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How has Venezuela changed since Hugo Chavez took power?


Indicator
1999
2010
2011
Source
Population growth (annual%)
1.9

1.5
World Bank
Population, total
23,867,000

29,278,000
World Bank
GDP per capita (current US$)
4,105

10,810
World Bank
Unemployment, total (% of total labor force)       
14.5


World Bank
Colombian refugees (and people in refugee-like situations) in Venezuela
50

201,941
UNHCR
Mortality rate, infant (per 1,000 live births)       
20

13
World Bank
Households (% of total declared) Extreme poverty - second half
19.3

7
Instituto Nacional de Estadística, INE
Population (% of total declared) Extreme poverty-second half
23.4

8.5
Instituto Nacional de Estadística, INE
OPEC Net Oil Export Revenues, Nominal (billion $)
14.4

60
OPEC, EIA
Inflation, average consumer prices (Percent change)
23.57
28.187
26.09
IMF
Intentional homicide, number per 100,000
5,968
13,080

UNODC
Intentional homicide, rate per 100,000
25
45.1

UNODC
It has been 14 years since Venezuela's president won his first election. How has the country changed since Hugo Chavez took power?

• Explore the interactive
• More data journalism and data visualisations from the Guardian

Key indicators that show how Venezuela has changed since Hugo Chavez first assumed office. Click on the image for the full size graphic

Venezuela is getting ready for Sunday's elections when current President Hugo Chavez will face his main challenger, Henrique Capriles. If Chavez wins the vote he will gain another six years in office.

The election also brings a variety of issues to light that have caused unease for Venezuela. Jonathan Watts in Caracas writes:

    On a global level, Sunday's election is about who controls and distributes one of the world's biggest recoverable oil reserves. For ideologues, it is a frontline battle between Bolivarian socialism and neoliberalism. But for most Venezuelan voters, it is about safety, fairness and a character who arguably inspires more love and hate than almost any other politician in the world.

But how have things changed since Hugo Chavez won his first election 14 years ago? By looking at key indicators we can see that poverty levels and illiteracy have fallen but violent crime and inflation has increased.

The rigid taining of Chinese athletes

By MATT BLAKE

PUBLISHED: 14:44 GMT, 1 August 2012 | UPDATED: 16:41 GMT, 1 August 2012

Her face etched with pain, a child trains for Olympic glory while her gymnastics trainer stands on her legs.
Hard training: Her face etched with pain, a child trains for Olympic glory while her gymnastics trainer stands on her legs.
Hard training: Her face etched with pain, a child trains for Olympic glory while her gymnastics trainer stands on her legs.
The cartoon space rockets and animal astronauts on her tiny red leotard are a stark and powerful reminder of this little girl's tender age as she trains as hard as any adult athlete in the Western world.


Unhappy Muslims.....interesting observation

Now we know why they go around killing, bombing, burning and destroying indiscriminately ! "forgive them father for they know not what they do !"

Why are Muslims so backward and powerless?

Dr Farrukh Saleem

The writer is the Pakistani Executive Director of the Centre for Research and Security Studies, a think tank established in 2007 and an Islamabad-based freelance columnist.
We Muslims must wonder why is that only Muslim States like Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya are being attacked by the Christian West.

Why do we get pushed around by them with the former President of the US George Bush calling it a crusade?


Kurup feeling the heat in Pensiangan

PBRS president Joseph Kurup is desperately trying to
counter claims that the BN government had ignored
his constituency.
KENINGAU: Pensiangan MP Joseph Kurup, worried that his time in power is nearing an end, is doing his best to argue that he has brought development to his rural constituency.

With dissatisfaction growing over the slow pace of development in a state listed as among the poorest in the nation, Sabah Barisan Nasional government leaders are watching their backs as the general election approaches.

Kurup, who is also president of BN component Parti Bersatu Rakyat Sabah (PBRS), is no exception.

Do you want the devil you know?

Source
BN happens to have been in federal government for so long that people tend to automatically assume they have the required leadership. 
Kee Thuan Chye
I’m finding this frequent comment by people rather irksome: “But does Pakatan Rakyat (PR) have leadership? Can it take over the federal government?”

I’m prompted to ask: What do they mean by “leadership”? Is the Barisan Nasional (BN) leadership the kind we want?
I’d take it further: Does BN have leaders? I mean, real leaders?

Pakatan's Nov 3 rally is 'tip of iceberg', say analysts


(Malaysian Digest) - The planned mass gathering to be staged by Pakatan Rakyat on Nov 3 in is just one of many public assemblies in store in the run up to the 13th General Election, analysts believe.
Pakatan on Wednesday announced that it will be holding the gathering to push for electoral reforms and are expecting a 500,000 turnout at Bukit Jalil National Stadium.

PAS deputy president Mohamad Sabu had told reporters that the government has yet to meet the eight core demands made by coalition for clean and fair elections Bersih, "especially on the need to clean up the electoral roll and media fairness".

Speaking to Malaysian Digest, political analyst Wan Saiful Wan Jan said such gatherings by political parties are expected as election nears.

A Jew and an anti-Semite walk into a bar

A well known Anti-Semite, walks into a bar and is about to order a drink when he sees a guy close by wearing a kippa, tzitzis, and payos.
He doesn’t have to be an Einstein to know that this guy is Jewish.
So he shouts over to the bartender so loudly, that everyone can hear, “Drinks for everyone in here, bartender, but not for that Jew over there.”
Soon after the drinks have been handed out, he notices that the Jewish guy is smiling and waving to him and says ‘Thank You’ in an equally loud voice, so that everyone can hear.

Sabah BN struggling to regain initiative

KOTA KINABALU: If there was one thing that MP Wilfred Bumburing did for the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition when he defected to the opposition in July, it was to force the disparate  BN branch in Tuaran to unite.

With the opposition in the state, seen by the BN as their ‘fixed deposit’, gaining ground,  the parliamentary constituency of Tuaran has always been shaky as could be seen by the surge in support for the opposition in the last election.

There has always been a fear within the ruling coalition that the defection of top Sabah BN leaders to the opposition would have a domino effect around the state.

Nazri: Large number of foreigners in Sabah not a threat

Nazri Aziz
(The Star) - The presence of 889,770 legal and illegal foreigners in Sabah is not a threat to the country or the state's security and order, said Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz.
He said that while national population growth was 2.5% annually, the growth in Sabah was higher.
"The population growth rate is higher in Sabah compared to Sarawak and Peninsular Malaysia for several reasons, including the presence of illegal immigrants from neighbouring countries," he said in response to a question by Datuk Seri Wilfred Mojilip Bumburing (Tuaran) on whether the presence of 800,000 foreigners in Sabah posed a threat to national safety and security.

Secret Malaysian resettlement plan for dam-affected natives exposed

The affected communities have only received information about the conditions of their resettlement through the report leaked to ­the whistle-blower website Sarawak Report. The withholding of the Resettlement Report goes against all international standards on transparency. 
Bruno Manser Funds
Leaked Resettlement Action Plan for natives to be displaced by Murum dam reveals the Sarawak government’s neglect of basic rights and fair compensation
(MURUM, SARAWAK, MALAYSIA) A report by the Malaysian state government of Sarawak about the resettlement of over 1,500 natives has been leaked just a few months before the planned resettlement due to a mega-dam. The impoundment of the 944 MW Murum dam is meant to start in early 2013 and will flood almost 250km2 of forest and cause the displacement of six Penan and one Kenyah native communities.

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