Some say, "Chavez isn't that bad for Venezuela." But they're wrong

Despite the smile, Chavez's policies haven't left many Venezuelans grinning.
http://latinamericanhistory.about.com/b/2008/05/16/interpol-verifies-rebel-documents.htm

Most agree that the political discrimination I wrote about here is unjust, but there are still those that argue Chavez hasn’t been that bad for Venezuela. But they’re wrong, and here’s why:

Economy: Venezuela should be one of the wealthiest in South America due to its natural energy resources; but it’s not. Instead, Venezuela has the highest inflation rate in South America: 30%. And, the state-run oil company, Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) is in extreme debt. In a nation that should be overflowing with resources for power, outages are commonplace.

Meanwhile, the Chavez government spent $4 billion on Russian arms between 2005 and 2008 and yet neglects to address the critical infrastructure that delivers basic resources throughout the country. What’s more, the government reports that it since 2002, it spent $16.5 billion on updating the electrical grid, but only two out of the three dozen projects are fully completed. To top it all off, consider the water shortages. They’ve gotten so bad that taking a long bath is almost illegal. Instead, Chavez stated that everyone should be taking “communist showers” at three minutes or less.

Crime: Since 1999 when Chavez was elected, murders have increased from 33 per 100,000 to 49 in 2006. Comparatively, in 1990, the murder rate was approximately 12.4 per 100,000. What's more, murder rates in Caracas have climbed so high that the State Department declared Caracas as having one of the highest murder rates in the world, with some speculating a rate as high as 160 murders per 100,000.

Terrorism: As I've discussed before, Chavez maintains close ties to known state sponsors of terror, such as Iran and Cuba. He is openly sympathetic to the Colombian terrorist group, FARC, and members of his government, have materially aided FARC. Additionally, Chavez publicly voiced support of Iran’s financing of Hezbollah, and new allegations directly link Venezuelan drug-trafficking to financing Hezbollah. Two senior Venezuelan government officials have also been designated as Hezbollah supporters by the State Department.

False hope: "In 2005 [Chavez] announced that his Robinson programme had eliminated illiteracy.....That too looks false. A study conducted by Francisco Rodríguez (former chief economist of the Venezuelan national assembly) and Daniel Ortega (of Venezuela's IESA business school) found that at the end of 2005 there were more than 1 million illiterate Venezuelans, not significantly down from the 1.1 million in the first half of 2003, when the Robinson programme started. Demographic trends, not the social programme, account for this tiny reduction."

The Bottom Line: The economic factors aren't just symptoms of an economic slump, but indicate extreme mismanagement of resources. The real issue here is excessive control by the government. That is, government control over the economy and over everyday life wreaks havoc for freedom of choice and prosperity. Furthermore, spikes in crime and ties to terrorism only serve to undermine Chavez's legitimacy. It’s no wonder that his popularity has fallen from 61% in 2006 to 47%.