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President
Chavez Announces “Socialist Cities” and Constitutional Reforms
By: Chris Carlson -
Venezuelanalysis.com
Mérida, July 23, 2007 (venezuelanalysis.com)—
President Hugo Chavez made several new announcements during the
inauguration of the first "socialist city" near Caracas during his
Sunday TV program Aló
Presidente, including a proposed
constitutional reform that would allow for indefinite reelection of the
president, as well as the regulation of the high salaries of some state
employees.
"We are fighting against
capitalist ideology with
the liberating ideology of Bolivarian socialism," declared Chavez on
national television. Accused of imposing his ideology on the military
and schools, Chavez responded saying that "without a doubt" his
government is fighting the "perverse capitalist ideology" that has been
imposed on the nation.
"We are fighting against
the
imperialist ideology that they have sold to us, to our military, and
that they bombed us with for 100 years, to make us think like the
gringos, and to admire the gringos," said Chavez.
The
declarations were made as Chavez inaugurated the construction of a
so-called "socialist city" in Camino de Los Indios, just north of the
capital city. These new socialist cities will be a part of what the
Chavez government has called "The New Geometry of Power," which is one
of the 5 "motors" of the revolution in his second full presidential
term. According to Chavez, the "socialist cities" will be made up of
small productive communes designed around family life, and not "at the
service of capitalism," he said.
"The socialist cites are
ecological cities for the family, for the people, not for machines nor
for consumerism," he explained from the construction site where 800 of
an eventual 4,280 apartments will be built.
The construction of
these new cities forms a part of a new mission known as the Mission
Villanueva, dedicated to attacking the housing crisis in Venezuela. The
communities will be made up with people from the poor sectors that lack
adequate housing. Whole communities will be moved from the slums into
new communities made up of 4 to 5 story apartment buildings. According
to reports, these "socialist cities" will be environmentally friendly,
using sunlight for illumination of the buildings to save electricity.
Other
"socialist cities" are also being built in the state of Miranda, and in
the state of Zulia. Communities will have cultural centers, medical
centers, and universities among other social structures. According to
the president, the objective of these communities is to offer
ecological housing that emphasizes human and social value.
"It's
not like we are going to give this to some private companies so that
they can make apartments and tiny streets that don't even allow any
green space, as if it were a place for machines to live," said Chavez.
Chavez
approved Bs. 420.7 billion (US$ 195.7 million) for the housing sector,
which will go towards housing subsidies and the construction of new
housing in the "socialist cities."
Constitutional Reform
President
Chavez also spoke about his proposal for a constitutional reform that
would allow for an unlimited number of reelections of the president,
among other things. Chavez said he would be presenting his proposal to
the National Assembly in the next few days to be debated there and from
there it must be voted on in a national referendum.
Besides
removing the limits on the number of terms for the President of the
Republic, Chavez said the reform would also make changes to the classic
system of representative democracy, moving towards a participatory
model of democracy in which people at the grassroots would play a more
active role than in a traditional representative democracy.
"Now,
with the constitutional reform that I hope the majority of Venezuelans
will approve…one of the central ideas is my proposal to open, at the
constitutional level, the roads to accelerate the transfer of power to
the people," said Chavez.
In response to certain
state
governors who have said that the indefinite number of reelections
should also apply to governors and mayors, Chavez rejected the idea. As
stated last week by the president of the National Assembly, Celia
Flores, Chavez affirmed that the possibility of reelection would be
only for the president.
"I see in the press that
the political
parties Patria para Todos (PPT) and PODEMOS want reelection for the
governors and mayors too," said Chavez. "No, no, no. If there is
continuous reelection is has to be only for the President of the
Republic."
Chavez' justification for
this was that allowing
for mayors or governors to be indefinitely reelected could allow for
"regional caudillos" who employ "methods foreign to the project for
national integration."
Also included in the
reform will be the
transformation of the capital city into a Federal District as it once
was. This reform would do away with the mayors of the municipalities of
the capital city, some of which are in the hands of the political
opposition.
The president also
mentioned the need to regulate
the salaries of some state officials who earn what he referred to as
"mega-salaries." According to Chavez, some of the higher officials in
state institutions and state companies have salaries that are wasting
state revenues.
"They want to make 15 or
20 million Bolivars
[$7-9,000 per month]. No! Those that want that can leave," said Chavez
who went on to give the example of the old president of CANTV, the
national telephone company, who received a salary of about US$ 14,000
per month.
"None of us can think we
are going to have that salary. We have to fight against the
'mega-salaries'," he said.
Among
other statements, the president announced the beginning of the 4th
phase of the national health program Barrio Adentro. According to the
president, this stage will include the construction of new hospitals
around the country to be finished by 2010.
All of these
programs make up the socialist revolution being carried forward by
President Chavez. He assured yesterday that this project is not
"Marxist-Leninist," but simply "socialist, Bolivarian, and
revolutionary." Although Chavez said he respects the theory of Karl
Marx and his "contribution to humanity," Chavez assured that he is not
a Marxist and that the situation in the times of Marx was "very
different from the savage capitalism of our time."
The new
United Socialist Party (PSUV) that is being debated in community
assemblies around the country will be the official political party of
the Bolivarian Revolution and, according to Chavez, will be the
fundamental building block of the revolution. Chavez made a call to the
people to participate in the formation process being carried out across
the country.
"This is the onset of
something where we all have
to contribute with energy," he said. "I keep trying to motivate [the
people] to get involved in the great political party of the 21st
Century, the PSUV."
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