Amid protests, Venezuela to remember late Hugo Chavez

A man dressed as late Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez waves during the Carnival festival in Caracas March 4, 2014. [Photo/Agencies]

"HEIR TO CHAVEZ"

Many Venezuelans were on the road on Tuesday, returning from beaches after a long weekend for Carnival that took some of the heat out of the protests and clashes of recent weeks.

Venezuela's troubles have caught international attention, with calls for dialogue from the Vatican to the White House. Various celebrities have weighed in too, mostly to criticize Maduro, with a mention even occurring at the Oscars.

Foreign Minister Elias Jaua, who met with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in Geneva on Monday, said Venezuela was the victim of an international campaign to ignore social gains under Chavez and Maduro and paint the government as a dictatorship.

"It's a well-designed campaign," he told reporters in Geneva on Tuesday, saying barely 1 percent of Venezuela had been affected by protests.

"They're using, as spokespeople, world-famous artists who barely know where Venezuela is, let alone the reality of our country, and our democratic political process."

Chavez enjoyed high popularity throughout his 14-year rule, winning a dozen national elections thanks to his charisma, humble roots that appealed to the poor, and liberal use of the OPEC nation's oil revenues to finance slum welfare programs.

"The recent problems have not gone on long enough for most people to give up on a government that has raised their living standards more than any other government in decades," wrote Mark Weisbrot, a U.S. analyst generally favorable to the government.

Though they recognize some social gains, opponents say Chavez's legacy is a shameful one.

He bullied opponents - some of whom were jailed or went into exile - and ruined Venezuela's economy by squandering an oil revenue boom, crushing the private sector, and sticking stubbornly to failed statist policies, they say.

"Maduro tries to sell himself as the heir to Chavez, but he is just a bad copy," opposition leader Henrique Capriles said in an interview. "What we see now are the desperate kicks of the drowning man, who's trying to appeal constantly to sentiment over Chavez to justify the failure of his own government."

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