Jagdeo is the best thing after sliced bread

Nov 14, 2023 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

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Kaieteur News – Hugo Chavez, the former and now deceased President of Venezuela, implemented a series of social reforms to assist the poor. But these reforms in themselves did not define his 21^st Century Socialism.

Chavez’s investments in housing, health and education and other social programmes led to the slashing of poverty from 70% in 1998 to 21% in 2010. Extreme poverty was reduced from 40% to 7%. The most dramatic decline in poverty in Latin America and the Caribbean. Inequality was also slashed by almost half during the said period.

But Chavez was smart enough to know that mere investment in social services is not enough to attenuate the social gaps created by capitalism. He was only able to secure the resources to increase social spending because of his nationalization of the oil industry and the kicking out of private oil companies. Ironically, this became a source of decline in Venezuela’s economic fortunes. The United States of America launched a vicious assault against Chavez and began to sabotage his economy. But external forces alone did not contribute to Venezuela’s misfortunes. The process of nationalization was too rash, to the point where after a mass exodus of skilled personnel, Chavez could not find the skills to efficiently operate the refineries.

With American pressure mounting, including attempted coups and later an embargo, the economy slowed dramatically. The Empire to the North struck back under Obama and this aggravated the problems of an economy which for too long had been dependent on oil. Venezuela’s lack of economic diversification contributed to the fragility of its economy. It suffered a massive shortfall in revenues when oil prices dipped. But the factor which contributed the most to the devastation of the Venezuelan economy were the sanctions imposed by the United States and its decision to cut off sources of financing, including the country’s own reserves. The United States wants regime change in Venezuela. It had wanted Chavez ousted. It had conspired to topple Chavez because it feared the spread of 21^st Century Socialism to the rest of South America. Just as it has stifled Cuba’s development since the Revolution, it has done the same to Venezuela.

All of this is important to understand because the PPPC is selling the public a steady diet of propaganda bragging about its social spending. But this social spending has not been transformative as was the case with Venezuela. The PPPC’s social programmes in Guyana never matched in scope and scale the social reforms undertaken by Hugo Chavez. And after Cheddi Jagan died and Janet Jagan demitted the presidency, Jagdeo set the PPPC assuredly on path of neo-liberal economic development. This is why he never implemented the National Development Strategy. His Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) was developed by someone wedded to the Washington Consensus. And this PRSP was only developed because this was a requirement for assistance for low-income countries from the international financial institutions.

The increases in social spending that Jagdeo instituted did not alter the neo-liberal bias in the economy. This bias continues today to provide financial windfalls to the bourgeois class. The PPPC has been effectively co-opted by the bourgeois class. The government is a creature of the bourgeois class and there is even a report that one Minister has established a construction company which has received major government contracts. After PNC protestors burnt down the building on Regent Street which had formerly housed Gimpex – the commercial arm of the PPPC – the party became totally dependent on rich business class for financing its operations and for bankrolling its elections campaigns. Under Jagdeo, the PPPC was seized by the bourgeois class. The PPPC now does its bidding. At present, the people are getting excited by the crumbs that are being thrown at them by the PPPC but it is the contracting class – the emergent segment of the bourgeois class – that is making hay with Guyana’s oil revenues.

Billions of dollars – both public and private – are being plugged into infrastructural projects and it is the contractors who are reaping rich rewards from these projects. The bourgeois class is capitalizing on the oil boom. Persons who never hammered a nail in their lives have established firms and are bidding for road construction projects. The people are being fooled by the illusion of progress. They believe that the little handouts and wage adjustments and increases they receive are a sign of a caring government. The PPPC’s social spending therefore camouflages its class nature. For the bourgeois class, Jagdeo is the best thing after sliced bread. But unlike Chavez’s social programmes, the PPPC’s social investments have not had the same effect on poverty and inequality. Education is in a mess, the health sector has to now borrow money, and pensioners are being awarded a $25,000 bonus while the rich rice farmers will get far more in value in the form of free fertilizers.

(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and beliefs of this newspaper and its affiliates.)

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• 21st Century Socialism, Caribbean, Hugo Chavez, Peeping Tom, Venezuela

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