Bolivarian Republic of

Venezuela
BOLIVARIAN REVOLUTION

Simon Bolivar
El Libertador

Leader of war against Spain and for

nationhood of Latin America

President Hugo Chavez

Chavez early career

Military officer

Previous Pres. Carlos

Andres Perez
Saw corruption within political system became
dissatisfied

Revolutionary Bolivarian Movement200

Felipe Antonio Acosta Jesus Urdaneta Hernandez

Hugo
Carlez
Chavez
Killed during Caracazo
Took oath of Bolivar- "I swear before you,
and I swear before the God of my fathers,
that I will not allow my arm to relax, nor
my soul to rest, until I have broken the
chains that oppress us..."

Caracazo Massacre
1989 3,000 people

Perez
killedbreaks campaign
promises made and follows
the advise of the U.S. and IMF
Starts as protests against rise
in costs of Transportation.
Starts outside Caracas and
spreads. Military forces called
in

Coup led by Bolivarian Revolutionary

Movement 1992
Chavez leads coup which is unsuccessful.
He accepts responsibility for his actions and
then is seen as hero to the country.

Chavez elected president 1998 &

Passes new constitution
New constitution increases rights of marginalized groups
and altered structure of government

Kidnapping & attempted

coup

After the passage of several laws which sought to put more

control over the
State oil company PDVSA an attempt to remove Chavez from
office was made

Partido Socialista Unido de Venezuela

United Socialist Party of Venezuela

BOLIVARIANISM

The Bolivarian Missions

Part of the role of these missions are to provide the basic
necessary needs
and skills to the people. Those being education, housing,
health and food.

Mission Robinson

The Bolivarian Missions are a critical part of carrying out the

governments
goals of eradicating poverty and creating an equal society.
Thousands of
free health clinics have been built and there are now
provisions of food
and housing subsidies

Accomplishments
A drop in infant mortality rate by
18.2% between 1998 and 2006
Poverty fell from 59.4% in 1999 to
30.2 % in 2006
Extreme poverty went down from
21.7% to 9.9% in the same period
The missions are responsible for
having made more than 1 million
Venezuelans literate

Continuing Bolivars legacy & vision

Newly formed organizations
The Union of South American
Nations- integrating two existing
unions- Mercosul and the Andean
Community of Nations
The Bolivarian Alliance for the
Americas- creating relationships with
the Caribbean based on economic
aid and barter.

Future of Bolivarian
Revolution
Chavez- appears to be reform
movement while he refers to the
movement as revolution
People of Venezuela are what will
determine whether it is revolution or
not
Chavez is finding balance outside of
Western Power Structure between
capitalism and socialism

5 Critical Factors
Mass Frustration- Caracazo- 1989 protests and riots
began in response to steep increase in transportation
costs
Dissident Elite- restriction of public resources by Chavez
severely stopped the flow of revenue to the elite
Unifying Motivations- corruption of previous president
created inflation in economy where people were unable
to even get to work.
Severe Political Crisis- previous President Perez was first
Venezuelan president to be ousted from office for
embezzling money from the government. He was
imprisoned thereafter.
Permissive world context-