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Agrarian Reform, Food, and Oil in Chavista Venezuela

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Agrarian Reform, Food, and Oil in Chavista Venezuela Petro-Socialism and Agrarianism: Agrarian Reform, Food, and Oil in Chavista Venezuela by Daniel Brian Lavelle A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of: Doctor of Philosophy in Environmental Science, Policy and Management in the Graduate Division of the University of California, Berkeley Committee in charge: Professor Claudia Carr, Chair Professor Miguel Altieri Professor John Hurst Spring 2016 Copyright Daniel Lavelle March 11, 2016 Abstract Petro-Socialism and Agrarianism: Agrarian Reform, Food, and Oil in Chavista Venezuela by Daniel Brian Lavelle Doctor of Philosophy in Environmental Science, Policy and Management University of California, Berkeley Professor Claudia J. Carr, Chair This dissertation examines the policy and socio-economic dynamics of the Venezuelan agrarian reform in the Chavista era. As a self-proclaimed socialist state, the Chavista government has framed its agrarian policies as a reordering of the food system that prioritized land redistribution, smallholder agriculture, and sustainable forms of production. The agrarian reform purported to place peasant farmers at the core of a new agricultural regime that would build national food sovereignty. Yet despite increased state support for smallholders, aggressive pro-peasant rhetoric, popular support for the Chavista party in rural areas, and oil wealth to fund agriculture development, rural dynamics have been characterized by conflict over land and a geographically and temporally uneven process of policy development in the countryside. This dissertation argues that the land reform program in Venezuela has plateaued as a redistributive process and has to come to serve as primarily social rather than productive policy in rural areas. In this study I seek to analyze the determining factors that have impacted and restricted the agrarian reform process and produced this limited outcome. To understand the limits of the agrarian reform I argue that it is necessary to examine policy processes within an analysis of the broader political economy of Venezuela as an oil state with a mixed economy. I also posit that analyses of agrarian dynamics that focus on peasant-state relationships without addressing the commercial agriculture sector have omitted a critical dimension of the agro-food system. I therefore take a multi-sectoral approach to agro-food policy that draws these understudied components of agrarian Venezuela—petro-state dynamics and 1 the commercial agriculture sector—into an analysis anchored on peasant-state policy relationships. Through this multi-sectoral approach I argue that the complex and often contradictory objectives of state policy in the agrarian realm are illustrative of macro-level, petro-state constraints on progressive reform more broadly, as well as tensions between political and economic development objectives of state policy. I show how oil dynamics create political economic challenges to structural change and feed into the construction of particular state ‘needs’ for agriculture, food production and agrarian reform. These dynamics help to explain the apparent contradiction of why much of state agricultural policy in Venezuela contributes to maintaining the viability and local economic position of large farmers even as government discourse continues to highlight the state’s promotion of agrarian reform and smallholder production. I propose the term ‘petro-socialism’ to refer to the political economy emerging from the amalgam of oil state dynamics and the anti-neoliberal/socialist framing of the government’s policies. The concept of petro-socialism connotes that the shape of state reforms in the Chavista period were inherently constrained and often contradictory in nature. 2 Acknowledgements Dissertations are both labors of solitude and collaborative projects that are only made possible with the input, effort and solidarity of many people. I am deeply appreciative of all those whose thoughtful aid and support made this project possible. First I would like to thank my dissertation committee chair, mentor and friend, Claudia Carr. Claudia’s unending patience, unwavering support, and keen intellectual insights were key along each step of the process. Claudia continually challenged me to think critically and politically about the key issues facing rural peoples in the Global South and how my work fit into the broader world we both deeply care about. For all her assistance I am extremely grateful. I would like to thank the other members of my dissertation committee: Miguel Altieri, who taught me invaluable lessons on the political and ecological dimensions of agroecology and the linkages to rural social movements; and John Hurst, who provided critical political and intellectual perspective to this project. I owe a debt of great gratitude to many more people in Venezuela than I can possibly thank here. Venezuelans of all stripes were exceedingly welcoming, open, and accommodating throughout my time in the field. Miguel Angel Nuñez connected me to a number of key contacts in the government and civil society in all of my field areas. Angel Marin in Portuguesa state introduced me to commercial growers and peasant producers alike, and shuttled me to endless meetings and interviews. In Yaracuy, Laura Lorenzo’s energy and dedication provided valuable insights into Venezuela’s campesino movements. Wilder in Yaracuy provided transportation to many remote land reform settlements and meetings and has become a good friend. I would especially like to thank the many campesinos that chose to share their experiences with me, sometimes under difficult or inconvenient circumstances. Finally, I would like to thank my family. Nico and Camila grew up throughout this process and were a constant source of grounding and sanity in the difficult phases of the dissertation. My wife, Beatriz, endured the torment of the long years of the PhD process with positive energy and good humor. Without her endless love and support this dissertation would not have come to pass. i Table of Contents List of Figures ......................................................................................................................................... vii List of Tables ............................................................................................................................................. ix List of Abbreviations ............................................................................................................................ x Chapter 1: Understanding Venezuela’s Agrarian Reform: A Multi-Sectoral Approach ...................................................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter 2: Food Sovereignty and Agrarian Reform ......................................................... 10 The Enemy is the Model: Food Sovereignty and Agrarian Change ......................... 10 The Role of the State in Food and Agriculture? ............................................................... 12 Seeds of a new model: Agrarian Reform in the 21st Century and Agroecology 15 A Complicated Legacy: 20th Century Land Reform in Latin America ......... 16 Shifting to the Market: Neoliberal Land Reform ................................................ 18 The Emergence of ‘New’ Rural and Food Sovereignty Movements ............. 18 Agrarian Reform in the Twenty-First Century ................................................................ 19 Chapter 3: Petro-Socialism: Oil Dynamics, Agrarian Reform and 21st Century Socialism in Venezuela ...................................................................................................................... 23 Approaches to Chavista Venezuela ....................................................................................... 24 Oil States and the Resource Curse ........................................................................................ 26 Oil Development and Agriculture ......................................................................................... 28 The Persistence of Agriculture in Petro-States ................................................... 29 Oil, Agriculture, and Chavismo in Venezuela ................................................................... 30 Early land Reform Efforts ............................................................................................ 33 Nationalization and the 1970s Oil Price Boom .................................................. 35 Economic and political crisis and the rise of Chávez ....................................... 37 Petro-Socialism: Endogenous Development in the Chavista Era ............................ 38 ii Setting the Stage for Chavista Land Reform Policies: The Continued Weakness of Agriculture and Dominance of Oil ............................... 38 Chavista Oil Policy .......................................................................................................... 39 Interpreting Chavista Oil Policy and Social Spending ...................................... 42 Does Socialism Matter? Oil Dynamics, Capital Accumulation and the Nature of the State ............................................................................................................................................ 44 Oil wealth and social conflict: Oil dynamics and the constrained implementation of Venezuela’s agrarian reform ............................. 46 The Petro-Socialist Framework Socialist Framework: Analyzing the Agrarian Reform
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