News you won’t read about Venezuela in the corporate media

Today, January 27th 2006, the first 450 graduates of the pilot program for Mission Robinson 2 received their diplomas. Mission Robinson 2 takes people up to primary school or 6th grade level and lasts 10 months. It consists of 600 video classes each one of 45 minutes and is entitled "yo sí puedo seguir" (I can continue). There are 103,000 facilitators, 97500 classrooms and 1.3 million people going on to complete primary education. They will then be able to go on to Mission Ribas to continue high school education, followed by Mission Sucre which opens the door to study at the Bolivarian University, which is now nation wide.

Most of the people who received their diplomas personally from President Chavez in the Salon Ayacucho in Miraflores Palace today were between 43 and 65 years of age. One man had not studied for 34 years and had never learned to read or write. Previously, they had not completed their education and were effectively excluded from society until Mission Robinson was launched as a mass literacy program in May 2003 with logistical support from Cuba using the "yo sí puedo" method (Yes, I can) invented in that country and rubberstamped by UNESCO.

Back in 2003 these people were illiterate and now have moved up to primary school level or 6th grade. They will now go into Mission Ribas to complete high school which lasts two years.. Mission Robinson 3 is about to be launched which will encourage people to continue and adopt reading as a habit. This will help eradicate "functional illiteracy" - that is, people can read the words but cannot understand what they are reading.

A home library of 34 books is being given to all pupils in the educational missions to encourage them to read. These include poetry, novels, history of independence, world literature and one or two great classics. Many people cannot afford to buy books in Venezuela since historically reading, culture and books were reserved for the privileged classes. All that has now changed with the combination of the Venezuelan people, Mission Robinson, President Chavez and the national oil company PDVSA financing the social Missions.

This is an integral part of the Bolivarian Revolution and similar literacy projects are already functioning in some municipalities of Ecuador. With the election of Evo Morales in Bolivia, Mission Robinson will start up there. This is very appropriate since Samuel Robinson (Simon Rodriguez and Bolivar's mentor) was the first Minister of Education of Bolivia in 1825.  In the case of indigenous peoples, they arte taught to read and write in their ancestral language as well as Spanish so as to preserve the essence of these millennium cultures.

Venezuelan facilitators will go to Bolivia participate directly in the Mission there and thus internationalize mass illiteracy eradication programs in Latin America and with the objective of contributing to the liberation of 110 million people from the darkness of illiteracy in this continent by 2015, and so fulfill one of the UN’s Millennium Goals. This is international humanitarian solidarity at its best and a million miles away from capitalist and neoliberal values. That’s why the corporate media never reports in detail on these social programs, which are cornerstones of the Revolution.

Compare this humanitarian program which puts the human being at the centre of the world, with the FTAA or the mass fumigation and destruction of traditional coca crops using lethal and illegal chemicals made by the multinational Monsanto in Colombia.

Such solidarity and commitment is the key to understanding the Bolivarian Alternative for America (ALBA), which places man at the centre of the world and not the US dollar or making profits.

"A man without education is not a complete person" Simon Bolivar

“Being educated is being free” Hugo Chavez

Andy Goodall        andy.goodall@venezuelasolidarity.org.uk