Venezuela: Social Programs

November 16, 2006 | Pulitzer Center

Nov. 7, 2006--A Venezuelan girl receives free dental care at a government health clinic in the notorious 23 January slum of Caracas. President Hugo Chavez has directed vast amounts of oil revenue to social programs benefiting the poor.

Nov. 7, 2006--A portrait of Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez hangs in a government-subsidized cooperative shoe factory in the notorious 23 January slum of Caracas. Many of President Chavez's social programs are centered around trying to stimulate self supporting initiatives. Critics say the plans are creating a welfare state dependent on the sale of high priced oil.

Nov. 5, 2006-- A basketball court at the base of the Caracas slum of St. Augustin where "consejo comunals," or community councils, have helped secure government funding for youth programs and housing support.

Nov. 14, 2006-- A farmer gives his son a lift home from school in the rural state of Lara. Central to President Hugo Chavez's many social platforms are agrarian reforms designed to move families back into the country side and out of the city slums where they can sustain themselves and provide goods for the rest of the country. Critics argue that reversing the migration is an exercise in futility; they complain that the government is trying to reclaim private property rights.

Nov. 14, 2006-- A farm hand milks a cow on a private farm in the rural state of Lara in western central Venezuela. Central to Chavez's many social platforms are agrarian reforms designed to move families back into the country side and out of the city slums where they can sustain themselves and provide goods for the rest of the country. Critics argue that reversing the migration is an exercise in futility.

Nov. 14, 2006--Cooperative farm workers sit outside their dormitories on a government sponsored farm near San Felipe in the rural Western Central Venezuela. The land was seized by the government from a private owner after it was declared idle. Critics say Chavez's agrarian reform policy is trying to socialize all property in the country.

Nov. 14, 2006-- Segundo Delgado, 75, is a resident and worker on one of Venezuela's government sponsored cooperative farms near San Felipe in the rural Western Central part of the country. The land was seized by the government from a private owner after it was declared idle. Critics say Chavez's agrarian reform policy is trying to socialize all property in the country.

Nov. 15, 2006-- Squatter children stand in front of their shack in Montalban. Dozens of families have built shacks on private land in the rural town near Valencia to demand public housing support.

Nov. 5, 2006-- Public education is free in Venezuela, but very competitive. Students wait for classes at the Universidad de Bolivariana de Venezuela. It opened on a campus that was once home to the Shell oil company before the country nationalized the resource.

Nov. 5, 2006-- Students lounge on the campus of Universidad Central de Venezuela where public education is free, but competition to enroll is fierce.

Nov. 9, 2006-- At the federally funded "Mission Robinson" in the Caracas slum of El Valle, students of all generations attend night class to learn reading and writing. From left, Moises Rincon, 11, sits next to Carmen Uzcategui, 43, and her son Gerald, 15, in an introductory reading class.

Nov. 6, 2006-- Little leaguers practice in the shadow of government housing in the notorious 23 January slum in Caracas. The field has been renovated by one of the many programs that President Chavez has directed to the country's poor.

President Hugo Chavez is despised by many in his country for what they see as populist demagoguery and reckless policies, but that is not the case in the barrios and isolated rural hamlets of a country that remains extraordinarily poor despite its equally extraordinary wealth in oil. What poor and long marginalized Venezuelans see in Chavez are programs like free dental care, access to education and aid to the less advantaged in city and country alike.