Wow! I never thought that in the more popular alternative press I would see an article that finally describes some of the truth about Venezuela, truth that I have learned mainly from the pages of NarcoNews.  This Fourth of July morning at truthout.org, I read an article by Saul Landau, originally published in Progreso Weekly, extolling the policies of Hugo Chavez and calling to task not only the US and mainstream media for their parts in lying about Chavez and his policies, but also Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch for their complicity in these lies.  Specifically, Landau points out a number of positive steps taken by Chavez, including the halting of private school subsidies for the rich, lowering the inflation rate, contributing more to health care and education, and stopping the privatization of social security and university funding.  He points out the lies perpetrated by the Venezuelan rich elitists and the US government that include censorship of the press, collaborating with FARC and ELN guerillas, and undermining the constitution and behaving in an anti-democratic manner.  The article ends by focusing on how the media and those that go along with such false reporting obscure issues and encourage confusion by misusing the true meanings of the words "democracy" and "human rights."  Truth in reporting - what a way to start my US Independence Day!