VISIT TO MASS MARKET AND BOLIVARIAN SCHOOL

C O N F I D E N T I A L CARACAS 003817

SIPDIS


NSC FOR CBARTON
USCINCSO ALSO FOR POLAD
STATE PASS USAID FOR DCHA/OTI

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/02/2014
TAGS: ELAB PGOV PHUM VE
SUBJECT: VISIT TO MASS MARKET AND BOLIVARIAN SCHOOL


Classified By: Abelardo A. Arias, Political Counselor,
for Reasons 1.4(b).

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Summary
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1. (C) Caracas' El Coche food market is a blend of formal,
informal, public and private economies. Accompanied by
members of the NGO Asociacion Nina Madre (Child Mother
Association, ANM),poloff visited the market December 7 to
observe child labor conditions there. More than a dozen
children aged 5 to 13 sold produce performed menial tasks in
the market. The ANM reps also showed poloff a model
government "Bolivarian School," nearby. At the school, walls
were decorated with references to children's rights and the
need to "rescue" Venezuelan values. In one classroom full of
world flags, the U.S. flag was conspicuously missing. End
summary.

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Food Distribution Center A Hub of Social Ills
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2. (U) Poloff visited a sprawling retail-wholesale food
market in the early morning of December 7 accompanied by
Marta Moronte and Gladys Madriz, directors of the NGO
Asociacion Nina Madre (The Child Mother Association, ANM).
ANM holds workshops and training classes to help young girls
avoid premature pregnancy and help young mothers cope with
the challenges of raising children. The market is located in
the lower-middle class neighborhood of El Coche and is ringed
by lower class slums on nearby hills. Hundreds of
wholesalers from throughout Venezuela come to the market with
agricultural products, mostly for sale to small grocery
stores. Clientele to the market is a mixture of middle and
lower class. The Municipal Caracas Police have an office on
site and were observed making rounds in the market. Several
commercial banks have branch offices on the premises for
facilitating the cash deposits generated by the sales.


3. (C) Poloff observed more than a dozen children between 5
and 13 years old working as errand boys and selling products
in outdoor stalls. One child told us he had been working
since 3 a.m. and was not enrolled in a school (some boys
indicated they did attend school). Madriz said some children
pick through piles of rejected produce for items to sell on
the street. In the night hours, Madriz said, young girls are
hawked, often by their family members, to the truck drivers
parked outside the market prior to opening. Madriz and
Moronte also claimed that drug use is rampant in the market,
and children often serve as mules. One vendor complained
that very young children -- as young as three years old --
are working as street performers at the entrance to the
highway that runs near the market.


4. (C) The GOV operates a large building on the market
grounds with more than one hundred storage or retail sites.
The hallways of the building are painted in yellow, red, and
black, the colors of President Hugo Chavez's Fifth Republic
Movement (MVR) party. The government-subsidized goods for
sale appeared to be of good quality and reportedly priced
lower than the private sector. Moronte said that prior to
the August 15 presidential recall referendum, shopping in
this part of the market required MVR membership. Moronte
said that requirement was dropped because "Chavez owns
everything now." Poloff observed Ministry of Defense trucks
loading products supposedly for sale in the GOV subsidized
markets known as "Mercals." Poloff also saw an office nearby
for "Barrio Adentro," the GOV medical program for poor areas;
the Cuban doctor, according to a sign on the door, was on
vacation.

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Bolivarian School A Model of Order
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5. (U) Poloff also visited a Bolivarian School, with grades
first through sixth, where ANM holds workshops. Bolivarian
Schools receive special funding and offer breakfast, lunch
and a snack, a rarity among public schools. The buildings
had been remodeled and were well maintained, in stark
contrast to the surrounding rundown slum. The students wore
uniforms and seemed to have well supplied classrooms. The

school's interior was decorated with references to the
children's rights contained in the Bolivarian Constitution.
One bulletin board read "Together, with the family and
school, we are rescuing our values." The values included
participation, cooperation, responsibility, and solidarity.
Another said, "I am honest because my family, school, and
environment help me train myself."


6. (U) The school's assistant principal said the GOV also
used the facility for other educational programs, including
Mission Robinson (literacy),Mission Ribas (high school),and
Mission Sucre (college). Poloff observed several television
sets with video players in the classrooms. In a sixth grade
class, the students were practicing handwriting by copying
articles of the Bolivarian Constitution out of the trademark
blue booklets often flashed by President Hugo Chavez. An
exhibition entitled "Traveling Through The Countries Of The
World" contained a stylized globe with a projection that
occluded North America. Flags of the nations included Cuba,
Iraq, and China, but not the United States. Poloff also
noticed the older classes were supplied with the Bolivarian
libraries, sets of books produced last year in cooperation
with the Government of Cuba.

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Comment
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7. (C) What was noticeable about this trip to the barrio is
that the level of political propaganda has been ratcheted
down compared to pre-referendum levels. As for the children
working in the market, while there was a sense that perhaps
things could be better, their activity was not the object of
repudiation. We had heard from Chavez critics that the
Bolivarian Schools are indoctrinating poor children in
revolutionary thought. The visit suggested the schools'
approach, when there is an attempt to inject ideology, is
likely to be subtle, as evident in the absence of U.S. flags
in the school.

Brownfield


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2004CARACA03817 - CONFIDENTIAL