Report on the Bolivarian Revolution in Venezuela

international | anti-capitalism | opinion/analysis Friday February 03, 2006 01:36 by Grace Walsh - None grace_daisy at hotmail dot com

Since 1998, when Hugo Chavez Frias became president of the newly declared Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, the charismatic president, has emerged as one of the most influential and radical leaders in Latin America. His reforms and plans, if realised could alter the face of Venezuelan society, if not that of Latin America. Loathed by many Venezuelans, revered by even more, Chavez has reached almost messianic status as the leader in a country where the socially underprivileged, the poor and the uneducated masses have long since felt disenfranchised by the political process.

The barrio of 23 de Enero, is the most important and well-known in Caracas. It is based in a complex of apartment blocks that resemble something in a former soviet state – there are only a few windows in the building and the walls riddled with bullet holes. A huddle of towers house more than 400 hundred families here, surrounded by mountains and overlooking the more traditional barrios or slums on the hills opposite. A long wall is adorned with the portraits and the words of dead heroes from the barrio – Sergio Rodriguez, Julio Lugo, Manuel Perez – all a reminder of the history of this barrio and why it has gained such notoriety and infamy among the people of Venezuela. The president of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez Frias has registered to vote in this constituency, as a mark of respect to its inhabitants for their commitment to him, and what is termed as the “Bolivarian revolution”. It is appropriate then, that this particular barrio has become one of the great success stories of the Chavez administration. On a Saturday afternoon, the place is bustling with activity; children are playing baseball on a small pitch, while others play basketball on a court nearby. Some of the older men of the barrio stand on the corner of the local mercal, where food can be bought at cost-price, drinking beer and arguing about baseball. Their grandchildren play alongside them, while some women stop on the footpath to greet one another. In a city where barrios are deemed no-go areas for outsiders, and dangerous even for their inhabitants, this is a notably idyllic setting.

In a small porta-cabin beside the basketball court three men are discussing the progresses and needs of the community. These are the members of the asociacion civil amigos de los niños de monte piedad, an organisation which oversees the development of culture and education in the barrio. Five years ago, this barrio was suffering severe problems with young people dropping out of school at a young age, and only a handful going on to third level education. Now, as a result of new initiatives, there are over 400 students from the barrio in third level education. They are still tackling social problems such a drug-use, teen-pregnancies and illegal abortions but, the need for professionals to challenge such problems at a later date, is being met by the improvements in education. According to the spokesperson of the group, Alexis Pinto, it is only in the past 6 years, during the Chavez presidency, that these improvements have become possible. He explains how cultural programmes have also encouraged people to get involved in the community. An information centre, named after the independence leader of Venezuela, Simon Bolivar, is an example of this, where residents of the barrio can receive training on computers, get music lessons or attend classes in citizenship education.

Such centres are part of one of many misions, or social reform packages set up by the government. These projects are funded by the government but involve organisation at a community level. For example in the 23 de Enero barrio, there is an example of a health centre open as part of Mision Barrio Adentro, the project in which Cuban doctors are brought to Venezuela to provide treatment to the inhabitants of the poorest barrios. Throughout Caracas, placards laud the successes and aims of other Misions – Mision Robinson targets illiteracy; Mision Ribas provides 2nd level education; Mision Sucre focuses on third level education; Mision Mercal provides food products to citizens at cost price. There are few who would argue that the government should not carry out such initiatives, but the opposition has criticised Chavez for these populist moves, and claim he is simply buying the support of the masses with handouts. On the other hand, Venezuela is the 6th largest oil producer in the world, and as a result has access to huge amounts of funds for such projects, which are direly needed. Chavez may be guilty of populist tactics, but he has evidently won the support of the country’s poor, which make up 80% of the population.

The vehicle for his success has largely been “Hola Presidente”, the programme which is broadcast on a weekly basis from various locations around Venezuela, and which sees Chavez taking questions from ordinary citizens and members of the public. Last week he broadcast his 245th programme, which lasted over 3 hours. He brought his weekly cocktail of jokes, singing, dancing and of course some serious political rhetoric to the barrio of Antimoda, one of the poorest districts on the outskirts of Caracas. With an audience of approximately 200, and many more locals cramming themselves against the barriers outside, there was electrifying hum of excitement in the air. The area is a Chavez stronghold, where support for him is extremely high. The crowd in front of him was a sea of red t-shirts, donning the names of local representatives who support the president’s party.

Chavez, seated relaxed behind a desk with a cup of coffee, gives the impression that he is sitting down for a chat with some friends. That is his approach throughout the programme, which can go on for anything up to 5 hours depending on when he feels the need to wrap things up. At one point he escorts an elderly woman of 80 years or more onto the stage, offers her a coffee and speaks softly to her. She sobs as he holds her face gently in her hands. He hugs her firmly again for moments before asking a member of his staff to escort her back to her chair. The crowd greets this show of human compassion with roars of support and delight.

However, there are problems of corruption at ground-level as Chavez himself acknowledges. As if to demonstrate this a well-dressed man stands to pose a question to the president. He introduces himself as the local representative from the barrio of Antimoda, which is teetering in the blazing sun on the hilltops above the crowd. Immediately, the crowd behind the barriers erupt in anger, shouting “it’s a lie, it’s a lie” until Chavez gestures for the microphones and cameras to be brought over to the crowd. A young woman, also from the barrio of Antimoda, angrily explains that this man has not been elected as a local representative, and that the barrio has at this point only had one meeting to discuss the potential of elections. The crowd behind her roars in agreement. According to the new constitution that was voted for in a national referendum, citizens are entitled to an elected local representative, and laws were recently passed to ensure this process was carried out. This gap between the theory of the revolution, as defined in the constitution and the reality is Chavez’s biggest challenge, and the biggest source of fuel for the opposition.

Just one week ago, the opposition parties took to the streets of Caracas to voice there dissatisfaction and criticisms of Chavez. They accuse the administration of corruption, inefficiency and media bias, even though the majority of press agencies in Venezuela are in fact privately owned and critical of the government currently in power. Corruption is admittedly a problem however. Local representatives, as in the case of Antimoda, are not always representing the interest of the people living in the barrios, and many people lack the education or understanding of the political process to take an active part in the local governance. The government has admitted to incidents of serious malpractice in the health sector. Despite the success of Mision which saw Cuban doctors coming to Venezuela to provide healthcare to areas which had previously lacked any, some doctors have been known to work in the public and private sectors. There have been reports of medical professionals taking resources from the public hospitals and selling them on to wealthy clients in private health clinics or pharmacies. Similar problems occur with the Mision Mercal. People working in mercals or cost-price government-run supermarkets, have been known to make arrangements with producers and suppliers to ensure a profit for both parties, despite the objective of the mercals being to provide cheap food for public consumption.

However, visiting areas like 23 de Enero, or the barrio of Antimoda, it is overwhelming to see the belief and support people have for President Chavez. On a local level at least, he does seem to be doing something to please the average person, and his ability to communicate directly with the poorer classes is crucial to his growing support base. In the national electricity company, Cadafe, the overwhelming support again was demonstrated with women proudly showing portraits of the president they had voluntarily hung on their walls, or praising his social projects. Even those who were more measured about their support for him, and criticised his relationship with Fidel Castro, had words of support for his social programmes and the hope he has given to the poorer classes.

On the international stage, Chavez has proven to be a fearless critic of US policies, and as a result the two nations have a difficult and fraught relationship. Cindy Sheehan, the anti-war protestor who’s son was killed in the current conflict in Iraq, and became known for her “peace camp” outside Bushes Texas ranch, joined Chavez on his weekly TV and radio programme this week, along with the wife of Puerto Rican nationalist Filiberto Ojeda, who was killed by FBI last year. Chavez encouraged his widow to carry on her husband's fight for the Caribbean island's independence, and reassured Cindy Sheehan that she had been an example to the world for her bravery and determination. Both positions are sure to attract further criticism from his opponents in the US.

However, the majority of Latin American administrations have begun to allign themselves with Chavez, particularly the newly elected Evos Morales in Bolivia, who is already speaking about introducing a new constitution much like Chavez did in the first years of his rule. Chavez has re-introduced the concept of latin american cooperation in a poltical and economic sphere, with the idea of interdependent trade agreements. He hopes that latin american countries can trade goods with one another rather than with the US or Europe and therefore break the hegonomy that the US has over some latin american economies. For countries such as Argentina, which has just recently declared their debt to the US repaid, this could mark the beginning of a new economic outlook. Venezuela, because of its economic wealth, and its huge oil-supply is fast becoming the heavyweight of latin america, and if the trend towards left-wing socialist governments continues in neighbouring countries, the prospect of a more unified, and more self-sufficient latin america may be a possibility. This was most definately the view of particpants at the World Social Forum this week in Caracas, which saw over 80,000 resprentatives ascending on Caracas to discuss social reform in Latin America. Chavistas on the streets of Caracas too, seem to think anything is possible, with Chavez at the helm.