Poverty drops in Venezuela

Video-game makers Lucasarts and Pandemic have announced the sequel to the hugely popular “Mercenary” game. It will be titled “Mercenaries 2: World in Flames,” and is to be based on fictional events unfolding in Venezuela.

The makers of “Mercenaries 2” describe the game as “an explosive open-world action game” in which “a power-hungry tyrant messes with Venezuela’s oil supply, sparking an invasion that turns the country into a war zone.”

The first “Mercenary” game was equally provocative. The action took place in a North Korea that was supposedly run by a “tyrant.” In both games players run around as guns for hire, but with an agenda that fits the mold of what the imperialist powers deem as important to furthering “democracy” and the free flow of capital.

These games are not the first to openly state the U.S. imperialists’ desires or aims. Tom Clancy, the war hawk historian, who has written fictions on the U.S. intelligence services that detail his insider status as well as histories of the 82nd Airborne Division and other military outfits, has developed three different lines of games. One of them was “Ghost Recon: Island Thunder.” Part of the game’s write-up features this: “Cuba. Ripe with randy women, hairy men, some of the world’s best cigars, rainforests, beaches, and a dictator who’s managed to stay in power for a little over 40 years.”

The racist, sexist disdain for the Cuban people is clear. Then the propaganda gets even more to the point: “In the near future, Fidel Castro is dead. Cuba has decided to hold free elections once again and move itself into the future and away from the long Communist rule. World authorities are asked to intervene and make sure that everything runs smoothly. While the world sits back and looks in on the events proceeding in Cuba, some startling discoveries are made that point to a group of rebels in the hills thought to be under the control of drug dealers and bandits looking to disrupt the process and seize power for themselves, returning Cuba to a dictatorial state once again.”

These are not esoteric games that reach the hands of a sparse population. The video-game industry has eclipsed the motion picture industry. Its 2003 profits totaled around $10 billion.

These games, like other propaganda from capitalist media, constitute psychological warfare.

Facts about Venezuela denied

The newest game is a major provocation on Venezuela, in a line that leads back to the 2001 coup attempt, which was openly funded by the United States, and the Venezuelan bosses’ oil strike that followed.

There couldn’t be a wider gap between the facts and the game’s premise. Not only has Venezuelan President Chavez won election after election, but he has followed the mandate of workers and the poor in Venezuela. The Bolivarian Revolution has inspired workers and the oppressed around the world and has ignited the struggle for socialism.

Despite all the imperialist action and continuing threats against Venezuela, there have been great strides made. The Center for Economic and Policy Research recently released statistics showing a substantial drop in the poverty rate, based on cash income, in Venezuela.

According to the CEPR, 55 percent of Venezuelans lived in poverty in 1998, when Chavez was first elected. Today 11 percent less—44 percent—live in poverty. When the gains made in health care, nutrition and education are factored in, the number drops to 35 percent.

The United States, in contrast, has shown an increase in poverty rates and an increase in the number of people without medical coverage over the same years.

The difference is that the wealth of Venezuela is being used for the people and not to make the ruling class increasingly rich. The oligarchy that Venezuela once was is a thing of the past. Workers and the oppressed are becoming the rulers.

This fact scares Washington because of its global ramifications. The bourgeoisie in Venezuela is becoming less and less effective, and a military invasion by mercenaries from Colombia or anywhere else looks less and less like a viable option. Even a U.S. invasion would be risky, as 1.5 million Venezuelan men and women are being armed and trained to defend the country from an invasion.

Still, the fact that a popular video game is expressing outright the U.S. government’s plans for Venezuela is no mere coincidence. It is another threat.

These types of games are dangerous on more than one level. Not only do they threaten the Bolivarian Revolution, but they act as youth recruiting tools. The military of late has been designing and marketing video games to attract youth to join its ranks. Though this game may not have been designed by the U.S. military, it is a propaganda piece aimed at disenfranchised youths who feel alienated and see no place to direct their ire.