Thoughts and Conclusions

So I've been home a few days and it's probably time I started reflecting on my experiences so here it goes...

Up until this point I have been very hesitant to give too much of my opinion on what's going on in Venezuela because frankly, I didn't know what to think and I was waiting until I had a better idea. I had heard and read quite a bit about Venezuela from my life in the states and interactions with friends. I had seen and promoted some of the documentaries that you see posted on this blog. Unfortunately, it is always really hard to gauge what's really happening when all you get are snippets and anecdotal stories from a far away land.

The portrayal of Venezuela in the media we get is obviously tainted with either idealism from progressive outlets or downright vitriol and lies from many mainstream establishment sources. This of course is to be expected given each side is playing to its base of supporters with the establishment media obviously playing to the interests of corporations and Wall Street who would like nothing more than to see the whole place sold off and privatized with the oil controlled by the filthy rich, but I digress.

By moving to Venezuela I was hoping to get a broader view. I was only partially successful. Unfortunately, I underestimated just how long it would take to get a handle on Spanish. I had 5 weeks at a Spanish school in central Caracas, but I still came out struggling to understand most conversations (I'm not giving up though!). The result is that I was still dependent on much the same media I could look at beforehand along with the few people who could speak English in the country. The Global Exchange trip at the end became my last best chance to hear differing opinions.

So what have I come away with? Well, I definitely have a much more nuanced opinion of what's happening down here than before. There are a lot of great things going on. In the country side, I visited a bunch of Missions--social programs set up by the government--and I talked through interpreters with many people. There were programs I observed and heard about that are giving free college education, free education for adults that never finished high school, free healthcare from highly skilled Cuban doctors in poor communities, and government subsidized marketplaces to buy basic foods.

I also heard and was fascinated by the increasing decision making power that is being shifted down to the people through community councils. Apparently it just takes a few neighbors getting together to form one of these councils and the government will give out money to work on community projects. All of these projects are decided democratically after much debate with, I believe, anyone over 15 getting a vote. There is no need for representative middlemen who are so easily corruptible in the United States.

Another thing I really loved about Venezuela is that politics is everywhere. It seems most everyone and everything (for better or worse) is somehow involved. No one is afraid to give their opinion. It is a much deeper form of democracy then I've ever seen here in the U.S.

I also want to mention a few of the problems I saw. While there are a lot of promises being made and projects being constructed there is also a lot of bureaucracy and corruption. As I was living there I could see many buildings all over town that looked 80-90% completed but seemingly weren't being worked on anymore. There were also streets that were torn up as if to repair them, but the rubble sat idle. I was told that often times, especially before an election, perfectly good roads and sidewalks would be torn up only to be redone just so the Mayor could point to something as being accomplished.

Other weird things I heard about were the big hospitals charging people for the materials they needed even while the services might be free. The result is there are still poor in the cities that can't afford medical care because they can't afford the fillings, the bandages, the tools, or whatever is needed by the doctors to treat them.

Support for Chavez varies greatly. In the upper and middle class areas of Caracas I was hard pressed to find even one Chavez supporter. The full first half of the trip everyone I encountered and could partially understand (that was the hard part) was livid in their hatred of Chavez and everything he did. Note that I never got a chance to visit the poor areas there. It wasn't until I got into the country that could find even one Chavista. Then it was hard to find someone who wasn't a Chavista. It's really a very divided country and it makes things very hard to figure out. It did appear, though, that those in the country were more cooperative and quicker at utilizing the social programs than those in the city.

So it's very hard to make any conclusions in all this. I feel like I'd need to be there a lot longer, maybe another year. All I can say is I'm still quite sympathetic with what I think are genuine efforts on Chavez's part to try and lift the poor up out of poverty. I also see a great culture of democracy and cooperation down there which is far richer than I see here in the States. I only hope they can continue to keep up the movement and pressure their leaders to make wider and deeper reforms to further empower the population and take power away from the many tyrannical sectors of the economy (like corporations) that remain.

A busy week at the Missions

It´s been a very busy week for me with not much time available to access the Internet. The week has largely consisted of the group of us going from Bolivarian Mission to Bolivarian Mission, including Missions Robinson, Ribas, Sucre, and Mission Barrio Adentro. These are basically social programs set up by the government to help those most in need. You can read more about them on Wikipedia by clicking here. For each Mission we visit their offices in the community and spend a few hours interviewing and talking with the people running them and even some of the participants being helped by them. It has all been a very enlightening experience and I will be talking more about it in a few days.

My trip here is unfortunately coming to a rapid end. I am scheduled to return back home on Tuesday the 5th. Its been a wonderful experience for me, meeting so many new people, making many new friends, and immersing myself in whole a new culture. I have experience nothing but kindness and generosity from the Venezuelan people and have enjoyed every minute of being here. I will be reflecting more and posting many more new pictures once I´m home.