2008 Woodie Awards
Venezuela is eliminating poverty, achieving democracy, ambassador says
Posted Fri., Sept. 14 at 9:11 p.m.
By: Matthew Stone, Editor in Chief
Issue date: 9/14/07 Section: News
- Page 1 of 2 next >
Poverty will only disappear if the poor become empowered, the Venezuelan ambassador to the United States said Friday. Charity is not enough in the fight against poverty because poverty signifies a lack of power, the diplomat, Bernardo Alvarez, said.
"This is thinking outside the box. Even some of the leftist thinkers are shocked," Alvarez said before an audience of students and community members in Macalester's Weyerhaeuser Boardroom.
Alvarez visited the Twin Cities at the end of a tour through the northern Midwest and parts of Canada. He and his delegation had plans to attend Friday's match up between the Twins and the Detroit Tigers at the Metrodome following the address.
Alvarez noted that, even as relations between the United States and Venezuela have frosted over in recent years, the two countries share baseball as a tradition. Major League Baseball teams count 57 Venezuelan players on their rosters.
The Venezuelan ambassador became the latest diplomat to visit campus this week, which started last Monday with appearances by Richard Holbrooke, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, and Walter Mondale '50, a former ambassador to Japan. Mondale will return to campus Monday to moderate a session between an Israeli Knesset member and a Palestinian legislator.
In a speech that lasted more than an hour, Alvarez called the Venezuelan government's efforts at eliminating poverty through "Socialism of the 21st Century"-as Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez and supporters label their political philosophy-a "power struggle." The result of that struggle will be a more participatory democracy, Alvarez said.
"We think representative democracy is good. But, first, it does not help correct inequalities," the ambassador said. "So, we are trying to go for a different model."
Alvarez called the Venezuelan government's issuing of identification cards and documents to the country's poor as a key step in including that sector of society in a democracy. It is also a symbol that the poor have been left out in the past, he said.
"This is thinking outside the box. Even some of the leftist thinkers are shocked," Alvarez said before an audience of students and community members in Macalester's Weyerhaeuser Boardroom.
Alvarez visited the Twin Cities at the end of a tour through the northern Midwest and parts of Canada. He and his delegation had plans to attend Friday's match up between the Twins and the Detroit Tigers at the Metrodome following the address.
Alvarez noted that, even as relations between the United States and Venezuela have frosted over in recent years, the two countries share baseball as a tradition. Major League Baseball teams count 57 Venezuelan players on their rosters.
The Venezuelan ambassador became the latest diplomat to visit campus this week, which started last Monday with appearances by Richard Holbrooke, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, and Walter Mondale '50, a former ambassador to Japan. Mondale will return to campus Monday to moderate a session between an Israeli Knesset member and a Palestinian legislator.
In a speech that lasted more than an hour, Alvarez called the Venezuelan government's efforts at eliminating poverty through "Socialism of the 21st Century"-as Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez and supporters label their political philosophy-a "power struggle." The result of that struggle will be a more participatory democracy, Alvarez said.
"We think representative democracy is good. But, first, it does not help correct inequalities," the ambassador said. "So, we are trying to go for a different model."
Alvarez called the Venezuelan government's issuing of identification cards and documents to the country's poor as a key step in including that sector of society in a democracy. It is also a symbol that the poor have been left out in the past, he said.
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
Mark
posted 9/17/07 @ 12:50 AM CST
Ambassador Alvarez?s talk of representative democracy is interesting in that the current model used by Venezuela, a la Chavez, has little resemblance to one. (Continued…)
Post a Comment