Social Programs

Back in 1999, the new Venezuelan administration wasn't viewed as unfriendly, only unknown. And the US tobacco industry had plenty to gain from friendly relations: the country, along with a bevy of others, was suing the industry for tobacco-related healthcare expenses, and stood to lose should Venezuela ramp up its cigarette taxes, heighten its anti-smuggling efforts or spearhead public health campaigns.

Venezuela's Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra arrives next week at the New England Conservatory. What drives this revolutionary group of musicians?

The Venezuelan oligarchy vehemently criticizes President Chávez for providing fuel assistance to the government in Havana. However, Cuban doctors have saved more lives in Venezuelan than Venezuelan doctors have in the past few decades. “What is worth more in objective value, the barrels of oil that we sell to Cuba or this?” asks Chavez.

If the coffee is cold, he goes ballistic, smashes the cup on the floor and lashes out at his partner. If she doesn’t come running when he calls, or their daughter cries, he shouts impatiently and hits her. These are some of the scenes in unprecedented TV spots now appearing in Venezuela.

Venezuela's decision to change its time zone by turning the clock back half an hour has sparked a tirade of criticisms in the international corporate media ridiculing the idea. One may wonder why a relatively small policy change has sparked such a vitriolic response.

Entering the Misión Barrio Adentro clinic in San Rafael de Tabay, a town in Merida, Venezuela amazes even the most jaded visitor. The local community hospital, Centro de Diagnostico Integral (CDI) brings alive Venezuela’s social revolution in health care.

Mision Vuelvan Caras, literally “about-face”, is changing the lives of a large number of the country’s citizens, many of whom previously had no formal education or jobs to rely on.

Andrés Eloy Ruiz is the rector of the revolutionary Universidad Bolivariana de Venezuela (UBV). More than a university, the Bolivariana is a countrywide system of campuses based on inclusion of previously excluded sectors.

Hugo Chavez's revolution came to the hillside slum of San Juan one recent night in the glare of a solitary lightbulb and with puddles from a recent thunderstorm still underfoot. Two dozen people clustered on a rooftop to debate the money and power that suddenly seemed within their grasp.

‘Morals and illumination are our primary necessities.’ Simón Bolívar’s famous phrase is written in large metal letters outside the entrance to Republic of Bolivia, a ‘Bolivarian’ school in west Caracas. Inside, the educational revolution is underway.