Bolivarian missions
The Bolivarian Missions are a series of programs that primarily serve to fight poverty and the social security of the population, but also other goals such as promoting general armament and the election campaign of Hugo Chavez . They were started by the government of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez after his election in 1998 and are named after Simón Bolívar .
history
Before that, social programs that benefit the poor were practically non-existent. It is true that attempts were made to develop free health care, a general school system and an active employment policy during the so-called golden years (1973–1983) of the oil boom. However, corruption and clientelism meant that a large part of the poor population could not benefit from it. With the drop in the price of oil in the 1980s, Venezuela fell into a severe economic crisis and was dependent on the help of the International Monetary Fund . As part of its structural adjustment programs, this demanded considerable cuts in social spending, which were sharply reduced in the following years.
First social programs that u. a. Hugo Chávez initiated free health care under the name Plan Bolivar 2000 in February 1999. Although positive effects were noticeable, they still did not reach the majority of the marginalized. In 2003, with Cuban advice, the government began to reorganize the social programs now known as Misiones . In doing so, the government relies increasingly on social movements in the slums. Much expenditure was also financed directly by the state oil company PDVSA and the health care of the slums was largely taken over by Cuban doctors because most Venezuelan doctors had refused to work there.
List of Bolivarian missions
| Surname | started on | target |
| education | ||
| Bolívar 2000 plan | February 2001 | Distribution of food |
| Misión Robinson | July 2003 | Combating the illiteracy rate among adults. Afterwards, former illiterates can catch up on primary education. |
| Misión Ribas | November 2003 | Allows adults who have successfully completed the Robinson Mission to catch up with secondary education and earn university entrance qualifications . |
| Misión Sucre | December 2003 | Allows anyone with a university entrance qualification (including those who have graduated from the Ribas Mission) to study at a university free of charge, with no entrance exams and no restrictions on places. |
| Misión Cultura ("Culture") | January 2005 | Collection and dissemination of knowledge, cultural practices and popular culture in general in the population. |
| Misión Ciencia ("Science") | February 2006 | Among other things, instruction of 400,000 people in open source software and provision of graduate grants. |
| Misión Alma Mater | November 21, 2006 | 50 new universities and expansion of the existing ones. |
| Misión Música ("Music") | September 2007 | Expansion of the national system of youth and children's orchestras of Venezuela founded by José Antonio Abreu , which enables young people and children from poor sections of the population to take part in music lessons and provides musical instruments. The mission has an annual budget of $ 30 million and aims to increase the number of participants from 300,000 to one million. |
| health | ||
| Misión Barrio Adentro ("Into the district") | March 2003 | Providing free and comprehensive health care for the entire population. This includes both basic and advanced healthcare in hospitals. |
| Misión Milagro ("Miracle") | July 2004 | Surgical treatment of eye diseases in mobile ambulances in various Latin American countries. |
| Misión Sonrisa ("Smile") | November 22, 2006 | Free provision of dentures to the population |
| Food security | ||
| Misión Mercal | April 24, 2003 | Provision of cheaper staple foods for the population that are grown by local cooperatives and farmers. The PDVAL affair came about as part of this program . |
| Housing | ||
| Misión Hábitat ("living space") | September 3, 2004 | Providing sufficient living space for the entire population, which enables a life in dignity. |
| Social | ||
| Misión Negra Hipolita | January 2006 | Support and assistance for Venezuela's street children, lonely elderly people and indigenous people. |
| Misión Abuelo ("Grandpa") | January 2006 | Improvement of the situation of Venezuelan pensioners. |
| Misión Madres del Barrio ("Mothers of the Neighborhood") | March 23, 2006 | Improvement of the situation of the very poor mothers in the slums. |
| Development and Socio-Economic Transformation | ||
| Misión Zamora | November 2001 | Land reform |
| Misión Guaicaipuro | October 12, 2003 | Restoration of land titles for indigenous communities. |
| Misión Piar | October 2003 | Improvement of the situation of the small artisanal prospectors and miners. |
| Misión Che Guevara formerly Misión Vuelvan Caras ("turns your face") | January 2004 | Transformation of the Venezuelan economy towards social goals. Repression of behavior based purely on money and profit. |
| Misión Vuelta al Campo ("Back to the Country") | June 2005 | Encourages impoverished and unemployed Venezuelans to move to the countryside and set up cooperatives on land confiscated from the landowners by land reform. |
| environmental Protection | ||
| Misión Árbol ("Tree") | June 2006 | Restoration of Venezuelan forests by planting at least 100,000 trees by 2011 |
| Misión Energía ("Energy") | November 2006 | Saving energy and promoting renewable energies. |
| Others | ||
| Misión Identidad ("Identity") | October 2003 | Equipping the entire population with identity cards. |
| Misión Miranda | October 18, 2003 | Creation of a reserve army and promotion of general armament. |
| Misión Florentino | June 2004 | Coordination of the election campaign against the recall referendum against Hugo Chávez on August 15, 2004 |
| Misión Casa Bien Equipada ("Well furnished house") | 2011 | Selling electrical appliances, mostly from Haier , at lower prices than the market |
effect
According to official information, the Misión Robinson achieved the most visible successes: According to the Ministry of Education, the illiteracy rate was reduced from 6.12 to 1% in a few years. However, this has not been confirmed by UNESCO . However, a study by Wesleyan University found only slight positive effects or largely no statistically significant associations between Misión Robinson and literacy. In the opinion of the two authors, the results appear to be inconsistent with the official statement of a complete overcoming of illiteracy.
The Misiones Hábitat and Zamora have so far lagged far behind their plans. Only a fraction of the houses actually planned for the poor have been built and land reform is making slow progress.
criticism
The Venezuelan opposition expressed criticism that the hygienic and medical standards of the newly established health centers were low and that the Cuban doctors had indoctrinated their patients.
According to Zeit journalist Rainer Luyken, many of the measures taken under the missions were actually nothing new in 2009. There were two similar precursors to the Barrio Adentro health mission that had been initiated by the previous governments. The only new thing about her is that Cuban doctors now dare to go into the slums, which are burdened by high levels of violent crime, while their wealthy Venezuelan colleagues prefer to avoid them for fear of kidnappings and ransom extortion.
The Boston Globe newspaper cited fears that high spending on health, education and infrastructure could affect private consumption.
The missions meant a parallelization of the state, instead of a reformation of the institutions and ministries, a doubling of the bureaucracy and thus unclear responsibility.
literature
- Dario Azzellini : Venezuela Bolivariana, Cologne 2006, ISBN 3-89900-120-6
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b From Wealth to Rags: Venezuela's Economic Crisis , Al Jazeera, February 14, 2018
- ↑ Rory Carroll: Chávez pours millions more into pioneering music scheme. In: The Guardian. September 4, 2007, accessed March 22, 2009 .
- ↑ Dario Azzellini: Education and Higher Education for All - Transformation of the Education System in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela (PDF; 94 kB)
- ^ Daniel Ortega & Francisco Rodríguez: Freed from Illiteracy? A Closer Look at Venezuela's Robinson Literacy Campaign (PDF; 375 kB). Wesleyan University, 2006
- ↑ Dario Azzellini: Venezuela Bolivariana, p. 132
- ^ Healthy class struggle , young world, November 29, 2006, accessed on December 11, 2006.
- ↑ Die Zeit No. 49/2006 Mission Malzwhisky
- ↑ Lakshmanam, Indira AR Critics slam Venezuelan oil windfall spending. ( Memento of the original from March 13, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Boston.com Boston Globe (August 13, 2006).
