The Foreign Service Journal, September 2005

Uranium — Update (1999) that “No human cancer of any type has ever been seen as a result of exposure to natural or depleted uranium.” It is discouraging that someone with the author’s background did not do a better job of researching the peer-reviewed scientific data before making his unsubstantiated claims. Michael E. Kilpatrick, M.D. Deputy Director Deployment Health Support Directorate Department of Defense Squandered Promise George Gedda’s article, “Hugo Chavez: A New Castro?” ( FSJ , May) sent shock waves down my spine, because I remember the Venezuela of half-a-century ago, when I served there. The oil boom had just put widespread prosperity within the reach of all in Simon Bolivar’s home country. It was a time of great promise. Friendly Venezuelan governments were predicting a better life for everyone. International oil compa- nies, then nationalization, would pro- duce a trickle-down economy that would lift all boats. Now, decades later, life for most Venezuelans is not better, but worse. The equivalent of 15 Marshall Plans of oil revenues has apparently gone into the pockets of those who already had too much, at the expense of those who had too little. World Bank fig- ures reveal that almost half of Venezuela’s population live on less than $2 per day. Corruption, human rights violations, exclusionary politics and electoral fraud have produced a nation in distress. Should anyone be surprised then that the underserved Venezuelan electorate turned to Hugo Chavez, a black Indian national who promised clean government and immediate S E P T E M B E R 2 0 0 5 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 11 L E T T E R S u