This report, written by Cde. Cristophe Simpson of the Jamaica Left Alliance for National Democracy and Socialism (LANDS), details his experiences during his Summer 2019 visit to Venezuela, as a guest of the 25th São Paulo Forum, hosted by the International People’s Assembly. Simpson’s first-hand account of the Bolivarian Revolution is rich with valuable insights, particularly regarding the Venezuelan masses and their relationship to the Bolivarian Revolution. Venezuela’s Bolivarian Revolution has successfully resisted Yankee imperialism for 23 years (and counting) and is a beacon of revolutionary optimism. Simpson’s report is long (some 65 pages), so we plan to publish it in the Red Clarion as a five-part series.
The full report (all five parts) can be found here.
Week in Petare
I spent a week in Petare, which I am told is one of the 3 largest slums in the world. In the nights, I slept in an office in a community centre in that is run by the Otro Beta movement in Venezuela, in the Antonio Jose de Sucre barrio. While there, I was told that the persons who live in the area are friendly and open so I could approach them randomly to ask questions. Some persons aren’t always in the mood to be approached by random strangers asking questions; as someone who is like that, I wouldn’t have thought to engage persons in the community unless I was told so.
The “Cacica Urimare” Community Center
The community centre is named “Cacica Urimare” after an indigenous leader. I had visited it before in February, and the concept and operations had excited my Comrades in Jamaica because we wanted to do similar things here even before a visit was made to the one in Petare.
It is usually bustling with activity, but there were less persons during the week I spent there in July because they were doing maintenance (like painting the walls, refitting the kitchen to create a bakery, etc.) and preparing for the next term of classes that they offer there. There were still a handful of persons visiting the centre to work in the production centres, to practice dancing, to use the visual arts studio, and to hang out. If more persons had been there, I would have had more to interact with, without seeming random or risking the chance of awkward encounters.
Bakery
There was a kitchen when I visited in February, but it was being converted into a bakery when I visited in the summer. The bakery would generate more revenue for the community centre and would be better integrated with other operations there.
Mill
A room was being converted into a mill to be able to produce flour from corn and cassava; some of the equipment was already bought, and the community centre already has some agricultural production that could be used as input. The flour produced by this mill would be used for 3 things: to supply the bakery, to sell to the CLAP network, and to sell to the private sector.
“CLAP” refers to the state’s organisation of local committees that manage community-based production and distribution of some goods; it buys food and other supplies and distributes them to outlets so that they are given to the people at prices far below the market price. The community centre would begin to sell flour to CLAP at a low rate and sell the rest to the private sector (nearby shops and restaurants) at the market rate. I suggested looking into the production of pasta from the flour as well.
Textile Workshop
The community centre has a textile workshop that produces clothes. I had seen it when I visited earlier in the year. This workshop is one of the ways that the community centre generates revenue to keep itself operational. The clothes that are produced and sold there are of a good quality and are cheap compared to what is offered by the private sector. I bought 2 samples, a polo shirt and a pair of pyjama pants, to take back to Jamaica to show others.
Dance Classes
Two groups of girls – one group of teenagers and a group of much younger girls – were practising dancing. The older group was practising first. I heard some music that sounded similar to something Caribbean, so I went in the room to see, and they invited me to stay; I made myself useful while I was there, as they asked me to do two favours to assist them.
The younger group came in later on with a dance instructor, who invited me to stay as well. They played some folk music and did some dances that reminded me of some dances that were done on specific cultural days in school in Jamaica; this led me to ask someone if the music and dance that they practise is Afro-Venezuelan, and he told me yes. Even the clothes that they were wearing seemed similar to Jamaica’s national dress, and I found that to be noteworthy. There should definitely be more cultural exchange between our 2 countries.
There is a school in Jamaica called the Venezuelan Institute for Cultural Cooperation that had been offering Spanish classes, free dance classes, and free music classes – they had to suspend operations this summer because the sanctions have prevented them from paying the staff since last year; this also affected a gardening project that LANDS was doing in the yard.
Music Studio
The community centre has a music studio that persons in the community can use for free. Many young people in Jamaica are interested in music but their interest isn’t sufficiently facilitated; it is especially difficult for persons from lower-income households, as they lack time and/or resources that can help them to develop their skills. The presence of a studio for recording music is a game changer, as it provides some of those resources and it builds an enabling environment. In other places that I visited in Venezuela, there were small media houses like radio stations and video studios; the music studio can be developed to facilitate such activities as well, but still serves a great purpose if it remains just a music studio. Such a facility in Jamaican communities would be very appreciated.
Health Centre
There is a health centre which offers both traditional services and conventional medical services; they offer check-ups and have medication in compliance with modern medicine standards, but they also offer other things that earn the trust and confidence of the members of the community.
The things that they offer are not only based on indigenous traditions from people in Venezuela, but also things like acupuncture. It is safer to get something like acupuncture done there, a place that has to meet the health and cleanliness standards of a clinic, than at a random place that may not put out the same effort to meet certain strict standards.
Classes & Skills Training
The community centre welcomes children to get help with their homework and also has its own classes on a variety of practical/vocational things like photography, video editing, electrical work, coding, hair styling, hair cutting, printing/stenography, English language, yoga, textile work, event planning, manicures and pedicures, mobile phone repairs, motorcycle repairs, acrobatics, urban agriculture, and some other things.
The movement has an arrangement with the Ministry of Education to give certification to some of the courses that are offered at the centre, so they get certification from the community centre itself but also certification from a formal school whose standards the community centre’s classes meet; this allows persons who take classes at the centre to easily re-integrate into the formal education system if they had dropped out. The classes are offered to persons of all ages, not just children.
Some of the things they teach are responsible use of the internet, including YouTube and social media, to create and disseminate content. I’ve maintained contact and become good friends with one of the teachers; he is frank with me about the realities and difficulties of the situation.
Encounters in Petare
Webpage on U.S. Intervention in Latin America
I had a few visitors while staying in the community centre; I had met them earlier in the year and I stayed in touch with some of them. They always ensured that I was okay, that I was comfortable, and that I had food.
One night, 4 of them were hanging out with me. Earlier that day, I had been showing one some information on US intervention in Latin America that we compiled for LANDS; he opted to show the others as we all talked about how far the US is going with its intervention strategy and how it is connected to the current daily difficulties in Venezuela.
They read the citations from the compilation and we visited a few of the actual articles that they were cited from, and they were shocked that the information was just there in plain sight, that the journalists and the politicians are open about their agenda in Venezuela.
Bachaqueros
One day, we descended from the hilly residential area that the community centre is in and hitched a ride to the more commercial area of Petare, where the metro station and many shops are. My friend was telling me about food hoarders who were only recently forced out of the area by police; they had occupied the streets and sold goods that they hoarded. They call them “bachaqueros” like big red ants.
They operate in bands/gangs that buy up large quantities of food or consumer goods to create shortages and then sell those same goods for much higher prices; this is somewhat similar to the concept of ‘scalpers’ in the West, who buy tickets to events and resell them for a higher price after they are sold out, but they do this with food and necessities rather than concert tickets.
They exacerbate the effects of the existing perception of scarcity and they profit from the hyperinflation, as they are able to sell goods for more money than they bought them. It is rumoured that they operate in networks with connections to smugglers on the border.
In a bakery operated by some Comrades from Somos Otro Beta in town in another state, they put a limit on the amount of bread that someone can buy in a day; the limit is 4 loaves, and 1 person definitely can’t consume that much bread in 1 day in any case. This is a measure to limit hoarding by bachaqueros.
Engaging Random Youth
I introduced myself to 4 teenagers, let them know that I’m from Jamaica and that I’m only in the community for a week and asked if we could talk about “the situation in Venezuela” – all of them allowed me to, then I proceeded to ask who they think is responsible for the situation.
One boy was sitting right outside the community centre for several hours, so I approached him first to ask. He seemed young, like 14-15. I asked if he spoke English and he said no, so I let him know that my Spanish isn’t great so that I may make mistakes. We got on with the conversation and I asked who he thinks is responsible or who he blames for the situation, and he said that he blames the people, including himself. I asked why, but then he started to get a little frustrated because I couldn’t understand everything he said; he directed me to a group of boys to ask them instead, and the main one he pointed to was someone who spoke some English. When he was answering, he was talking about consumption and the inflation, but nothing about politics. I approached the group of boys a little later because I had to attend to something.
A teenage girl who practises dancing in the community centre called me over to assist with something; I took the opportunity to engage her about this as well. I asked her who she blamed for the situation, and she said the same as the boy I first spoke to; she blames the people, including herself. When I asked her why, she also spoke about the economy and not about politics.
After my conversation with her, I approached someone from the group of boys who were sitting near the community centre, across from where I was talking to the first boy I encountered. They were teenagers who seemed to be slightly older than the first boy, like 17-19. The one who I approached spoke English. He had 3 persons beside him, but they didn’t join the conversation right away. I asked him about the situation, then I asked him who he holds responsible or who he blames, and his response was “the United States” and I said that I agree; he went on to talk about the economic war. I told him that Jamaica also had an economic war in the 1970s until 1980, and we discussed the similarities. One of his friends left to get something then returned to participate.
This friend joined the conversation and blamed Maduro for the situation, but he agreed that there is an economic war. We (his friend that I was talking to at first, and I) asked if he thinks anyone else could survive this economic war, and he said no; he also said that he thinks Maduro is in a difficult position. He didn’t seem to be truly anti-Maduro as much as he was just frustrated with the situation in general; the sanctions play on these frustrations, in my opinion.
They started to ask me questions about Jamaica, after this conversation. They asked me about the size and population of Jamaica, whether I could compare it to one of Venezuela’s states, and also about whether human rights are respected there.
Reflections on the Opposition (Petare)
I took note of how peaceful the conversation was between someone who believes strongly that the problems in Venezuela are due to US intervention, and someone who blamed Maduro for the country’s problems. People in Jamaica are far more ‘tribalistic’ (divisive) in their political opinions; nowadays it will turn into peaceful but loud passionate shouting matches, but differences in political opinions used to escalate to violence.
Some of my friends in Petare are from opposition households. I met one of my friend’s parents, 2 supporters of the opposition; they knew why I was in Venezuela and what my political leanings are, but they were nice and friendly to me, nevertheless. They offered me extra food when I only needed to reheat some food that I had from earlier, and the household gave me dinner one night when I hadn’t eaten on that day. They told me that they would look out for me if I needed anything and showed me which doors to knock if I needed them, and they meant it.
Interestingly, some opposition supporters cooperate or even support localised social movements like the one that operates the community centre in Petare, even though those movements openly support the president and the government. The political situation on the ground is not as polarised as the West portrays it to be. Some persons are critical of the government and support the opposition, but don’t actually believe that Venezuela is a dictatorship. Political polarisation doesn’t seem to be a problem in a place like Petare, in my experience and from what I witnessed.
Firstly, being ‘opposition’ or opposing the government doesn’t mean support for Guaidó; he represents a fringe of the opposition that is not popular in Venezuela. There is no popular movement that is pushing for him to become president. People are going about their daily lives; they are not constantly preoccupied with the topic of who is president, as the foreign media would have you assume.
One day when I went into Caracas, I walked around with my friend to run some errands; we passed the National Assembly and a nearby building that the Constituent National Assembly has its offices located. There weren’t many police or soldiers, or any excitement; people are just going about their lives as normal.
The ‘political turmoil’ is created by well-funded and well-armed members of the fringes of the opposition who create havoc for theatrics to justify US intervention. Despite being merely theatrics, the unfortunate reality is that they often put the lives of many people at risk.
