Venezuelans mourn the death of Hugo Chávez outside the hospital in Caracas where he died on Tuesday.
This morning reading so many moving tributes by so many talented writers over a mas-grande cafe negro it was obvious that Hugo Chávez’ was a giant who cast a shadow far beyond Venezuela. Among those world leaders and supporters sharing their condolences and commenting on the legacy left on his country, Latin America, and the world was Oliver Stone, who said, "I mourn a great hero to the majority of his people and those who struggle throughout the world ... Hated by the entrenched classes, Hugo Chavez will live forever in history. My friend, rest finally in a peace long earned."
Derrick O'Keefe's piece 'Hugo Chávez’, Undefeated' said, "The rich and powerful of the world did not hate Chavez because he was a dictator... They hated him because he was symbolic of a threat to the dictatorship of Capital, a figurehead of a continent alive with social movements and millions of people conscious of their political power."
Greg Grandin wrote a great biography at 'The Nation' titled On the Legacy of Hugo Chávez
And Oscar Guardiola-Rivera quoted Chávez’ in his article titled 'Hugo Chávez Kept His Promise to the People of Venezuela', saying that Chávez "had discovered himself not by looking within, but by looking outside into the shameful conditions of Latin Americans and their past. He discovered himself in the promise of liberation made by Bolívar. 'On August 1805,' wrote Chávez, Bolívar 'climbed the Monte Sacro near Rome and made a solemn oath.' Like Bolívar, Chávez swore to break the chains binding Latin Americans to the will of the mighty. Within his lifetime, the ties of dependency and indirect empire have loosened. From the river Plate to the mouths of the Orinoco river, Latin America is no longer somebody else's backyard."
As The Mud Report said some weeks ago, "Though Hugo Chávez’ character and politics have been often spun by the empire's propaganda machine, the facts on the ground of what he has accomplished can't. The facts are that Hugo Chávez and his party recently won so many fair and free elections mainly because they greatly improved the living standards of the majority of voters in Venezuela. Since 2004 poverty has been cut by half and extreme poverty by more than 70 percent. Venezuelans get free education to the highest levels and free quality health care, the poor get subsidized food and housing, land reform, respect for indigenous rights, job training, micro credit, affordable electricity and cooking gas and gasoline at 7 cents a gallon. Eligibility for public pensions tripled, most of the poverty reduction coming from increased employment, not 'government handouts', and during most of Chávez’ tenure the private sector has grown faster than the public sector. If you haven’t heard any of this, it’s because the news media in the US and the rest of the 'free' world is giving you the equivalent of a “tea party” view of Chávez' accomplishments."
"Beyond his domestic accomplishments Hugo Chávez will long a hero to anti-imperialists around the globe because he used Venezuela's oil revenue to help his neighbors, not enrich himself and his cronies. The empire hates and fears Chávez because of the example he sets out for others to follow. And follow they do, all over Latin America and far beyond. We all have to die sooner or later, yesterday was Hugo's turn, but his legacy will live on in the hearts and memories of 'the people' both living and those yet unborn."
