Venezuela 2007: los motores del socialismo se alimentan con petróleo

Summary

Venezuela is currently facing a new critical juncture that combines radical political changes with an economic boom driven by high oil prices in the international market. Since the 2006 electoral campaign, President Hugo Chavez announced a new program of radical economic and instructional change: the “XXI century socialism”. Once reelected, Chávez has “started” the so-called “five engines” of the new regime. These engines may be brand new ones, but they still fuelled by the old oil-based rentistic model. Nonetheless, the new wave of political and economic changes will be deep and radical. The new constitutional reform is aimed to correct the “capitalist deviations” of the 1999 constitution. Meanwhile, the government has launched a series of “anti-imperialist” policies, nationalizations and new market regulations. Chavez’s followers are ready to join the Venezuelan Unified Socialist Party (although some of them with hesitation). The opposition, divided into two parties, attempt to launch a peaceful, electoral and long-term political strategy, but it seems to be clear that the new and radical economic program and the new institutional design will be implemented without any major resistance from the opposition parties and civil society.