Bolivarian Achievements: Social Missions
The social missions put forth by the Venezuelan government are a genuine salvation mission for the country. There have been great strides in the construction of this new social structure
The Bolivarian Missions are a series of social justice, social welfare, anti-poverty, and educational programs implemented under the administration of the current government. The missions are: Robinson, Ribas, Sucre, Barrio Adentro, Barrio Adentro Deportivo, Vuelvan Caras, Mercal, Guaicaipuro, Zamora, Cultura and, more recently, Negra Hipólita.
Below, we would like to show our readers the achievements and advances that each one has had.
Robinson Mission
This mission was launched on July 1, 2003, and it was used to pull millions of Venezuelans out of the shadows of ignorance.
The Robinson mission is the most important civil and military operation ever launched in Venezuela's history. This mission uses volunteers to teach reading, writing and basic math to more than 1.5 million Venezuelans who were illiterate. Each educational district gave their support for the implementation of this mission, as well as the Venezuelan armed forces.
On October 28, 2005, Venezuela was officially declared an illiteracy-free territory by UNESCO. A total of 1,482,543 Venezuelans learned to read and write; they were helped by 128,967 teachers in 136,041 classrooms. Many other governments, heads of states, personalities and organizations praised this mission.
There are currently 11,700 Venezuelans registered for the new phase of this mission.
It is worth mentioning that the Bolivarian government had the will to eradicate illiteracy. This is the first time an effort of these characteristics is put in motion and this experience could be taken into other countries in the region.
Robinson II mission is called “I can continue” and it aims to provide ongoing basic education courses to those Venezuelans who have not completed their elementary-level education. There are currently 1,468,967 Venezuelans in this mission, helped by 104,171 teachers in 99,171 classrooms.
Ribas Mission
This mission was born on October 16, 2003, and it provides remedial high school level classes to millions of Venezuelans who were forced to drop out of high school. It is named after independence hero José Félix Ribas. This mission is sponsored by the Oil and Energy ministry, as well as state-owned Pdvsa.
The goal is for this mission to be a continuation of Robinson II mission.
From 2003 to January, 2006, the Bolivarian government has helped 885,410 Venezuelans enter this mission. There are currently 578,668 Venezuelans studying in this mission with the help of 32,167 teachers, 5,177 coordinators at 8,306 school facilities nationwide. There are 32,291 classrooms and 173,834 students have received scholarships.
Sucre Mission
Sucre Mission was launched in September, 2003. The Ministry of Higher Education is in charge of this project and carries it out all around the country. The Bolivarian University of Venezuela (UBV, Spanish acronym) opens its doors to thousands of students who began to study in classrooms that were once the luxurious offices of oil oligarchs.
This program's goal is to boost the institutional synergy and community participation in order to guarantee and provide access to higher education to all high school students.
So far, this program has registered 472,363 high school graduates, 429,215 of which have been assisted and 318,381 have finished the University Introductory Program. A total of 330,346 high school graduates have registered in the education programs. Also, the mission has granted 96,412 scholarships ($100) to the poorest students, and it is checking other 2,968 scholarships.
Likewise, 10,212 teachers work for the education programs and 1,107 university villages are distributed all around the country. These examples are a proof of the determination and strategy of the State to cancel a social debt. Also, this program guarantees access to higher education to all Venezuelans.
Barrio Adentro Mission
Since April, 2003, the national government's main objective is to shape a healthcare network by providing free healthcare services to the poorest sector of the population. This is why Barrio Adentro Mission I was launched.
This mission's general objective is to provide access to healthcare assistance to 60 percent of the excluded population through the construction of 8,000 Popular Medical Centers, to provide a doctor for every 250 families (1,200 people), to increase the life expectancy of the population and to contribute to the development, growth and ageing of the population maintaining a good standard of living.
Barrio Adentro Mission I has made an important progress in this sense by providing 162,012,583 people with medical assistance, 14,716,325 people with dental assistance and 3,811,741 people with eye care assistance, by saving 31,063 lives, by giving 375,144 glasses, and by constructing 1,012 medical centers.
Barrio Adentro Mission II was launched on June 12, 2005. This mission opened 30 Integral Diagnosis Centers and 30 Integral Rehabilitation Rooms all around the country. These centers have make it possible to perform 3,936,874 lab tests, 535,631 emergency surgeries, 775,690 ultrasounds, 285,415 X-Rays, 324,936 electrocardiograms, 108 operations, 55,499 endoscopies, 1,064,339 rehabilitation traements.
Also, 200 Integral Diagnosis Centers (CDI, Spanish acronym) and Integral Rehabilitation Rooms (SRI, Spanish acronym) have been opened during these last months. 103 are already finished and they are in the endowment phase. 704 are still under construction.
Likewise, Barrio Adentro III Mission is already working. This mission has to do with the strengthening of the hospital networks all around the country in order to meet the demand of Barrio Adentro II (CDI and SRI). This project is known as People's Hospitals since it implies the modernization of hospital centers with medical and electromechanical equipment.
Barrio Adentro Mission (Sports)
This program began in February 2004 and its goal is providing sports programs for students, senior citizens, pregnant women, people with disabilities and all people wishing to improve their standard of life and health.
So far, 150,504,060 people (including all sports programs) have registered in this program. 43,976,715 people belong to sports, 25,259,343 people to physical activities at school, 980,574 people are training, 480,593 consultations and 40,417,071 recreation activities have taken place, 31,663,978 sport programs have been carried out and 7,726,786 people are registered in therapeutic sports.
The goal of this mission is to take care of national sports through sport assistance centers located in each municipality and through the Training Schools for Sport Talents (one per state), specifically for high performance sport.
Vuelvan Caras Mission
Vuelvan Caras Mission’s goal is to provide vocational training for work. People graduating from different missions must gradually incorporate into the country's economic production process and this is achieved through Vuelvan Caras Mission. This program represents the claiming for our knowledge and our creating potential and it serves the transformation of the socioeconomic model proposed by the government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.
Since January, 2004, 6,814 cooperatives have been shaped, 130 Endogenous Development Centers are working, and there are 5,627 financed cooperatives and 264,720 graduates. The funds for these cooperatives amount to $ 423,914.
Mercal Mission
This program was created to trade and sell food and other essential products like medicines at affordable prices. It is worth mentioning that the Ministry of Food’s goal for 2005 was to set up 6,000 retail locations; this means that 14,539,300 people are benefiting from this program.
Also, 6,004 Soup Kitchens are functioning; these kitchens benefit 900,600 people by giving them free meals. These meals are given to the poorest sectors of the population. Regarding nutrition and protection, 1,374,312 people living in extreme poverty have benefited from this proram.
Thanks to the products of the Corporation for Agrofood Supply and services (CASA, Spanish Acronym) and Mercal (markets), people can save up to 34 percent in comparison with the prices regulated by the State and 37 percent in comparison with the market prices.
Guaicaipuro Mission
This mission’s goal is to restore human rights to numerous indigenous communities. This program was launched in August 2004 and it has handed over 21 communal land titles to an indigenous population of 6,769 people.
The government has carried out a total of 61 projects, which represents an amount of more than 2 million dollars. The national government has financed 32 projects for a total of 600,000 dollars. Guaicaipuro Mission represents the restoration of constitutional rights to indigenous people, as well as economic development, land demarcation, strengthening of their identity, language, education, habitat and health.
Zamora Mission
Mission Zamora’s main goal is to hand over land titles to farmers in order to guarantee food for the have-nots and to bet on the social economy and endogenous development. This mission is linked to Mercal.
Since January, 2005, the government has granted 68,528 future land titles. This represents an area of 7,222,880 acres, apart from the 80 awarded titles that represent an area of 87,739 acres. There are 48 Zamora Ranches, representing a total of 56,994 acres.
Culture Mission
The Culture Mission has functioning since July, 2005 and it is a new kind of university system; that is, people graduate as Teachers in Culture. The student fee is about $230 per year. This mission has 70 tutors, 328 university teachers.
Negra Hipólita Mission
This mission is one of the newest created by the Venezuelan government. It was launched on January 14, 2006, in order to fight poverty, misery and social exclusion; thus, the government begins a new stage in the fight against these calamities.
Currently, Negra Hipólita Mission is a fact that represents the commitment to set Venezuela free from misery. Also, it is a very important effort aimed to defeat the worse kind of exclusion: poverty. The assistance is aimed at children, adolescents, adults and the elderly living in the streets, in extreme poverty, and drug-addicted individuals.