Life in a strong hold of the “Bolivarian Revolution” from ZNet | Venezuela

by Zachary Lown; March 08, 2006

Lara, Venezuela- Rito Martinez a former guerilla fighter with flowing white hair and a long white beard stands in the town square of Sanare, a small mountain village. Sanare is located in the state of Lara, a state which lies roughly 200 miles southwest of Caracas, Venezuela’s capital. Inspired by the revolution in Cuba Martinez along with thousands of other fighters in the 1960s took to the surrounding mountainside. In response the Venezuelan government pursued these fighters imprisoning or “disappearing” thousands of guerillas and their sympathizers. For 9 years Martínez was held captive in what he describes as “a rodent infested tunnel with prison cages.” Today the sons and daughters of Martinez’s generation carry forth their left wing legacy and earn Lara the reputation of being called the ‘most revolutionary state in the country.’

By utilizing oil money the Chavez government has implemented massive social welfare programs which have in turn caused an explosion of grass roots political activity. This process taken as a whole is referred to simultaneously as ’the revolutionary process,’ ’the Bolivarian process,’ or ’the process of change.’ It is here in Lara, perhaps more so than anywhere else in the country, that ‘the process of change’ has made such dramatic strides. Lara therefore provides a glimpse as to how this process works and where it is taking Venezuela.

Baron Infante, 23, grew up in the La Antena barrio, a small neighborhood in the northern part of Lara’s crowded urban capital, Barquisimeto. He is now a singer with a local music collective, a position which falls somewhere under the category of a government job. Hat turned backwards he walks through the dirt roads of La Antena shaking hands like a local politician. On every other street giant murals cover the concrete walls of these one story block houses. They all feature a cartoon portrait of Chavez next to a campaign slogan endorsing the local Chavista candidate. Baron strolls into the small houses saying hello to everyone he passes, asking them how their family is doing and reminding them to come to their local community center for the next ‘popular assembly.’ “I know everyone here and they know me,” he explains, “I know the good people here, the bad people, but they all respect me and what we’re doing,” and as if crossing himself he kisses the knuckle of his forefinger and then points to the sky, “and Chavez,” he concludes.

A few blocks down Doctor Eladio Jose’ Martinez stands in the doorway of a freshly painted one story free health clinic referred to here as a health mission. The shiny blue mission and the doctor in his starched white coat, dress slacks, and tie are surrounded by dusty dirt roads, shanty houses and trash heaps. When Dr. Martinez first arrived here along with over 4,000 other doctors from Cuba he stayed with a local family until volunteers from this neighborhood built a health center. This is part of a pilot program called Barrio Adentro which was instituted by Chavez. These local service centers are springing up in every poor community like plants in the cracks of a sidewalk. "The days of humiliation when people had no access even to emergency services are over," explains Dr. Martinez.

It is from these local missions that health committees spread into the community identifying health needs and creating a database. The workers of these health committees emphasize the necessity of local participation. “This is the year we cement our hold over the health missions," explains Dr. Rafael Nieves one of the founders of this project here in Lara. "We will not allow them to become bureaucratized.”

The workers of these health committees also consider themselves to be contributing to a larger revolutionary project. On the walls of any mission or local office is a picture of the 19th century liberator Simon Bolivar. The writings of Che Guevara are usually close at hand. Dr. Nieves himself is a lecturer at the socialist Jorge Rodriguez School for Ideological Empowerment. "We always had cultural spaces, sports spaces and art spaces..." explains Flor Colmenarez a government employee at the National Institute for Youth. "This was motivated by an ideology to go beyond capitalist relations. We also use these spaces as a place to analyze imperialism and to read [Latin American author Eduardo Galeano....These ideas are then rooted in action.”

According to Professor Oswaldo Tona of Lara’s Yacumba University the health missions are part of a larger strategy to "crowd out" the old system. "Tis new system is being created around the fringes of the old structure," he explains. "Instead of fighting directly against the capitalist structure we are constructing an alternative health system to take root around it." In the same way the heavily subsidized grocery markets named Mercal seek to lessen reliance on private food chains while worker run cooperatives compete directly with privately owned business.

The La Antena local assembly hall doubles as a radio station and is located at the heart of this barrio. Rafael Chinchilla, the station director, addresses his audience from behind a DJ table. "This is a new kind of socialism, unlike anything that has come before it," he explains. That the revolution is unique is one of a handful of themes that are repeated in campaign slogans, at political rallies and by local politicians. The repetition of these slogans reflect the fact that this is a country which is perpetually campaigning to bring a simple message to a large number of people. "We all believe in Chavez, but aside from Chavez we all believe that there is something that we can do. We are creating protagonists among the people," Chinchilla further explains enumerating the frequently recurring theme of "protagonist democracy."

Chinchilla recounts the efforts of the CTUs (Comite Tiera Urbano) or Urban Housing Committees that are working with local volunteers to build the residents here new homes. "I have only seen this kind of self capacity building in Cuba," he explains. Cuba’s role in providing doctors, free medicine, and printing literacy materials is viewed as widely heroic here in Lara. Fidel Castro is often accorded a revered status that is rivaled only by that of Chavez. Chinchilla marvels at his coworkers’ and perhaps his own hard work and becomes emotional, "This is something that I dreamed about. Before, the government never participated in something like this," he swallows hard, apologizes and then continues, "On a day like today it is sad that Bolivar is not here. This was his dream. He would have liked to see this.”

In stark contrast to the giant corporations that still dominate the Venezuelan economy are the worker run cooperatives which are extending across the country with the support of the Ministry for Popular Economy. These cooperatives are an example of what is referred to as "endogenous development" or "development from within." Many cooperatives begin as small shops where everyone is paid the same wage and everyone shares in the decision making process.

In order for a cooperative to achieve "sustainable growth" it must link up with other cooperatives forming a kind of network which can then compete with regular businesses. In a similar way cooperatives which produce different items will link up with one another and exchange products in order to meet local needs. Here in Lara a pair of shoes may be exchanged for a meal. A woman’s food cooperative provides lunch for a local elementary school thus increasing enrollment by over fifty percent. The various health and educational missions also come to the different cooperatives to offer further services thus completing the "endogenous" web.

Just as “endogenous development” changes the nature of local economics so too is there an effort to remake Venezuela’s educational system. A major obstacle to this effort is the pre Chavez political base also referred to as the Fourth Republic which retains one of its last strongholds within the University system. One example of this ongoing conflict is the burnt out shell of a classroom situated near the front entrance of Lara’s Polytechnic University. A clandestine group called "The Student Movement of Leon Trotsky" claims credit for burning this room down in an attempt to drive out the old teaching staff. Despite what students here claim was an ensuing "witch hunt" by local authorities no arrests have been made. "This was a reactionary administration that was running the school for their own interests," explains Javier age 17.

The students who range from 16 to 18 years old took over the school. They currently occupy the university and they have been sleeping here in shifts since November 28th. They are asking the old administration to come and get their belongings. They believe that if they succeed in driving out the old staff they will get institutional support from the local government to turn the school into a community center.

The attempt to implement a radically different curriculum is seen at the recently formed Jorge Rodriquez school for Ideological Empowerment. The school meets in a massive auditorium in the municipality of Corora. Tonight the auditorium which seats 500 is filled

almost to capacity. Professor Fernando Solas leans over the podium. “Ideology is not just another word in the revolutionary phrase book,” he explains. “Activists cannot live only to feel they are doing something which is morally right. We must have the framework to understand each moment ...when we add it all up we find quite simply that the earth should belong to the majority."

Back in Caracas one finds all the characteristics of a third world capital. Unlike Lara, giant sky scrapers display massive American logos and overlook immense poverty. The capital itself is ringed by shanty towns. These shanty houses are all square blocks painted in different colors and piled one on top of the other in the surrounding hills. They resemble a kind of Lego city that stare down at the crowded shopping centers and traffic jammed streets. In the central part of Caracas on
Mexico Avenue
is the Unidad Batalla Electoral (UBE) or Electoral Battle Unit, a new kind of mission with the goal of attaining 10 million votes for Chavez’s re election in 2006. Education for all ages is also provided here and local street vendor unions use this as an assembly hall.

Carlos Gomez exits this UBE and walks briskly through the streets of the capital on alert for pickpockets. He spent three years as a political prisoner for his role in leading the civilian militia movement which attempted to rescue President Chavez following his failed coup attempt of 1992. He now works as the national coordinator of the American Solidarity Collective which seeks to establish mutual support with other progressive groups throughout the continent. He weaves his way down the sidewalk in between cars, vendors and people. He displays a strong air of impatience. "We must go beyond surface changes," he explains. "This is still capitalism."