People's Democracy

Bengal Shows The Way: Chavez

Chavez hugs Bengal CM Buddhadeb in Kolkata

Following are the excerpts from the address delivered by Hugo Chavez, President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela at a business meeting organised by the Federation of Karnataka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FKCCI) in Bangalore on March 7, 2005, and from a press conference that followed the meeting.

THIS is the first visit by a Venezuelan head of state to India, and I am certain it is going to be historic. The visit was intense and dynamic, and varied in content. We touched the soul of India and India touched the innermost fibre of our being. I can affirm that this is the beginning of a new era in the relations between the two countries.

Our two countries are quite similar. Yesterday, I went to the countryside near Kolkata, to a small village. I met hundreds of children, and many noble men and women. I saw the soul of the Indian people, and it made me very happy. The vegetation of the village, its mango trees and banana plantations reminded me of my own country. The paddy fields, the village homes with hens running around in the front courtyards, the colour of the people, the smiles on children’s faces, the smell of the village, the water pumps … all this truly took me back to my childhood, to my remotest childhood. Although I grew up in a poor area, I had a very happy childhood. I want all children to be happy, I do not want them to suffer, I want them to be able to eat fully and never have to go hungry. I want that they live in decent, even if small, dwellings. I want that all women be able to raise children in dignity, that they be able to enjoy their land, working it and harvesting its fruit. I want that all people live as brothers and sisters.

I could see a clear example of what we need to apply in Venezuela. If we want to end poverty, we need to empower the poor. In Bengal they have done this through people’s organisations and people’s participation in the panchayats. They are a model of people’s participation and power. Each village on an average has 17,000 inhabitants. They elect a local parliament. This in turn elects a development committee. They generate the process of social and economic democracy. Democracy is not just a political ideal; it must also be comprehensive. In Venezuela too we need to revolutionise democracy, to make it participatory and meaningful. I saw how people are organised and various projects run – growing flowers, starting nurseries, small businesses and so on. It is an example of social and economic democracy, and has acted as a great fillip to us.

Regarding business and commerce, our trip was very fruitful. We signed many agreements with India, and I would urge you as businessmen and women to get to know their contents, as these constitute the framework within which the integration of our countries can occur in the future.

We have set up a high level joint commission presided over by the ministers of foreign affairs of the two countries. This commission will meet in Caracas on May 31 and June 1. The role of the commission is to examine strategies to further these agreements and to submit their report to the heads of State.

We signed an MoU in space technology with India. Bangalore is the core of such technology. We also signed an MoU with Biocon in the field of biotechnology. The progress India has made in biotechnology is a good example to other countries of South America, including Venezuela, of self-reliance and independence from the North in science and technology. 

Biotechnology has a huge potential. In Venezuela we are conducting several projects in this area. We are trying to develop medicine manufacturing industries. India has made huge advances in pharmaceuticals, and I would like to propose a strategic alliance in this sector. We would also like to collaborate in the manufacture of cancer drugs and in cancer treatment. Another useful area for us is biotechnology applied in the petroleum industry.

We signed an MoU in oil and oil exploration. Here, I must emphasise that Venezuela would like to become a strategic partner of India in the field of oil. India needs energy for development. Well, Venezuela has lots of oil to offer. So far we have been supplying it to the US. That is not fair, and that is why we want to diversify. We now want to supply to India, China and other countries of the Caribbean and Latin America. We do not want a short-term alliance with India but a long term one. We have announced, and will very soon start drilling, an oil well here with Venezuelan technology.

The US government would like all of Venezuelan oil for itself. Well, we have a problem with Bush as this oil does not belong to him. It belongs to the Venezuelan people. And they want to share their oil with the world, including India, China and other countries. This is the main reason for our problems with the US. They now call us a “threat”. I am waiting for them to say that we have weapons of mass destruction. And we do, but we don’t want them, we don’t want any country to have hunger, poverty and disease, which are truly the most formidable weapons of mass destruction in the world.

Every day hunger kills millions. Every minute 20 children die of hunger. That is the absolute truth, as true as we are sitting here in Bangalore. They die as a result of hunger, or by disease caused by hunger. Hunger is indeed a weapon of mass destruction, and we will use our oil resources as a tool to achieve equality and development in the world.

We also signed an MoU for the construction of a network of railways in Venezuela. We are also working in the field of information technology. I visited Infosys. We need to train human resources to develop IT in Venezuela. We have a project to create a science city in the Venezuelan Andes.

So, our collaboration with India will range from medicines to satellites, from oil and energy to computers and software, from food processing to machine manufacture.  We would like the transfer of technology in these areas. This is particularly urgent in food processing and medicines. Computers and satellites can wait. But we cannot wait for food, or medicines.

We are ready to purchase machines for the processing of food, fish, fruit, leather, textiles, wood, metals and precious stones. But India must commit to help us with know-how so that we can manufacture these in Venezuela. I plan to set up a special office in Venezuela to speed up all the agreements signed between our countries.

We need to follow the path of India, China, Malaysia, the path that will lead us to independence – food independence, scientific and technological independence. We must specially learn from the countries of the third world, those that have fought colonialism and imperialism for 500 years.

Join us to help the advance of Venezuela with its 25 million inhabitants. We have a huge potential waiting to be tapped and we ask you to complement our potential. Peoples of the third world, Latin America, Africa and Asia – here we are!