Chavez continues in his quest to become Santa Claus

Say what you will about Chavez and his band of socialist rebel-rousers, but whether it’s handing out fuel subsidies to London or, oh who are we kidding, handing out fuel subsidies to whoever will take them, the Venezuelan government does like to hand out some serious donations.

This week they announced the creation of a $20 million (USD) humanitarian relief fund for Haiti. The fund, which is set up in conjunction with the Economic and Social Development Bank (Bandes) will offer funds to address priority areas such as “health, education, electricity, drinking water, and food security”. While finding a priority area in Haiti on which to spend $20 million is akin to throwing a rock into the ocean hoping to hit water. As we say in the development biz, ‘every little bit helps’.

Now, while we all love to see headlines promoting another humanitarian fund set up for Haiti, we must also keep in mind the difference between pledged funds and funds that are signed, sealed and delivered. Nine times out of ten the dollar amounts you hear quoted in these announcements (someone please prove me wrong) are pledged amounts. Anyone in the field will tell you that pledged amounts are about as good as a half-assed military coup, not worth the paper there printed on.

My aim here is not to come across as pessimistic or ungrateful, obviously any pledged amounts are better than no pledge, but pressure must be placed on any organization that commits to certain levels of aid to follow through on that obligation. So please, write a letter to the Venezuelan government thanking them for their commitment to helping Haiti, but also implore them fully live up to their responsibilities. I hope we get to a point where pledged funds are the same as received funds (and I wouldn’t be surprised if Venezuela proved me wrong). Heaven knows the countries, such as Haiti, that are the recipients of these pledges are dying for the same thing.

Chris