Venezuela is close to collapse and chaos ... could pasties be the answer?

The Sunday Herald Having survived one coup attempt, President Hugo Chavez is gripping on to power. Elizabeth Mistry in Caracas explains how a humble snack fits into his grand plan

First he ploughed up the city's Central Park to plant lettuces. Then Venezuela's charismatic and impulsive president, Hugo Chavez, announced plans for 'vertical chicken-houses' -- community-run coops on roofs and windowsills of the homes of some of the poorest of inhabitants of the capital, Caracas.

Now Chavez, who earlier this year saw off an opposition-led strike which virtually shut down the country by halting oil production for two months, and who survived a botched coup attempt in April 2002, has put his weight behind a bid to entice visitors to sample the culinary delights of the country the conquistadors named Little Venice.

La ruta de la empanada -- 'the route of the pasty' -- is the government's latest bid to encourage tourism. Along with the smaller bun-like arepas and flat, thicker circles of fried maize dough called cachapas, empanadas form the staple of much of Venezuela's impoverished 20 million population . The department of tourism is spearheading the promotion of the 'pasty tour' saying that the scheme will generate revenue for micro businesses -- often headed by women -- in areas where special pasties will be made. Government is investing millions of Bolivars.

That such a humble, everyday food item should have been chosen to be the focus of a new campaign is not such a surprise as almost all of the president's supporters are from the poorer sectors of society. Since coming to power, Chavez has abolished the school fees that all families had to pay to the state education sector. This, coupled with the introduction -- in some areas -- of a scheme providing children with up to three meals a day, has seen a huge increase in classroom attendance.

It is these policies, along with many others including a plan based on a Cuban programme to combat illiteracy, which are at the heart of the gulf in Venezuelan society today. The country is polarised between those who support the government's Bolivarian Revolution -- simply, a new social contract named after Simon Bolivar, the hero of Venezuelan independence -- and those in opposition, mostly from the middle or upper classes, who have seen standards of living plummet under Chavez.

Some of the loudest criticisms come from 20,000 former senior management staff from the government-run petroleum company, PDVSA. After they supported the strike, they were barred from returning to work although the only notification of this came in a newspaper.

Since February, many of them are to be found at protest sites outside the doors of PDVSA's headquarters, a well-organised group determined to get their jobs and frozen pensions back in spite of the fact that Chavez has called them traitors.

Many of the initiatives of the Chavez project are genuine moves to deal with years of blatant neglect and underinvestment. Others, such as the president's open anti- business stance -- he believes, rightly in many cases, that much of the business community was behind the coup and the strike -- are acts which have only served to deepen the gulf between the two sides.

The political chaos is just one of Venezuela's headaches. Chavez uses daily broadcasts to explain how the gross domestic product will rise. This can be achieved by increasing petrol and gas production, which accounts for 80% of income, but it is not a sign of real growth -- and Finance Minister Tobias Nobrega admitted yesterday that he expected the economy to contract by 10.7% this year.

Until last year tourism was a good source of currency. More than 15% of South America's sixth-largest country is designated as national park . But tourists are put off by the high crime rate in Caracas. While most violent crime is predominantly gang-related, the rising tide of lawlessness threatens other areas of the country and visitor numbers have plummeted. One of the main areas of concern is that the vicious but mainly vocal battles between the two political sides will become violent.

'The parties must reach a solution constitutionally. They have to see this, somehow,' says Antonio Gonzalez Plessman, head of research at the Provea human rights centre in Caracas. 'If there is a referendum on the Chavez administration, as there could be anytime after August 19, when the government will have completed half its term, we will have to have international observers to help.'

Few are prepared to speculate on what will happen, but say the route to recovery will be long and difficult.

22 June 2003