Hugo Chavez Was Good For Venezuela

There has been a lot of pretty bad press regarding President Hugo Chavez in this country since his death. In fact, far too many in the United States seem to be celebrating his death. That is primarily because the U.S. government has been demonizing President Chavez for many years. They have done this because U.S. foreign policy is driven by what is good for the giant corporations -- and Chavez made the U.S. corporations mad by seizing control of Venezuela's huge oil reserves from the corporations.

But while U.S. corporate moguls didn't like President Chavez, he was very good for the people of Venezuela. His policies reduced poverty, made education more available to more people, reduced child malnutrition, increased GDP, and generally helped more Venezuelans to participate in the economic success of their country. The following charts show just how good President Hugo Chavez was for the people of Venezuela:

The charts represent, from top to bottom -- GDP growth, inflation, unemployment, poverty, child malnutrition, growth of number getting pensions, growth in pre-primary and primary and secondary education, and growth in number of college graduates. I can understand why corporate America did not like President Chavez (although I disagree with them), but it cannot be denied that he was good for the nation of Venezuela and its people.