Bolivarian Missions
Encyclopedia
The Bolivarian Missions are a series of social justice, social welfare, anti-poverty, educational, electoral and military recruiting programs implemented under the administration of the current Venezuela
n president Hugo Chávez
. They draw their name from the historical South American hero, Simón Bolívar
.
initiatives, the construction of thousands of free medical clinics for the poor, the institution of educational campaigns that have reportedly made more than one million adult Venezuelans literate, and the enactment of food and housing subsidies. The infant mortality rate fell by 18.2% between 1998 and 2006. The government earmarked 44.6% of the 2007 budget for social investment, with 1999-2007 averaging 12.8% of GDP. The Gini coefficient
has fallen from 48.7 in 1998 to 42 in 2007 (claims that the Gini has risen were based on data from two different (non-comparable) statistical series). During the Chávez Presidency, poverty and extreme poverty have gone down strongly: poverty fell from 59.4% in 1999 to 30.2% in 2006 and extreme poverty went down from 21.7% to 9.9% in the same period. Even critics like Instituto Real Elcano from Spain acknowledge these achievements although they cast doubts on the sustainability of these policies.
The Missions have overseen widespread experimentation in what Chávez supporters term citizen- and worker-managed governance, as well as the granting of thousands of free land titles, reportedly to formerly landless poor and indigenous communities. Several allegedly unused estates and factories have been expropriated to provide this land.
In March 2006 the Communal Council
Law was approved, whereby communities that decide to organize themselves into a council can be given official state recognition and access to federal funds and loans for community projects. This skips the local and state governments that are perceived as corrupt.
The Chavez government also passed a number of laws protecting the rights of the indigenous people of Venezuela, including laws that recognize indigenous rights over the land they traditionally occupied, their rights to prior consultation concerning the exploitation of their natural resources, their rights to manage their own education system based on intercultural and bilingual principles, and a law providing that three native representatives shall sit in the National Assembly, as well as representation in municipal and regional assemblies in regions with a native population.
In September 2007, speaking at the inauguration of the school year, Chavez announced a new curricular programme to be adopted by both public and private schools, which would "promote values of cooperation and solidarity". While promising he would make education his top priority and increase funding, he spoke of his vision of the future of education, based around "learning to create, to live together, to value and to reflect."
Mission Barrio Adentro, one of the flagship Bolivarian Missions of widest social impact, has drawn international praise from the Latin American branch of the World Health Organization
and UNICEF.
Oil profits, being about US$25 billion in 2004, have 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.
Between them, these programs have constructed and modernized thousands of public medical and dental clinics, launched massive literacy and education initiatives, subsidized food, gasoline, and other consumer goods, and established numerous worker-managed manufacturing and industrial cooperatives. Critics allege that these programs are corrupt and inefficient, while a number of international organizations including the UN, UNICEF, and the WHO
have praised the programs as positive models for bringing about social development.
The economist Francisco Rodríguez
claimed that the Missions only affect poverty factors which cannot easily be evaluated and that the government claims of poverty reduction had been overstated.
's talkshow Aló Presidente
that features an eight hour tour of a new Barrio Adentro II CDI (Centros de Diagnóstico Integral) in Maturín, Monagas state, Venezuela
. Programa Nro. 225 - Aló Presidente Transcript of Aló Presidente
225. Venezuela's Cooperative Revolution from Dollars & Sense
magazine
Venezuela
Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...
n president Hugo Chávez
Hugo Chávez
Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías is the 56th and current President of Venezuela, having held that position since 1999. He was formerly the leader of the Fifth Republic Movement political party from its foundation in 1997 until 2007, when he became the leader of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela...
. They draw their name from the historical South American hero, Simón Bolívar
Simón Bolívar
Simón José Antonio de la Santísima Trinidad Bolívar y Palacios Ponte y Yeiter, commonly known as Simón Bolívar was a Venezuelan military and political leader...
.
Bolivarian Missions
The "Bolivarian Missions" have entailed the launching of government anti-povertyPoverty
Poverty is the lack of a certain amount of material possessions or money. Absolute poverty or destitution is inability to afford basic human needs, which commonly includes clean and fresh water, nutrition, health care, education, clothing and shelter. About 1.7 billion people are estimated to live...
initiatives, the construction of thousands of free medical clinics for the poor, the institution of educational campaigns that have reportedly made more than one million adult Venezuelans literate, and the enactment of food and housing subsidies. The infant mortality rate fell by 18.2% between 1998 and 2006. The government earmarked 44.6% of the 2007 budget for social investment, with 1999-2007 averaging 12.8% of GDP. The Gini coefficient
Gini coefficient
The Gini coefficient is a measure of statistical dispersion developed by the Italian statistician and sociologist Corrado Gini and published in his 1912 paper "Variability and Mutability" ....
has fallen from 48.7 in 1998 to 42 in 2007 (claims that the Gini has risen were based on data from two different (non-comparable) statistical series). During the Chávez Presidency, poverty and extreme poverty have gone down strongly: poverty fell from 59.4% in 1999 to 30.2% in 2006 and extreme poverty went down from 21.7% to 9.9% in the same period. Even critics like Instituto Real Elcano from Spain acknowledge these achievements although they cast doubts on the sustainability of these policies.
The Missions have overseen widespread experimentation in what Chávez supporters term citizen- and worker-managed governance, as well as the granting of thousands of free land titles, reportedly to formerly landless poor and indigenous communities. Several allegedly unused estates and factories have been expropriated to provide this land.
In March 2006 the Communal Council
Venezuelan Communal Councils
In April 2006 the Venezuelan government passed The Law of Communal Councils which empowers local citizens to form neighbourhood-based elected councils that initiate and oversee local policies and projects towards community development...
Law was approved, whereby communities that decide to organize themselves into a council can be given official state recognition and access to federal funds and loans for community projects. This skips the local and state governments that are perceived as corrupt.
The Chavez government also passed a number of laws protecting the rights of the indigenous people of Venezuela, including laws that recognize indigenous rights over the land they traditionally occupied, their rights to prior consultation concerning the exploitation of their natural resources, their rights to manage their own education system based on intercultural and bilingual principles, and a law providing that three native representatives shall sit in the National Assembly, as well as representation in municipal and regional assemblies in regions with a native population.
In September 2007, speaking at the inauguration of the school year, Chavez announced a new curricular programme to be adopted by both public and private schools, which would "promote values of cooperation and solidarity". While promising he would make education his top priority and increase funding, he spoke of his vision of the future of education, based around "learning to create, to live together, to value and to reflect."
Education
- Mission RobinsonMission RobinsonMission Robinson is one of the Bolivarian Missions implemented by the current Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez...
(launched July 2003) uses volunteers to teach reading, writing, and arithmetic to Venezuelan adults. - Mission RibasMission RibasMisión Ribas is a Venezuelan Bolivarian Mission that provides remedial high school level classes to the five million Venezuelan high school dropouts; named after independence hero José Félix Ribas....
(launched November 2003) provides remedial high school level classes to Venezeulan high school dropouts; named after independence hero José Félix RibasJosé Félix RibasJosé Félix Ribas , was a Venezuelan independence leader and hero of the Venezuelan War of Independence.-Early life:Ribas was the last of eleven sons, born to a prominent Caracas family. In his early years, he received a quality education and attended the city's seminary. After finishing his...
. In 2004, about 600,000 students were enrolled in this night school programme, and paid a small stipend. They were taught grammar, geography and a second language. - Mission SucreMission SucreMission Sucre is one the Bolivarian Missions implemented by current Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez...
(launched in late 2003) provides free and ongoing higher education courses to adult Venezuelans.
Electoral
- Mission FlorentinoMission FlorentinoMission Florentino was a Bolivarian mission organized by the government of Venezuelan President, Hugo Chávez, to coordinate the populace to vote "No" in the Venezuelan recall referendum of 2004 to keep him in office...
(launched June 2004) organized by Hugo ChávezHugo ChávezHugo Rafael Chávez Frías is the 56th and current President of Venezuela, having held that position since 1999. He was formerly the leader of the Fifth Republic Movement political party from its foundation in 1997 until 2007, when he became the leader of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela...
to coordinate the population to vote "No" in the Venezuelan recall referendum of 2004Venezuelan recall referendum of 2004The Venezuelan recall referendum of 15 August 2004 was a referendum to determine whether Hugo Chávez, the current President of Venezuela, should be recalled from office...
. The organizational centers of the Mission were named "Comando Maisanta" and were the ideological central headquarters for those who wished to keep Chávez as the President of Venezuela for the remainder of his presidential period.
Environmental
- Mission Energía (launched November 2006) has begun a campaign to reduce environmental degradation by replacing incandescent lightbulbs with more energy-efficient fluorescent bulbs.
Food and nutrition
- Mission MercalMission MercalMission Mercal is a Bolivarian Mission established in Venezuela under the government of Hugo Chávez. The Mission involves a state-run company called Mercados de Alimentos, C.A. , which provides subsidised food and basic goods through a nationwide chain of stores...
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 sovereigntyFood sovereignty"Food sovereignty" is a term coined by members of Via Campesina in 1996 to refer to a policy framework advocated by a number of farmers, peasants, pastoralists, fisherfolk, indigenous peoples, women, rural youth and environmental organizations, namely the claimed "right" of peoples to define their...
. Its concrete results, however, are highly debatable, as in 2007 the country is heavily more dependent on imported foodstuffs than it was in 1997, and has been facing chronic shortages in several basic supplies: milk, edible oils, sugar, cereals, eggs, and others.
Healthcare
- Mission Barrio AdentroMission Barrio AdentroMission Barrio Adentro is a Bolivarian national social welfare program established under current Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez. The program seeks to provide comprehensive publicly-funded health care, dental care, and sports training to poor and marginalized communities in Venezuela...
("Mission Inside the Neighborhood") a series of initiatives (deployed in three distinct stages) to provide comprehensive and community health careHealth careHealth care is the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease, illness, injury, and other physical and mental impairments in humans. Health care is delivered by practitioners in medicine, chiropractic, dentistry, nursing, pharmacy, allied health, and other care providers...
(at both the primary (Consultorios y Clínicas Populares or popular clinics) and secondary (hospital) levels), in addition to preventative medical counsel to Venezuela's medically under-served and impoverished barrioBarrioBarrio is a Spanish word meaning district or neighborhood.-Usage:In its formal usage in English, barrios are generally considered cohesive places, sharing, for example, a church and traditions such as feast days...
s.
Housing
- Mission HábitatMission HabitatMisión Hábitat is a Venezuelan Bolivarian Mission that has as its goal the construction of thousands of new housing units for the poor...
has as its goal the construction of new housing units for the poor. The program also seeks to develop agreeable and integrated housing zones that make available a full range of social services from education to healthcare which likens its vision to that of new urbanismNew urbanismNew Urbanism is an urban design movement, which promotes walkable neighborhoods that contain a range of housing and job types. It arose in the United States in the early 1980s, and has gradually continued to reform many aspects of real estate development, urban planning, and municipal land-use...
.
Identification
- Mission IdentidadMission IdentidadMission Identidad is one of the Bolivarian Missions implemented by current Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez. This program provides Venezuelan national identity cards to facilitate access to the social services provided by the other Missions.Misión Identidad mainly seeks to ease the process of...
provides Venezuelan national identity cards to facilitate access to the social services provided by other Missions.
Indigenous rights
- Mission GuaicaipuroMission GuaicaipuroMisión Guaicaipuro is one of the Bolivarian Missions implemented by current Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez)...
(launched 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.
Land reform
- Mission ZamoraMission ZamoraMission Zamora is an integrated land reform and land redistribution program in Venezuela, created in law by the Ley de Tierras , part of a package of 49 decrees made by Hugo Chávez in November 2001...
provides a comprehensive land expropriation and redistribution program that mainly benefits poor Venezuelans. Several large landed estates and factories have been, or are in the process of, being expropriated.
Rural development
- Mission Vuelta al CampoMission Vuelta al CampoMission Vuelta al Campo is one of the Bolivarian Missions implemented by current Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez...
("Return to the Countryside"; announced mid– 2005) seeks to encourage impoverished and unemployed urban Venezuelans to willingly return to the countryside.
- Mission Árbol (Mission Tree, announced June 2006) seeks to recover Venezuelan forests, with plans to plant 100,000 trees in 5 years. The project is also to involve the rural population, in an effort to stop harm to forests through from slash/burn practices by promoting more sustainable agriculture, such as growing coffee or cocoa. The projects aim to achieve this through self organization of the local populations.
Science
- Mission Ciencia ("Mission Science" launched February 2006) includes a project to train 400,000 people in open source software, and scholarships for graduate studies and the creation of laboratories in different universities.
Socioeconomic transformation
- Mission Vuelvan CarasMission Vuelvan CarasVuelvan Caras , is one of the Bolivarian Missions, a series of anti-poverty and social welfare programs implemented by Hugo Chávez, current President of Venezuela...
("Mission Turn Faces") has as its objective the transformation of the present Venezuelan economy to one that is oriented towards social, rather than fiscal and remunerative, goals. It seeks to facilitate increased involvement of ordinary citizens in programs of endogenous and sustainable social development, emphasizing in particular the involvement of traditionally marginalized or excluded Venezuelan social and economic sectors, including those participating in Venezuela's significant "informal" economy. The mission's ultimate goal, according to Hugo Chávez, is to foster an economy that brings "a quality and dignified life for all". In January 2006, Chávez declared that, after fulfilling the first stage of the mission, the goal of the second stage will be to turn every "endogenous nuclei of development" into "military nuclei of resistance against American imperialism" as part of a continuous program to create "citizen militias".
Civilian militia
- Mission MirandaMission MirandaMission Miranda is one of the Bolivarian Missions implemented by current Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez. The program establishes a Venezuelan military reserve composed of ordinary Venezuelan citizens given light arms to defend the territory in the case of an invasion...
establishes a Venezuelan military reserve composed of civilians who could participate in the defense of the Venezuelan territory.
Culture
- Mission Corazón Adentro - "Heart Within" (the community) - was established in 2004. Initially piloted in the Caracas area, it aims to reaffirm Venezuelan identity by promoting cultural programming in local communities.
2008 budget cuts
- Mission Barrio AdentroMission Barrio AdentroMission Barrio Adentro is a Bolivarian national social welfare program established under current Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez. The program seeks to provide comprehensive publicly-funded health care, dental care, and sports training to poor and marginalized communities in Venezuela...
had a budget of US$ 1.362 millions on 2007 passing to US$ 114 millions in September 2008. - Mission HabitatMission HabitatMisión Hábitat is a Venezuelan Bolivarian Mission that has as its goal the construction of thousands of new housing units for the poor...
had a budget of US$ 546 millions during the first months of 2007, it reduced in 2008 to US$ 155 millions. - Mission MercalMission MercalMission Mercal is a Bolivarian Mission established in Venezuela under the government of Hugo Chávez. The Mission involves a state-run company called Mercados de Alimentos, C.A. , which provides subsidised food and basic goods through a nationwide chain of stores...
reduced its budget from US$ 269 millions to US$187 million on 2008. - Missión Milagro budget for 2007 was USD 7 millions.
Cuban expertise
Many of these programs involve importing expertise from abroad; Venezuela is providing Cuba with 53,000 barrels (8,000 m³) of below-market-rate oil a day in exchange for the service of thousands of physicians, teachers, sports trainers, and other skilled professionals.Impact
The literacy programs that comprise Mission Sucre are centered on fostering universal literacy among Venezuela's adult populace; an adjunct to this is the facilitation of their comprehension of the Venezuelan Constitution of 1999 and the inherent rights that they, as Venezuelan citizens, are guaranteed under this document.Mission Barrio Adentro, one of the flagship Bolivarian Missions of widest social impact, has drawn international praise from the Latin American branch of the World Health Organization
World Health Organization
The World Health Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations that acts as a coordinating authority on international public health. Established on 7 April 1948, with headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, the agency inherited the mandate and resources of its predecessor, the Health...
and UNICEF.
Oil profits, being about US$25 billion in 2004, have 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.
Between them, these programs have constructed and modernized thousands of public medical and dental clinics, launched massive literacy and education initiatives, subsidized food, gasoline, and other consumer goods, and established numerous worker-managed manufacturing and industrial cooperatives. Critics allege that these programs are corrupt and inefficient, while a number of international organizations including the UN, UNICEF, and the WHO
Who
Who may refer to:* Who , an English-language pronoun* who , a Unix command* Who?, one of the Five Ws in journalism- Art and entertainment :* Who? , a 1958 novel by Algis Budrys...
have praised the programs as positive models for bringing about social development.
The economist Francisco Rodríguez
Francisco Rodríguez (economist)
Francisco R. Rodríguez is a Venezuelan economist and assistant professor of Economicsand Latin American Studies at Wesleyan University since 2005, who was the head of the Office of Economic and Financial Advisory of the National Assembly from 2000 to 2004 during the presidency of Hugo...
claimed that the Missions only affect poverty factors which cannot easily be evaluated and that the government claims of poverty reduction had been overstated.
External links
Gobierno en Línea: Misiones Official government website detailing the Bolivarian Missions. Misión Barrio Adentro Official government Mission Barrio Adentro web portal. Instituto Nacional de Estadística Venezuela's National Institute of Statistics; has web several portals for accessing demographic and economic data related to the impact of Bolivarian Missions. Barrio Adentro Official government dossier on Barrio Adentro (in Spanish) Aló Presidente 225 Video of a July 2005 episode of Hugo ChávezHugo Chávez
Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías is the 56th and current President of Venezuela, having held that position since 1999. He was formerly the leader of the Fifth Republic Movement political party from its foundation in 1997 until 2007, when he became the leader of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela...
's talkshow Aló Presidente
Aló Presidente
Aló Presidente is a largely unscripted talk show hosted by Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez which is broadcast on Venezuelan state television and radio stations every Sunday at 11:00 AM...
that features an eight hour tour of a new Barrio Adentro II CDI (Centros de Diagnóstico Integral) in Maturín, Monagas state, Venezuela
Venezuela
Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...
. Programa Nro. 225 - Aló Presidente Transcript of Aló Presidente
Aló Presidente
Aló Presidente is a largely unscripted talk show hosted by Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez which is broadcast on Venezuelan state television and radio stations every Sunday at 11:00 AM...
225. Venezuela's Cooperative Revolution from Dollars & Sense
Dollars & Sense
Dollars & Sense is a magazine dedicated to providing left-wing perspectives on economics.Published six times a year since 1974, it is edited by a collective of economists, journalists, and activists committed to the ideals of social justice and economic democracy.It was initially sponsored by the...
magazine