ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT
Venezuelan Economy
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Venezuela is a country with an extraordinary potential for economic development. It possesses vast natural resources and a population primarily in the productive age. Per capita, Venezuela one of the richest countries of Latin America today.
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Under the administration of President Chavez, Venezuela has been building a new productive model where state businesses, socio-economic businesses and private enterprises can co-exist. This change was initiated by President Chavez with the hope of uniting the social and economic interests of the nation and to gain strength for the belief that the winning force of the country’s dynamism exists in local communities as well as through the participation of the Venezuelan people in businesses and social endeavors.
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In 2008 the Venezuelan economy continued growing, capping off over 20 consecutive quarters of expansion. That performance was accompanied by a reduction in the unemployment rate, which averaged 7.6% during the first three quarters of 2008. Similarly, the level of the international reserves reached the $37 billion at the end of 2008. Nevertheless, Venezuela’s consistent economic growth has generated costs in terms of inflation.
Currency
The Venezuelan currency is the Bolivar. On January 1, 2008 the Central Bank of Venezuela (BCV) introduced a new Venezuelan currency, the “Strong Bolivar,” as part of a monetary reconversion. The Bolivar turned into the “Strong Bolivar” to differentiate itself from the 2008 currency.
A monetary reconversion eliminates zeros on the currency so the money that circulates in the country exists on a new monetary scale, preferably a lower one. As a consequence, a Strong Bolivar today equals what used to be 1,000 Bolivares before the reconversion. This change simplifies the buying and selling of goods, products and services. For example, a computer that may once have been sold for one million Bolivares now sells for 1,000 Strong Bolivares.
The physical currency that circulate since 2008 show more than one special feature:
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Its design is radically different from that of the past, given that it combines a rich and cultural aesthetic with elements of security that minimize the risk of forgery.
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It won the “Best New Banknote” Award of the International Association of Currency Affairs.
Get to know the new family of bills and coins that make up Venezuela’s currency, the Strong Bolivar.
Regional Integration
An important element of Venezuela’s political development and economic growth is the process of regional integration, through which Venezuela has joined together with its regional neighbors on economic and social projects. Below are a list of some of the regional integration schemes.
Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA in Spanish)
Proposed by President Chavez, the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas was created with the purpose of getting rid of poverty and fighting against social exclusion. Its economic objective is to achieve the welfare and the integration among member states. The main instrument for such a goal is the Bank of ALBA, whose purpose is to promote, create and administer resources oriented towards promoting environmental, social and economic development.
ALBA has eight member countries: Bolivia, Cuba, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Dominica, Antigua and Barbuda and Venezuela. The proposal to create ALBA was first made by President Chávez at the Third Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Association of Caribbean States, held in Margarita Island, Venezuela on December 11 and 12, 2001. The idea was launched with Cuba on December 14, 2004.
Union of South American Nations (UNASUR in Spanish)
UNASUR is a regional block created on May 23, 2008 in Brasilia, Brazil, to promote integration among member states in areas such as: politics, society, culture, the economy, environment and infrastructure.
UNASUR includes all of the countries of South America — Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Guyana, Paraguay, Uruguay, Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela. While the regional organization is political and defensive in nature, it also includes the Bank of the South to promote economic and social development projects.
CELAC
The Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (known as CELAC in Spanish), is an organization that unites, for the first time, the 33 countries of the region into a single block to make decisions without the influence of other nations.
This new body, in addition to serving as a forum for political dialogue, will have an agenda that includes strengthening unity, defending democracy, forging cooperation for economic and social development in the region, and even cultural exchange.
The organization was born in the Venezuelan capital city of Caracas in December 2011, when the 33 member states of the new group approved the founding document, the Caracas Declaration.
Petro-America
Petro-America is an energy integration proposal founded on the principles of solidarity, complementarity and the democratic use of energy resources. It includes the initiatives below:
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Petro-South includes Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Venezuela.
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Petro-Caribe includes Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Belize, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Granada, Guyana, Jamaica, St. Vincent and the Granadines, St. Lucia, St. Kitts and Nevis, Suriname, Venezuela, Barbados, and Trinidad and Tobago.
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Petro-Andes includes Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia, Perú and Venezuela.
These initiatives involve:
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Redefining relations based on the production and use of energy.
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Reducing energy asymmetries in the region.
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Minimizing the impact of energy costs.
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Reinforcing other regional initiatives (MERCOSUR, CAN, ALBA and UNASUR).
Areas of Cooperation:
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Supply of oil and petroleum products.
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Exchange of goods and services and financing of infrastructure for development.
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Design, construction and joint operation of refineries, storage and harbor installations.
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Joint commercialization of crude oil, products, LPG, asphalt and lubricants.
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Transportation and logistics.
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Exploration and joint production of petroleum and gas.
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Exploration of gas and its commercialization.
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Petrochemical production.
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Education and technology.
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Ecological-sound fuels.
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Public policies.
Social Missions
In 2003, President Hugo Chavez called for the creation of social programs that could address long overdue needs such as education, health, housing, food security and job training that could not be dealt rapidly with through traditional government mechanisms. These programs came to be known as misiones – “missions” – and were crafted to be serve Venezuela’s poorest areas and encourage participation from members of the communities in which they were present.
What started a small number of missions in 2003 has grown to 26 missions today covering a large number of social needs. Studies have shown that the missions have contributed to a dramatic decrease of poverty and expanded the availability of vital social services to parts of the Venezuelan population that did not have them in the past.
Below is a description of some of the social missions that exist in Venezuela today:
Health
The general objective of Mision Barrio Adentro (Mission Inside the Neighborhood) is to guarantee the population access to health services. The mission through its different phases (I, II, III, IV), looks to create a network of functional primary-care givers and allow the construction and rehabilitation of doctor’s offices, popular clinics and public hospitals.
The mission in its first phase was launched April 16, 2003 with a goal of developing a system of primary attention — centered around curative and preventive medicine — and establishing a system that guarantees a doctor for every 250 families throughout the country. Also through this mission, medicines for clinical use are offered free, as well as dental and vision services.
The mission’s second phase was launched on June 12, 2005. Its goal was to offer, at no cost, services like advanced medical exams, treatment for medical emergencies of great severity and physical rehabilitation through the Centers of High Technology (CAT), Centers of Integral Diagnosis (CID) and Rooms of Integral Rehabilitation (RIR).
The third phase of the mission consisted of the modernization of the country’s hospital network. Unlike the first two phases, the third phase of Mission Inside the Neighborhood uses the traditional network of hospitals as a means to re-structure the National Public System of Health. It includes the modernization of medical equipment and the restructuring, enlargement and improvement of the hospital infrastructure.
The fourth phase was formally launched on October 6, 2006. The goal of this mission was to build 16 new, highly specialized hospitals in several parts of the country, continuing the example of the Latin American Children’s Cardiac Hospital, located in Caracas.
Mission Christ Child
In December 2009, with the inauguration of the first neonatal intensive care unit at the Eugenio Pérez Bellard Hospital in the state of Miranda, Venezuela, President Chávez launched Mission Christ Child. Its aim is to improve the quality and quantity of services available to pregnant women, a task which has involved the participation of local communal councils.
Education
Mision Robinson and Mision Ribas (Mission Robinson and Mission Ribas) were launched in 2003 as a means to allow Venezuelans to complete their educations. Mission Robinson is divided into two phases, the first aimed at the elimination of illiteracy and the second at allowing the completion of a primary education. Due to the achievements of both phases of Mission Robinson, Venezuela is now considered a country free of illiteracy. Additionally, millions have completed their primary education. Mission Ribas allows Venezuelans to complete their high school degrees. Mision Sucre (Mission Sucre), also launched in 2003, allows for the completion of university-level educations.
Among the greatest achievements of Mission Robinson is the fact that Venezuela was declared free of illiteracy on October 28, 2005, after 1.5 million Venezuelans were taught to read. The director of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Koichiro Matsuura, sent a letter to then minister of education, Aristóbulo Istúriz, certifying the achievement.
By September 2011, Mission Sucre has reached 560,000 people, graduated 140,000 new professionals, and has made Venezuela the country with the fifth-highest university enrollment rates in the world, according to UNESCO.
Housing
Mision Habitat (Mission Habitat), started in 2004 aims to help the Venezuelan people secure housing by offering credits and relief for the purchase of homes. The mission also aids in the creation of integrated communities, where residents have access to all necessary services, from education to health.
Great Housing Mission of Venezuela
In February 2011, President Hugo Chávez announced the birth of the Great Housing Mission of Venezuela, a program to resolve the country’s housing deficit. In his words, the mission seeks to “solve the housing deficit, which is something we can only do collectively, through a united effort by the private and public sector, the private and public banks, workers, honest businesspeople, Venezuelan citizens and the world.”
This mission has proposed a new program to build 350,000 new houses in 2011 and 2012. By October 2011, the first 1,360 houses had been given to needy families.
Food Security
Mission Food (Mercal), announced in April 2003, is based on article 305 of the Constitution of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. Its aim is to ensure easy access to basic foods among the population by selling these goods to consumers in a manner that maintains quality and low prices. With this mission, the State seeks to guarantee food security for all Venezuelans.
By 2010, Mercal had expended to distribute more than 8.4 million tons of food, guaranteeing access to a balanced diet among low-income sectors and reaching many thousands of Venezuelans on a daily basis. Mercal has guaranteed not just the right to food security among the Venezuelan people, but it has also provided jobs: has become an important business that employs 8,000 workers directly and 40,000 workers indirectly throughout the country.
Employment
Originally known as Mision Vuelvan Caras (Mission Return Faces), which was initiated in 2004, the Mission Ché Guevara was created June 2007. This mission seeks to deepen the development of a harmonious economic system according to the social and political development plans of the nation.
Another Employment Mission is The Great Work Mission which aspires to incorporate 1 million currently unemployed Venezuelans into the labor market and to combat annual job losses. It was proposed this year by President Chávez, who said “the government will use more than $20 million to create hundreds of employment centers.”
Legal Identity
Mision Identidad (Mission Identity) started in 2003 as a massive program to grant legal identification and electoral registration to those Venezuelans who had never received it. Due to the program’s success, millions of Venezuelans have obtained certified legal documents that allow them to exercise the rights of their citizenship, from voting to accessing social services.
In the first phase of the program, from October 2003 to December 2004, more than eight million people received their identity cards for the first time or had outdated identity documents renewed. From July 2006 onwards, around 430,000 immigrants were naturalized and nearly 270,000 indigenous people obtained their identity cards for the first time. Between 2005 and 2006, more than five million Venezuelans were registered and were able to exercise their right to vote for the first time in their lives.
Women
Inspired by articles 75, 76 and 86 of the constitution, Mision Madres del Barrio (Mission Mothers of the Neighborhood) was created in 2006 in order to support housewives that found themselves in need so they would be able to, along with their families, overcome situations of extreme poverty. This mission foresees an allocation of 60% to 80% of the minimum wage for housewives that are found to be in a state of poverty, which could be temporary or permanent. Likewise, it looks to incorporate the housewife in community and social programs.
Indigenous Rights
Mision Guaicaipuro (Mission Guaicaipuro) was inaugurated in 2003 as a means to restore communal land titles and human rights to Venezuela’s numerous indigenous communities.
Environment
Based on Article 127 of the Constitution of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Mision Arbol (Tree Mission) came about on June 4, 2006 with the purpose of recovering the wooded and green areas of the country, offering refuge to animal species and conserving land. With this in mind, the Tree Mission promotes the leading participation of communities in the construction of a new model of development that itself focuses mainly on the recovery, conservation and sustainable use of forests for the improvement of the quality of life. At the same time, this mission has an ambitious plan of reforestation that requires the joint action of the public institutions and its citizens.
Land and Agriculture
Mision Zamora (Mission Zamora) was created in 2005 as a means to reclaim and convert idle lands for small-scale agricultural production. To achieve its objective, the mission combines the distribution of lands with a series of initiatives that support small farmers, including credits for the purchase of equipment, technical guidance, inclusion in the food distribution network and commercialization of the products in the network of state-run markets.
Mission Agro-Venezuela
Created in January 2011 to increase food production throughout the country through the provision of technical, financial and logistical support to small, medium, and large agricultural producers. This mission, through the public bank in Venezuela, has delivered 105,000 credits to agricultural producers, allowing them to cultivate 775,000 hectares of strategic food goods including crops, livestock, and fish. The funds, which total $1.1 million, are given to more than 170,000 farmers by the Agrarian Socialist Development Fund (Fondas) and the Agricultural Bank of Venezuela (BAV) at reasonable rates and with flexible repayment plans.
Science
Announced in February 2006, Mision Ciencia (Mission Science) seeks to promote the indigenous creation of scientific knowledge for the purposes of the country’s development and integration with the region. This program encourages the interaction of the productive sectors of the country to stimulate the socialization of knowledge and to unify efforts and consolidate strategic features for the creation of a new productive and economic system.
Culture
Mision Cultura (Mission Culture) was launched in 2005 and seeks to guarantee and promote Venezuela’s culture and national identity in accordance with Article 99 of the constitution. It is a program that involves education, cultural programming and cultural development.
Vision
Inspired – like Mission Barrio Adentro – by article 83 of the constitution, Mission Miracle was created to help provide low-income sectors with free access to optometry, curing those that were previously incapacitated by problems like cataracts, pterygium, and palpebral ptosis.
Initiated in July 2004 as part of agreements signed between Venezuela and Cuba, Mission Miracle has already performed 1.4 million surgeries on patients throughout Latin America. The operations have been conducted in 74 hospitals throughout Venezuela, and have included 189,830 cataracts surgeries, more than 57,000 cornea operations, and 12,000 strabismus operations (90% of them on children under the age of 18). The Sandino Accord, signed by Venezuela and Cuba in July 2005, extended the services of this mission to all of Latin America.
Homelessness
Initiated formally on January 14, 2006, Mission Negra Hipólita is designed to coordinate policies to provide integral health care to the homeless, those living in extreme poverty, disabled people and pregnant women. The mission operates through protection committees, which are community groups formed to monitor the needs of their neighborhoods. It responds to the mandate set out in constitutional articles 75, 78, and 79, which deal with social and family rights.
As of March 2011, this mission had assisted 11,542 homeless people and helped achieve social reintegration for 2,380 citizens, which exceeded expectations. By September 2011, Venezuela had opened 36 integral care centers to provide services to homeless children, adolescents and adults. With the construction of these new centers, the mission can now assist 2,626 people.
Energy
Mision Revolucion Energetica (Mission Energy Revolution) was set in motion in 2006 in order to promote the rational use of energy through the replacement of incandescent light bulbs with environmentally efficient alternatives. The goal is to substitute, for free, 52 million incandescent light bulbs. As of April 2007, 3,058,000 light bulbs in 485,000 homes in the city of Caracas were substituted. The mission also seeks to rationalize the consumption of energy in the industrial sector and promote the production of energy through alternative means, including gas, solar and water.
Oral Health
Mision Sonrisa (Mission Smile) was announced in 2006 and aims to address the oral health of Venezuelans, especially the most economically disadvantaged.
