What do Venezuelans really have in common with Islamic fundamentalists? Do the Cubans really provide services to Venezuela worth more than what the country spends on education? Are Iran, Hezbollah, and the FARC engaged in terrorist activities inside Venezuela's borders? What happened to the Reyes files? After ten years of waiting, where is the paradise that was advertised?

Michael Rowan: Why is Venezuela sending 15,000 troops to the Colombian border? In the war between Colombia and the FARC, whose side is Venezuela truly on? Where are the 100,000 Kalashnikov assault rifles purchased from Russia? Why does Venezuela need nuclear power? With so many hydro and carbon resources, why is there electricity rationing? With so much more water than almost any nation of the Americas, why is there so little healthy water to drink? Why are there so few rice and beans to buy?

As Venezuela's GDP per capita doubled in the decade, why are half the people still poor? Where is the trillion dollars that passed through Venezuela in the last decade? Why are Venezuela's bridges, roads and buildings falling apart? Why is PDVSA producing only 60% of the oil it produced in 1998? In a rich country, why are millions of families still living without adequate housing, water, sanitation and security? Why has cocaine trafficking through Venezuela increased from 50 tons in 2004 to 250 tons today? Why did ranches produce so much meat when they were in the hands of capitalists and so little meat when they were confiscated for government communes? What happened to the idea of putting henhouses on every roof? How bulletproof is Venezuela's economy against the realities of globalization?

What happened to the investigation of the killers on April 11, 2002? What happened to the families of six thousand official killings since 1998? Why are so many opposition politicians in exile? Are human rights estimates correct that Venezuela has 300 political prisoners? Why is government TV so boring? Why is Venezuela among the leaders in the world for inflation, homicides and kidnappings? Wasn't poverty supposed to be eliminated by now? What do Venezuelans really have in common with Islamic fundamentalists? Do the Cubans really provide services to Venezuela worth more than what the country spends on education? Are Iran, Hezbollah, and the FARC engaged in terrorist activities inside Venezuela's borders? What happened to the Reyes files? After ten years of waiting, where is the paradise that was advertised?

OK, Venezuela is ten years older but is she ten years wiser?

Michael Rowan
michaelrowan22@gmail.com

http://english.eluniversal.com/2009/11/17/en_opi_esp_michael-rowan--ques_17A3067571.shtml