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Port of Call |
LAST UPDATE January 23, 2007
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| site design imagesparkle.com |
| January 7, 2006 |
La Guaira, Venezuela – Peace Boat Witnesses Venezuela's Revolution Up Close |
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Venezuela's aim of creating a society in which all people can actively participate has created a strong feeling of national pride in the country |
Revolutions are usually carried out with guns and daggers. In Venezuela, however, a revolution is being carried with an unusual set of arms: wide-sweeping literacy and cultural programs; free schooling and medical care; constitutional revisions guaranteeing the rights and dignity of all people, and even an energy-efficient light bulb exchange programme.
All the programmes are free to citizens, and are being financed largely by profits from the country's oil revenues. Helping to carry out this revolution is Hugo Chavez, the country's popularly elected president who takes his inspiration from Simon Bolivar, “The Liberator” of Latin America who fought for independence from colonial Spain and for an end to slavery. Venezuela's revolution is named after this historical hero. When Peace Boat called in the country in January, participants had a chance to meet some of the millions of Venezuelans taking part in and being affected by this “Bolivarian Revolution.” |
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A Peace Boat participant shares a soccer ball spin with a Venezuelan youth. “The future belongs to young people” is one principle of the revolution taking place in Venezuela |
In the state of Vargas, Peace Boat participants visited a youth center, part of a nation-wide programme designed to help young people develop their skills in art, theater, sports and music. The programme also provides job training and deals with topics such as drug addiction, teenage pregnancy prevention, sexually transmitted diseases, and domestic violence. According to the center's director, the government's long-term goal is to have a youth center available in every community. Currently, more than a million young people throughout the country are enrolled in the programme, most as volunteers. At the center, volunteers treated Peace Boat participants to regional food, cultural performances, T-shirts, and copies of the country's new constitution. “I had no idea we would be given such a big welcome here in Venezuela,” said one participant. “It's tremendous.” |
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| Dancers put on a spectacular dance show for Peace Boat participants |
Participants also had a chance to learn about Venezuela's new literacy and education programmes. “Before [the Bolivarian Revolution], only 4,000 illiterate people were taught how to read and write in 10 years,” said William Fuentes, director of the Inclusive System of Education programme. “Now, we have taught 1.2 million people how to read and write in only 7 weeks.” The literacy program was so successful, he added, that UNESCO couldn't believe the results until data was gathered to prove it. |
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| A graduate of Venezuela's literacy programme, called Mission Robinson, proudly talks about his achievements and goals |
The government provides people with free educational materials, and those who learn how to read and write then volunteer to teach others at churches, schools, and in homes, accounting for the widespread success of the program, Fuentes said. “I've always wanted to become a doctor, so I'm going to keep studying to become one,” said one 50-year old man who just completed the first step of the literacy program. The government also provides free support to adults who want to achieve a high school or university level education. |
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| A high unemployment rate makes many Venezuelans resort to selling goods in stalls and on the street to make a living |
After visiting several excellent new government-sponsored facilities, participants had a chance to view the crumbling houses and garbage-filled ravines of a nearby slum. High crime rates, unemployment, and alcoholism continue to weigh heavily on Venezuelan society. “We never say the revolution has finished,” said one member of the national youth program. “We say we're in the middle of a revolution. It's up to each one of us to think about what we can to solve these problems together,” he added.
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| A street mural announces “Venezuela is now everyone's” |
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