Chavez launches cash giveaway for poor kids

President Hugo Chavez's government launched on Monday a new programme to provide $100 a month to poor Venezuelan children in the latest of a plethora of social "missions" that have underpinned his popularity. Chavez, who seeks re-election in 2012, says such measures show the tangible benefit of socialist rule in the South American Opec member nation. But critics argue it is a pre-election ploy masking broader economic failure.
Under the Great Sons of Venezuela Mission, low-income households will be able to claim 430 bolivars ($100) per month from the government for each child up to a maximum of three. Disabled dependants will qualify for 600 bolivars. "The objective is to help families in extreme poverty," said Chavez's minister for social protection, Isis Ochoa.
Chavez supporters say the latest social project, adding to a dozen such "missions" covering everything from healthcare to low-cost housing, prove how Venezuela's oil wealth is being properly distributed for the benefit of the poor. They contrast that with the reduction of social benefits amid economic hard times in Europe and the United States. Though wary of criticising a benefit for children being announced just before Christmas, opponents say the latest project is a typical populist tactic to maximise votes for Chavez at next October's presidential election.
They argue the giveaway is just a plaster on the ailing economy, and the poor would benefit more from better employment prospects, lower inflation, less corruption and more efficient use of Venezuela's unprecedented oil revenues. Though facing a strong challenge from a newly-united opposition coalition, Chavez remains Venezuela's most popular politician with an approval rating above 50 percent.
His much-vaunted "missions" have guaranteed him strong support in Venezuela's urban slums and poor rural areas. Government officials like to stoke fear among the population by saying opponents would reverse those policies. Yet the leading opposition candidate, centre-left state governor Henrique Capriles Radonski, has praised the best of Chavez's social policies and said he would be "mad" to overturn them.