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Bolivarian Revolution

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The “Bolivarian Revolution” refers to a leftist social movement and political process in Venezuela led by Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez, the founder of the Fifth Republic Movement (replaced by the United Socialist Party of Venezuela in 2007). The "Bolivarian Revolution" is named after Simón Bolívar, an early 19th century Venezuelan and Latin American revolutionary leader, prominent in the Spanish American wars of independence in achieving the independence of most of northern Latin America from Spanish rule. According to Chávez and other supporters, the "Bolivarian Revolution" seeks to build a mass movement to implement Bolivarianism - popular democracy, economic independence, equitable distribution of revenues, and an end to political corruption - in Venezuela. They interpret Bolívar's ideas from a socialist perspective.

Background: Bolivarianism

Simón Bolívar has cast a long shadow over Venezuela's history. Tamarick Person noted "a spontaneous and enduring popular cult of Bolivar" as early as 1842, and he is venerated in "parades, speeches, ceremonies, competitions, inaugurations, commemorations, unveilings of monuments, official publications, and other formal events".[citation needed]

Chavez as a military cadet was "a celebrant of the Bolivarian passion story".[1] Chávez relied upon the ideas of Bolívar, and on Bolívar as a popular symbol, later in his military career as he put together his MBR-200 movement which would become a vehicle for his 1992 coup-attempt.

Policies

The Chávez administration has deployed national social welfare programs (Misiones or "Missions") called Bolivarian Missions.

Internationalism

The "Bolivarian Revolution" under Chávez has also refocused Venezuelan foreign policy on Latin American economic and social integration by enacting bilateral trade and reciprocal aid agreements, including his so-called "oil diplomacy", which provides cheap oil to poor neighbouring nations. Chávez regularly portrays his movement's objectives as being in intractable conflict with neocolonialism and neoliberalism.

See also

References

  1. ^ Enrique Krauze, "The Shah of Venezuela", The New Republic, 1 April 2009