"We are still rebels": The challenge of popular history in Bolivarian Venezuela

Venezuela's Bolivarian Democracy: Participation, Politics, and Culture under Chávez

Volumn , Issue , 2011, Pages 157-185

  Velasco, Alejandro ^a  

^a NEW YORK UNIVERSITY   (United States)

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[No Author keywords available]

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EID: 84896240837     PISSN: None     EISSN: None     Source Type: Book    
DOI: None     Document Type: Chapter

References (48)

1. Hugo Chávez, Aló Presidente episode 193, June 13, 2004.
2. In April 2003, 53 Cuban physicians arrived in ten parishes in Caracas, including 23 de Enero. These doctors were the first in a program that would become Barrio Adentro, aimed at providing popular classes with direct access to primary health care (D'Elia 2006). In May 2003, Chávez granted the first urban land titles to Urban Land Committees (Ctus) from four Caracas communities, including 23 de Enero. Ctus were organized to help normalize tenancy for squatter communities in Caracas, a program that generated an enormous amount of organizational and electoral support to Chávez (Coleman 2003). In August 2005, Chávez again provided Ctus in 23 de Enero with the first funds based on a "communal project" proposal, a project that would set the stage for eventual "communal councils" entrusted with management of community resources ("Contruyendo el Poder Popular", June 13).
3. In the 2004 presidential recall referendum 69 percent of voters in 23 de Enero voted against the proposal to recall, behind Antimano (77 percent) and Macarao (74 percent). In parliamentary elections in October 2004, Chávez's party, the MVr, obtained 90 percent of the vote, behind El Junquito (92 percent), Catedral (92 percent), and Macarao (91 percent). In the 2006 presidential elections, el 23 returned 76 percent for Chávez, the largest percentage of support behind Antimano (81) and Macarao (79). Data available from the website for the National Electoral Council, http://www.cne.gob.ve.
4. "La vivienda popular en Venezuela", Integral 7 (1957).
5. Crests and troughs in the rate of expropriations help explain the model's cyclical nature, although the pattern in terms of grievances took place on alternating cycles. See, for instance, Actas del Banco Obrero, vols. 44 and 47 (Banco Obrero 1956, 1957).
6. "161 muertos y 477 heridos es el balance trágico de la lucha por la libertad." El Universal, January 24, 1958.
7. "Ametrallados el 23 de enero, Barrio Union y Simon Rodriguez", Tribuna Popular, October 27, 1960;
8. "1500 guardias nacionales y esbirros de la Soto Pol asaltaron el 23 de enero", Tribuna Popular, October 28, 1960;
9. "Disturbios durante todo el dia en la urbanización 23 de enero" El Nacional, October 27, 1960;
10. "Desordenes en el 23 de enero, Lidice, Sarria, y otros sectores", Ultimas Noticias, May 5, 1962.
11. Explanations for the demise of armed struggle in Venezuela have come primarily from the leadership cadre of the 1960s guerrilla movement. The earliest attempt came from Teodoro Petkoff, who identified Bhreznev's invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968 as the critical juncture in global socialist thought, marking a break between Dubcek's humanist socialism and neo-Stalinism. In this context, socialism in Venezuela-though it remained a goal-would not be achieved by imposition but through electoral means, although whether or not the Prague Spring and its end proved to be a fitting pretext or an intellectual fine-tuning leading to surrender of armed struggle by Venezuelan cadres remains an open question (Petkoff 1970). In 1973 the electoral defeat of the Movimiento al Socialismo (Movement toward socialism, MAS) political party-founded by and comprised largely of demobilized guerrillas-prompted Petkoff again to defend the decision to surrender armed struggle (Petkoff 1976; Ellner 1988). Toward the end of the 1970s, previous guerrilla leaders were openly calling for an end to intellectual justifications for demobilization and instead, in a confessional tone, for acknowledgment of the mistake represented by their decision to pursue armed struggle in the first place (see "Un ex-guerrillero que abandonó la clandestinidad para hacer política", Ultimas Noticias, August 15, 1977). By the early 1980s, consensus among previous guerrilla leaders was reached on the tactical error represented by armed struggle. In this context, a wave of oral histories emerged to narrate the tactical details of Venezuela's guerrilla conflict, rather than its intellectual merits or faults (García Ponce 1977; Rangel and Blanco Muñoz 1981; Rangel 1990).
12. Ramón López, interview with the author, Caracas, 15 February 2005.
13. "En el 23 de enero: Inaugurado consultorio médico gratuito Jesus Yerena", Tribuna Popular, September 3, 1970;
14. "Gas directo y telefonos para el 23 de enero exige comité por unidad de mujeres", Tribuna Popular, May 7, 1970;
15. Lourdes Quintero, interview with the author, Caracas, February 16, 2005.
16. Ravin Granier Asuase Sánchez, interview with the author, Caracas, January 25, 2005.
17. "Jefes guerrilleros fueron detenidos al inscribirse en servicio militar", Ultimas Noticias, January 12, 1968.
18. "Habitantes de los cerros ocuparon los bloques todavia no inaugurados", El Universal, January 26, 1958;
19. "Los desalojados de los cerros ocuparon los bloques de Monte Piedad", El Nacional, January 30, 1958. By 1982 the Bo's balance of payment deficit had reached US$560 million (C. Alvarez 1982).
20. As early as January 31, 1958, just over a week after the January 23 coup, newspapers reported the rise of squatter settlements in the green areas between the superblocks; see "Se construyen ranchos en varias zonas verdes", El Nacional, January 31, 1958.
21. A year later, press reports continued to record the ongoing phenomenon; see "Ranchos se estan construyendo en las faldas de las urbanizaciones obreras", Ultimas Noticias, January 19, 1959.
22. See "Estudiaran los problemas de los pobladores de la 23 de enero", El Nacional, February 26, 1958;
23. "Ampliaran canales de desague en la 23 de enero", El Nacional, June 4, 1958;
24. "Creadas tres escuelas para la 23 de enero", El Nacional, June 14, 1958;
25. "Programa de alfabetización y extensión cultural financiara el Banco Obrero", El Nacional, August 13, 1958.
26. "Enardecidos por la falta de agua habitantes del 23 de enero bloquearon las avenidas con barricadas", El Nacional, May 5, 1969;
27. "Considerán represalia contra el sector falta de agua en el 23 de enero", Ultimas Noticias, May 7, 1969.
28. "No se debe llegar a la violencia para pedir regularidad de un servicio", El Universal, May 6, 1969;
29. "Por orden del Presidente sigue al servicio de la comunidad el Centro Cristo Rey del 23 de enero", El Nacional, June 19, 1974.
30. Hipólito Rondón and Sánchez Nada, interview with the author, Caracas, February 26, 2005.
31. Josefina Hernández de Machado, Pedro Gerardo Cadiz, Diego Carvallo, and Nuria Márquez, interview with the author, Caracas, March 12, 2005.
32. Francisco Suarez, interview with author, Caracas, July 20, 2005.
33. Hipólito Rondón and Sánchez Nada, interview with the author, Caracas, February 26, 2005;
34. Francisco Suarez, interview with author, Caracas, July 20, 2005.
35. Juan Contreras, interview with the author, Caracas, February 23, 2005.
36. "Melenudos acusan a policias de perseguirles injustamente", Ultimas Noticias, March 17, 1969.
37. Andrés Vásquez, interview with the author, Caracas, January 29, 2005.
38. "5 Heridos en la balacera: Mataron a liceista en el 23 de enero", Ultimas Noticias, March 15, 1978.
39. "Desalojados jóvenes del 23 de enero del único local donde realizaban actividades culturales", El Nacional, June 1, 1974.
40. "Por orden del Presidente", 1974.
41. Gustavo Rodríguez, interview with the author, Caracas, August 23, 2005.
42. Nelson Santana, interview with the author, Caracas, January 23, 2005;
43. Valentín Santana, Henry Aguero, Carlos Ramirez Guacaran, Ramón Molines, José Angel Pabon, Javier Ramon, Wilmer Carreño, and Carlos Julio, interview with the author, Caracas, January 25, 2005;
44. Valentín Santana, interview with the author, Caracas, June 4, 2005.
45. "'Secuestraron' a cuatro camiones del I. M. A. U.", Diario de Caracas, December 21, 1981. The IMAu is the Instituto municipal de aseo urbano (Municipal waste management institute).
46. "En el 23 de enero siguen secuestrando vehiculos oficiales", El Nacional, January 8, 1982, 15;
47. "L. H. C. 'furioso' dio 48 horas a los servicios publicos", Diario de Caracas, December 23, 1981.
48. "Los vecinos dijeron que su acción se convierte en una contribución oportuna al cumplimiento de la promesa de los concesionarios de la recolección de basura de 'limpiar a Caracas en Diciembre'"; "'Secuestraron' a cuatro camiones del I. M. A. U.", Diario de Caracas, December 21, 1981.