Government

Despite persistent negative publicity by the domestic media (80 % of which is privately owned), Hugo Chavez can count on the majority for support because of the tangible results his government delivers.

“Government” here also means ordinary people, not an impersonal bureaucratic state, for indeed Chavez has many times called upon the historically-disenfranchised majority to take power into their own hands. It is the misiones that are the embodiment of people’s empowerment, because it is through these “Bolivarian circles” that people are being trained to administer projects on their own behalf. Through the literary program, for example, well over one million people have learned to read and write in just seven years.

These community-administered efforts brought to mind, in stark relief, charitable undertakings such as that of Gawad Kalinga in Payatas where inhabitants have purportedly become middle-class citizens, thanks to the largesse of religious and business enterprises and good-hearted philanthropists. A world of difference separates those who have been turned into objects of charity (bestowed by now cleansed consciences) and those in the communities we observed where individuals appeared to be active participants in the re-making of their immediate environment. Among the latest misiones is that of poor single mothers who have organized to get loans from a special women’s fund and who, under the new constitution, are entitled to financial support as caregivers.

Principal among the constitutional changes were the radical “49 laws” designed to regulate the production and taxation of oil, land tenure, the fishing industry, and to prevent the privatization of social security, to cite a few. Worthy of special mention is a constitutional provision that protects the interests of indigenous peoples, Afro-Venezuelans and those of mixed-race, a first in Venezuelan society. We visited Barlovento, a region founded by freed slaves. There we met poor Afro-Venezuelan students who were receiving free medical training as well as adults enrolled in a literacy program. Our guide was a professor, a specialist in the history of Afro descendants, who delivered a rousing lecture on this history. He described to us how masses of people in Barlovento went to Caracas to rally around Chavez during the attempted coup. They rode buses, cars, whatever vehicle was available. Many walked the 100 miles to Caracas, he told us, remarking that he himself could not help but cry at this completely spontaneous and exceptionally moving outpouring of support.

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