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Venezuela's slum army takes control

The economy is in a shambles, the country is torn by social strife. The government is paralyzed by factional conflicts, and the virulent media denounce a new public scandal nearly every day.

But in the sprawling hillside slums of Caracas, there is optimism. A startling buzz of activity from the very bottom of society's ladder is beginning to affect an embattled Venezuela. Since weathering a coup in April last year and a debilitating strike early this year, President Hugo Chavez has pushed through measures aimed at promoting civic participation among the poor.

And the result may well prove to be the turning point of Venezuela's fortunes.

In the teeming barrios of the capital, a quiet revolution is under way. Meeting in dilapidated school houses and potholed alleyways, Venezuelans have formed neighborhood groups to fix deficient water supply systems, to organize volunteer efforts at local schools and to launch recycling campaigns.

Committees are conducting censuses and writing neighborhood histories as part of a government plan to grant land titles to hundreds of thousands of slum-dwelling families who squatted decades ago but were long ignored by the authorities.

Others are attending self-convoked "citizen assemblies" to talk about everything from neighborhood problems to national politics, and to create local planning councils where municipal authorities will be required to share decision-making with community representatives.

Community radio and television stations, banned by previous governments, are thriving. "What is new is not so much what the government is doing, but what is happening outside it," said Arlene Espinal, 49, a social worker and resident of the 23 de Enero barrio, which looms above downtown Caracas. "There's been a powerful awakening in the barrios."

The grassroots initiatives provide the first examples of Chavez's pledge to promote sweeping social change through the active participation of the citizenry.

The new community activism, however, has gone largely unnoticed in middle and upper-class neighborhoods of Caracas, where Chavez is hugely unpopular.

Many barrio residents are taking action with little heed for official directives or government sanctions.
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