numbers, a regional trade group like the EU, and a common currency (to get off the U.S. dollar)--and have made progress in this regard over the last year or so.

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The article has an interesting conclusion--that flies in the face of standard disinformation from our war profiteering corporate news monopolies up here in the north:

"The Latinobarometro report contradicted the common perception that Latin America was heading towards more authoritarian regimes with the recent political shift towards the left. 'It is clear that there is no authoritarian regression , which is demonstrated by the fact that 14 presidents were substituted, for various reasons and due to popular pressure prior to the end of their mandate and within the valid legal framework in each of the countries,' said the report."

That's a curious way to put it, but it's the truth. In other words: majority rule! The rich and corrupt fascist elites are out--by popular demand--and the vast poor majority has at last achieved political power comparable to their numbers. And it's all been quite peaceful and democratic. And this is what our corporate news monopolies have disinformed us about--that democracy is winning! --and that government of the people, by the people and for the people has not perished from the earth. It's alive and well in South America!