On #6Dec, 1998, Hugo Chávez was first elected Venezuela’s president, ending 40 years of a corrupt two-party system known as puntofijismo. The bipartisanship squandered the country's vast oil wealth, condemning people to poverty.

Chávez’ victory opened a new era 🧵
“The people united will never be defeated!” This is how Venezuelans celebrated Chávez’ victory. He got the largest percentage of the popular vote in four decades.

The streets were electrified. History was being written, revolution was in the air.

📹Video from 1998👇
After taking office in Feb 1999, Chavez declared a “social emergency” to lift 78% of Venezuelans out of poverty. He launched Plan Bolivar 2000, a program to rebuild the country’s crumbling infrastructure, provide mass vaccination, free healthcare and subsidized food for the poor.
Chávez brought deep democratic transformation. In Dec 1999, for the first time in Venezuelan history, a new constitution was approved by popular vote. The text gave rights to indigenous people, guaranteed free education/healthcare, participatory democracy and popular sovereignty.
In May 1999, Chávez set up “Aló Presidente,” a revolutionary broadcast that allowed him to communicate directly with people from all over the country, the poor and working-class above all, taking note of their proposals. This would shape his vision of Venezuelan socialism.
Chávez' first years were tumultuous, with rancid political/economic elites waging war to preserve their privileges. The 2001 Land Law and Hydrocarbons Law that redistributed wealth led to the 2002 coup attempt and the oil industry lockdown. However, the revolution was unstoppable
In 2003, Chávez launched the Bolivarian Missions, wide-ranging social programs that continue today. They provided healthcare, education, housing, subsidized food and more to Venezuela’s poor/working-class. In no time, illiteracy was eradicated and poverty levels cut in half.
The following years would see Chávez and the Bolivarian Process triumph in electoral battles and against non-stop imperialist aggression. Social justice, Latin American integration and national sovereignty were key.

Today, the Bolivarian grassroots carry Chávez’s project.

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More from @venanalysis

6 Dec
Venezuelans take their holiday traditions very seriously, from delicious hallacas to the wonderful gaita songs from western Venezuela. But there's another cherished tradition that is becoming a fixture: opposition infighting. Yes, grab your virtual popcorn and follow us 🧵🧵🧵
The latest bombshell is that @JulioBorges, a moronic, unrepentant coup plotter, is resigning as fake foreign minister in the make-believe @jguaido "interim govt." Funny that Borges used to be a reality tv judge and yet that's only the 2nd most ridiculous thing in his CV
Apart from resigning, Borges is calling for an end to the circus known as "interim government", citing "disgusting and sickening corruption" from Guaidó and his party. He argued that the Vzlan opposition needs a reboot given "contradictions and a lack of strategy"
Read 8 tweets
6 Dec
Anti-imperialist activists met with US Congressman Jim McGovern to demand more efforts to end the “brutal blockade against the people of Venezuela” imposed by Trump and continued under the Biden administration.

In June, MacGovern urged Biden to remove the Venezuela sanctions.🧵
Venezuela's National Assembly has received over 3,000 complaints of human rights abuses against Venezuelan migrants in Colombia this year. The Maduro gov’t has also accused president Duque of using migration to access billions of dollars sent by UN agencies.
Good news for Venezuelan feminist struggles! The parliament reformed the Law on Women's Right to a Life Free of Violence to include online and political harassment.

"We are building a new society that needs a deep cultural transformation," said feminist and deputy @AsiaVillegasP
Read 10 tweets
4 Dec
The Venezuelan Pobladoras movement, a very combative grassroots organization, is pushing on in its struggle for affordable, dignified housing. Yesterday, activists delivered a legislative proposal to boost the involvement of popular movements in the housing sector Image
The Pobladoras alliance puts an emphasis on self-management as the route to secure housing amidst the blockade and fighting off the speculative market. "This law would provide state support and recognition for grassroots housing production," spokeswoman Iraida Morocoima told VA ImageImage
More from Morocoima: "In a revolution there should be laws to boost popular organization. This law will be a boost for people who have taken over idle lands, it will broaden our horizons." Added that right-wing sectors and big business see these proposals as a threat Image
Read 5 tweets
4 Dec
Yes, finally! "Democracy" is coming to Venezuela, courtesy of the new and shiny gusano caucus. The first question is: how come something with so much money can't do better than a website that looks like it was designed by a high-school student in 2007?

venezuelanamericancaucus.com
The caucus' mission has all the usual nonsense, "democracy this," "freedom that." But then take a look at the team. Surely a bunch of (mostly) white people, trained in US universities, with experience in DC, are the proper ones to defend the interests of the Venezuelan people Image
It's not outlandish to expect these people to be the crème de la crème of the decadent, moronic Venezuelan elites. One name does stand out: Ana Julia Jatar, far-right, coup enthusiast extraordinaire and wife of Ricardo Hausmann, neoliberal academic and, well, coup enthusiast Image
Read 5 tweets
4 Dec
The reality is this: Washington's deadly sanctions against Venezuela will likely stay in place in 2022 with corporate media twisting reality and demonizing the Bolivarian Process.

We'll continue to fight back, but we need support!

Every donation counts: venezuelanalysis.com/donate Image
Many amazing leftist media outlets counter the MSM narrative on Venezuela. We are humbled to say VA is still the only on-the-ground English language outlet exclusively covering day-to-day Venezuelan reality and the Bolivarian Revolution.

We are also 100% reader-funded! (cont.) Image
For 18+ years we’ve stood alongside the Venezuelan people in their fight for sovereignty. We’ve exposed the US-led aggression, followed popular struggles and the Chávez/Maduro gov’t programs.

With Venezuela in the empire’s sights, our independent journalism is essential. Image
Read 7 tweets
14 Nov
Contrary to corporate media myth, Venezuela was not a model democracy nor a “prosperous nation” before Hugo Chávez. The country's massive oil wealth only enriched the local elite and foreign companies. This gross inequality was reversed with the Hydrocarbon Law on #13Nov, 2001.🧵
Chávez’ landmark Hydrocarbon Law increased gov’t oil royalties and imposed a 51% state stake in all joint ventures, thus ending foreign companies' decades-long reign over Venezuela’s oil resources and their siphoned-off profits.
For the first time since becoming an oil-exporting nation in the 1920s, the Venezuelan people benefited from oil income. Chávez used the resources to deliver wide-ranging social and economic programs, improving the lives of millions. It was known as “repaying the social debt.”
Read 7 tweets

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