Charlie Hardy, a former Catholic priest from Wyoming, works with the poor of the barrios of Caracas Venezuela. He speaks about how the Bolivarian revolution changed Venezuela, from their viewpoint, and how,prior to Hugo Chavez, the U.S. supported two party "democracy" addressed the needs of its poorest citizens. He played a clip from a documentary on the changes he witnessed after Chavez's election to the Presidency in 1998.
Charlie spent 10 years living in a public housing project that became, literally, a mountain of human shit as the government provided no running water, sewers or sanitation system for its thousands of inhabitants. He offers practical advice on taking care of "business" should one find themselves in such a circumstance.
In 1985 when he arrived, U.S. Corporations owned most of Venezuela's economy and exploited its natural resources with little of the profits returning to fund Venezuelan social needs. The oil wealth, though publicly owned, went to the richest and whitest members of society. Now, under the Bolivarian Constitution, mineral wealth is a public resource to fund the needs of the many, not just the few. That's a policy that outrages the domestic and U.S. ruling class who have worked to reverse the advances made in health, housing, education, food security and human rights, and noted by the UN as some of the most outstanding in the world prior to the all out campaign of economic war and industrial sabotage orchestrated by the United States.
Charlie explains the election system, the origins of the constitutional crisis that is stoked by U.S. interference in its internal affairs,and Venezuela's election system that puts what exists in the U.S. to shame according to the President Carter Center that monitors election integrity.
Hear how the Venezuelan people are organizing to prepare for US aggression, and how the US sanctions are hurting their lives. Charlie's great fear is that the U.S. will soon start bombing as in Iraq, Libya, Syria and Yugoslavia on the pretext of providing aid to people in need.
3rd Unitarian Church Chicago Chicago Alba Solidarity
A recent interview with Charlie Hardy and Lee Artz: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OvjlgWPsFEM&feature=youtu.be
Charlie Hardy: Before and After the Arrival of Hugo Chavez https://chicagoalbasolidarity.wordpress.com/2018/03/01/before-and-after-the-arrival-of-hugo-chavez-by-charlie-hardy/
Inside Story https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTqUSey-WhE
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