Highlights of a 6 week visit to Venezuela Aug 10th to Sept 21st 2005
Karen Bell – Bristol Venezuela Solidarity Group. This is a report of my recent visit. I did not have much prior knowledge of the situation in Venezuela, so it may be useful for people to read who are also beginning to find out about the place. Caracas, 11th August: This was my first morning in Venezuela. I had arrived the day before and was staying with a Venezuelan family in Manicomio, a working class barrio in Caracas. I was told there was going to be an event in the square nearby, so at 10.00 am we went down to have a look and found ourselves in the middle of a celebration. There was loud salsa music and masses of people in bright red revolutionary hats and t-shirts, dancing and waving Venezuelan flags. As dancing and politics are about my favourite aspects of life, I thought I’d landed in heaven. So I started dancing with the people and gradually learning what was going on. I was told that the square, the doctor’s surgery next to it, and the basketball court alongside that, had all been built as a result of ‘the revolution’. Before, the area had been a rubbish dump. The doctor’s surgery was part of the Barrio Adentro programme, to bring free health care to the poor, and was staffed by Cuban doctors (who were actually dancing in the square in their white coats that morning). I was told that a delegation from the World Festival for Youth and Students would be arriving to look at this achievement of the revolution. I was quite taken aback to hear people talk about ‘revolution’ as well as ‘imperialism’ and ‘neo-liberalism’ as it is not the kind of language you generally hear outside of lefty meetings in the UK. However, I soon learnt that this kind of talk is common in Venezuela now.
This had a huge impact on me during the first few days in Venezuela, after years of feeling stifled in the UK by not being able to talk about politics in everyday situations. After a while the delegation arrived. Revolutionary speeches and dance displays followed. I was generally impressed, throughout my visit my the way the Venezuelans manage to incorporate culture, especially music and dance, into their politics. After, I was taken on a tour of the barrio. I met many people during this walk, all who talked enthusiastically about Chavez and the revolution. I saw that, though the streets were generally clean, there were huge piles of rubbish being blown around. I was told that the rubbish in Caracas was often not being collected because the opposition, who still hold many administrative posts, use these kind of tactics to undermine the revolutionary process. The piles of rubbish were very effective in lending the area an air of desperation and poverty as well as encouraging numerous rats and mice. However, I was then told how the community were organising to carry out their own rubbish collections as a means of overcoming this problem. I later found out that this is how the people in Venezuela are pushing forward the changes. They are organising themselves and taking control of what is happening so they cannot be blocked by corruption, opposition and inefficient bureaucracy. Another example of this was the local school we walked past, which I was told had been closed by right-wing teachers about three years ago, during the opposition lock-out designed to bring down Chavaz. Local people, parents and a few of the teachers protested to get the school reopened but, when this failed, they decided to take over the school and run it themselves. I was later shown a video of the whole process and it was amusing to see what happened when the original opposition teachers tried to come back after a few months. The children (around 400 or them) started chanting ‘Maestras Fuera!’ (teachers out!) until all the previous teachers went home. Since then the volunteer teachers from the community have run the school.
Later in the day, I was taken to the National Theatre to see the swearing in of the local councillors who had recently been elected. There was a mood of euphoria in the theatre as each new representative went up to get their certificate. I asked someone next to me how many representatives had won from opposition parties and was told there were virtually none. I was quite stunned by this, in fact by the whole day, as I had not realised the extent and depth of support for Chavez. It is not something you could ever know from the mainstream media in the UK. Overall, through my whole trip, I had the impression that about a third of people did not support Chavez, another third supported him but had criticisms and another third loved and adored him. One of those that loved him told me she had cried more when he was taken away during the coup than when her husband died after 47 years of marriage. Those that were against him tended to be the rich, but I also met very poor people who did not support him. The rich complained that he was a dictator who stole from them. The poor tended to say he gave too much away to people in other countries or that he was too confrontational with the US and they were scared he would provoke a war. Both groups said that his government was corrupt.
Visits to 23 de Enero – August 16th This morning, Cristal, one of the women I am staying with in Manicomio, asked me if I wanted to come with her to her class at the Mission Ribas in the military museum of the 23 de Enero. Before Chavez came to power, there was huge inequality in educational opportunities. Poor people couldn’t afford to go to school and they definitely couldn’t afford to go to university. In order to tackle this the government has build 3000 new schools and also they have set up various educational missions, including Mission Ribas.During the visit, I learnt the following about Mission Ribas: It is a programme which offers an opportunity for adults who have dropped out of school to obtain a diploma. The course, which includes mathematics, geography, advanced grammar, and English as a second language, may be completed within two years and provides the qualifications necessary to enter university. Previously many urban and inner-city poor people, even if they could afford basic education, could not afford to continue their education to this level. Like all of Venezuela’s educational missions, the programme is free and the government is also giving grants to 100,000 participants, to compensate them for time that could otherwise be spent working. Graduates of Mission Ribas are offered assistance in job-hunting as well. About 1.4 million people are currently enrolled. Evaluation is based on class participation, homework, and presentations such as the ‘Community Social-labour Component,’ where participants use their personal experience and academic knowledge to develop proposals to solve problems in their communities. This particular Mission Ribas was in a military establishment at the top of a hill that looked like a fort. Cristal, the women who took me to her class, has two young children and was a single parent until recently. She has now almost completed the programme and will be applying to go to University. There were about 15 people in the classroom from a range of ages between 18 and 65. After talking to people about Mission Ribas, Cristal asked me if I would like to meet the ‘Capitan Alta’ (High Captain). I didn’t really want to, as, being a pacifist, I have never particularly got on with the army. But, before I knew, it I was whisked off to a large office and found myself sitting in front of a huge desk opposite an imposing military officer. He asked me what I would like to know and I said ‘I can’t think of anything to ask you as I’m a pacifist’. He replied ‘me too’, then got out a card which said ‘Books not Bombs’ and attached it to his chest. After this, we had a great conversation about non-violent resistance and self defence, including the methods of Gene Sharpe and others who have written on this subject. Though he was not really a pacifist, I found him incredibly well-informed and open-minded about pacifist thought and we agreed to exchange information by email on the subject. We also found much to agree about with regard to our political perspectives and on subjects such as neo-liberalism and civil rights, all subjects I never thought I would find my self discussing with a military person, let alone agreeing on. It seems that now the military are almost entirely made up of Chavistas, and opposition only really remains among the generals. The Captain said that nearly all the military that were against Chavez have left – now only about 3% of the military are opposition supporters. The army is now largely employed in social projects and this has encouraged many soldiers to support Chavez, as they see first hand the benefits to the poor. After a long discussion, the Captain took me on a tour of the various projects which he oversaw in the military museum. Amongst these projects were Barrio Adentro, an organic food project and ‘Mission Vuelva Cara’. Apparently about 3,500 families have access to hydroponically grown organic food areas, in the 23rd Enero barrio. Urban organic food production is key to the governments ideas that Venezuelans should be able to produce their own food.
In other parts of Caracas I also visited large organopónicos, organic market gardens which produced food for local people. Unemployed people from nearby shanty-towns are given work here and trained as agricultural specialists. Urban agricultural plots like this are springing up in cities across Venezuela. The Captain explained to me in detail the organic methods that they use. It seems that Venezuela has been greatly influenced by Cuba in this respect, who also produce almost all their food organically and are sending technicians to Venezuela to help with the organic projects.I was then shown the ‘Mission Vuelvan Caras’. The Captain explained to me that during the war for independence from Spain, Venezuelans called upon their countrymen to vuelvan caras – about face – meaning to turn around and directly face the enemy. The enemy today in Venezuela is not Spain, but rather unemployment, and it is this enemy that mission Vuelvan Caras is facing. The mission intends to create skills in the workforce that will break the former economic, cultural and technological dependence of the country on imports. The government describes this process as ‘endogenous development’, growth form within. This growth process is seen to be different to capitalist development in that respect for the environment, culture and fair wages take precedence over profits. There are five endogenous development ‘fronts’: agriculture, industry, infrastructure, tourism, and services.
I was told that in 1999, 52% of all employed Venezuelans, worked in the informal sector. Due to initiatives such as Vuelvan Caras, this percentage had decreased to 47%. The unemployment rate is also decreasing as a result of such initiatives. In 1998, it was 16% and was steadily declining until the economic sabotage from December 2002-February 2003. However, it is again in decline and has now decreased to 12%. The Government is expecting this figure to reach single figures by the end of the year.After saying my goodbyes to the Captain and Cristal, I went to see a student from the Bolivarian University that I had met the previous day. She was going to take me to meet the local representative for the 23rd Enero CTU – ‘Comité de Tierra Urbana’ - Urban Land Committee. The Urban Land Committees have been setting up independently of the government, and were largely initiated in response to the government's decision to issue land titles. The Government issued a decree specifying that Venezuelans who live in self-built homes on occupied land, which is the case for nearly all of Venezuela's poor, can appeal to the government for title to the land. The main mechanism for acquiring title to the land is via the land committees. This led to the mobilization of over 5,000 land committees, representing a total population of more than 5 million Venezuelans, or 20% of the population. This makes the urban land committees Venezuela's largest organized social movement.In the 23 Enero, a typical process had taken place, where around 200 families had elected about a dozen individuals to represent their community. The committees then registered with the National Technical Office to register the tenancies. Their work also included writing a ‘barrio charter’ of the history of the barrio and the condition of each house and the residents. In addition, the land committee deals with public utility companies, such as water and electricity supply, sewage and garbage disposal, the organization of cultural events, the management of security concerns, the initiation of neighbourhood improvement projects, and other issues. The land titles provide security for the people and allow them to apply for loans and grants to do up their houses. The committee decide together what is the priority for improving the area, and channel any grants to the most desperate. The urban land reform process was described as the most important example of participatory democracy in Venezuela.
It is estimated that around 10 million people live in barrios. Around half a million people now have their homes registered as legally theirs so there is still a long way to go. Not all houses can receive titles because many homes are on unstable ground or have competing ownership claims. In 23 Enero had completed 78 houses over the previous year. I was shown the houses that had been renovated, they could be picked out from a distance by the new red corrugated rooves colourful walls. Rosaria, the community representative, said she was going to meet with Chavez the following day to tell him what their committee had been doing.Rosaria then took me to see the local ‘Casa de Alimentacion’(Nutrition house). These are free food allocation centers where target groups such as older people, pregnant women, and disabled persons, people on low incomes can get a two free meals a day. Currently, there are around 5,000 food houses that serve over three quarters of a million people in Venezuela. The one we visited had about 150 people on their list. There were five people working there and it was run from a kitchen of one of the workers. The project has run for about 5 years. We were given some delicious food to eat – a fruit cocktail because, we were told, everyone who comes to the nutrition house must be fed. There is also a new network of susidized supermarkets and food distribution networks called Mercal, which is now providing half-price food to over a third of the population. Mercal is an initiative aimed at achieving full national food sovereignty meaning the ability of the country to be self-sufficient in food production. Largely concentrated in shanty towns and impoverished areas. There is also a sustainability aspect to this network as the food tends to be purchased from local and regional businesses, so there is less need for long-distance transport.
Visit to National Womens Instutute (INAMUJER) – August 23rd
Wherever I went in Venezuela, both men and women told me that women were the most active participants in the revolution. I noticed that the majority of people who were participating in the missions, and in the political and community activities were women. I wanted to find out how much Venezuelan women were specifically benefiting from this revolutionary activity and so arranged to visit the National Women’s Institute - INAMUJER. This Institute is one of the main womens campaigning organisations in Venezuela and organizes educational campaigns on sexual and reproductive rights, prevention of violence against women, democratisation of the family and political representation. On my visit, I was accompanied by a small delegation of people from the World Festival for Youth and Students and my friend, Gabriela, who is a voluntary worker for the organisation. When we arrived we spoke informally to the workers, some of whom I was surprised to find were men. Then we were invited into a meeting with the National Executive Committee of INAMUJER, where we were fortunate in being able to meet and ask questions of the committee members, including María León the president of the National Institute for Women, and María del Mar Alvarez, the National Defender of Women’s Rights.We were told that most women look upon the new Constitution, brought it by Chávez in 1999, as a social and political victory for women. Womens groups were very involved in drafting this constitution, and are happy with what they have achieved. The Venezuelan Constitution clearly states that women are entitled to full citizenship, and it addresses discrimination, sexual harassment, and domestic violence. In addition to guaranteeing full equality between men and women in employment, it also recognizes housework as an economically productive activity, thus entitling ‘housewives’ to social security benefits, such as pensions (Article 88). The Constitution also recognizes the sexual and reproductive rights of women and entitles women to information about family planning (Article 76). In addition, it states that family relations should be based on equality of rights and duties, solidarity, mutual understanding and reciprocal respect (Article 75). INAMUJER are using this article to campaign to democratize the family, in order to ensure that men share housework. They are also currently involved in a campaign to reform laws that contradict the Constitution. The organisation recently presented the National Plan for Equality for Women 2004-2009, which is designed to prevent and eradicate violence against women, ensure women’s rights and access to justice, strengthen the participation of women in politics and society, and to develop and execute a plan for equal economic rights for women.As well as their campaigns, the organization also runs services, such as a free telephone hotline for victims and a refuge, Casa de Abrigo. They also run workshops to teach women what their rights are and how to report domestic violence and are educating police, lawyers, and doctors about domestic violence issues to ensure that women receive the support and services that they need. María del Mar Alvarez said one of the greatest achievements was that women have been empowered through the constitution and the struggle to achieve it. She said that feminism now belongs to all sectors including the poor and working class. I said that, in the UK, we rarely use the work feminism these days in ordinary conversation as it seems to provoke a kind of mocking disdain and that this seems to me a manifestation of the backlash that we are experiencing. They seemed to find this quite shocking.
We were also told that one of the greatest achievements of the women’s movement was the incorporation of non-sexist language throughout the Constitution. The Spanish language, distinguishes between the masculine and feminine versions of titles, such as ‘Venezolanos’ and ‘Venezolanas’, ‘ senor’ and ‘senora’ etc. Now, every time there is a reference to a title it is in both the masculine and the feminine forms. The women said that Chávez has been a strong supporter of INAMUJER, as well as women in general.It was again emphasized that women have played an important role in this revolution, often more than their male counterparts. However, although women fully participate, they are still under-represented in leadership positions in government. In the past few years there has been a modest increase in women in government, for example 16 women were elected to the 131 member National Assembly. However, in the highest positions there is still a noticeable gap between men and women. Initially, Chávez did not appoint any women to his government though, in 2000, he appointed a number of women to cabinet positions and other important posts. INAMUJER are currently campaigning for 50:50 representation of women in the National Assembly, as well as other political positions.I asked what they were doing with regard to the awful representation of women in adverts and I was told that they have a media campaign to make people question the culture of the perfect body that pervades Venezuelan society and pressurises women to attack their own bodies with plastic surgery etc. In general, the women agreed that there was still a long way to go but see that they are in a process of profound social transformation in which the injustices against women are coming to be recognised. They argue that this discrimination has existed for centuries and it is impossible to eradicate it in seven years. It is necessary to change the culture and to change the values of both men and women. But the revolution is making women realise that they have rights and that they can struggle to make sure their rights are respected.
Co-operative Centre, Catia, Caracas – August 24th
I went to visit a co-operative information centre with someone from my household who was thinking of setting up a co-operative. . The promotion of Co-operatives is now one of the governments top priorities so the state is doing a lot to support co-operatives and they are springing up all over. The information centre was in a shopping centre in inner city Caracas, made up entirely of co-operatives. The cooperative development worker there said that idea of the co-operative movement is to create an ‘alternative to capitalism, not by kicking out the capitalists, but by creating a superior, parallel economy, which will gradually replace the one that dominates right now’. There are lots of new laws that support co-ops like if there is some work going the state has to offer it to a co-operative rather than a private company (all other aspects being equal). Government offices such as Fundabarrios and Fundapatrimonio are hiring cooperatives to do jobs previously given to large-scale businesses and utilizing them in the construction of housing. The state also does lots of training, offers advice and makes it easy to set up a co-op. There are also many micro-credit banks where people can go to get funding to set up co-operatives.
Revolution with Salsa – Merida – August 28th
Everywhere you go, people want to take you off to their community radio station. Today we went to one of the radio stations in Merida and was interviewed live on a programme called ´Revolution with Salsa´. I told them all about la lucha to stop the war and what we did, including the Bristol peace vigil, which has run every day since September 11th 2001. Also about all the racism that has occurred since the London bombings. I said a lot of people were depressed about the situation and that Venezuela was an inspiration because it was something positive that was being constructed by the people. The radio stations are really important to people because a lot of the media is in the hands of the opposition so these stations are springing up in their thousands all over the country. People now have some control over the media. The community radio stations are part of the Mission Cultura: This is a mission to promote dance, arts, theatre, community media and in particular, indigenous culture. Promabasa Factory - Barinas – August 30th The first night we were in Barinas we were taken out to witness the signing of an agreement between a group of workers and the Ministry of Land and Agriculture to take over a factory (Promobasa), which would become a workers run cooperative. Mayrivic, the eldest daughter of the family we stayed with, was involved in this process as one of the lawyers in the Ministry, and it seemed that it was an extremely important time for the family as a whole. It was a strange thing to see, particularly because the stories we were getting were conflicting and confusing. It was made more confusing by the fact that all these workers were assembled outside the factory gates, with music blazing, and surrounded by a large number of armed military (when I say armed, I mean not just riot gear and guns, but also shields and one had a sword!). But basically it eventuated that the factory we were standing outside was owned by Polar - the largest beer company in Venezuela, which also happens to own about a third of food production and is at the same time owned by the leader of the opposition movement, who was embroiled in the 2002 coup. The factory had been a corn processing plant, producing flour and oil, but was closed during the bosses lock-out in 2002 and has remained shut ever since, meaning around 3,000 workers lost their jobs. When we arrived the ex-workers from the factory had been camping outside the building for the previous two weeks. They were demanding that the government come down and support them to take-over the factory in order to get it operating again. The army were sent there to protect them from any harassment by the Polar company. At the moment we arrived they were waiting for the Minister of Land and Agriculture to arrive to sign an agreement to say the government would support the take-over. The workers argument was based on particular articles of the constitution – they’d painted extracts from the constitution onto sheets and hung them outside the building. They referred to article 229 and 115, which says that the right to private property is respected, but that property can be expropriated if necessary, with just compensation, if this is in the general interest and if the property is considered to be ‘a public utility’. Also article 305 of the constitution, which states that it is the obligation of the state to guarantee the population ‘a secure food supply’ and to take the measures necessary to achieve this. There have been a couple of other factory expropriations but generally, despite the impression you would get from the media here, the whole process is very new in Venezuela. There are about 800 other factories that are currently not operating as a result of industrial sabotage. Recently Chavez said that most of these will be investigated as s possible candidates for expropriation. The process of expropriation would be to negotiate with the owners – then value the property and purchase it at the market value. After that the factory is put into co-management between the state and those directly employed at the plant. They also become a “company for social production” which means they would set aside a portion of their profits into a fund to help pay for health, education and other projects of benefit to the local community.
So the idea of expropriations in cases of necessity is not something authoritarian, brought in by Chavez, but rather something that was brought in with the Venezuelan constitution, supported by over 70%. Barinas Hospital – Health Workers – September 1st We were taken to meet leaders of the Health Workers Union for the State of Barinas – ‘Sindicato Unico Bolivariano de Obreros de la Salud del Estado Barinas’. They told us that the union encompassed all the health workers in Barinas, and was affiliated to the Chavista national union, the UNT. There were two unions within the broader health union - one for the workers, and one for the employers. It was initiated in 1999, with the development of the new constitution, and has the objectives of continuing the goals of the constitutions by supporting the workers and supporting the national union. It is designed to defend all the workers in the hospital - including those whose positions are not directly linked to the health sector (ie, maintenance workers). The union is voluntary, in accordance with the Venezuelan constitution, and 45% of the hospital staff were not affiliated. The union officials declared to us that there were no major conflicts between workers and management within the hospital, as all is equal and disagreements are simply sorted out by mutual agreement. They similarly claimed that no fractures could exist within Bolivarian unions such as theirs.The union leaders spoke at length about the benefits of the Chavez government, especially the constitution, which is seen as a point for democratic debate among workers who are free to interpret the constitution and its implication for the formation of unions as they see fit. In their eyes, before Chavez, there was a lot of conflict, but now there isn't because Chavez is mindful of workers rights. The workers at the hospital are happy with their wages, although it could be better.The previous union was affiliated to the CTV - still the major national union in Venezuela, although it is linked to the opposition movement and is strongly anti-Chavez. Now, however, the CTV is next to dead within Barinas hospital, as it was never representative of anyone except in the high management, and was thus extremely undemocratic. The new union is said to be more democratic.The union leaders also told us some general facts about health within Barinas:Health has improved 80% since the Cuban doctors came to Venezuela. Doctors generally don't see the Cubans as a threat, although some think of them as kind of "quacks", because they use alternative medicine. The Cubans are only here temporarily, but the three stages of Barrio Adentro, through which the Cuban doctors are helping to train Venezuelans, will help to make the system much better.Drug companies behave in a similar manner within Venezuelan health facilities as they do in countries such as Australia, Britain and the US - ie, by maintaining commercial pressure over health professionals through manipulative advertising and personal persuasion in the form of presents.Doctors are generally more right-wing and less unionised. They are traditionally seen as kings within the health sector, but now nurses are being brought up to the same level through academic and specialised training which is now becoming available to them. A new Bolivarian Doctors Union is being formed, which is intended to benefit all doctors and nurses.It is written into the constitution that all Venezuelans have the right to receive full health care and education. All health care is free within the public sector, however, there exists a private sector which some people to choose to utilise, because it's quicker - but you also need to have more money.Previously, not many people could afford to go to the dentist, now they have access to dentists through Barrio Adentros.All drugs are free in the public health sector - a situation which has developed since Chavez. (We were not able to completely clarify this point, however...)Barrio in Barinas – September 5th One day we were invited to the house of one of the students from the University in Barinas. She lived in one of the Barrios surrounding the city. This was the first time I had actually visited one of the poorer Barrios (the one in Caracas I stayed in was Five Star accommodation in comparison). I found it quite upsetting to see people living in houses made of bits of tin. The constitution states that all Venezuelans have a right to a home that is,’adequate, safe, comfortable, hygienic, and supplied with basic essential services…’ (Article 82). However, there are still a huge amount of people living inadequate housing and around 10 million people (out of a population of 26 million) living in shanty-towns or barrios. There has been very little public housing constructed under Chavez government and in August this year, Chavez himself said he was ‘supremely’ disappointed with himself and with his government with regard to his government’s achievements in the public housing program. According to the human rights group PROVEA, the annual average number of homes constructed during the first four years of the Chavez presidency (1999-2003) was 34,228, compared to 37,018 for the second Perez government (1989-1993) and 33,754 during the second Caldera government (1994-1998). The figures for 2004 were no better and for 2005 look like they will be only slightly higher.Considering that housing experts estimate that Venezuela needs a minimum of 135,000 new homes per year and that there is an accumulated deficit of nearly one million homes, and that the private home building sector constructed even less than the public sector, Venezuela is facing a severe housing crisis. However Chavez has recently announced a 3 billion programme to improve the housing and is making it a priority within his programmes. So hopefully this will improve in the near future.
However, despite the depressing look of the area, there were clearly signs of the revolution every few blocks, with 10 Mission Robinson buildings (literacy projects) in that barrio alone, and numerous Barrio Adentros. We were taken to visit one of these Mission Robinson buildings and chatted to the lady who ran the program of educating mature adults up to the end of primary school (when they graduate to Mission Ribas). This is what she told us:
She has been running classes from her house since 2003 and has a class size of abour 12-25 students. Classes run between 7 and 9 every evening, and students learn reading, writing a maths up to the 6th grade. Students recieve a grant of 560,000 Bolivars per month if they graduate on to Mission Ribas (where they can earn their high school diploma) and are unable to support themselves otherwise (for example, if they are a single mother). The students are between 15 and 60 years old, and the classes are open to anyon who wishes to join if they want. Resources are suppled by the Zona Educacativa. The teacher receives a basic wage of 145,000 Bolivars per month (which is well below minimum wage, meaning that the job is mostly voluntary). The teacher is able to manage different levels by given some students special attention when they are lagging behind. Daily and weekly evaluations take place, as well as evaluations on a national level by Zona Educativa (which oversees all education - missions, schools, universities, etc). Teachers are chosen to teach for Mission Robinson from those who have university qualifications - then there is a process of training and instruction.Ten years ago Venezuela’s illiteracy rate was nearly 9%, primarily made up of people in rural indigenous communities and poor inner-city families. Since the Mission Robinson programme started most of these people have learnt to read and write so about three weeks ago, Venezuela was able to declare itself free of illiteracy and this was recognised by UNESCO inspectors. El Charcote, San Carlos, Cojedes – September 8th I decided I would go to El Charcote, near San Carlos, as I had heard that there was a land dispute between a wealthy English Company and some campesino families who had occupied the land. I thought that perhaps our solidarity group could do something to support the campesinos in their struggle to stay on the land. El Charcote ranch is a 12,950 hectare piece of land which Agroflora, a subsidiary of the Vestey Group, claims to own. The Vestey Group is vastly wealthy (Lord Vestey is the 56th richest person in the UK) and owns 13 farms in Venezuela alone, as well as land across the whole of South America. They are known to have destroyed huge areas of rain-forest in Brazil in order to rear cattle which supply the meat for McDonalds. Following the Land Act, passed in December 2001, 400 families moved onto the El Charcote ranch and began to farm it. The Land Act stated that the government can expropriate farmlands if they are declared idle or if there is no evidence of rightful ownership. This would only apply to large areas of land (more than 5000 hectares) not under production. The landowners will then have a period in which they have to begin production and, if they fail to do this, the law says that the land can be bought by the government at current market prices. This Act is intended to increase food production in Venezuela, where currently the vast majority of food is still imported (70%), and to address inequality, as presently 60% of Venezuelan farmland is owned by less than 1% of the population. Since this Law was passed, the National Land Institute has redistributed 2.2 million hectares. However, all of this has been state owned land and there has been no expropriation of privately owned land, so far. As I had no contacts in San Carlos, I went to the nearest government building and asked where the National Land Institute (INTI) was. When I arrived at INTI, there was no obvious reception desk and there were lots of people milling about. I asked several people if I could speak to someone about the situation at El Charcote. My name was given to the Coordinator of the Regional INTI. I then spent the next few hours talking to people who were also waiting to be seen. One group of campesinos I spoke to told me that they had been camping outside the INTI office for weeks as a protest. They wanted legal ownership documents for the land they have been farming at El Charcote over the last four years. INTI are saying they must wait until the Court case with Agroflora is settled. They said ‘The land belongs to us. Bolivar liberated the land for the Venezuelan people. The English Company, Vestey, are the imperialists now’. The group told me they were being shot at every day. I asked them if there had been any injuries and they said there had. They believed Vestey were sending vigilantes to carry out the shooting. They said they came in masks with guns and shot at them. They also told me the police harass and abuse them and they believe Vestey give money to the police to do this. The police frequently stop and search them and sometimes refuse to let them pass roadblocks. They also said the local government and ministries are full of people who were previously in the opposition parties but joined the MVR (Chavez’s party) in order to maintain their positions. They held these people, whom they called ‘infiltrators’, responsible for the delays in giving them their land entitlements. At this point I was called in to meet with the Coordinator of the INTI Regional Land Office.The Coordinator, the Regional Legal Officer and the Technical Director were all present in the office. I explained that I was from England and wanted to set up a local solidarity group in my town and would like some information about the situation in El Charcote, to see if we could support the campesinos in any way. The Coordinator, Reynaldo Ledón told me that in January, INTI had gone to the El Charcote ranch, accompanied by the National Guard, to determine whether the land titles were correct and whether any parts of the estate were idle. This inspection showed that about 5,000 hectares of the ranch have been claimed illegally and that this land actually belongs to the state. Though Agroflora say they have produced documents dating back to 1848, the documents are not valid because they were bought from people who had no legal claim to the land. The inspection showed that, whilst some of the land is used by Agroflora for cattle rearing, large parts of the land are not being used for active food production. The government is only asking for 800 hectares to be brought under production or sold. The Legal Officer said they would respect any legal documents that could be produced but that, so far, this had not happened. He said Agroflora/Vestey had the right to any legal process that would prove ownership.
They explained to me that the state wants to rescue unused land and help people set up co-ops to make the land more productive. At the moment, though Agroflora use some of the land at EL Charcote for cattle rearing, much of the meat produced is exported. The people that are occupying the land are growing corn, fruit and vegetables which is a much more efficient use of land. The Coordinator said: ‘The people here are so poor. Some of them come into this office crying because they can’t feed their families. It isn’t fair that they have nothing while this Company has land that is idle’.We discussed what people in the UK could do. They said they would like us to write letters to the press, to the company and to the government. Also, they asked me to find out some more information for them about the company. I then said it would be good if I could go and visit the ranch. The Coordinator immediately replied ‘Right, let’s go!’, and got up from his desk. I was a bit taken aback as I didn’t expect him to spend any more of his valuable time with me but I think this indicates how important they consider the situation to be. We were driven to the ranch in an INTI vehicle with a chauffeur and security guard. On the way there, I discovered that Reynaldo Ledón, the Coordinator, had only been in post four days. There had been six previous coordinators. All had been asked to leave because they had not been able to resolve the situation at El Charcote. Reynaldo was a long term member of the Communist Party. He told me how he had not even been able to speak when the opposition were in power and how he had been tortured and harassed for his beliefs.When we arrived at El Charcote, there did not seem much to see though it was obvious that the land was being farmed as there were large productive areas of corn, fruit and vegetables. There were also some small houses made from wood, daub and tin. At one point, we had to stop the vehicle and walk as the road was too damaged to continue. We soon met up with a family coming in the opposite direction who said there was no point in continuing as the road was too bad and you would have to wade through the mud. We walked back with the family and they told us that they had come to live there four years ago from a neighbouring state and were living quite well at a subsistence level. However, they had not been able to harvest their crop of corn this year because they could not get the equipment up the road. They had asked the local government to mend the road but the government said they did not have the money. When the family discovered they were talking to the INTI Coordinator they said that they had heard all the people living on the land would have to form cooperatives. They did not want to be part of a coop as they had worked the land for four years and felt it was theirs. They did not want to share it with other people. The Coordinator said no-one would have to share their land. They would just be asked to join up with others to share work and tools etc. But this would all be voluntary, no-one would be forced to do this. When we got back to the vehicle, we drove round to the other side of the estate where we came across a number of parked vehicles and a crowd of about 200 people gathered under a tree by the side of the road. Reynaldo Ledón said ‘Oh they’re having a meeting, lets go!’ His security guard told him not to go, but he said ‘Why not?’ and got out of the car without waiting for a reply.
He walked into the centre of the meeting. I tried to stand at the edge but was called into the centre of the group, as well. I was a bit nervous about this as I thought they might not trust me and they might not be too happy to meet an English person. Reynaldo was introduced and started to talk about how he supported them and then he introduced me as ‘a revolutionary from England’. I immediately launched into a speech about how unjust the situation was, how the land should belong to the Venezuelan people, how unhappy the people in England would be if they knew what was going on here and how we would do whatever we could in solidarity. They gave me a huge round of applause, much to my relief. Then a discussion about the legal aspects of the situation took place, with different people quoting from different laws, the previous land law, the current land law and the constitution. Reynaldo was arguing that they needed to wait until the outcome of the court case before official papers could be given out. This would ensure the land could not be taken away from them again. The campesinos were arguing that some people already had papers and were registered as cooperatives. The National Director of INTI had promised them their papers in 15 days, that was three weeks ago. (I believe these were temporary papers which could be issued while the court case progressed but I was not able to clarity this). Reynaldo repeated that the judicial process had to take place first. The people were very angry but were also joking with him. They asked him which side he was on. He said he was on their side and that he would do what he could for them. He said he would ring the head office as soon as he got back. They said that was good because if he did nothing they would soon come and occupy his office. At one point, a member of the group said ‘It’s important that the woman from England knows we are being provoked by the English Company. Last night we were shot at 400 times in the night – it was like fireworks’. People in the meeting were nodding in agreement and repeating similar things. They said that blood could run if something was not done. They also said that, during the coup, 1,000 British Soldiers had been on the land. They then began to shout ‘Out English!’. I felt really ashamed and quite upset that people still needed to shout this. Then one of them said ‘except her!’ pointing at me, and everyone laughed.On the journey back, I was told that a few years ago the State Governor had arranged for troops to evict most of the people occupying the land. The farmers then took over the regional offices of INTI and demanded to meet with the president. After a delegation met with Chavez, the peasants were allowed back on the land they had been using. I was also told that when the peasants originally occupied the land the English company had shot at them, killing several people and wounding many. I asked what was being done to protect them now and I was told ‘Nothing, they can protect themselves’. I later read that over 120 campesinos have been killed by landowners in Venezuela since 1999.
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