In a speech to the nation on September 2, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro announced “five revolutions”, as part of a campaign to “improve our service to the people”, Venezuela Analysis said on September 3.
Maduro said the revolutions would be a “a new way of functioning” for the government. The five revolutions “should be united, and should define the government policies, giving power to the people, it will be the people who push government policy”.
The first revolution outlined was the economic revolution, promoting production “to guarantee stability”. Maduro said: “All the efforts of the government should be concentrated on this.”
The second revolution was the knowledge revolution, involving science, technology and culture.
Maduro said the third was revolution centred on Venezuela's pro-poor social missions, that organise communities to solve their problems. Maduro emphasised the missions' importance in “building socialism, creating the new society, where social rights and life are guaranteed”.
The fourth revolution involves “creating a new state, one that's really democratic, one that's about justice and rights”. It aims to transform governmental structures and end what “remains of the bourgeois state”. Maduro emphasised the importance of the fight against corruption.
He announced a range of new ministers and structures. Maduro also announced a timeline for social movements to elect “popular councils”, including for communes, women, youth, culture and workers. Elections will be held during September and October.
Maduro said the fifth revolution was one of “territorial socialism”. He said it was about consolidating the communal model, and creating a “new ecosocialist model”.
“It's not about environmentalism, it's about ecosocialism,” Maduro said. “Environmentalism isn't enough.”
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro announced the formation of a presidential council of farmers, fishers and rural producers on September 7, Cory Fischer-Hoffman reported in Venezuela Analysis the next day.
The council, which will work alongside a state-run food distribution company, aims to address nutrition, food scarcity, and rural production.
The new council is due to begin operations in October. Maduro said noted it would “revolutionise” how decisions are made on agrarian issues and food production.
A new state-run Corporation of Production, Distribution and Marketing of Foods (Corpo Pdval-Mercal) will work alongside other government institutions to improve efficiency. In its first phase, Corpo Pdval-Mercal will distribute between 130,000 and 200,000 tons of food to the private and public sector.
The council was launched to combat food shortages and speculation. However, Maduro said it forms part of a broader strategy to raise production and improve nutrition in Venezuela.
He said: “Our formula is to plant productive capacity in our country, not only in the countryside but in the city too ... so that it permits us to climb and climb towards an optimal food situation.”
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