Sir, – While most Latin American countries in the past decade have found a “third way” to stimulate their economies and try to deal with social inequalities, President Hugo Chavez remained an old style demagogue whose ideal was the Cuban revolution and the elimination of the professional and business classes. Although he managed to reduce poverty levels, the cost was the alienation of international investment in Venezuela and the country’s dependence on oil. By contrast, Brazil has adopted “third way” with social programmes to try to reduce poverty while attracting foreign investment to develop the country’s infrastructure. This happened when “Lula” da Silva dropped his more radical stance and over three election attempts became president of a country which was ready for social reform without stampeding the flight of capital abroad. Unless Venezuela returns to a more open and democratic system of government which will attract foreign investment, its economy is likely to stagnate – which will put at risk the very advances which Chávez has made. – Yours, etc,
BERNARD O’GRADY,
Muswell Hill, London.