Venezuela in ghettos
Since first taking office in 1999, President Hugo Chávez has made clear his intention of founding new towns or settlements. It was from this idea that his proposal of a New Geometry of Power evolved, which is simply an attempt to herd the population into ghettos of a kind controlled by the powers that be from Miraflores.
Regulation of these areas would be of interest to Hugo Chávez insofar as it would 1) influence the social and economic structure; 2) make it possible to define quotas of power, exercise social control and control production; 3) facilitate indoctrination of the inhabitants; and 4) permit the selective repression of dissident elements.
He has toyed with a number of ideas to make this dream come true, from the now forgotten “Orinoco-Apure Hub” project to the failed Housing Mission and to the present utopian Villanueva [new town] Mission, created under Presidential Decree 5,243, and whose purpose is the construction of the so-called “socialist cities.”
Now he pretends to impose this idea via the Constitution. Article 16 of his proposed amendment to the 1999 Constitution establishes that “the city” will be the “primary political unit,” the city being understood to be “any settlement of population” made up of “communes.” These communes would, in turn, be made up of communities, which would be the “basic and indivisible nuclei of the Venezuelan socialist State.”
In these cities, the government would have the power to order whatever it likes. It could decide, for example, who will live there, as it is trying to do in Barrio Federico Quiróz, whose inhabitants were chosen unilaterally to populate Camino de Los Indios Socialist City.
It would also determine the system of property that would prevail. And, as it has done so far with thousands of hectares of expropriated productive land, it would issue occupants with simple occupation permits in the case of real estate or farming rights in the case of plots or pieces of land. This would make the VenezuelanState the sole large property owner.
Moreover, the powers that be would decide the type of production that is to sustain these cities. The President has already expressed his wish that they have a “productive project included,” which looks as though it will be along collective, cooperativist lines. It is also planned that the inhabitants of these cities will not even receive legal tender for that production, as barter will be the system for trading goods.
These ideas seems to have been take from the defunct Soviet Union, where they attempted to set up self-sufficient cities, but ended up creating patent inequalities between the different urban centers. For the moment, it will be possible to sustain Chávez’ proposal thanks to the influx of petrodollars, but there is no doubt that, earlier rather than later, shortages of basic goods will make themselves felt, and from there it will be but a short step to discontent, protests and repression.
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