At the invitation of the Venezuelan Ministry of Culture I spent 15 days in April in Caracas teaching social documentary photography and shooting images in the communities and neighborhoods that are experiencing revolutionary change through the Bolivarian process. The theme of my trip was to break through the information blockade of the corporate media. In Venezuela, my exhibit “Struggles in the Belly of the Beast” was presented, which shows how the people of the United States have been fighting back against poverty, racism and war. Likewise, the photo essay below is an attempt to show the realities and struggles of the workers and poor in Venezuela.
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Dealing with natural disasters
Images from a refugee shelter set up for communities devastated from the floods last November and December. Unlike the U.S. government’s “free market” response to Hurricane Katrina, which amounted to criminal negligence, the Chavez government responded to the disaster by prioritizing people’s needs.
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Poder popular
The gains of the Bolivarian Revolution are most evident in Venezuela’s poor communities, where education and other services have greatly expanded. These images feature the very modern public cable system that takes people from their homes in the hills to the subsidized national super markets. What a difference from the richest country in the world, where education and services are under constant attack.
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Remembering the coup
Demonstrations marking the 9th anniversary of the U.S.-backed coup against Hugo Chavez. The coup was a pivotal moment in showing the Venezuelan people just how far the oligarchy and their U.S. friends would go to halt the Bolivarian Revolution.
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Preparing for the future
The Bolivarian militias, built from the ground-up, have been demonized in the corporate media and compared to the Nazi brown shirts. In reality, they are the military expression of the deepening revolution, which faces well-armed enemies inside the old state apparatus and abroad in the United States. The march covered in these images was held to commemorate Hugo Chavez’s return on April 13, 2002.
