This weekly email contains a few useful articles on Venezuela that contain bite-sized dose of the truth so that you can fight the disinformation in your own community, that so much of the media, including alternative media are putting out.

It is AfGJ’s conviction that we in the US defend Venezuela‘s sovereignty and recognize that the Bolivarian Revolution has improved the lives of its citizens, led the movement toward Latin America integration, and is building participatory democracy structures that are an example for us in the US as well. -AfGJ staff

We have an article on Via Campesina’s solidarity with Venezuela, one on the new currenct exchange system, and a third on Venezuela’s successful efforts to feed its people in the midst of the US’ economic war.

First, we provide two timelines, one concerning the recent coup plot, and the other on USA aggression against Venezuela since Chavez came to power:

Timeline of Venezuela’s Coup Plot Revelations

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/analysis/Timeline-of-Venezuelas-Coup-Plot-Revelations-20150226-0013.html

Eva Golinger’s Review of US Aggression against the Bolivarian Revolution

http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/02/26/us-aggression-against-venezuela/

World’s Largest Social Movement Supports Venezuelan Government

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Worlds-Largest-Social-Movement-Supports-Venezuelan-Government-20150220-0029.html

Venezuela’s New Foreign Exchange System Sees Results

http://venezuelanalysis.com/news/11236

FAO Representative Debunks Myth of Increased Hunger, Highlights Urban Farming Initiatives

http://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/11230

excerpts:

There are difficulties in the country such as supply shortages, scarcity, and hoarding; and each person has their own version of what’s going on. Does the FAO perceive any risk for the Venezuelan people with what’s occurred over the past year?

The FAO recognizes the labors of the Venezuelan government to ensure food safety. There are certainly moments of political circumstances during which things become more difficult, but in its entirety, as a whole, Venezuela’s policy for food safety is good.

What makes it good?

There are two fundamental actions for the FAO. The question is of the access to the availability of food. In today’s world, the problem of hunger is not agricultural production, there is a huge amount of such production in the world and a great amount of availability per person to these products. If you look at the numbers of available food products in the country, it exceeds the number of people who reside here. The problem of hunger is that people do not have the money to buy food. In Venezuela, the combination of social policies permit the distribution of [petrol] income; today Venezuelans have more access to food because they have more income. With the social missions, the fair distribution of income was introduced- chavismo managed to changed petrol and hydrocarbon politics to create just policies for social programs and economic development with emphasis on the people. Now we have a grave problem: petroleum was worth about 100 dollars a barrel, and now it’s at 38. That’s a big problem we must now face.

Another element of food safety policy in Venezuela that the FAO emphasizes is the caloric availability per person, Resende says. “In Venezuela there is a general availability of 3000 calories per person,” he notes.

Even in today’s circumstances?

Yes, even in this situation. Obviously, that is an important question, the FAO measures data from the past two years and may sometimes find three bad months but then things go back to normal. That’s what’s happening now in Venezuela. There is still a good caloric availability per person and hunger is no longer a problem. There were 4 million people suffering of hunger in 1990, but today this is no longer a serious problem for the Venezuelan people.

“Venezuela has much improved its agricultural production, but its still not enough for the following reasons: consumption has risen and there is the challenge of producing food that corresponds with the Venezuelan people’s needs, and there you have it. It’s not only a government problem, it is the problem of diverse production in a country of petrol-income culture [Dutch disease]… it is a problem of society.

Isn’t it unsafe that our diet, or a large part of it, depends on imports? How can we talk about food safety is we rely so heavily on imported goods?

We want to compare Venezuela with other countries in the region, but it’s impossible to do so with an extraction-based economy, with countries such as Brazil and Argentina. You have to compare with other petroleum-rent countries, that is one factor. It’s not about today, it’s not this government alone that struggles with this problem. The rentier culture is something that is a part of the people’s mentality. Some products are cheaper even to import than to produce. It’s hard to struggle against that reality.

Additionally, there is a small percentage of farmers in Venezuela. It is a very urban country, very connected to urban economic activities.

How to confront the matter? The government is promoting urban farming, and a strong policy for credits, as well as technical assistance for producers. I was impressed when President Maduro called for a farmworkers’ congress. In fact, he created a social security system for agricultural workers [and their families] – those are great policies. There is a political determination to improve management and efficiency. But Venezuela has many good things, in spite of all the problems- that is important to acknowledge.

There are studies, such as the one done by the ECLAC (Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean) which say poverty has increased in the country in this latest period, poverty measured by income. Does the FAO take a different view? Is there another area that can be strengthened, considering ECLAC’s data?

When we talk about poverty, lamentably our rule for measuring is income. Which means, if you live with less than a dollar a day, you are in extreme poverty. And look at how the Venezuelan government works. If you ask the FAO, or other international bodies, how to combat extreme poverty, there are some policies that have been used in Latin America, and Venezuela has employed them all. For example, what’s most important to lower poverty levels is to guarantee that minimum wage rises on par with inflation, and in Venezuela this policy exists. To combat extreme poverty you must provide good policies for social assistance, and here where there were 600,000 pensioners there are now 2.5 million. There is not better policy for income distribution than this. [Venezuela’s] housing policies are also excellent ways to combat impoverishment. And the mission are a living example of ways to bring down extreme poverty.