Why are venezuelans protesting? Is the bolivarian revolution increasing the life standard of the poor or ruining the entire country?

1. Help Venezuela
using Social media
#SOSVenezuela
#PrayforVenezuela
#tuitazoVzla
@MafaldaVnzl
@maracaibomike
And you? What would
you do if you were
Venezuelan?

2. 1. Why are Venezuelans
protesting?
2. Is the Bolivarian Revolution
improving the life of the poor?
3. Open questions

3. 1. Why are Venezuelans
protesting? 1

4. Do other
countries have
the same
problems? Same
levels of
severity?
Would you
consider these
normal?
Venezuela: Main issues
The level of scarcity is such that it strongly affects
daily life
0 20 40 60 80
Scarcity
Insecurity
High quality of life
Unemployment
Economic Crisis
Political Violence
Abuse of authority/power
Corruption
Barricates
Protests
National Government
Failed Health Care System
Figures in %

5. How long
would you
be willing
to stand in
line in
order to
buy a
gallon of
milk?
Would you protest if you had to
fight against a crowd of people in
order to buy basic goods such as
toilet paper, milk, chicken and
corn flower? … Products that have
simply become a rare luxury?

6. How would you
feel if the
groceries stores
were filled with
empty shelves'?
Would you
protest?

7. Do you or a loved one depend on
medication to survive?
Would you protest if you thought
that you or your loved one might
be in danger of dying without this
medication?
It’s not only diabetics but also the
ill and injured who lose their lives
daily due to the lack of medicine
and other resources in Venezuela.

8. “Every 72
minutes a
diabetic patient
dies in
Venezuela.
Today, Juan A.
Calzadilla, was
one of them”.
(Figures from the
Venezuelan
Society of
Endocrinology).

9. Patients protest
by the main
entrance of a
hospital in
Valencia:
“We need help.
There are no
reagents, all
hospital
equipment is
damaged. There
is no water on
the fifth floor. No
working
restrooms”.

10. Do you think this is normal?
Would you protest if it were
happening in your country?
“It is not
normal to
have
medicine
shortages
but to have
plenty of
rifles,
teargas and
weapons”.

11. Could you imagine his desperation?
Would you protest?
“I am a type 1
diabetic and
need an
insulin shot at
least 3 times a
day.
I have not
been able to
buy any insulin
for 3 weeks
now”.

12. Would you
accept this?
Patients are
cared for on a
hospital’s bare
floor because
there are no
beds.
Would you
protest?
(City Hospital
Dr. Enrique
Tejera).

13. Would you
accept this?
Newborns are
placed in
cardboard
boxes at birth
because
there are no
beds for them.
Would you
protest?
(IVSS in
Maracay)

14. Would you
accept a
failed health
care system?
Patient is
being treated
at the
University
Hospital of Los
Andes.
Would you
protest?

15. Venezuelan doctors
also protest. They are
unable to do their jobs
when they lack the
medications and
other means to mend
and heal their
patients.
“Doctors must
condemn shortages in
hospitals”

16. But there are
other reasons
that made us
take to the
streets in
protest.

17. Petare is a slum near
Venezuela’s capital,
Caracas. Pro-government
supporters (Chavistas)
consider this place their
social base; a place that
belongs to those for whom
they created their socialist
revolution.
This is what the signs read:
“Petare. We could all get
murdered here. This fight is for
all of us. Support us!”
“I protest against insecurity.
Maduro needs to go”

18. Bassil da
Costa,
murdered on
February 12
2014 by a
Government
Colectivo.
Crime
unpunished
Chavistas claim that the protests
only take place among the
middle and upper level class.
However, YouTube videos show
demonstrators from low class
neighborhoods explaining why
there are no protests in their area:
“Los colectivos” (Government
paramilitary forces) have
terrorized our community. We are
forced to go to places such as
Altamira or Chacao (middle to
high class areas) to protest where
there is ample space to
demonstrate”.

20. 25,000 were killed in
2013
Independent organizations estimate that there were nearly 25,000
people killed in 2013; a figure 5 times larger than the one reported in
1999 when the Chavista regime took over the country.
Now let’s put these figures into context:
The total population in Venezuela was last estimated at 30 million
people. Great Britain’s population is also of 58 million approx. In 2013,
Great Britain’s police reported 532 murders
In Germany, with a population of 80 million habitants, there were only
281 reported murders. In Spain, there were 364 reported murders.
(population: 47 million)
Roberto Redman. Assisted Bassil on
Feb. 12 after getting shot. He was
murdered a few hours later. Crime
unpunished

21. The murders into
context
Country Murders (year) Population
Venezuela 24.673 (2013) 30 million
Venezuela 5.000 (1998)
Great Britain 532 (2012) 58 million
Germany 281 (2012) 80 million
Spain 364 (2012) 47 million
The murder rate in Venezuela is now 5 times
higher than it was in 1999 when the Chavista
regime took over the country.
@MafaldaVnzl
#tuitazoVzla
Geraldine
Moreno,
murdered by
the Bolivarian
National
Guard on
February 21.
Crime
unpunished

23. The causes of the violence in Venezuela
are different from other countries in Latin
America.
They are not
caused by
drug trafficking
or the
organized
crime but
common
crime
Roberto Annese, murdered on March 28 by the
governmental repression against protestors. Crime
unpunished

24. According to data provided by The
Venezuelan Observatory of
Violence in 2013 24,673
Venezuelans died.
Adriana Urquila,
pregnant
journalist,
murdered walking
on the streets of
Caracas.
Murderer, Yonny
Bolívar, is a
criminal
associated with
the regime.
Crime
unpunished.

25. Impunity is also at a high
level: 92%
“In Venezuela, you could get shot 20
times for your cellphone, your car…
anything”.
Situations like the one described
above occur in places where there is
no law. It is rare to see someone try to
steal someone's cellphone or car in
countries where crime is actually
punished. Most criminals are aware of
the possible punishments and that
these would involve prison time.
Daniel Tinoco,
murdered on
March 11 by
government
officials who
utilized a fake
ambulance to
ambush
protesters.
Crime
unpunished.

26. 2. Social Housing: Has the Bolivarian
Revolution benefited the poorest in
Venezuela?
2

27. Affordable Social Housing in
Venezuela
When Hugo Chávez and his Bolivarian Revolution came into
power in 1999 he vowed to prioritize the provision of affordable
dwellings and shelter for the poor; but in reality, partly because
the stormy financial climate that the revolution brought,
combined with rampant corruption, bad management and
scarcity of building materials and technology, not enough new
homes have been built in its fifteen year regime. With an ever
increasing housing shortage the government, in desperation, has
resorted to promote illegal home invasions and expropriations, in
most cases without paying out any compensation.
.

28. This tower in down town Caracas is nicknamed "Torre de David" after David
Brillembourg, the tower's main investor who died in 1993. During the banking
crisis of 1994, the government took control of the building and it has not been
worked on since. The building lacks elevators, installed electricity, running
water, balcony railing, windows and even walls in many places.
Venezuela's massive housing shortage led to occupation of the building by
squatters in October 2007. Residents have improvised basic utility services, with
water reaching all the way up to the 22nd floor. They can use motorcycles to
travel up and down the first 10 floors, but must use the stairs for the remaining
levels.The residents live up to the 28th floor, with many bodegas and even an
unlicensed dentist also operating in the building. Some residents even have
cars, parked inside of the building's parking garage. Seven hundred families
comprising over 2,500 residents live in the tower today.
In May 2014 the tower was featured in the BBC World News documentary, Our
World.
Centro Financiero
Confinanzas
Venezuela's world famous illegally
ocupied building.

29. A very substantial amount of
government resources are spent on
propaganda at election time; leading
the poor to believe that their need for
proper homes will be fully fulfilled.
Sometimes many of the ones with the
least resources are threatened and
told that they may lose their right to a
home if they do not vote for them. In
Venezuela many don't consider their
vote to be secret.

30. Many of the of dwellings that the
government does manage to build
every year are plagued with structural
problems, some lacking essential
services like electricity and running
water, poor quality foul and surface
water sewers and access roads.

31. The Rancho, Venezuela's Chanty town Dwelling.
The vast majority of the poor in Venezuela live in overpopulated "barrios" or
shanty towns. Shanty towns are settlements built with whatever they can lay
their hands on; concrete and clay hollow blocks, corrugated metal, sheets
of plastic, vehicle parts, canvas, fabrics and cardboard. These dwellings
are called ranchos and are usually found on the periphery of cities, public
parks, near main roads and motorways or city trash dumpsites. Shanty
towns dwellings do not comply with any building regulations or planning,
which makes them prone to collapse. Shanty towns are extremely
dangerous places to live in; overcrowded, they lack proper basic services,
and are riddled with disease and sky high crime rates.

32. Again, much has been said about how the
Bolivarian Revolution strives to improve services and
the quality of life of those who live in shanty towns,
but this couldn't be further from the truth; protests in
shanty towns are on the increase; they feel that the
government has prioritised aid to other nations and
neglected their own people, who gave them most of
their votes. In order to try and silence the discontent,
the government resorts to violence by sending in its
armed militia, creating fear among protesters.

33. Apart from way below standard of services like running water,
electricity and sewers, one of the mayor problems affecting the
barrios is the terrifying crime rate. Most of the murders that occur in
Venezuela take place there. Only in 2013 there were 25,000
recorded murders in Venezuela, a country with only 30m. people.
The figure is overwhelming when compared with figures in the
developed countries: in the UK, as an example, in 2012 just 532
murders were recorded. The UK population is 58m. The ever
increasing crime rate figures only shows that the safety of
Venezuelans is not a government priority. The crime rate will
certainly be much higher this year.

34. The Housing Deficit in Venezuela
Only in 2012, and after thirteen years of
Bolivarian Revolution 2.15m people were
still living in shanty towns, with another
5.3m living in overcrowded inadequate
dwellings.
With a deficit of 7.5m. homes, and the
figure growing fast every year, it's highly
unlikely that the Bolivarian Revolution
under Nicolas Maduro will be able to fulfil
the electoral promise made by Hugo
Chavez in 2012 to provide proper
housing for all Venezuelans by 2019.

35. Look up in youtube
“Revolución
bolimalandra.”
Listen to this man. He
obviously does not
belong to the upper
class. He describes life
in the low class
“barrios” and critizises
the bolivarian
revolution calling it
“remaldición
bolimalandra.”

36. He calls the bolivarian revolution
“remaldición bolimalandra”
(criminal revolution)
Because it is easier :
To get marijuana than flour
To get a gun than a gas cylinder
To get cocain than many medicines
To get teargas than oxygen for asthmatics .
His conclusion: this revolution is the worst that has
happened to Venezuela, it has casted us down.
Venezuela has fallen to the ground.
(Google: scribd the bolimandra revolution
To read the full text in english.)

37. Many other videos form people
who belog to the lower clases
Famous is the video of Yeiker Guerra, el chico de
Petare (the guy from Petare) but there are many
many more.
Interesting too are the videos of @Juliococo (in
youtube : Juliococo - Julio Jiménez Gedler) a
man who belongs politically to the left wing but
opposes and denounces firmly the Maduro
Regime. He considers himself a disident in the
name of left wing principles and he is an activist
who travels throughout Venezuela arganizing
assemblies in the barrios to discuss politics with
common people. Unfortunately we don´t have
those videos with english subtitles.
Julio Jiménez
Gedler
@juliococo

38. Open questions
¿Are there free media in Venezuela?
¿How deep is corruption?
¿Is the Government refraining or
encouraging human rights
violations?
¿Are there democratic elections in
Venezuela?
3

39. Translation:
@Zanerebel
@Llaneroloco
@MafaldaVnzl
EL PUEBLO
UNIDO
JAMÁS SERÁ
VENCIDO
#SOSVenezuela Help Venezuela