Venezuelan Women Make History and Textiles

Women make history every day, and the women of Venezuela are doing so by cultivating a community-based economic model. They are embarking on new paths to autonomy within an historic social movement that is improving the lives of millions through “social missiones” that deliver new opportunities.

Government-funded programs such as Madres del Barrio (or “Mothers of the Neighborhood”) promote  social inclusion and community action. Madres del Barrio gives women the tools to succeed personally as well as economically by offering education, training, and interest-free loans. These tools have been invaluable for women, many of whom had never before worked outside the home.

The Guardian Weekly showcases the personal story of one Caracas woman whose participation in Madres del Barrio led her to found the successful Guarayrapana Textile Cooperative. Yovita Vera had this to say about her experience:

It takes a lot of willpower to keep the cooperative working, but we couldn’t have done it without the support from Madres del Barrio. I feel like this government has finally given women the status they deserve. In the barrios, most of the families are headed by women with little or no support from men, so it makes sense for them to be in control of the finances.

As we celebrate Women’s History Month, Madres del Barrio deserves a round of applause!

Check out this video about Madres del Barrio in Spanish.

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In Caracas, Revolutionary Metrocable Moves Forward

The “Metrocable” that is set to revolutionize transportation in crowded Caracas will open next month. It will reportedly travel 1.8 kilometers through the following neighborhoods: Parque Central, Hornos de Cal, La Ceiba, El Manguito y San Agustín.

What’s so cool about the Metrocable, you ask? For one, it whisks travelers overland through the clouds to reduce traffic congestion and pollution. It also helps reduce travel time to work for low-income residents in the city’s peripheral areas.

A Reuters article yesterday suggested that this project is well-liked in San Agustín. It prompted one resident to call Hugo Chavez “the only president who has really worked for the poor.” This sentiment is reflected in the statistics: a recent UN study shows poverty has dropped by 16.5% in the last five years.

And while the Venezuelan leader has been known to tout those numbers, he stressed earlier this year that the newest government-funded transportation project was designed for the good of all citizens:

None of the projects promoted by the Venezuelan government does [have political colors]; they will benefit all Venezuelans.

The technology and materials used to build the Metrocable were purchased from Austria and Brazil. The project may have been inspired by an existing aerial transportation system in Medellin, Colombia. Investments total $149 million, and it should create 200 direct jobs and 250 more indirect ones. It will carry 1,500 people an hour for a total of 15,000 commuters every day. See more pictures of the construction phase here.

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Venezuela Helping Paraguay

With the people of Paraguay still celebrating last Friday’s swearing-in of the new President and former “Bishop of the Poor” Fernando Lugo, a dozen new accords signed between that country and Venezuela are making the future look even brighter.

Presidents Chavez and Lugo (pictured at right, singing) signed 12 accords. One of them is designed to help Paraguay avoid energy shortages. The Venezuelan oil company PDVSA will send 23,500 gallons of oil per day to the small country in order to “guarantee the energy sovereignty of Paraguay.”

Also included in the deal is a one-time supply of diesel fuel — an amount of 440,476 barrels — to stave off shortages that are plaguing Paraguay.

Cooperation on energy issues in the Americas has been a top policy priority for the Chavez administration. As one of the world’s largest exporters of oil, Venezuela has been able to lend a hand to needy people in countries from Argentina to the U.S.

This news shows that cross-border cooperation on energy pays off! To read more from PDVSA’s website in Spanish, click here, or for an English-language AP story, click here.

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Corporate Responsibility, Venezuelan Style

A little over a week ago, we brought you highlights from the Venezuela-Citgo energy efficient lighting program. Before that, we reported on their discounted heating oil program and the Bronx development project. Today, we bring you the latest in Citgo’s efforts to give back to American communities in need.

In a Maryland suburb just outside of Washington DC, Citgo and Venezuela announced a $1.5 million donation to CASA de Maryland (CASA), a service and advocacy organization assisting Latinos and other immigrants. Just as with the free light bulb program, Citgo’s donation will help this non-profit replicate the successful model of cooperatives that has flourished in Venezuela in recent years.

According to CASA, comprehensive educational, vocational training, and economic development programs will be created through the grant and will serve about 5,000 low-income participants. Read the Washington Post’s take in their article published yesterday.

Now that’s the kind of corporate responsibility we can get behind.

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Venezuela’s Citgo Delivers Energy Efficiency to U.S. Cities

For many low- and middle-income people in the U.S., helping the environment can take a back seat to the everyday demands of simply making ends meet. Citgo, the Venezuelan-owned gas company, is helping to address this problem through its new Energy Efficient Lighting Program.

The program donates energy-saving fluorescent light bulbs to families in cities across the U.S. It is based on a successful initiative in Venezuela that oversaw the nation-wide switch to eco-friendly bulbs. Also, it marks a second phase of the Community Assistance Program by Citgo, which has donated discounted home heating oil to more than 1.2 million U.S. residents since 2005.

At the launch in Washington DC on Tuesday, neighbors watched Shirley Braxton (pictured above) install the first free light bulbs in her home. Speeches were made by the CEO of Citgo, the Venezuelan Ambassador, and Joe Kennedy of the host charity Citizens Energy.

By distributing nearly half a million energy efficient bulbs, Citgo will help recipients in 23,000 households to save $14.9 million and cut their energy use by 165 million kilowatt hours.

The lighting program is taking place in DC and everywhere Citgo refineries operate, in Houston and Corpus Christi, Texas; Lemont, Illinois; and Lake Charles, Louisiana. Other cities set receive the aid include New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Milwaukee, Madison, and Minneapolis. To see figures for each city, click here. For information about how you can participate, call 1-800-315-7682.

UPDATE: Read news articles from the AP and the Houston Chronicle.

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Bank of the South Begins with $10 Billion

The Bank of the South (or in Spanish, Banco del Sur) is an institution that promises to help Latin American countries help themselves.

Founded late last year, the Bank has just announced it will begin operations with US$10 billion in startup capital. This amount may climb to as much as $20 billion. Each country’s contribution is directly proportionate to the size of its economy. Member states are Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay (see their economy ministers pictured here).

What are the benefits? The new Bank of the South gives countries a new option for how to finance development programs. Priority areas are infrastructure, industry, housing, transportation, and human capacity-building.

Most importantly, the Bank creates an opportunities for cooperation and mutual assistance among countries in the region. Instead of relying on financial institutions like the IMF, which issued loans tied to policy demands, nations can soon borrow on their own terms.

Read more about the IMF’s decline in Latin America in the this report and this opinion piece.

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Venezuela’s Youth Music Program Spreads Smiles

By now, you’ve surely heard of Venezuela’s renowned music program “El Sistema,” which gives young children from poor families an opportunity to learn how to play classical music. The program is 30 years old, and currently reaches quarter of a million students. It is also having a big impact around the world.

Here is a roundup of articles you may have missed:

The Associated Press writes that Venezuela’s youth orchestra program has turned the country into “a powerhouse for producing talented musicians.” The prime example is conductor Gustavo Dudamel, who will head the L.A. Philharmonic Orchestra in 2009. “‘El Sistema’ has given me everything. It gave me the possibility of having a path in life with music,” he said.

Reuters notes that rich countries like the U.S. and and UK are “lining up” to imitate the Venezuelan program. Hundreds of thousands of children in Venezuela have sidestepped a life of poverty and crime through the free education, so why not try it elsewhere? L.A. and Baltimore are developing similar youth orchestras.

Wired Magazine opines that, regardless of what people think about President Chavez, nothing can touch the shining example of his state-funded music education program. The heavy investments in poverty relief and human development indeed show that Venezuela has its priorities straight.

The New York Times reports that Venezuela is testing the peaceful techniques of “El Sistema” in prisons across the country. Here, “budding musicians include murderers, kidnappers, thieves and… dozens of “narcomulas,” or drug mules, as small-scale drug smugglers are called.” If the attempt to humanize jails works out, prison reform in Venezuela may also set the standard for other nations.

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Venzuela’s Petrocasas Featured in BBC News

We love petrocasas, the eco-friendly houses that are taking poor families out of the crumbling barrios in Venezuela and also in Cuba.

That’s why this new coverage from BBC News is so exciting!

The petrocasas program is setting new standards for how developing countries can address poverty and related housing issues in a way that is affordable and effective. Not only that, but petrocasas are far better for the environment than hodgepodge slums are. They are made from recycled waste generated by oil refining!

BBC correspondent James Ingham reports. Click here to watch.

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Venezuela’s Banks Branch out into the Barrios

In Venezuela, going to the bank is getting easier for people who live in low-income neighborhoods.

The government is pushing financial institutions nationwide to open up in areas that historically lacked access to banking. Small loans are being given out in these areas, which are hotbeds of entrepreneurship.

The technique of microfinance, as it is known in development lingo, has for many years been practiced by government lending agencies such as the Banco de Desarrollo (the development bank known as BANDES) and Banco de la Mujer (the women’s bank, BANMUJER). Micro-lending has been an important part of Venezuela’s anti-poverty effort.

Venezuela continues to experience high rates of economic growth and consumer activity. Small businesses open up every day. Now, the poor may stand to benefit more as the private banks catch on and capture the market for financial services. Read more here.

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Venezuela’s “Sontizon”: Hip Hop That Heals

Sontizon is a salsa-infused hip hop collective that offers listeners more than just a sound: it offers them a vision.

The group got a slow start in 2000 and later re-grouped in 2002 after an aborted coup d’etat in Venezuela. The title of its new album, “For each 11th there is a 13th” (A cada 11 le llega su trece), refers to the day in April when citizens poured into the streets to demand the return of their democratically elected government. You can listen to songs from the album on Sontizon’s MySpace page or buy the CD through this site.

Sontizon does not hide its ideology; the group believes in creating a just and sustainable society, and wants to do so by uniting communities through music and helping people — especially youth — to improve their lives.

This is the basis for Sontizon’s work with Tiuna el Fuerte, a hip hop-inspired organization designed to promote people’s empowerment through “endogenous” (that is, inward-focused) development. Based in a poor area of Caracas, Tiuna el Fuerte creates safe spaces for free artistic expression. It also helps people meet their most basic needs by connecting them with free social services in areas like education, health care, and nutrition.

Sontizon’s own passion for education led them to sing about the state literacy program Misión Robinson. In the video below, you can watch them perform the song at the Teresa Carreno Theater in Caracas during a presidential address.

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Venezuela Gives Cuba Affordable, Eco-friendly Petrocasas

Remember the petrocasas we told you about back in March? These affordable, eco-friendly homes made of waste generated by oil refining are now being used to ease a housing shortage in Cuba. Reuters reports that 40 new petrocasas are being built per day to reach a total number of 14,000 this year.

Petrocasas are donated or sold at a low cost to needy families. They are pre-fabricated, and are made from polyvinyl chloride, a recycled plastic.

The houses are an innovative way to pursue sustainable development and raise the standard of living among poor communities while helping to mitigate the environmental impact of oil refining. They are just one way in which Venezuela is helping Latin American countries achieve a greener future.

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Venezuela Helps Light Up Haiti

Unlike elsewhere in the world, electricity consumption rates in Haiti have declined steadily over the last five years.

To help increase access, Venezuela is expanding a project set up in 2006 to provide Haiti with more electricity assistance. A new processing plant to be built on the island is expected to extend access to electricity among Haitians from 4 hours a day to 6 hours.

The business representative of the Venezuelan embassy in Haiti announced this new initiative last weekend. It comes under the regional bloc ALBA (the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas).

Cooperative efforts are also taking place on other key development issues such as housing and education. One Venezuelan primary school has been set up in Haiti, and another program allows Haitian students to be hosted at Venezuelan universities. Read more in Spanish.

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