On 25th anniversary of Bolivarian Revolutionary Government, Maduro announces the Great Mission Venezuela Youth

25 Years of the Bolivarian Revolution

On December 6, 1998, Commander Hugo Chávez won his first election for President of Venezuela with 56.20% of the votes, putting an end to the bipartisanship exercised by the Democratic Action and Copei parties, which handed the country over to western imperialism.

On February 2, 1999, Chávez assumed the presidency of Venezuela with an oath that marked the beginning of a profound process of changes: "I swear before God, I swear before the Homeland, I swear before my People that on this moribund Constitution (1961), I will promote the democratic transformations necessary for the New Republic to have a Magna Carta appropriate to the New Times. I swear!"

Chávez's victory in the 1998 campaign was unique: it was the first time that a militant politician from a non-traditional party had governed the richest country in South America. 

Challenges and Triumphs: Surviving Neoliberal Hell and Building a New Venezuela

Since the fall of the ultra-right dictatorship of Marcos Pérez Jimenez on January 23, 1959, the Presidency of Venezuela had been occupied by six leaders of Democratic Action (AD) and three of the Christian social COPEI, who led the country to an unprecedented social crisis.

This bipartisan bourgeois dictatorship called El Pacto de Punto Fijo, or the Punto Fijo Pact, in which both parties acted as neocolonial puppets backed by NATO’s Operation Condor, with a total body count of Socialists killed or disappeared at nearly 50,000-100,000 over 40 years. The Caracazo Uprising and Massacre was the most deadly with more than 3000 civilians assassinated in Caracas and 5000 nationwide by Carlos Andrés Pérez. 

These massacres were in response to the 27F Popular Rebellion of El Caracazo, in February of 1989, with bodies buried in mass graves by traitors in the military forces who had trained under the so-called Fourth Republic in the School of the Americas, with MOSSAD and CIA agents.

Research carried out last July by El Correo del Orinoco reveals how the neoliberal measures of the governments of the Fourth Republic boosted poverty to 62.93 percent and extreme poverty to 30.12 percent.

During this time, the neoliberal demands of the International Monetary Fund were enforced to the letter by the Democratic Action party, the same one currently led by Henry Ramos Allup. They asked the people to make ever-greater sacrifices to make possible a neoliberal shock doctrine and asset-stripping, in exchange for the promise of economic improvement, just as IMF-puppet Javier Milei is now demanding of the people of Argentina. 

The result for the second half of 1989 was more misery: general poverty reached 70.56% of the population; 7 percentage points higher compared to the first half,” Correo del Orinoco details this economic rape in its investigation entitled "Humanitarian Crisis: A matrix set up to encourage foreign intervention in the country."

Investing in the Future: The Great Mission Venezuela Youth and the Continuation of the Revolution

As for Hugo Chávez and his revolutionary government’s plan, the people always came first. With the reform of the Constitution, the way was opened for the acquisition of political and social rights never before seen in Venezuela.

The recognition of indigenous peoples, the redefinition of human rights, the pivot from a “representative” bourgeois democracy to that of a people’s democracy, and the promotion of political and religious rights are some of the great advances sown by the revolutionary leader Commander Chávez and which would serve as an important example for other countries in the region.

Of course, a revolution must take care of and cultivate its youth. President Nicolás Maduro announced the Great Mission Venezuelan Youth on February 2, 2024. His announcement came during a massive public celebration in support of the 25-year anniversary of the Bolivarian Revolution and Commander Chávez’s legacy, a champion of the people who began the Bolivarian Revolution and was reelected four times.

The day also marked the 1999 Bolivarian Constitution and the beginning of the 5th Republic with a socialist and collective direction with El Plan de la Patria and Socialism, ushering in the 21st Century of Patria Grande Nuestramericana and a multipolar world.

After a 2023 full of victories against imperialist aggression and +960 illegal coercive measures known euphemistically as sanctions; after 13 quarters of economic growth in Venezuela, 2024 has begun with a higher budget and the creation of various new Missions like Great Mission Venezuelan Woman, Great Mission Venezuelan Youth, and Great Mission Viva Venezuela (+Culture). 

Stay tuned for part 2 of this series, when I'll delve into the the Great Mission Venezuelan Youth and its 26 Programs and 7 Vertices.