VENEZUELA: Young Venezuelans use "guerrilla" methods to show support for President Hugo Chavez

Record ID: 1539512

  • Title: VENEZUELA: Young Venezuelans use "guerrilla" methods to show support for President Hugo Chavez
  • Date: 11th May 2010
  • Summary: CARACAS, VENEZUELA (RECENT) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF GRAFFITI DEPICTING JESUS CHRIST AND THE VIRGIN MARY ARMED WITH GUNS VARIOUS OF GRAFFITI
  • Embargoed: 26th May 2010 04:28
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: Arts / Culture / Entertainment,Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA8A3YB8Z6SWW098KRECJIXOP7B
  • Aspect Ratio: 4:3
  • Story Text: Young Venezuelans looking to express their voices have turned to what they are calling 'guerrilla communication' to show their support for Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez as they look to dispel what they say are the lies of traditional media outlets.
    So-called guerrilla communication uses graffiti, flyers, and even video techniques to disperse their message and the skills are even being taught in Venezuelan schools which hope to empower students to make their voice heard.
    Students at the Fermin Toro High School in Caracas partake in one of the city's three pilot programs teaching guerrilla communication say the class teaches them to better express their ideas in a public forum.
    "The objective of the guerrilla communication class is not so that we watch TV but so that we make it, that we learn how to express ourselves using the camera," said guerrilla communications student Valentina Zerpa.
    "Our weapons are the camera, microphone, recordings, the streets, flyers, graffiti murals, these are all our weapons; forms of communication, we don't have guns or anything like that. I hope they never ever give them to us. These are our means of communication through written and spoken mediums," said student Dayana Serrano.
    The group of about 75 students between 13 and 17-years-old have taken to the streets, painting graffiti murals supporting Chavez and attacking his adversaries.
    Some have criticized the effort and have raised concerns at the sight of the young students wearing Chavez' signature olive green military fatigues and red berets spreading the leaders message though they may not understand it themselves.
    The leader is in a "war" against traditional media outlets and has founded a number of radio and television stations and newspapers to disseminate his socialist ideology against more traditional media, many of which he has effectively shut down.
    Many educators have spoken out about the plan for "experimenting" on children and trying to pull them into the governments fold, including Assembly of the Civil Education Association member, Leonardo Carvajal who said the guerrilla efforts are dwarfed by the presidents over-arching reach in his war against the media.
    "The power of conviction that the president has shown is important and says a lot. However, at the moment two-thirds of Venezuelans have serious criticisms of the way the government is leading society. This is not going to be changed by 100, 500, or even 2,000 young people against what the president can do in two hours [on TV] that all Venezuelans hear at the same time. This is not going to be achieved by a bunch of young people with paintings on walls or sending messages on Twitter," said Carvajal.
    Chavez, once a critic of the social networking site, Twitter, is now a user himself and has used it to connect with young people as he battles to recover from recent sliding in polls which show his support at just below 50 percent.
    Some criticize the government for manipulating some of the country's youngest citizens to promote its political agenda, but Education Minister, Hector Navarro says they are simply looking to empower the youngsters.
    "The objective of guerrilla communication is to put it in the hands of the people, of the kids, people and neighbours, to give them the knowledge and information and a way to spread that information to more people. This is a system; it is an idea and a program that aims to spread ideas," said Navarro.
    The students support the government's efforts to give them the tools to communicate and say it is a way to drive change through non-violence.
    "Guerrillas precede freedom. You have to fight for liberation, for freedom, in this case using communication, not arms. We are sending a message. Seeing as capitalism uses forms of communication that show us a different reality than what we want to put on the street. We do it so that it is seen. To change people's conscious and bring about a better way of life," said guerrilla communicator, Eduardo Davila.
    Last week the guerrilla communicators 'militia' took to the streets of Caracas to put their new skills to work painting pro Chavez graffiti and others against U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Colombian Presidential candidate, Juan Manuel Santos - both of whom Chavez is an outspoken critic.
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