Bolivarian revolution

Bolivarian Revolution is how the political, ideological and social process of the regime in Venezuela is defined since 1998 with the election of Hugo Chávez as president.

According to its supporters, the revolution is based on the ideology of Simón Bolívar, on the doctrines of Simón Rodríguez —who proposed that Latin America invent its own political system. Its purpose is to "promote Hispanic American patriotism" and "reach a new socialism." Chávez began his rule by calling a Constituent Assembly in 1999, where a new Constitution was drafted that would change the country's official name to the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.

According to the speech given and proposed by the government as a definition at the XVI World Festival of Youth and Students (FMJE), it states that it is the transit and evolution of four self-imposed macrodynamics:

• The anti-imperialist revolution.
• The bourgeois-democratic revolution.
• The neoliberal counterrevolution.
• The aim of reaching a socialist society of the twenty-first century.

Detractors question the process and criticize the methods used by the government group.

The secretary general of the Organization of American States, Luis Almagro, described the Bolivarian government of Venezuela as dictatorial and a "regime of terror", in which "the people have no rights." Likewise, rights organizations Human rights organizations such as the Freedom House Foundation call it an unfree country.

The shortage of basic products and long lines in stores generated distrust in the government, and the lack of investment and the deterioration of public infrastructure make some call it a revolutionary failure.

Background

Historical summary

In 1958 the social democratic party Democratic Action (AD), the Communist Party of Venezuela (PCV) and a sector of the National Armed Forces overthrew President General Marcos Pérez Jiménez. Later, AD allied itself with the Christian democratic party COPEI and the URD to allow governability, thus forming an alliance called the Puntofijo Pact that would last until 1967. From that moment on, both AD and COPEI alternated in power and the system. It became bipartisan.

Because the Communist Party of Venezuela was excluded from the pact, (what the most radical sectors of the left see as a democratic restriction) guerrilla activities began, promoted by the PCV and the Revolutionary Left Movement (MIR), a breakaway from AD youth. Almost a decade later, a dialogue was achieved that reintegrated them into civil and political life. Many of them are assimilated by the allied parties or form their own groups, the political context demobilizes the guerrilla and the few irreducible ones are reduced by the Armed Forces. In this way, during the second half of the 20th century it can be said that the country has been pacified and the two dominant parties are Democratic Action and COPEI.

First and second government of Carlos Andrés Pérez

After the oil crisis of 1973, during the first government of Carlos Andrés Pérez (1974-1979), income increased so quickly that the country became one of the most developed in Latin America.

According to Arturo Uslar Pietri, "... thanks to oil exports, between 1973 and 1993 Venezuela received around 240 billion dollars." This situation, together with political alternation, led the country to extraordinary political stability in the Latin American context. During this period of economic prosperity, no investments were made to create an alternative industry to oil. Therefore, when prices fell drastically in 1983, with a growing external debt (almost 35 billion dollars in 1993), the economy experienced a deep crisis.

During his second presidential term (1989-1993), Carlos Andrés Pérez, following the recommendations of the IMF (International Monetary Fund), applied a controversial package of economic measures that caused on February 27, 1989 the so-called " Caracazo". People who lived in the "neighborhoods" (the poorest areas of the city) organized strong protests and looting in the commercial areas of the city, especially food, clothing and household appliances. The Pérez government used public force to repress the protests. The official death toll was 276. According to statements by leftist parliamentarian Pablo Medina, the Caracazo was provoked by Chávez's MBR-200 to create chaos and confusion and take power in the city of Caracas. However, there is no evidence of this.

These events were followed by two coup attempts in 1992, one on February 4 led by Hugo Chávez and another on November 27. Then a recession occurred in the economy and in 1993 a ruling was issued by the Supreme Court of Justice against President Pérez for embezzlement. Pérez was forced to retire from the Presidency and was succeeded by two interim presidents. Chávez's popularity is manifested in the poorest sectors.

Although the sentence against Pérez speaks of embezzlement (redirection of money for purposes other than those intended by the State), many say that he was immersed in acts of corruption, but in reality in those years he was not even prosecuted for them. Others allege that he was sacrificed by the dominant sectors to "buy time." The official death toll from both coups d'état is 185 people, the unofficial death toll is 350 people.

In 1994 Rafael Caldera became the new President of the Republic. One of his political promises was a pardon for Hugo Chávez. Caldera managed to moderately stabilize the country politically. Likewise, economically, Venezuela did not improve (when he assumed the presidency, inflation was 71%, there was a strong exchange rate crisis and the financial system was collapsed after the crisis of 93; inflation even reached 100% - or 99% as it were. were the official figures of the Central Bank of Venezuela).

Ideological foundation

At the end of the 1970s, a Bolivarian and nationalist current formed in the Venezuelan army, in which the young Chávez participated. In his words, the former president of Venezuela describes the formation process of the Bolivarian revolution and its ideological foundation saying:

"[the ordinary] did not even raise a revolution. In the mid-1980s I proposed to my military colleagues to add the letter R -of revolution- to the acronym of our movement called EB-200 -Army Bolivarian 200 because in 1983 it was the bicentennial of the birth of Bolivar. (...) The movement had grown but we were still small groups, which we finally defined as a revolutionary Bolivarian movement. What we were pursuing was that, a revolution, a political, social, economic and cultural transformation inspired by Bolivar's approach. We designed what we have called the ‘tree of the three roots’, which is our ideological source. It consists of the Bolivarian root (its approach to equality and freedom, and its geopolitical vision of integration of Latin America); the Zamorana root (by Ezequiel Zamora, the general of the sovereign people and of the civic-military unity) and the Robinsonian root (by Simon Rodríguez, the master of Bolivar, the Robinson, the sage of popular education, freedom and equality). This ‘tree of the three roots’ gave ideological substance to our movement...

The central points that the Bolivarian revolution adapts from Bolivarianism to its practice are:

• National autonomy.
• Participation of the people through popular elections, referendums, and other means of participatory democracy.
• Self-sustainable economy.
• Ethics of service to the people.
• Fair distribution of oil revenues.
• Combating corruption and poverty.

Chávez admitted that before the attempt to overthrow his government in 2002, he was not ideologically decided in favor of socialism. These facts led him to think that 'there is no third way', that the revolution has to be anti-imperialist, heading, through 'revolutionary democracy', towards the socialism of the century. XXI.

About this, President Chávez stated that it must "be nourished by the most authentic currents of Christianity", with the phrase "the first socialist of our era was Christ." He recognizes that this new socialism must fundamentally possess an ethical attitude of solidarity and cooperativism, applying self-management. The political model would be one of participatory and leading democracy with popular power and the possibility of plurality of parties (that is, opting for multipartyism and, therefore, opposing the one-partyism characteristic of socialist states framed in Marxism-Leninism, since for Chávez & #34;this new socialism must be stripped of all the dogmas that characterize the old socialism of the Marxist-Leninist type. He proposes to draw on the historical examples of Simón Bolívar, José Artigas, Simón Rodríguez and Ezequiel Zamora, as well as the communes of Brazil and Paraguay and the aborigines.

Bolivarian circles

His policy was called Bolivarian Revolution, because it is strongly supported by the support of the population and that the integration into politics of basic democratic elements was the fundamental concept of Bolivarianism, in the year 2000 Hugo Chávez invited the formation of the so-called Bolivarian circles, and authorized the then vice-president Diosdado Cabello to financially support these formations. Additionally, for the year 2005 the circles were approved.

The circles had to be established in a decentralized manner, organized in the neighborhoods and, despite their origins, they had to be autonomous, to bring Bolivarian ideas to the population and form a forum for effective cooperation, especially in social work. mutual aid. Unlike, for example, neighborhood associations, their autonomy was not limited to local politics, but they also expressed themselves in national political issues. The opposition accuses the Bolivarian Circles of administering force and even executing political injustices.

The Bolivarian Circles are not restricted to Venezuela or Venezuelans, they are also found abroad; For example, they can be found in places such as Madrid, Barcelona, Galicia, Lisbon, Tenerife, Miami and São Paulo, to name a few with Latin roots.

The Bolivarian Constitution

The Bolivarian Revolution included the development of a new constitution, called by the government "Bolivarian Constitution", which would be approved in a referendum, and in which five public powers are defined: executive, legislative, judicial, electoral and citizen. The official name of the country is also changed to the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.

Social programs

The Bolivarian revolution has an important social component, especially when President Hugo Chávez declared himself - as his government progressed - as a socialist and assured that "Simón Bolívar was equally a socialist", and on behalf To "give power to the poor", he created various programs called "missions", generally known as Bolivarian missions or Christ mission; Among them, educational ones stand out, such as the Robinson, Ribas and Sucre mission; and above all the most publicized, Barrio Adentro mission, of a medical-care nature. All executed in the second constitutional period for President Chávez. Although in the first years of his governments there was the Plan Bolívar 2000 program whose characteristics were the beautification of public places and the creation of large-scale markets by increasing infrastructure. This last plan disappeared, but the market system continued and was brought together in the recent Mercal Mission - included in the Bolivarian missions -, using more civilian personnel.

International politics

Since the beginning of his government, President Hugo Chávez had a very active foreign policy, characterized by countless summits and visits to many countries in the world, especially Latin America and the Arab countries. It distanced itself from former countries allied to the predecessor governments of AD and COPEI, such as Colombia and especially the United States (although trade with it is maintained and is very important), approaching other countries such as Cuba, whose relations had been quite cold during previous governments.

Some sectors of the international and Venezuelan community accused the government of Hugo Chávez of supporting guerrilla groups such as the FARC or ETA, or destabilizers, such as the landless people of Brazil, the coca growers of Bolivia or the piqueteros of Argentina. The ideological and practical difference with some of these groups is evident, especially in the grassroots social organizations that do not consider taking power, although on the other hand, wrongly relating them to these groups increased sympathy for Chávez and the Bolivarian revolution among left-wing people and groups.

Chávez and the United States

Like any other Latin American country, Venezuela was linked to the United States at the beginning of the 20th century, due to the strategic significance of its oil reserves and other raw materials. Chávez's politics emphasized anti-imperialism. The close relationship between President Hugo Chávez and Fidel Castro, the leader of the Cuban revolution, further increased tension with the United States.

In February 2004, President Chávez called US President George Bush an "asshole" after accusing him of having supported the overthrow of Jean-Bertrand Aristide, Haiti's first democratically elected president but who had been accused of violation of human rights in Haiti. In addition, Hugo Chávez blamed many close to Bush and the US government for possible attacks on his life.

Cuba

On the other hand, President Chávez during his government maintained a close relationship with the dictatorship of Fidel Castro, and as mentioned before, he declared himself in favor of left-wing policies. The relationship between the two began even before that Chávez was elected president, and at this moment it is evident in the joint projects involving Venezuela and Cuba. The best known and most criticized is the exchange of oil for doctors, educators, sports coaches and other professional services, to later create the international organization ALBA, which for the moment brings together Venezuela, Bolivia (since 2005), Nicaragua (2007) and Cuba., and is intended as an alternative to the FTAA promoted by the United States. The rejection of the close Cuban-Venezuelan relationship was openly manifested during the 2002 coup d'état when the Cuban embassy in Caracas was attacked, Chávez accused militants of the Primero party Justice, and in particular its leaders Leopoldo López and Henrique Capriles Radonski, at that time mayors of the Chacao and Baruta municipalities respectively, to direct the acts of vandalism.

Venezuela sells oil to Cuba at preferential prices and on credit, other times as an exchange (Venezuela provides oil and Cuba sends professional services), it should be noted that the Government of Cuba does not use all the oil it receives from Venezuela, selling to international prices the surplus, thus generating income for the island that counteracts to some extent the economic embargo imposed on them by the United States.

Mexico-Venezuela conflict

President Hugo Chávez, for his part, disqualified the president of Mexico Vicente Fox "subordinate to the empire" (Chávez referred to the United States as an empire), which provoked the indignation of Vicente Fox and his supporters, who described the event as an insult to the Mexican people. Luis Ernesto Derbez, Mexican Secretary of Foreign Affairs, entered into conversation with the Venezuelan Foreign Minister, with whom an agreement was being reached.

But on Sunday, November 13, in his radio program Aló Presidente, Chávez dedicated to Vicente Fox a verse from a Venezuelan llanera song by Alberto Arvelo Torrealba, Florentino y el diablo: "I am like the thorn that blooms in the savanna, I give a scent to those who pass by and thorns to those who shake me" and ended by telling Fox: "Don't mess with me gentleman, because it comes out thorny", which caused Mexico to demand an apology from the Venezuelan government, which responded by withdrawing its ambassador in Mexico, Mexico doing the same with its ambassador in Venezuela, maintaining a relationship of chargé d'affaires ever since.

Latin American relations

Since Chávez came to power he has had harsh relations with Mexico, when Vicente Fox, representative of that country's right, was elected. Both leaders have great ideological and interest differences. Fox is an enthusiastic promoter of the FTAA, which Chávez is categorically opposed, Fox intended for the FTAA treaty to be discussed during the IV Summit of the Americas in Mar del Plata, Argentina in November 2005, the position of Chávez and the Argentine president and host of the summit Néstor Kirchner, Fox He said: "The impression that many of us got from there is that the thinking of the driver, in this case the president (Kirchner), was more oriented to comply with Argentine public opinion and with the image of the president before the Argentines, that with the effective achievement of a summit". Kirchner responded by telling him to take care of his affairs and that "for some, good diplomacy is having an attitude of loyalty and lowering one's head in front of the greats.".

Chávez had priority in Latin American relations with the countries of South America, in particular, with the members of Mercosur; however, with the Andean community (of which Venezuela has been a part since 1973), relations have been cold, because the Governments of the member countries (except Venezuela, and since 2006, Bolivia), are in favor of FTAA and have also negotiated a bilateral free trade agreement with the United States. There were differences with Colombia regarding the passage of Venezuelan truckers to Colombian territory. The Colombian government of Andrés Pastrana offered asylum to the Venezuelan coup president Pedro Carmona - who overthrew the Chávez government for two days - as well as to several rebellious Venezuelan military personnel. When Álvaro Uribe Vélez - Pastrana's successor - became president of Colombia, he decided to arrest FARC member Rodrigo Granda in Venezuelan territory (see Rodrigo Granda Case) without permission, intensifying diplomatic friction, including exchanges of statements where the government Chávez accused the Colombian government of supporting the 2002 coup d'état and Colombia accused the Venezuelan government of supporting the Colombian guerrillas.

With Peru, Chávez had a diplomatic incident due to the stay of Vladimiro Montesinos in Venezuelan territory illegally (see, Vladimiro Montesinos Case), where diplomatic relations were endangered with the then Peruvian president Valentín Paniagua, with his successor Alejandro Toledo, They improved at first, but deteriorated again at the end of 2005 when Chávez declared his support for former candidate Ollanta Humala in the 2006 elections in Peru. The Toledo government considered this action an interference by Chávez in Peruvian internal affairs and broke relations with Venezuela. Chávez dismissed these criticisms from his Peruvian counterpart, receiving mutual insults. Likewise, the off-color statements persist with the successor to the Peruvian presidency Alan García.

With Ecuador, relations were positive due to the closeness and identification of the President of Ecuador Rafael Correa with the Bolivarian Revolution and the Venezuelan government. At first they were not better with Bolivia, but when Evo Morales was elected president of the country, an important rapprochement was perceived in Bolivian-Venezuelan relations.

With Chile there was also friction where the then president of that country, Ricardo Lagos, decided, like other leaders with friction with Chávez, to withdraw his ambassador from Venezuela because Chávez declared that he would like to bathe on a Bolivian beach. Relations with this country improved later with Lagos' successor, Michelle Bachelet, but they are not very dynamic. On the other hand, relations with Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay are friendly (such as joint projects, Telesur or Petrosur, among others), even Venezuela acceded to Mercosur; These relations are only surpassed by the Cuban-Venezuelan ones.

In addition to the aforementioned difference with Mexico, Colombia, Peru and Chile, Chávez did not have relations with the Central American countries, because the majority of their governments were right-wing or centrist, this was evident when Chávez decided to support the Chilean candidate, José Miguel Inzulza, as secretary of the OAS (despite Chávez's difference with the government of that country), against the Salvadoran and Mexican candidates, Francisco Flores and Derbez respectively, which showed the division of inter-Latin American politics into two well-defined blocks. differentiated. Relations with English-speaking and French-speaking Caribbean countries improved with the creation of Petrocaribe, especially with Jamaica, but there are differences with Anguilla, Dominica, Barbados (due to the Aves Island dispute) and Trinidad and Tobago (Petrocaribe, its business is harmed oil).

Relations with Arab and Muslim countries

While President Hugo Chávez was in power, he brought the Bolivarian revolution closer to the Arab countries, taking into account that they, like Venezuela, are oil producers. Chávez promoted the holding of a summit with the OPEC countries (the member countries are Muslim, except Venezuela itself and Ecuador) and visited all the member countries including Gaddafi, former president of Libya, and Saddam Hussein, former president of Iraq.. With these actions, it was possible to strengthen the relations of the Chávez government with the regimes of Middle Eastern countries, especially Iran, also belonging to the "axis of evil". In this regard he praised the creation of the Qatari news channel Al-Jazeera, saying that it is a great alternative to American news channel conglomerates like CNN, and in part this influenced Chávez to create Telesur.

Chávez declared himself a supporter of the Palestinian cause in having its own, sovereign and independent State, this has caused the enmity of the Chavista regime with the Zionists and right-wing Jews, and once again with the Americans (the United States is an ally unconditional of Israel). In this regard, on one occasion and because Chávez was cited incorrectly, selectively and out of context, the Simon Wiesenthal Center accused him of being anti-Semitic based on a speech in which he spoke about the death of Jesus Christ although he did not mention the Jews. The Jews themselves settled in Venezuela rejected this accusation from the center and gave support to Chávez.^{[citation required]} For his part, Chávez described these accusations as infamies in favor of the interests of the United States, who seek to destabilize their government. However, Israel continues to be one of the few (if not the only) Middle Eastern country to which the president never granted an official visit in all his years in office, this despite the fact that Venezuela has a population of less than 9,500 Jews. until 2010. As with support for Palestine, Chávez also supported the cause of the SADR in Western Sahara, which is currently occupied by Morocco, which considers it part of its territory.

Bolivarian Congress of the People

The Bolivarian People's Congress (CPB) was a Latin American international organization founded in 2003 and led by Venezuela and its Bolivarian Revolution.^{[ citation required]} It brought together various Latin American political parties, unions, indigenous movements, cultural, labor and leftist organizations. He has held the following Bolivarian congresses of the people:

• I, between 25 and 27 November 2003 in Caracas (Venezuela);
• II, between 6 and 9 December 2004 in Caracas, Maturín and Maracaibo (Venezuela)

Members

Country	Party
Argentina	Movement Barrios de Pie, Latin American Summary, Frente Transversal Nacional y Popular, Madres de Plaza de Mayo, Movimiento Evita y Partido Communist (Special Congress)
Bolivia	Movement to Socialism, Trade Union Federation of Bolivian Petroleum Workers and Trade Union Federation of Peasant and Indigenous Women "Bartolina Sisa"
Brazil	Communist Party of Brazil and Single Petroleum Federation
Chile	Communist Party of Chile, Revolutionary Left Movement (MIR) and Patriotic Movement Manuel Rodríguez
Colombia	Alternative Democratic Pole and Colombian Communist Party Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia
Costa Rica	Front Amplio
Cuba	Cuban Workers' Centre and Federation of Cuban Women
Ecuador	PAIS and Fenocin Alliance
Guatemala	Unidad Revolucionaria Nacional Guatemalteca
Honduras	La Via Campesina de Honduras y Bloque Popular de Honduras
Mexico	Party of Labor and Mexican Union of Electricians
Nicaragua	Front Sandinista de Liberación Nacional y Asociación de Trabajadores del Campo
Panama	National Front for the Defence of Economic and Social Rights (FRENADESO)
Paraguay	Movement Party to Socialism (P-MAS)
Peru	Peruvian Peasant Confederation, Peruvian Communist Party, Permanent Conference of Indigenous Peoples of Peru (COPPIP)
Puerto Rico	Latin American and Caribbean Coordinator of Puerto Rico, Frente Socialista y Movimiento Independentista Nacional Hostosiano (MINH)
Dominican Republic	New Alternative Party, Marxist-Leninist Dominican Workers Party and United Left Movement (MIU)
Uruguay	March 26, Uruguayan Federation of Housing Cooperatives for Mutual Aid (FUCVAM) and Inter-union Plenary Workers-National Workers' Convention (PIT-CNT)
Venezuela	United Socialist Party of Venezuela, Movement We Are Venezuela

Agrarian reform

Starting in September 2005, the Government began to expropriate agricultural land and productive herds, in the hands of landowners and transnational companies, with the intention of distributing it among poor farmers and putting them into production. This policy of expropriations is considered by Chávez to be a deepening of the Bolivarian revolution, but some sectors have described it as unconstitutional, and accused it of, in practice, not giving to people (who in many cases were not legal entities but simple farmers and ranchers ^{[citation required]}) the option of selling at a fair price. Chávez, on the other hand, mentioned that the expropriation of large estates strengthens food security, since the oil strike highlighted the vulnerability of the country in food production.

Reviews

Chávez's political project has also had controversies due to the political, economic and social weight that it entails. Many sectors have raised their voices for what they consider abuses and abuses of power by the government, arguing that basic rights such as civil liberties are violated. Others have compared this ideology with that imposed in Cuba, but with many differences. due to culture and other points, such as high insecurity and dependence on oil.

Economically, Venezuela moves at the pace of the price of oil. With the fall in crude oil prices at the beginning of 2013, an unprecedented crisis arose, the devaluation of the national currency (bolivar) against the US dollar has led to a debate about a possible dollarization in the country. The shortage of basic products and long lines in stores generated distrust in the government, in addition the lack of investment and the deterioration of public infrastructure make some call it revolutionary failure.

Since the mandate of Hugo Chávez, the Venezuelan opposition and the Colombian government have denounced the alleged unofficial support of the Bolivarian revolution to the far-left insurgent groups of this country (FARC at the time and ELN) economically and logistically., also allowing them to protect themselves in Venezuelan territory from attacks by the Colombian Public Force. Since 2016, the presence of the ELN has been reported, working as foremen in gold, diamond and coltan exploitations in the states of Bolívar, Apure and Amazonas; the last two border with Colombia, where they would be working in alliance with the Bolivarian regime to exploit mining resources, transport them and deliver them to the Venezuelan government, which now resorts to mining exploitation as a new source of income in the face of the decline in its oil production, which which has resulted in the economic, political and social crisis that, as of 2019, the country and the Venezuelan people are still suffering from, giving the Bolivarian Armed Forces a passive role, turning a "blind eye" in the points where the Colombian illegal groups are. The presence in Venezuelan territory of FARC-EP dissidents is also reported, specifically the group Nueva Marquetalia with the aliases Iván Márquez and Jesús Santrich, who did not accept the peace agreements signed between the government and the guerrilla in 2016, carrying out drug trafficking work with the approval of the Cartel of the Suns, a criminal organization made up of corrupt members of the Venezuelan Armed Forces and the Bolivarian government, although apparently this alliance is fading with the death, at the end of 2021, of important leaders of this dissidence such as the aliases El Paisa, Romaña and even Jesús Santrich.