'Into the Neighborhood'
Deepening social roots of Venezuela's revolution
Plan benefits poor, working people
By Andy McInerney
When Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez
was first elected in 1998, millions of Venezuelan poor and
working people put their hopes on him to build a government
capable of advancing their interests. Four and a half years
later, despite fierce resistance on the part of the South
American country's economic elite, the Chávez government
is attempting to address the needs of the 80 percent of the
population who live in poverty amid vast oil and mineral
wealth.
July 5 is celebrated as Venezuela's Independence Day,
commemorating the day in 1811 when Simón Bolívar
declared independence from Spain of the region that now
includes Venezuela, Colombia and Ecuador. Chávez has
named the movement that his election campaign launched as a
"Bolívarian Revolution," invoking Simon Bolívar's
legacy of national liberation struggle and Latin American
unity.
This July 5, tens of thousands of Chávez supporters
took to the streets of Caracas to celebrate the accomplishments
of the Bolívarian Revolution. President Hugo
Chávez took the opportunity to promote the "Into the
Neighborhood" Plan--in Spanish, Plan Barrio Adentro.
"Into the Neighborhood" is an ambitious program aimed at
addressing the needs of Venezuela's poorest citizens. It began
with a literacy campaign targeting 1 million Venezuelans who
cannot read or write. This campaign involves the Ministry of
Education, the National Institute of Cooperative Education and
the Venezuelan Armed Forces.
"In the first stage, in July, we will teach 120,000 people
to read and write," announced President Chávez. "We are
going to wage this battle by land, sea and air, and we will
reach every person who needs our help."
Named "Mission Robinson" after Samuel Robinson, Simon
Bolívar's teacher, the campaign involves at least 50,000
volunteers, as well as some incentives for families that
participate, like small loans from state-owned banks. Prisoners
who help fellow prisoners learn to read and write may earn
reduced sentences, according to a July 2 IPS report.
One component of the literacy campaign will be "family
libraries" containing 25 books of Venezuelan and Latin Amer
ican literature to be donated to 550,000 children who complete
the sixth grade.
Another axis of the "Into the Neigh borhood" Plan is a
wide-reaching healthcare program, also aimed at the poorest
neighborhoods in the country. Fernando Bianco, president of the
Metropolitan Medical School in Caracas, explained the program
on the July 6 radio program "Hello President." The plan "can be
the reestablishment of the primary healthcare system in the
country, which is non-existent." He projected that the plan
would assist over 1 million people.
Cuban solidarity
Key to both aspects of the "Into the Neighborhood" Plan is
the solidarity of the Cuban government and the Cuban people.
For example, the health care program will benefit from 300 new
Cuban health professionals deployed in the poorest
neighborhoods--bringing the total number of Cuban medical
personnel in Venezuela to 800, according to a July 7 Xinhua
report.
The Cuban government will also provide 80 education
specialists and other materials for the literacy drive. "An
'army of light' is working for us in Cuba," Chávez
announced on July 2, "rapidly producing copies of videos and
reading primers. ... In addition, President Fidel Castro
ordered the donation of 50,000 TV sets that we will use in the
program, the first 23,000 of which have already arrived."
The Venezuelan ruling classes, which still hold a virtual
monopoly on the media and major parts of the economy, have
attempted to demonize the "Into the Neighborhood" Plan. Acting
on these provocations, rightist thugs firebombed a mobile
clinic in Caracas on July 7.
To date, however, the Venezuelan Revolution continues to
advance in the face of attacks by supporters of the old ruling
class.
The "Into the Neighborhood" program is a sign that the
Chávez government is deepening the working-class basis
of the Bolívarian Revolution, strengthening its roots
among the most oppressed--and gathering strength against the
forces of counter-revolution that continue to try to topple the
Chávez government.
Reprinted from the July 24, 2003, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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