Building Socialism in Venezuela

By: Federico Fuentes - Green Left Weekly

The last time I spoke with long-time influential writer on Latin American politics Marta Harnecker was at the 2003 World Social Forum, where we talked of the “most important anti-neoliberal struggle in the world” unfolding in Venezuela. It was two years later at this same event that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, for the first time in the international arena, proclaimed his support for socialism as the only alternative to capitalism.

Harnecker now lives in Venezuela, trying to support the government however she can, including working as an adviser to the new Minister of Participation and Social Development. Meeting her again, I asked her what she thought Chavez’s comments on socialism represented in relation to changes in Venezuela over that period.

MST Representative Visits Venezuela, Sees Country in Transformation

By: Joao Pedro Stédile - MST

Dear Friends,

I am writing to you from the bolivarian planes in the state of Barinas, in the centre of Venezuela. I am here doing a "recorrido" [tour], as they say, to learn about the agrarian reform process in Venezuela. I am impressed. I am very impressed. After all, as the oriental proverb goes: "The eyes see more than the ears". Venezuela had a glorious past in the 19th century brought about by the heroic struggles for independence led by Simon Bolívar, Ezequiel Zamora with the aid of a brave Brazilian combatant who reached the rango [rank] of general: Abreu Lima, born in Pernambuco, whom Venezuelans are very proud of, even though we Brazilians regrettably do not even know his history.

Hugo Chávez and the Politics of Race

The following article encapsulates the remarkable changes that have taken place under Chávez in regards to empowering the black and indigenous people of Venezuela and the rest of the Hemisphere.

By NIKOLAS KOZLOFF, Counterpunch

As the war of words heats up between the Bush White House and Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez, the firebrand South American leader has boldly sought to forge ties with poor communities of color in the United States. In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Chávez provided relief assistance to the poverty stricken and largely African American victims of the disaster.

World Social Forum, Venezuela: Another World Is Possible

by Deborah James
January, 2005, Brazil

President Chávez addresses the teeming Gigantinho stadium in Porto Alegre, Brazil on the last day of the World Social Forum. The massive crowd cheers wildly; thunderous applause explodes each time he appeals for Latin American unity and denounces the Bush agenda.

I talk with him later that evening, wondering what it feels like to be the most popular politician in Latin America in decades. "The poor of Venezuela - and of the entire continent - are waking up. They are building the dream of Bolívar - to create a united Latin America free of interference from the United States."

Something remarkable is happening in Venezuela. For the first time, the President has challenged the business elite head-on, fighting - and winning - a David-and-Goliath struggle to recapture the national oil wealth from a tiny elite and put it to use to the benefit the poor majority.