Venezuela is undergoing some social conflicts. Some History In the early 1900s, the discovery of huge oil reserves in Venezuela brought some prosperity to what had previously been one of the poorest countries in Latin America. But corruption and the hoarding of wealth by the elites meant that little of this new-found wealth reached the common people. In December 1998 Venezuelans signalled their desire for a change by electing an army colonel, Hugo Chávez, to the Presidency with the largest vote margin in 40 years. He vowed to break the system of traditional political power-sharing, alleviate poverty and end corruption. He is sometimes described as a charismatic populist and was re-elected for a six-year term by a comfortable margin again in 2000. The President is hugely popular with the common people due to his many programs to alleviate poverty and make the society genuinely more democratic. Chavez has doubled investment in education at all levels. By constructing schools in poor barrios and rural areas and hiring more teachers, he has increased primary school enrolment by one million - these were children who were previously excluded. He has also initiated national programs for literacy, for primary and high school remedial courses, occupational training and a free university. Infant mortality, which is usually considered the best indicator of overall health in a society, lowered from 21 to 17 per 1,000 live births, showing a dramatic improvement in health care facilities for the poor. Unfortunately, Chavez has also encountered stiff opposition from the wealthy elites and upper middle class who no longer have control over the government. The mass media attacks him daily for both real as well as imagined mistakes. In April 2002 a coup took place by some military officers who had moral and financial support from USA political foundations. Chavez was arrested and flown to a military camp, and the business leader who was appointed President announced that he was cancelling the Congress, the judicial system and the constitution. Angry, the people took to the streets to defend their democracy. Led by General Raul Baduel, loyal soldiers rallied and were able to recapture the Miraflores Presidential Palace without a fight. They were surrounded by tens of thousands of pro-Chavez supporters. Some 48-hours after his arrest, President Chavez was flown back to a hero’s welcome. An opposition rally against President Chavez took place on 27 February 2004. The major media reported that the demonstration was 'peaceful', and 'provoked' by government troops. It was Leopoldo Lopez, an opposition leader and Mayor of Venezuela's wealthiest municipality (Chacao), wearing a white cap, who lead demonstrators towards the perimeter set by authorities to protect foreign delegations attending the G-15 Summit. The major newspapers and television, all supported by the opposition, called the demonstration 'peaceful', and argued that demonstrators were 'provoked' by troops. One person was reported dead and more than 30 wounded. Among the wounded were several supporters of President Chavez, and National Guard officers, but the majority were opposition demonstrators wounded by rubber bullets. Because of petroleum sales, the country has money and does not need to follow the dictates of the IMF (International Monetary Fund). President Hugo Chavez has popular support of the majority of the people. The President wants to eliminate poverty and corruption, and he wants to start more cooperatives. The President and the majority of the people believe in the power of spirituality. Prout Makes an Influence In April 2003, Maheshvarananda (a yogic monk) went to Venezuela to publish the Spanish edition of the book, “After Capitalism: Prout’s Vision for a New World”. It has a preface by Noam Chomsky. With the help of many contributors and supporters, this introduction to Prout reached the hands of many influential leaders, including PDVSA director Ali Rodriguez and the President. On 1 June 2003 on Venezuelan National TV, President Hugo Chavez recommended the book, saying: “Dada Maheshvarananda and other citizens of the world are welcome … especially those that struggle and dream of a better world, just as it says in 'After Capitalism: Prout's Vision for a New World'.” After the coup failed, the opposition then organised a national strike to force Chavez to resign. It had only mixed success until the directors and supervisors of the national petroleum company of Venezuela, which brings in 70% of the government revenues, went on strike, halting all production to paralyse the country and overthrow the government. Chavez then called engineer Ali Rodriguez, then the head of the oil-producing countries (OPEC) in Geneva, and asked him to take charge of PDVSA. After talking with the company's workers, who insisted they could run the company without the striking managers, he fired them and thereby saved the country millions in unnecessary salaries and corruption. Within two months production was back to normal. Because of the President’s recommendation, two months later the national oil company (PDVSA) requested Proutist Universal to give them professional training in Prout planning. They said: “We want a new direction for our country.” These are the topics covered by the Prout training: 0. Significance of Prout Training in Venezuela 1. Introduction 2. Possible Futures for Venezuela 3. The Number One Problem: Poverty 4. Economics, Community and Ecology 5. People’s Economy 6. Economic Self-Sufficiency 7. Decentralised Economic Planning 8. People’s Economy and Eco-Design 9. Triple Bottom Line 10. Three-Tier Industry 11. Cooperatives 12. Housing Cooperatives 13. Agriculture 14. Balanced Economy 15. Different Forms of Currency 16. Trade 17. Prout’s Five Fundamental Principles 18. Resource Types: Physical, Mental, Spiritual 19. Psycho-Economic Exploitation 20. Middle Class and Psycho-Economics 21. Wholistic Human Development: Neo-Humanism 22. Ethics for Personal and Social Transformation 23. Six Hats Thinking 24. Ideal Leadership 25. Meditations Prout's message to Venezuela is: Become self-reliant in food and medicine as soon as possible through sustainable agriculture, agro- and agrico- industries. Strengthen and encourage the cooperative system with more training, accounting and inspections to increase employment. Petroleum sales are only a temporary source of income which should be used for education, job training and programs to alleviate poverty. Strive to balance the economy. Fight corruption relentlessly. Prout Research Institute Efforts are underway to open a permanent Prout Research Institute to: - prepare reports and recommendations for each section of society; - publish articles and papers in progressive journals; - lecture about Prout; - train others to propagate Prout.   Volunteers are needed for this Institute. Proutist Universal must authentically communicate the spirit of total transformation that it promotes. PU needs: attractive leaflets, colourful signs, posters and banners, catchy slogans, quality T-shirts, adhesive bumper stickers, photos of Prout actions around the world, multimedia shows, paintings, inspiring songs, sample Prout lectures, systematic courses for beginners and advanced, position papers on global issues, magazines, books, and much more. Everyone can help! AMURT Community Centre The PDVSA participants were especially impressed with the video presentation by Didi Ananda Sadhana about the AMURT Community Center Master Unit she founded and directs. This project based on Prout is located on three and a half hectares of land in Barlovento, 2 hours from Caracas. The focus of the Center is to serve the impoverished rural villages of Barlovento through education, health, agriculture and cooperatives. Due to a legacy of slavery, poverty and unemployment, most of the Afro-Venezuelan villagers suffer from a dreadful inferiority complex, hopelessness and despair. The Center’s programs strive to develop community solidarity, to empower the people, and to motivate, awaken and infuse positive values in the children and youth. The volunteers regularly visit five local communities and organise many educational and cultural programs for the children and youth, as well as sports teams. All the young people were very inspired when world-famous basketball star Michael Jordan sent them autographed photos and an inspirational message. The Center then organised workshops for the youth of each community, explaining Jordan’s teachings about the value of hard work and staying in school. For more information, AMURT: Telephone (58) 234-514-5663 or Email amurtve@cantv.net The strength of this project is the dedication, initiative and hard work of the many women volunteers, who come both from overseas as well as from the surrounding communities. They have helped the mothers to form a successful sewing cooperative.