Chavez gone, but Chavismo here to stay

Federico Fuentes writes that although Chavez gone, but Chavismo here to stay.

The explanation for this ongoing support is that Chavismo was never simply one man’s project based on one man — as important a figure as Chavez was. Rather, Chavez served as a catalyst for Venezuela’s excluded poor majority to directly intervene into politics.

Chavez’s election represented a spilling over of peoples’ social struggle into a political arena previously restricted to Venezuela’s elite.

The opposition has repeatedly tried to overthrow Chavez — via coups and economic sabotage as well as at the ballot box. But this political force, rooted in Venezuela’s poor majority, mobilised within the state and on the street to defend the Bolivarian revolution and advance its aims.

Chavez’s death in 2013 was a big blow to this project. It may very well suffer future setbacks as well, including the loss of governmental power.

However, there is little evidence to indicate that Venezuela’s poor majority is planning to retreat from the political arena or wind down their revolutionary struggle.

No matter what political force is in government, they will have to contend with a politicised and organised poor who do not want to go back to the Venezuela of yesteryear.

Emphasis Mine

The political consciousness of the Venezuelans is much higher than that of Australians. They have seen the benefits of Socialism and lived the horrors of Capitalism.

The Capitalists cannot conceive the people having a consciousness outside of following the leader.