revolusi demo venezuela
Embassy of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela to the UK and Ireland
Context Paper:
REVOLUTIONIZING DEMOCRACY IN VENEZUELA
Venezuela has always been considered the ‘exceptional case’ in Latin America. 1 While its neighbouring countries were struggling with revolutionary uprisings, “guerrilla warfare” and violent conflicts throughout much of the last century, Venezuela was blessed with regular elections and a stable government. The world was shocked in 1989
“You can when violence afflicted the country; people in masses took to the
1
invent streets and demanded democracy in their country. What had happened to Latin America’s “model democracy”? The truth is there anything you was no democracy in Venezuela. It was a “masquerade democracy”; a want in order
“democracy” for the wealthy elite; a “democracy” that left millions of to criticize poor Venezuelans outside the democratic process and thrust to the
Chavez, but back. you can’t
accuse him of
When Hugo Chavez took office in 1999 he made it a priority to suppressing establish a democracy for all Venezuelans, not just for a select group democracy." of privileged ones. Reforms were carried out to deepen democratic processes, to assure that elections were free and fair and to enable the
President Lula active participation of all citizens in the building of their democracy. da Silva
In fact, the key word in Venezuela today is ‘participatory democracy’, a democracy where all citizens participate, no matter if they be rich or of Brazil poor. Within the last ten years, Venezuela saw voting centres extended into poor areas, saw indigenous peoples and women become political protagonists and establish their own Ministry of People’s Power, saw medical centres and educational institutions expand into marginalized neighbourhoods, saw extreme poverty fall from more than 20 to 9.5 percent, and much more. In fact, President Lula da Silva of Brazil said about the Chavez government is that
Context Paper:
REVOLUTIONIZING DEMOCRACY IN VENEZUELA
Venezuela has always been considered the ‘exceptional case’ in Latin America. 1 While its neighbouring countries were struggling with revolutionary uprisings, “guerrilla warfare” and violent conflicts throughout much of the last century, Venezuela was blessed with regular elections and a stable government. The world was shocked in 1989
“You can when violence afflicted the country; people in masses took to the
1
invent streets and demanded democracy in their country. What had happened to Latin America’s “model democracy”? The truth is there anything you was no democracy in Venezuela. It was a “masquerade democracy”; a want in order
“democracy” for the wealthy elite; a “democracy” that left millions of to criticize poor Venezuelans outside the democratic process and thrust to the
Chavez, but back. you can’t
accuse him of
When Hugo Chavez took office in 1999 he made it a priority to suppressing establish a democracy for all Venezuelans, not just for a select group democracy." of privileged ones. Reforms were carried out to deepen democratic processes, to assure that elections were free and fair and to enable the
President Lula active participation of all citizens in the building of their democracy. da Silva
In fact, the key word in Venezuela today is ‘participatory democracy’, a democracy where all citizens participate, no matter if they be rich or of Brazil poor. Within the last ten years, Venezuela saw voting centres extended into poor areas, saw indigenous peoples and women become political protagonists and establish their own Ministry of People’s Power, saw medical centres and educational institutions expand into marginalized neighbourhoods, saw extreme poverty fall from more than 20 to 9.5 percent, and much more. In fact, President Lula da Silva of Brazil said about the Chavez government is that