Viva Hugo

Viva Hugo

The CPM and CPI journals celebrated Hugo Chavez's re-election to Venezuela's presidency for the fourth term. People's Democracy devoted its editorial to Chavez's victory, saying it has ensured regional cooperation among South American countries, who can proceed in their quest for a "path free of neoliberalism and imperialist domination." Venezuela, it declares, has been the pivot in the Left advance in Latin America with Bolivia and Ecuador providing support and solidarity.

The CPI's New Age dubbed Chavez's victory as a triumph of socialism. "Since taking power in 1999, Chavez has become a global flag bearer of 'anti-imperialism'... Chavez is a fierce US critic and the leading voice of Latin America's left allied with communist ally Cuba. His win is a historic triumph in the Latin American countries," an article says.

Both the CPM and CPI alleged that the US has been trying to destabilise the government headed by Chavez and has poured in funds to finance the opposition. The articles, however, point out that Venezuela faces serious problems like rampant crime, inflation and drug trafficking, which need to be tackled.

Liberal loot

An editorial in the CPI weekly New Age argues that the Congress and the BJP are two sides of the same coin when it comes to corruption. It says that, in most scams and scandals that have come to light recently, decisions pertaining to reforms and neoliberalism are at the root of corruption.

Turning to specifics, the editorial says the BJP, which had stalled proceedings of an entire parliamentary session demanding a JPC to probe the 2G spectrum scam, now wants to disassociate itself from the JPC: "Investigation in this committee and outside has clearly established that the allocation of the 2G spectrum to the cronies of ministers and ruling politicians actually started during the NDA regime and was continued by the UPA government".

... contd.

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