July 29th 2006, by Betsy Bowman and Bob Stone - Dollars & Sense
Cooperatives are at the center of Venezuela’s new economic model. They have the potential to fulfill a number of the aims of the Bolivarian revolution, including combating unemployment, promoting durable economic development, competing peacefully with conventional capitalist firms, and advancing Chávez’s still-being-defined socialism.
May 26th 2006, by Mark Weisbrot, Luis Sandoval, David Rosnick - CEPR
Over the past year, the statement that poverty in Venezuela has increased under the government of President Hugo Chávez has appeared in scores of major newspapers, on major television and radio programs. These statements have only rarely been contested or corrected. A careful analysis of Venezuela's poverty rate, though, shows a decline during the Chavez presidency.
March 20th 2006, by Luciano Wexell Severo - Rebelion.org
Seven economic mechanisms of the Chavez government account for the fact that, since 2004 and in spite of the strong growth in oil prices, the non-oil GDP grew significantly faster than the oil GDP, demonstrating the positive impact of oil exports on activities not directly related to crude extraction.
Spaces for small enterprises, especially cooperatives, have been opened by a great number of Venezuelan local governments, public institutions, and enterprises, including Venezuela’s oil company, PDVSA. The cooperative production model has increasingly come to define the development strategies of the “Bolivarian Revolution.”
