CHAVEZ CALLS FOR "SOCIALIST EDUCATION"; NEW LAW IN

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 CARACAS 000933 SIPDIS HQSOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD DEPARTMENT PASS TO AID/OTI (RPORTER) E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/19/2024 TAGS: PGOV PREL KDEM KPAO VE SUBJECT: CHAVEZ CALLS FOR "SOCIALIST EDUCATION"; NEW LAW IN NATIONAL ASSEMBLY CARACAS 00000933 001.2 OF 002 Classified By: ACTING POLITICAL COUNSELOR DARNALL STEUART, REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (D). ¶1. (C) Summary: President Chavez, National Assembly leaders, and the Ministers of Education and Higher Education have declared that the controversial Education Law will be passed soon by the National Assembly, possibly within the next few weeks. No text of the draft law is available for review, not even by legislators expected to approve it. University leaders, teacher unions, private school owners and parent groups have expressed deep concerns about President Chavez's stated intention to impose socialist values through the educational system. Education experts say changing the education system has long been part of President Chavez's overall plan, and that it appears he believes he now has the political power to do so. People opposing the legislation do not believe it is possible to stop its approval; instead, they plan on resisting its implementation. End Summary. -------------- THE HISTORY OFTHE "NEW EDUCATION LAW" -------------- ¶2. (C) There is wide agreement hat a new education law is warranted - currentlya law from 1980 regulates the national, state, muicipal, and private schools in the country. In 2001, with thousands of public signatures and extensive civil society involvement, educational advocates presented a new Education Law to the National Assembly (AN). This law had its first reading in 2001, and President Chavez indicated that he would not approve it. In subsequent years the administration has discussed the possibility of having a new Education Law that would incorporate socialist ideology; in 2006 then AN member Luis Acuna (currently Minister of Higher Education) proposed a law that was met with strong resistance from parents and teachers. Recently, government leaders have again said publicly that a new law is necessary. Minister Acuna and Minister of Education Hector Navarro presented commentary and recommendations for the Education Law to the AN on June 23, 2009. Under discussion now is the second reading of the law, as the Government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela (GBRV) is counting the law's first reading in 2001 as legitimate, even though the text of the law is likely to have changed dramatically. -------------- NO PUBLIC TEXT OF THE LAW -------------- ¶3. (C) There is no public text of the law under discussion. An AN professional staff member who works for the Education Committee told POLOFF June 16 that Education Committee members had not yet seen a recent version, and that it is not uncommon for AN members to first see laws when they are called to vote on them. Even without the text, many people in the education community are very concerned. Respected education expert Dr. Leonardo Carvajal told POLOFF June 23 that the people most involved with the law, Ministers Acuna and Navarro and AN Education Committee Chair Maria de Queipo, are all committed to drastically changing the education system in Venezuela, noting their long-standing admiration of the Cuban system. President Chavez has repeatedly called for "socialist education;" at a graduation ceremony on July 14 he said "we must transform our education system, and change capitalist values into socialist values." ¶4. (C) President of the Venezuelan Chamber of Private Education (CAVEP),Octavio De Lamo, told POLOFF July 13 that there are indications of what the law will include. He thinks the law will empower "consejos comunales" (community councils initiated by Chavez) to appoint school boards. Like Carvajal, De Lamo is concerned about de Queipo's influence. "She told me once during a public debate," he said, "that private education should not exist." Miranda State Director of Education Juan Maragall told POLOFF July 17 that his concern was about selection and promotion of teachers and principals. Currently, using the 1980 law and regulations issued in 1991, national, state, and municipal schools select and promote teachers via an open and competitive exam with clear qualification standards. Under the previous pro-Chavez government in Miranda State over the past four years, Maragall said, 25% of the state's public school teachers had been selected as "additional teachers," bypassing the regulations for competitive selection. In January 2009, the GBRV issued a decree enabling the national government to convert these temporary hires to permanent staff. "This is CARACAS 00000933 002.2 OF 002 currently against the law," Maragall said, "and my primary concern with the new education law is that it will legalize the politicization of hiring and promoting teachers." -------------- -------------- RESIGNED TO LAW'S APPROVAL, FOCUS ON IMPLEMENTATION -------------- -------------- ¶5. (C) University leaders, teacher unions, and private education groups have asked the National Assembly for a public discussion of the law. It appears that the GBRV is aware that public consultation, or at least the claim of having had public consultations, is necessary. On the evening of July 7, a consortium of private education groups was invited to go to the National Assembly the morning of July 8 to discuss the law. De Lamo decided that CAVEP would not participate, as the text of the law still was not public and there was not sufficient time to prepare. According to De Lamo, at the end of the discussion on July 8, Maria de Queipo said that the law was ready to be passed because the consultations with civil society were complete. University leaders have also requested more discussion about the law, although AN members still insist that civil society has already been consulted. ¶6. (C) Post contacts agree that the law will be passed this summer, no matter what the opposition does. Their focus, therefore, is how to resist its implementation when schools open again in September. CAVEP held a conference "What Will Be Lost in July and August" in Caracas on July 15, with over 700 people in attendance, but De Lamo still thinks that the law will pass. De Lamo said CAVEP has developed a detailed plan to involve parents in keeping watch for any changes in their children's classrooms. He said that CAVEP is framing this issue as a "violation of the rights of parents," and will work to raise attention of people's individual responsibility to resist. Carvajal also thinks the law will be passed, and that there will be a strong response in the press, in public forums, and in schools. "Venezuelan teachers, with support from their professional organizations, will reject this law. They will refuse to follow it. This kind of resistance is not glamorous," Carvajal concluded, "but it will work." -------------- COMMENT -------------- ¶7. (C) There is significant concern among Venezuelans about this education law. Many contacts point to education as one area where citizens have successfully resisted President Chavez's "revolution" so far. The opposition is resigned to the inevitability of the law, and has no hope that the judicial system would reject it should it be in violation of the constitution. For that reason, they are focusing on raising public awareness about the law to encourage widespread grass-roots rejection of its implementation. This type of response effectively stopped the implementation of the controversial 2008 Intelligence and Counter-Intelligence Law (the "Ley Sapo"). Still, it is indicative of the level of President Chavez's control over the political process that the opposition already considers popular rejection its only viable option to mitigate changes to the education system. CAULFIELD