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18 October 2005
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Hands Off Venezuela
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In a previous article taken from AFP and reproduced in the Pakistani newspaper, The Dawn, it was stated that "Hugo Chavez blamed global capitalism for Saturday’s earthquake in South Asia". Unfortunately this slipped through without being checked. It is not really what Chavez said. In a previous article taken from AFP and reproduced in the Pakistani newspaper, The Dawn, it was stated that "Hugo Chavez blamed global capitalism for Saturday’s earthquake in South Asia". Unfortunately this slipped through without being checked. It is not really what Chavez said. In his speech he only attributed "catastrophes", specifically floods, torrential rains and hurricanes to capitalism. He is clearly referring to the effects of pollution on the world climate, to global warming, and thus to the responsibility of capitalism. He did not mention earthquakes, which cannot be avoided. What can be avoided of course is the terrible destruction and death that these bring with them. If the houses were built with anti-seismic criteria, if the infrastructure was built to resist more, then aid would get to the needy far more quickly, etc. In that sense capitalism is definitely responsible for the extent of the damage caused by such disasters.
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