Feb. 2 marks the 12 year anniversary of the inauguration of President Chavez and the beginning of the Bolivarian Revolution. Some of Venezuela’s most impressive achievements that we want to celebrate include: A reduction in poverty by 44% between 1998 and 2008 according to the United Nations Development Programme and the OAS, a fall in unemployment from 16.8% in 2003 to 7% in 2010, an increase by 10 places on the Human Development Index of the United Nations from 1998 to 2008, and the near obliteration of illiteracy.
Ecuador’s recent crisis proves that a decisive and unified response from the international community can help determine the outcome of an illegitimate coup.
President Obama said, in his 2009 speech in Accra, Ghana, that America should support strong institutions and not strong men. However in the case of Rwanda, this has been no more than rhetoric. Rwandans, like most Africans, cheered Obama’s election, hoping that it might signal a new, more peaceful and cooperative relationship between the U.S. and Africa, but Obama has expanded AFRICOM, the U.S. Africa Command, and now he remains silent as Rwanda’s strongman, President Paul Kagame, prepares a sham presidential election to retain his brutal grip on power.
While Iraq could easily become Obama’s nightmare with a policy that emphasizes sectarian divisions, a national unity framework will help Iraq become a new democracy in the Middle East.
