Stuart Munckton
The Venezuelan regional elections held on October 31 registered another decisive victory for the Bolivarian revolution, just two-and-a half months after the radical pro-poor President Hugo Chavez won almost 60% of the vote in the recall referendum. The result has enabled the Bolivarian revolution to deepen.
Pro-Chavez forces made significant gains at the expense of the increasingly discredited and divided opposition. Twenty-one out of 23 state governors are now pro-Chavez, up from 15. Even more significant is the Chavistas increase in control over municipalities from 115 to 270 out of 335.
This represents over 80% of Venezuela's cities and towns. One of the most significant victories was the Chavista win in the election for mayor of Caracas. This strategically important position had been held by the opposition, however, seeing the writing on the wall, the incumbent pulled out of the race rather than face an embarrassing defeat.
The victory is a key one for the Bolivarian revolution, giving the Chavistas much greater hold over both local and state government institutions. This opens the way for a significant expansion of the social programs that re-distribute wealth to the poor via health care, housing, education and food. For these programs to properly work, support at a local institutional level is required, and the opposition has worked to sabotage their implementation.
The victory is also a challenge for the pro-Chavez forces. Many Venezuelan officials, including pro-Chavez officials, are widely believed to be bureaucratic, inefficient and corrupt. Corruption remains a huge problem throughout Venezuela.
In the lead-up to the regional vote, Chavez spoke at a series of mass demonstrations across the country, emphasising the importance of using increased institutional control to deepen the revolutionary process. Chavez declared a "war to the death" against corruption, according to an October 22 Venezuela Analysis web site article, and has used the ideas and example of Argentinean-born revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara to explain the sacrifice expected of officials, speaking of the need for a "moral revolution".
On October 25, Venezuela Analysis reported that Chavez was calling on all officials to see to it that the 2001 land reform law, which limits land holdings to no more that 5000 hectares, is fully implemented. He had warned large landowners (1% of whom control 60% of the land) that the government would use the armed forces if they did not voluntarily hand their land over to be re-distributed to the landless rural poor.
According to Jorge Martin, in an opinion piece at the Hands off Venezuela website on November 1, Chavez's pre-election speeches at mass demonstrations of the poor repeatedly called for a break with the capitalist system. According to Martin, Chavez told the poor: "Within the framework of capitalism it is impossible to solve the challenges of fighting against poverty, misery, exploitation and inequality." At a rally in the state of Bolivar, Martin quoted Chavez declaring "We are going to break [the capitalist system] up once and for all through a revolutionary process of economic and social liberation."
For its part, the Venezuelan capitalist class has been forced to accept that its political representatives in the opposition are too weak to force Chavez from power in the short term. In a November 10 Miami Herald article entitled "Making Peace with Chavez", Phil Gunson reported that "many business leaders feel there is little choice but to work with Chavez".
Gunson explained that this was not because the capitalist class in Venezuela had changed its mind about Chavez since it tried to overthrow in a military coup in April 2002 and then tried to dislodge with economic sabotage six months later, but a "pragmatic assessment of the current balance of power". The article reported that 74% of Venezuelan business owners expect Chavez to see out the rest of his term, leaving them little choice but to reconcile themselves to his government.
From Green Left Weekly, November 17, 2004.
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