Venezuela

The mesas técnicas del agua (Technical Water Forum, MTAs) are a unique experiment in radical urban planning, whereby beneficiary communities map their own water and sanitation needs and help to plan infrastructure development, which is financed by the state. In this interview, Victor Díaz, Community Coordinator of HIDROCAPITAL, talks about the accomplishments in the water and sanitation sector, including the meaning of socialism, the importance of popular power and political support, as well as the challenges that remain.

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Rosangela Orozco, who is affectionately known as “La Chiqui,” is a young militant from the Caracas barrio 23 de enero and a leading organizer with the Gran Polo Patriótico (Great Patriotic Pole, GPP). The GPP was created in preparation for the October 2012 elections and to deepen the Bolivarian process. The GPP builds on the legacy of the Polo Patriótico, a coalition of left political parties and social organizations that supported Chávez in electoral campaigns and referenda.

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Latin American and Caribbean heads of state recently gathered in Caracas, Venezuela to form a new regional bloc aimed at self-determination outside the scope of Washington’s power.

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The social program, Mision Vuelvan Caras, was created in 2004 as a government initiative which promoted the formation of cooperatives, small-scale worker-owned and managed businesses.  The state provided credits for capital investment, tax breaks, contracts and incentives for cooperatives, and intensive free-of-charge job training and administrative support.

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This short video documents a hip-hop school in the large and overcrowded barrio of La Vega in the hillsides of Caracas, Venezuela. Filmed in the months of July and August in 2010, it features interviews and performances by those involved in the school known as EPATU (Popular School for the Arts and Urban Traditions). […]

On March 8, International Women’s Day, women from the Global Grassroots Women’s Conference, as well as other Venezuelan organizations and parties joined in a festive march through the center of Caracas. A delegation from the Confederation of Ecuadorian Women for Change (CONFEMEC) , 150 strong, roused the crowds with chants saying “Bella, bella, bella, que cosa mas bonita, las mujeres organizadas luchando por la vida (Beautiful, beuatiful, beautiful, what a lovely sight, Organized women fighting for their lives).”

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On the 12th anniversary of Chavez’s first oath of office as president of Venezuela on February 2, 1999, one can easily get the impression from the international mainstream media that Venezuela is trapped in a terminal spiral towards becoming a state socialist dictatorship. However, Venezuela has made significant progress in the past 12 years of Chavez’s presidency (despite some significant shortcomings) towards creating a more egalitarian, inclusive, and participatory society.

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In recent years there has been a torrent of articles,  features and programs on soaring levels of crime in Venezuela. We have reasons to be suspicious of the media in this regard. […]

An interview with three revolutionary Venezuelan socialist activists, Gonzalo Gómez, Stalin Pérez Borges, and Luis Primo in Caracas, Venezuela on their views on the contradictions and prospects of the Bolivarian process. […]

“Venezuela, more deadly than Iraq” read a headline in the  New York Times on Aug. 23 – a headline of such shock value that it can only mean one thing: it’s election time in Venezuela. Inside Venezuela, similar headlines are printed almost daily in corporate media with the upcoming September 26 national assembly elections.

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