An Analysis of Cuban Influence in Venezuela and Its Support for the Bolívarian Revolution James A
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Hugo Chávez and Venezuela Rachel M
McNair Scholars Journal Volume 9 | Issue 1 Article 10 2005 Resistance to U.S. Economic Hegemony in Latin America: Hugo Chávez and Venezuela Rachel M. Jacques Grand Valley State University Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/mcnair Recommended Citation Jacques, Rachel M. (2005) "Resistance to U.S. Economic Hegemony in Latin America: Hugo Chávez and Venezuela," McNair Scholars Journal: Vol. 9: Iss. 1, Article 10. Available at: http://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/mcnair/vol9/iss1/10 Copyright © 2005 by the authors. McNair Scholars Journal is reproduced electronically by ScholarWorks@GVSU. http://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/ mcnair?utm_source=scholarworks.gvsu.edu%2Fmcnair%2Fvol9%2Fiss1%2F10&utm_medium=PDF&utm_campaign=PDFCoverPages Resistance to U.S. economic hegemony in Latin America: Hugo Chávez and Venezuela Abstract Introduction Recent years have seen increasing opposition On April 11, 2002, a group of to U.S. political and economic influence in senior military officers stormed the Latin America. Venezuela is a key player in presidential palace in Caracas, the the South American economy. This project capital of Venezuela. They ousted the researches the country’s history from the leftist president, Hugo Chávez, and 1950s to the present and the role of the replaced him with the more conservative U.S. in its formation. Through political Pedro Carmona. The coup had the economy, this study asks if recent political support of the business community, changes are due to the effects of U.S. policies the upper classes, the mass media, and in Venezuela. The research examines tacit support from the U.S.; however, the relationship between the two nations the de-facto government was short and the development models proposed lived (Cooper, 2002; Hellinger, 2003; by the Chávez government. -
Explaining Chavismo
Explaining Chavismo: The Unexpected Alliance of Radical Leftists and the Military in Venezuela under Hugo Chávez by Javier Corrales Associate Professor of Political Science Amherst College Amherst, MA 01002 [email protected] March 2010 1 Knowing that Venezuela experienced a profound case of growth collapse in the 1980s and 1990s is perhaps enough to understand why Venezuela experienced regime change late in the 1990s. Most political scientists agree with Przeworski et al. (2000) that severe economic crises jeopardize not just the incumbents, but often the very continuity of democratic politics in non-rich countries. However, knowledge of Venezuela’s growth collapse is not sufficient to understand why political change went in the direction of chavismo. By chavismo I mean the political regime established by Hugo Chávez Frías after 1999. Scholars who study Venezuelan politics disagree about the best label to describe the Hugo Chávez administration (1999-present): personalistic, popular, populist, pro-poor, revolutionary, participatory, socialist, Castroite, fascist, competitive authoritarian, soft- authoritarian, third-world oriented, hybrid, statist, polarizing, oil-addicted, ceasaristic, counter-hegemonic, a sort of Latin American Milošević, even political ―carnivour.‖ But there is nonetheless agreement that, at the very least, chavismo consists of a political alliance of radical-leftist civilians and the military (Ellner 2001:9). Chávez has received most political advice from, and staffed his government with, individuals who have an extreme-leftist past, a military background, or both. The Chávez movement is, if nothing else, a marriage of radicals and officers. And while there is no agreement on how undemocratic the regime has become, there is virtual agreement that chavismo is far from liberal democracy. -
Yudey J. Rodríguez M., Marino J. González R., Elena Rincón O., Rodrigo Mijares S. MISIÓN
Mundo Nuevo Nº 10. Septiembre-Diciembre, 2012 . Caracas, Venezuela Año IV, Nº 10, 2012, pp. 139-181 Yudey J. Rodríguez M., Marino J. González R., Elena Rincón O., Rodrigo Mijares S. MISIÓN BARRIO ADENTRO, BALANCE Y PERSPECTIVAS RESUMEN: Este artículo pretende dar a conocer el impacto que ha tenido la Misión Barrio Adentro (MBA) en la sociedad venezolana, en sus diferentes niveles: I, II y III. Como objetivos específi cos se plantearon los siguientes: 1) Describir la MBA, según diversos criterios como: ámbito de acción, población objetivo, objetivos del programa, recursos invertidos, resultados, entre otros; 2) Realizar una Revisión Sistemática de la Literatura (RSL) en bases de datos nacionales e internacionales, durante el período 2003-2010; 3) Determinar sus principales alcances y limitaciones. Con la fi nalidad de profundizar en el análisis y evaluación de políticas públicas de salud en Venezuela, la presente investigación se orientó al estudio y aproximación, cualitativa y cuantitativa, de la MBA. Palabras clave: Misión Barrio Adentro, políticas públicas, programas de salud, Venezuela. MISSION BARRIO ADENTRO, ASSESSMENT AND PERSPECTIVES ABSTRACT: This article presents the impact that Mision Barrio Adentro, through its different levels (I, II and III), has had in society. The objectives of the study are threefold. Firstly, to describe the program using criteria which include the fi eld of action, target population, program objectives, invested resources and results. Secondly, to undertake a review of the literature in national and international data bases for the period 2003-2010 and fi nally to determine the scope and limitations of the program. This research used both qualitative and quantitative methods to analyze and evaluate this public health policy in Venezuela. -
Misión Madres Del Barrio: a Bolivarian Social Program Recognizing Housework and Creating a Caring Economy in Venezuela
View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by KU ScholarWorks MISIÓN MADRES DEL BARRIO: A BOLIVARIAN SOCIAL PROGRAM RECOGNIZING HOUSEWORK AND CREATING A CARING ECONOMY IN VENEZUELA BY Cory Fischer-Hoffman Submitted to the graduate degree program in Latin American Studies and the Graduate Faculty of the University of Kansas in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master’s of Arts. Committee members Elizabeth Anne Kuznesof, Phd. ____________________ Chairperson Tamara Falicov, Phd. ____________________ Mehrangiz Najafizadeh, Phd. ____________________ Date defended: May 8, 2008 The Thesis Committee for Cory Fischer-Hoffman certifies that this is the approved Version of the following thesis: MISIÓN MADRES DEL BARRIO: A BOLIVARIAN SOCIAL PROGRAM RECOGNIZING HOUSEWORK AND CREATING A CARING ECONOMY IN VENEZUELA Elizabeth Anne Kuznesof, Phd. ________________________________ Chairperson Date approved:_______________________ ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This thesis is a product of years of activism in the welfare rights, Latin American solidarity, and global justice movements. Thank you to all of those who I have worked and struggled with. I would especially like to acknowledge Monica Peabody, community organizer with Parents Organizing for Welfare and Economic Rights (formerly WROC) and all of the welfare mamas who demand that their caring work be truly valued. Gracias to my compas, Greg, Wiley, Simón, Kaya, Tessa and Caro who keep me grounded and connected to movements for justice, and struggle along side me. Thanks to my thesis committee for helping me navigate through the bureaucracy of academia while asking thoughtful questions and providing valuable guidance. I am especially grateful to the feedback and editing support that my dear friends offered just at the moment when I needed it. -
Alba and Free Trade in the Americas
CUBA AND THE CONSTRUCTION OF ALTERNATIVE GLOBAL TRADE SYSTEMS: ALBA AND FREE TRADE IN THE AMERICAS LARRY CATÁ BACKER* & AUGUSTO MOLINA** ABSTRACT The ALBA (Alternativa Bolivariana para los Pueblos de Nuestra América) (Bolivarian Alternative for The People of Our America), the command economy alternative to the free trade model of globalization, is one of the greatest and least understood contributions of Cuba to the current conversation about globalization and economic harmonization. Originally conceived as a means for forging a unified front against the United States by Cuba and Venezuela, the organization now includes Nicaragua, Honduras, Dominica, and Bolivia. ALBA is grounded in the notion that globalization cannot be left to the private sector but must be overseen by the state in order to maximize the welfare of its citizens. The purpose of this Article is to carefully examine ALBA as both a system of free trade and as a nexus point for legal and political resistance to economic globalization and legal internationalism sponsored by developed states. The Article starts with an examination of ALBA’s ideology and institutionalization. It then examines ALBA as both a trade organization and as a political vehicle for confronting the power of developed states in the trade context within which it operates. ALBA remains * W. Richard and Mary Eshelman Faculty Scholar and Professor of Law, Dickinson Law School; Affiliate Professor, School of International Affairs, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania; and Director, Coalition for Peace & Ethics, Washington, D.C. The author may be contacted at [email protected]. An earlier version of this article was presented at the Conference, The Measure of a Revolution: Cuba 1959-2009, held May 7–9, 2009 at Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada. -
Thomas Posado, Amérique Latine : Fin De Cycle
AMÉRIQUE LATINe : FIN DE CYCLE ? THOMAS POSADO * epuis le début du siècle, l’Amérique du Sud concentre les espérances de la gauche de transformation sociale. Pendant plus d’une décennie, des coalitions de gauche organiséesD autour de la social-démocratie classique (Chili) ou rassemblant des forces issues de la gauche radicale (Bolivie, Équateur, Venezuela) ont remporté la plupart des élections sud-américaines. Pourtant, depuis la fin de l’année 2015, on remarque un retour en force des coalitions conservatrices. Nous allons tenter de synthétiser ces évolutions de la configuration politique en adoptant une approche globale pour l’ensemble de l’aire sud-américaine. Celle-ci peut-être critiquable, chaque pays ayant ses spécificités, l’hétérogénéité de ces gauches a souvent été mentionnée. La dichotomie entre une « bonne » et une « mauvaise » gauche a servi de grille d’analyse à celles et ceux qui voulaient utiliser la situation politique du sous-continent pour avancer leurs propres convictions1. Hugo Chávez et Lula représentent les archétypes de ces deux gauches, la radicale davantage en rupture avec les préceptes de l’économie mondiale et la modérée plus consensuelle * docteur en sciences politiques, université de paris-viii, cresppa-csu. 1 Teodoro Petkoff,Dos izquierdas, Caracas, Alfadil, 2005 ; Plinio Apuleyo Mendoza, Carlos Alberto Montaner, Álvaro Vargas Llosa, El regreso del idiota, Mexico, Debate, 2007. Recherches internationales, n° 107, avril-juin 2016, pp. 33-46 THOMAS POSADO avec les élites économiques. Les qualificatifs normatifs sont interchangeables et dépendent alors du point de vue de l’auteur. Nous bornons notre propos à la seule aire sud-américaine où se concentre le cycle de gouvernements de gauche. -
The Venezuelan Crisis, Regional Dynamics and the Colombian Peace Process by David Smilde and Dimitris Pantoulas Executive Summary
Report August 2016 The Venezuelan crisis, regional dynamics and the Colombian peace process By David Smilde and Dimitris Pantoulas Executive summary Venezuela has entered a crisis of governance that will last for at least another two years. An unsustainable economic model has caused triple-digit inflation, economic contraction, and widespread scarcities of food and medicines. An unpopular government is trying to keep power through increasingly authoritarian measures: restricting the powers of the opposition-controlled National Assembly, avoiding a recall referendum, and restricting civil and political rights. Venezuela’s prestige and influence in the region have clearly suffered. Nevertheless, the general contours of the region’s emphasis on regional autonomy and state sovereignty are intact and suggestions that Venezuela is isolated are premature. Venezuela’s participation in the Colombian peace process since 2012 has allowed it to project an image of a responsible member of the international community and thereby counteract perceptions of it as a “rogue state”. Its growing democratic deficits make this projected image all the more valuable and Venezuela will likely continue with a constructive role both in consolidating peace with the FARC-EP and facilitating negotiations between the Colombian government and the ELN. However, a political breakdown or humanitarian crisis could alter relations with Colombia and change Venezuela’s role in a number of ways. Introduction aimed to maximise profits from the country’s oil production. During his 14 years in office Venezuelan president Hugo Together with Iran and Russia, the Venezuelan government Chávez Frias sought to turn his country into a leading has sought to accomplish this through restricting produc- promotor of the integration of Latin American states and tion and thus maintaining prices. -
The “Radical” Thesis on Globalization and the Case of Venezuela's Hugo
LATIN AMERICAN PERSPECTIVES 10.1177/009458202237781Ellner / “RADICAL” THESIS ON GLOBALIZATION The “Radical” Thesis on Globalization and the Case of Venezuela’s Hugo Chávez by Steve Ellner The best way to evaluate the accuracy of theories about globalization is to examine concrete developments and trends in the past two decades. This approach is especially revealing in the case of the “radical” thesis on global- ization, which posits that transnational capital and structures are inexorably undermining the state and national sovereignty. The “radicals” argue that since globalization promotes uniformity and capital is no longer nationally based, Third World nations will receive equal if not favorable treatment from international investors and equality between nations will eventually prevail. But the facts speak for themselves: globalization has had the opposite effect of widening the gap between rich and poor nations. A second assertion of the radical thesis has, however, withstood the test of time fairly well. The radicals point out that, given the narrow range of options now available to the state, any government that defies multinational struc- tures and spurns neoliberal policies will eventually back down or else be removed from power. Examples of this dynamic in Latin America abound. In Venezuela, for instance, the veteran politicians Carlos Andrés Pérez and Rafael Caldera, who had staunchly supported state interventionism and attacked neoliberal policies, ended up yielding to pressure and embracing neoliberalism in their second terms in office. Indeed, Pérez claimed that his decision to accept an International Monetary Fund-imposed program was inspired by the example of Peru’s Alan García, whose confrontation with multilateral lending agencies had had devastating political and economic consequences. -
Venezuela: Background and U.S
Venezuela: Background and U.S. Policy (name redacted) Specialist in Latin American Affairs June 14, 2017 Congressional Research Service 7-.... www.crs.gov R44841 Venezuela: Background and U.S. Policy Summary Venezuela is in an acute political, economic, and social crisis. Following the March 2013 death of populist President Hugo Chávez, acting President Nicolás Maduro of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) narrowly defeated Henrique Capriles of the opposition Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD) to be elected to a six-year term in April 2013. President Maduro now has less than 20% public approval, and fissures have emerged within the PSUV about the means that he has used to maintain power, including an aborted attempt to have the Supreme Court dissolve the MUD-dominated legislature. Since March 2017, large-scale protests have called for President Maduro to release political prisoners, respect the separation of powers, and establish an electoral calendar. Instead, Maduro has scheduled July 30, 2017, elections to select delegates to a constituent assembly to rewrite the constitution (the opposition is boycotting). Security forces have repressed protesters, with some 70 dead and thousands injured and jailed. Venezuela also faces crippling economic and social challenges. An economic crisis, triggered by mismanagement and low oil prices, is worsening. In 2016, the economy contracted by 18% and inflation averaged 254% according to the International Monetary Fund. Shortages of food and medicine have caused a humanitarian crisis. The Maduro government is struggling to raise the cash needed to make its debt payments and pay for imports. Some economists maintain that Venezuela is at risk of default in 2017. -
The Radical Potential of Chavismo in Venezuela the First Year and a Half in Power by Steve Ellner
LATIN AMERICAN PERSPECTIVES Ellner / RADICAL POTENTIAL OF CHAVISMO The Radical Potential of Chavismo in Venezuela The First Year and a Half in Power by Steve Ellner The circumstances surrounding Hugo Chávez’s pursuit of power and the strategy he has adopted for achieving far-reaching change in Venezuelaare in many ways without parallel in Latin American politics. While many generals have been elected president, Chávez’s electoral triumph was unique in that he was a middle-level officer with radical ideas who had previously led a coup attempt. Furthermore, few Latin American presidents have attacked existing democratic institutions with such fervor while swearing allegiance to the democratic system (Myers and O’Connor, 1998: 193). From the beginning of his political career, Chávez embraced an aggres- sively antiparty discourse. He denounced the hegemony of vertically based political parties, specifically their domination of Congress, the judicial sys- tem, the labor and peasant movements, and civil society in general. Upon his election in December 1998, he followed through on his campaign promise to use a constituent assembly as a vehicle for overhauling the nation’s neo- corporatist political system. He proposed to replace this model with one of direct popular participation in decision making at the local level. His actions and rhetoric, however, also pointed in the direction of a powerful executive whose authority would be largely unchecked by other state institutions. Indeed, the vacuum left by the weakening of the legislative and judicial branches and of government at the state level and the loss of autonomy of such public entities as the Central Bank and the state oil company could well be filled by executive-based authoritarianism. -
Cuba and Alba's Grannacional Projects at the Intersection of Business
GLOBALIZATION AND THE SOCIALIST MULTINATIONAL: CUBA AND ALBA’S GRANNACIONAL PROJECTS AT THE INTERSECTION OF BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS Larry Catá Backer The Cuban Embargo has had a tremendous effect on forts. Most of these have used the United States, and the way in which Cuba is understood in the global le- its socio-political, economic, cultural and ideological gal order. The understanding has vitally affected the values as the great foil against which to battle. Over way in which Cuba is situated for study both within the course of the last half century, these efforts have and outside the Island. This “Embargo mentality” had mixed results. But they have had one singular has spawned an ideology of presumptive separation success—they have propelled Cuba to a level of in- that, colored either from the political “left” or fluence on the world stage far beyond what its size, “right,” presumes isolation as the equilibrium point military and economic power might have suggested. for any sort of Cuban engagement. Indeed, this “Em- Like the United States, Cuba has managed to use in- bargo mentality” has suggested that isolation and ternationalism, and especially strategically deployed lack of sustained engagement is the starting point for engagements in inter-governmental ventures, to le- any study of Cuba. Yet it is important to remember verage its influence and the strength of its attempted that the Embargo has affected only the character of interventions in each of these fields. (e.g., Huish & Cuba’s engagement rather than the possibility of that Kirk 2007). For this reason, if for no other, any great engagement as a sustained matter of policy and ac- effort by Cuba to influence behavior is worth careful tion. -
Participatory Democracy in Chávez's Bolivarian Revolution
Who Mobilizes? Participatory Democracy in Chávez’s Bolivarian Revolution Kirk A. Hawkins ABSTRACT This article assesses popular mobilization under the Chávez gov- ernment’s participatory initiatives in Venezuela using data from the AmericasBarometer survey of 2007. This is the first study of the so- called Bolivarian initiatives using nationally representative, individ- ual-level data. The results provide a mixed assessment. Most of the government’s programs invite participation from less active seg- ments of society, such as women, the poor, and the less educated, and participation in some programs is quite high. However, much of this participation clusters within a narrow group of activists, and a disproportionate number of participants are Chávez supporters. This partisan bias probably reflects self-screening by Venezuelans who accept Chávez’s radical populist discourse and leftist ideology, rather than vote buying or other forms of open conditionality. Thus, the Venezuelan case suggests some optimism for proponents of par- ticipatory democracy, but also the need to be more attuned to its practical political limits. uring the past decade, leftist governments with participatory dem- Docratic agendas have come to power in many Latin American coun- tries, implementing institutional reforms at the local and, increasingly, the national level. This trend has generated a scholarly literature assess- ing the nature of participation in these initiatives; that is, whether they embody effective attempts at participatory forms of democracy that mobilize and empower inactive segments of society (Goldfrank 2007; Wampler 2007a). This article advances this discussion by studying popular mobiliza- tion under the government of Hugo Chávez in Venezuela, referred to here as the Bolivarian Revolution or Chavismo.