Bolivarian Revolution - Encyclopedia

The Bolivarian Revolution is an ongoing mass social movement and political process active in Venezuela; its most prominent leader is Hugo Chávez, who is the leader of the Movement for the Fifth Republic and the current President of Venezuela. The Bolivarian Revolution seeks the implementation of Bolivarianism in Venezuela. Proponents of Bolivarianism trace its roots to an avowedly democratic socialist interpretation of the ideals of Simón Bolívar, an early 19th century Venezuelan and Latin American revolutionary leader, prominent in the South American Wars of Independence. Other historical figures often invoked by Chávez as emblematic of the Bolivarian Revolution are Simón Rodríguez (Bolivar's lifelong mentor) and Ezequiel Zamora.

Chávez is the most prominent exponent of Bolivarianism, which in turn functions as the root ideology of the Bolivarian Revolution. Chávez has in his speeches listed a number of ideological streams that he sees as having contributed significantly to Bolivarianism. Most notable of these are the ideas of Noam Chomsky and his libertarian socialist and anarcho-syndicalist sympathies. Bolivarianism's vehement opposition to corporate state globalism and endorsement of populism also derive from Chomsky's writings.

Chávez also asserted in his September 2005 speech at the Bronx's Latino Pastoral Action Center that Jesus of Nazareth was a radical activist who purportedly emphasized and sought redistributive social justice and democratic socialism--Chávez has stated that such emphases also characterizes Bolivarianism. Chávez has repeatedly claimed that--in line with his own thinking--Jesus as a social, as opposed to an individual, savior and liberator who was active in class struggle, social justice, and human rights both individual and collective. These controversial statements also imply that Chávez deems the ideologies and goals of Bolivarianism as entirely coterminous with those of Christian socialism and liberation theology.

Such statements on Bolivarian ideology made by Chavez have attracted the ire of, most notably, many evangelical and conservative groups, who traditionally place almost exclusive emphasis on Jesus as a personal, as opposed to a social, savior. Such groups promote the idea that Jesus's teachings did not address issues such as class conflict and exploitation. Margaret Thatcher's so-called Sermon on the Mound expressly articulated these anti-liberation theology sentiments by attempting to offer theological justification for capitalism. In it, she claimed "Christianity is about spiritual redemption, not social reform".

Chávez's administration has sought to strengthen the Venezuelan government's control over the nation's vital oil industry while seeking to better redistribute the revenues earned from petroleum exports. Bolivarianism has continually evolved as a coherent ideology since Hugo Chávez was elected president in late 1998.

In recent years, its most significant political manifestation is in the government of Venezuela's president Hugo Chávez, who since the beginning of his presidency has called himself a Bolivarian patriot and applied several of Bolívar's ideals to everyday affairs, as part of the Bolivarian Revolution. That included the 1999 Constitution, which changed Venezuela's name to the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, and other ideas such as the Bolivarian Schools, Bolivarian Circles, and the Universidad Bolivariana de Venezuela. Often, the term Bolivarianism is used specifically to refer to Chávez's rule. The central points of Bolivarianism, as extolled by Chávez, are:

Subsequent to the 2002 coup attempt, the attempted lockout by Venezuela's oil industry, and an unsuccessful and internationally verified 2004 Venezuelan recall referendum on Chávez's presidency, political and social policies and developments popularly associated with the Bolivarian Revolution began to accelerate in development and number, and involved increased participation by the Venezuelan poor. Following the example of the Cuban Revolution, Chávez began to organize Bolivarian Circles in communities all over Venezuela with the purpose of pushing forward the Revolution. After the coup many in the movement, including Chávez himself, have begun advocating socialism as being the correct direction that the Bolivarian Revolution should progress in. This has historical significance, being the first time since the fall of the Berlin Wall that such a statement of intention has come from the mouth of a popular leader. Chavez has also stated that we must forget the "ghosts" with which socialism has been associated in the 20th century, developing a new "Socialism of the 21st Century".

The recent political history of Venezuela has been marked by clashes -often violent- between supporters of Mr. Chávez and his opponents. The proclamation of 49 laws by Chávez in late 2001 under powers granted to him by the country's National Assembly, the supreme legislative power, led to strong opposition from the country's ruling class. At the same time, the decline in the price of oil, Venezuela's principal export and the main source of government funds, had fallen, forcing the government to sharply curtail spending, which led to a fall in support for the government amongst Venezuela's poor, who make up the majority of voters. The resulting political tension that ensued led to an increasingly tense political situation in the country that culminated in the violent attempted coup of 11 April 2002. Although the substance of the events of that day are still the subject of considerable controversy, some basic facts are known. That day dozens of anti-government demonstrators and government supporters were killed and injured by sniper shots around the presidential palace. In the evening, a large number of senior military leaders called on president Chavez to resign. The president's defence minister, a serving army general, later announced that Chavez had agreed to step down (something that Chávez denies).

Subsequently, Pedro Carmona, the head of the Venezuelan Federation of Chambers of Commerce, the nation's business federation, was proclaimed president, in clear violation of Venezuela's constitution. Carmona and his supporters moved to temporarily abolish other institutions, such as the National Assembly and the Supreme Court, ahead of elections that were to be held in mid-2003. At the same time, the provisional government began to arrest members of Chávez's cabinet as well as senior members of his political party. The coup attempt collapsed, however, shortly after Carmona's swearing-in ceremony, when elements of the Venezuelan armed forces refused to accept the dissolution of the remaining branches of government. Probably the most important factor in the fall of the Carmona government was the eruption of spontaneous mass movements in major cities following news of the coup.

Chávez returned to the presidency on 13 April 2002 and promised national reconcilliation, but the president ultimately refused to make concessions on his economic plans. The breakdown in dialogue between the government and the opposition eventually led to the calling of a "national strike" in December 2002 designed to force early presidential elections. As part of the strike, thousands of employees of PDVSA, the state-owned oil company, walked off the job, shutting down oil production in the world's fifth largest oil exporter. The strike was eventually broken by the government in January 2003. As a result of the strike, some 19,000 PDVSA employees were fired. The Opposition media has since consistantly claimed that PDVSA has failed to return oil production to pre-strike levels. A delayed Audited financial statement submitted by PDVSA in october 2005 showed this opposition claim to be false, with oil production returning to pre-strike levels during April 2003, three months after the 2003 opposition strike ended.

Following his 2004 referendum victory, Chávez embraced a more concretely leftist social, economic and foreign policy. Chávez now advocates "socialism of the 21st century" although there is debate among both supporters and critics as to the meaning of such a term.

Missions of the
Bolivarian Revolution

• Barrio Adentro
  
• Plan Bolivar 2000
  
• Hábitat
  
• Mercal

• Ribas
  
• Sucre
  
• Robinson I
  
• Robinson II

• Guaicaipuro
  
• Identidad
  

• Miranda
  
• Piar
  
• Vuelta al Campo
  

• Vuelvan Caras
  
• Zamora

• Hugo Chávez
  
• Venezuela

Venezuela under the Chávez administration has deployed numerous national social welfare programs (Misiónes or "Missions") of massive scale:

• Mission Barrio Adentro ("Mission Inside the Neighborhood") - a series of initiatives (deployed in three distinct stages: I, II, and III) to provide free, comprehensive, and high-quality community health care (at both the primary (Consultorios y Clínicas Populares or clinics) and secondary (hospital) levels) in addition to preventative medical counsel to the twenty million people that live in Venezuela's medically underserved and impoverished barrios.
• Mission Guaicaipuro (launched 12 October 2003) - carried out by the Venezuelan Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources, this program seeks to restore communal land titles and human rights to Venezuela's numerous indigenous communities, in addition to defending their rights against resource and financial speculation by the dominant culture.
• Mission Hábitat ("Mission Habitat") - has as its goal to build thousands of new and free housing units for the poor. Also seeks to develop agreeable and integrated housing zones that make available all social services from education to healthcare. Vision is similar to that of New Urbanism.
• Mission Identidad - This program mainly seeks to ease the process of obtaining an ID card which are used to facilitate access to the social services provided by the other Missions.
• Mission Mercal - seeks to provide access to high-quality produce, grains, dairy, and meat at discounted prices. Seeks to provide Venezuela's poor increased access to nutritious, safe, and organic locally- and nationally-grown foodstuffs. Seeks also to increase Venezuela's food sovereignty.
• Mission Miranda - establishes a Venezuelan military reserve and provides needed social benefits to unemployed Venezeulan veterans from poor socioeconomic backgrounds.
• Mission Robinson (launched in July 2003) - uses volunteers to teach reading, writing, and arithmetic to the more than 1.5 million Venezuelan adults who were at that time illiterate.
• Mission Ribas (launched November 2003) - provides remedial high school level classes to the five million Venezeulan high school dropouts; named after independence hero José Felix Ribas.
• Mission Sucre (launched in late 2003) - provides free and ongoing basic education courses to the two million adult Venezuelans who had not completed their elementary-level education.

• Mission Vuelta al Campo ("Return to the Countryside"; announced in mid 2005) - seeks to encourage impoverished and unemployed urban Venezuelans to willingly return to the countryside
• Mission Vuelvan Caras ("Mission Turn Faces") - is one of the more vague and less concrete Missions; seeks to "realize a quality of dignified life for all Venezuelans via popular participation in conjunction with the Revolutionary Government in the social and economic transformation of the country, via education and labor."

In particular, the literacy programs that comprise Misión Sucre are centered on encouraging and facilitating ordinary Venezuelans' literacy and comprehension of the 1999 Venezuelan Constitution and their inherent human rights as Venezuelan citizens therein. These programs have been criticized as inefficient and incomplete by opposition figures, but are widely heralded and appreciated by Chávez backers and by many international observers.

Many of these programs involve importing expertise from abroad; Venezuela is providing Cuba with 53,000 barrels of below-market-rate oil a day in exchange for the service of thousands of physicians, teachers, sports trainers, and other skilled professionals. (BBC)

Oil profits -- about 25 billion dollars in 2004 -- allowed the Chávez administration to carry out what he calls a "new socialist revolution." The leftist platform involves a remarkable increase in spending on social programs. The Chávez administration has thus built free health care clinics, subsidized food and created small manufacturing cooperatives. Political scientist Michael Shifter says these projects have galvanized his core supporters -- the poor -- who make up around 60 percent of the country's population.

More contraversaly, Venzeuela has been involved in the purchase of a large number, 300,000, Russian assault rifles as well as military helicopters. As well, "neighberhood defense units" has been established to protect the nation against a purported American invasion.

In 2004, a group of trade unionists occupied the Venepal paper mill, the largest supplier of paper products in Venezuela, and called for its nationalization under workers' control. The company that oversaw the factory had previously been forced to declare bankruptcy as a result of financial losses stemming from its participation in the general lockout in 2003. Workers occupied the factory and restarted production, placing the factory under democratic worker management. Following a failed deal with the prior corporate management and amidst the company's threats to sell off equipment, the Chávez administration expropriated and nationalized the Venepal mill and extended a government line of credit to the factory for use in making repairs and installing upgrades.

The example of Venepal has inspired many of Chávez's supporters to call for the transformation of the Venezuelan economy to a fully market socialist model. However, other Chávez supporters fear that such expropriation firms the economy would incur retaliation from the United States, nonetheless the Bolivarian Revolution is quickly developing into a socialist movement.

The profound changes brought about by the Bolivarian Revolution have radically altered the economic and cultural landscape of Venezuela. Most notably, although recent economic activity under Chávez has been robust^[1], per-capita GDP in 2004 has dropped over 25% from 1998 levels. There have also, as of September 2005, been significant drops since 1999 in both unemployment^[2]|more and government-defined poverty^[3], and marked improvements in national health indicators between 1998^[4] and 2005^[5]. Domestically, the Chávez administration has launched massive government anti-poverty initiatives^[6][7]|more, constructed thousands of free medical clinics for the poor^[8], instituted educational campaigns that have made more than one million adult Venezuelans literate^[9], enacted deep food^[10] and housing subsidies^[11], and promulgated the new progressive 1999 Bolivarian constitution. Chávez has also overseen widespread state-supported experimentation in participatory economics as well as the granting of thousands of free land titles to formerly landless poor and indigenous communities^[12]; in contrast, several large landed estates and factories have been — or are in the process of being — expropriated.

The Bolivarian Revolution under Chávez has also refocused Venezuelan foreign policy^more on Latin American economic and social integration by enacting bilateral trade and reciprocal aid agreements, including his so-called "oil diplomacy". Chávez regularly portrays his movement's objectives as being in intractable conflict with neocolonialism and neoliberalism. As a result of his anti-capitalist and redistributive domestic policies combined with his strong relations with Cuba's Fidel Castro and other controversial figures, Venezuela-U.S. relations have deteriorated in recent years.

• Bolivarianism
• Bolivarian Circles
• Bolivarian Youth
• Movement for the Fifth Republic
• Politics of Venezuela
• Recall referendum
• Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas

• Hands Off Venezuela
• Venezuelanalysis.com

Venezuela

• ^  Báez, Luis and Rosa Miriam Elizalde. (Diario Granma, 14 Dec 2004). "Hugo Chávez Frías: Soy sencillamente un revolucionario". Retrieved 31 Oct 2005.
• ^  Chestnut, Teddy and Sarah E. Schaffer. (Council on Hemispheric Affairs (COHA), 15 Aug 2005). "Álo Presidente Hugo Chávez: Latin America's Rising Superstar". Retrieved 31 Oct 2005.
• ^  Biografías y Vidas. (Biografías y Vidas, 2004). "Hugo Chávez". Retrieved 15 October 2005.
• ^  McCoy, Jennifer and Harold Trinkunas. (The Carter Center, Feb 1999). "Observation of the 1998 Venezuelan Elections: A Report of the Coucil of Freely Elected Heads of Government". Retrieved 15 Oct 2005. McCoy and Trinkunas, p. 49.
• ^  McCoy, Jennifer and Laura Neuman. (The Carter Center, Feb 2001). "Observed Political Change In Venezuela: The Bolivarian Constitution and 2000 Elections: Final Report". Retrieved 15 Oct 2005. McCoy and Neuman, pp. 71-72.
• ^  McCoy and Neuman, p. 73.
• ^  The Carter Center. (The Carter Center, Sep 2004). Report on an Analysis of the Representativeness of the Second Audit Sample, and the Correlation between Petition Signers and the Yes Vote in the August 15, 2004 Presidential Recall Referendum in Venezuela. The Carter Center (2004), p. 7.
• ^  The Carter Center. (The Carter Center, Feb 2005). "Observing the Venezuela Presidential Recall Referendum: Comprehensive Report". Retrieved 15 Oct 2005. The Carter Center (2005), pp. 133-134. "The panel finds that none of the reports examined present evidence that there was significant fraud during the Aug. 15 presidential recall referendum ... none of the claims for evidence of fraud suggested a fraud so great as to change the exit-polled 60/40 opposition win to the official 40/60 government win ... the Venezuelan election authority already has most of the pieces in place for building a trustworthy voting system in which it will be even more difficult to perpetrate any substantial fraud."
• ^  Chávez F., Hugo. (Venezuelanalysis, 16 Sep 2005). "President Chávez's Speech to the United Nations". Retrieved 20 Oct 2005.
• ^  Central Intelligence Agency. (CIA, 1998). The World Factbook 1998: Venezuela. Retrieved 18 Oct 2005.
  "Infant mortality rate: total: 27.52 deaths/1,000 live births ...
  Life expectancy at birth: total population: 72.66 years ... (1998 est.)"
• ^  Central Intelligence Agency. (CIA, 2005). The World Factbook 2005: Venezuela. Retrieved 18 Oct 2005.
  "Infant mortality rate: total: 22.2 deaths/1,000 live births ...
  Life expectancy at birth: total population: 74.31 years ... (2005 est.)"
• ^  The Economist. (The Economist, 28 Jul 2005). "Using Oil to Spread Revolution". Retrieved 15 Oct 2005.
• ^  Gott, Richard. (The Guardian, 30 May 2005). "Chávez Leads the Way". Retrieved 15 Oct 2005.
• ^  Harnecker, Marta. (Z Communications, 09 Jan 2003)."Lessons of the April Coup: Harnecker interviews Chavez". Retrieved 18 October 2005.
• ^  Harnecker, Marta. (Z Communications, 09 Jan 2003). "The Military and the Revolution: Harnecker interviews Chávez". Retrieved 15 October 2005.
• ^  Kozloff, Nikolas. (Counterpunch, 14 Oct 2005). "Hugo Chávez and the Politics of Race". Retrieved 15 Oct 2005.
• ^  Lakshmanan, Indira. (The Boston Globe, 27 Jul 2005). "Channelling His Energies: Venezuelans riveted by president's TV show". Retrieved 15 Oct 2005.
• ^  Latin Business Chronicle. (Latin Business Chronicle, Oct 2005). "GDP Growth: Venezuela Best". Retrieved 18 Oct 2005. "Venezuela will likely end the year with an economic expansion of 7.8 percent, the IMF forecasts. ECLAC's forecast is 7.0 percent. However, both figures mark a slowdown compared with last year's growth rate of 17.9 percent, which was Latin America's best performance last year as well."
• ^  Niemeyer, pp. 14-15. "With high levels of illiteracy to be found amongst the population the alphabetisation campaign called 'Mission Robinson' was brought into action. It has already taught more than a million people how to read and write and gained widespread support. Older people participate while youngsters enjoy access to University through a program guaranteeing equal access to Universities. This program is referred to as 'Mission Sucre'."
• ^  Niemeyer, p. 15. "Probably the most important achievement can be seen in the state run supermarkets, referred to as 'Mercal' which provide the basic necessities at affordable prices which are in many cases more than 30 percent cheaper than in regular shops."
• ^  Niemeyer, p. 36. "The World Bank asserted on 7^th October 2003 that Latin America's biggest issue is the fight against poverty. The Bolivarian Revolution seems to be the only process worldwide which is taking this problem seriously and is effectively tackling poverty with government programs. The financing of these programs by spending a good portion of the Nation's GDP (0.2% in August 2003 alone) ... "
• ^  Venezuelanalysis. (Venezuelanalysis, 14 Oct 2005). Poverty and Unemployment Down significantly in Venezuela in 2005. "Unemployment also dropped significantly, reported the INE, from 14.5% in September 2004, to 11.5% in September 2005."
• ^  Venezuelanalysis, Poverty and Unemployment Down significantly in Venezuela in 2005. Retrieved 18 Oct 2005. " ... Venezuela’s poverty rate is expected to drop to 35% by the end of the year, down from 47% for 2004. During the first half of 2005 poverty was calculated to be at 38.5%. Also, critical poverty, the level at which people cannot afford to cover their basic needs, dropped to 10.1% in the first half of 2005, down from 18% the previous year ... poverty has now dropped to a level below what it was before Chavez came into office, in 1999, when the INE registered the poverty rate to be at 42%."
• Venezuelanalysis. (Venezuelanalysis, 20 Jul 2005). "Unemployment Drops 3.7% in Venezuela". Retrieved 15 Oct 2005.
• Wilpert, Gregory. (Venezuelanalysis, 12 Sep 2005). "Venezuela’s Quiet Housing Revolution: Urban Land Reform". Retrieved 18 Oct 2005.
• ^  Kuiper, Jeroen. (Venezuelanalysis, 28 Jul 2005). Barrio Adentro II: Victim of its Own Success. Retrieved 18 October 2005. "After spreading primary health care through the Mision Barrio Adentro all over Venezuela in just two years, by constructing thousands of consultorios (doctor's offices) ... "
• ^  Venezuelanalysis, Chavez Disappointed with His Government’s Public Housing Achievements. " ... government is investing $2.8 billion in the housing program ... According to a report that Julio Montes, the Minister of Housing and Habitat, presented, only 43,000 homes had been constructed so far this year, while the government’s goal is to construct at least 120,000."
• ^  Wilpert, Venezuela’s Quiet Housing Revolution: Urban Land Reform. " ... the celebration of the handing out of over 10,000 land titles to families living in Venezuela's poorest urban neighborhoods ... As of mid 2005, the National Technical Office has issued over 84,000 titles to 126,000 families, benefiting about 630,000 barrio inhabitants."
• ^  UNICEF, p. 1. "... the mission 'Barrio Adentro': the remarkably successful primary health care initiative of Venezuela — on the way to become the axis of the country's public health system."
• ^  Gott, Richard. (The Guardian, 25 Aug 2005). Two fingers to America. Retrieved 18 Oct 2005.
• ^  Ramirez, Rafael. (Minister of Energy and Petroleum, 25 May 2005). A National, Popular, and Revolutionary Oil Policy for Venezuela. Retrieved 31 Oct 2005.
• ^  Wilpert, Gregory. (Venezuelanalysis, 11 Nov 2003). "Venezuela’s Missions to Fight Poverty". Retrieved 15 Oct 2005.
• ^  Carter Center: Observation of the 1998 Venezuelan Elections: A Report of the Coucil of Freely Elected Heads of Government.
• ^  Carter Center: Observation of the 1998 Venezuelan Elections: A Report of the Coucil of Freely Elected Heads of Government.
• ^  Carter Center: Observing the Venezuela Presidential Recall Referendum: Comprehensive Report.
• ^  Presentación de Cuentas a la Asamblea Nacional.
• ^  Carter Center: The Venezuela Presidential Recall Referendum: Final Reports.
• ^  [In Defense of Marxism]: "While Bush prevaricates, Venezuela offers help to US poor".
• ^  UNICEF. (2005). "Venezuela’s Barrio Adentro: A Model of Universal Primary Health Care". Retrieved 15 Oct 2005. UNICEF, p. 2. "Barrio Adentro ... is part and parcel of the government's longterm poverty-reduction and social inclusion strategy to achieve and surpass the Millennium Development Goals."
• ^  United Nations. (UN, 09 Sep 2005). "Examen de los informes presentados por los Estados partes en virtud del artículo 18 de la Convención sobre la eliminación de todas las formas de discriminación contra la mujer". Retrieved 20 Oct 2005. UN, p. 36. "Since 2003, the Government, in its policy of fortifying the provision of primary medical care, implemented Mission Barrio Adentro ... in order to improve the quality of life of the most marginalized sectors ... by building up social safety networks providing healthcare, education, nutrition, economic advancement, socialization, sports, recreation, and culture. Some 55% of those receiving these benefits are women with few economic resources. These programs are having a positive impact in the betterment of the quality of life exprrienced these women and their families."
• ^  World Health Organization. (2004). República Bolivariana de Venezuela: Cumpliendo las Metas del Milenio. Retrieved 15 Oct 2005.
• Schuyler, George W. (The Policy Studies Organization) Health and Neoliberalism: Venezuela and Cuba. Retrieved 18 Oct 2005.

Categories: Politics of Venezuela | Revolutions | Activism

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