Project announced by Maduro includes 10,000 hectares for food production
(CNN) Venezuelan autocrat Nicolás Maduro announced on his weekly state television program a partnership with the Landless Rural Workers’ Movement (MST)¹ to develop a 10,000-hectare project to produce food in Venezuela.
MST leader Simone Magalhães took part in the broadcast alongside Maduro to comment on the project, the aim of which is to eventually reach 100,000 productive hectares in the country. During the program, the Chavista leader praised the movement’s “highly successful” experience in Brazil.
After the announcement, former Venezuelan vice-president and current executive secretary of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA), Jorge Arreaza, praised the partnership between the Venezuelan government and the MST and took the opportunity to criticize the Brazilian government.
“President² Nicolás Maduro is fulfilling the project dreamed up by Commander Hugo Chávez and the MST (and by the Brazilian government of the time, which is different from the current one),” wrote Arreaza. The secretary was referring to the first term of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT), who, despite returning to the Brazilian presidency, has distanced himself from the Chavista government.
The report contacted the Planalto Palace for comment, but has not yet received a reply.
Since the disputed 28 July presidential election in Venezuela, Maduro and his allies have criticized the stance of the countries calling for the release of the electoral records, including Brazil.
Alongside Colombian President Gustavo Petro, Lula even suggested that the Venezuelan government hold new elections or form a “coalition government”. The proposal was not well received by Caracas: Maduro asked that the world “stay out of Venezuela’s internal affairs”, while opposition leader María Corina Machado called the suggestion “disrespectful”
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¹The acronym “MST” stands for Movement of Landless Rural Workers – The Landless Rural Workers Movement (MST) is one of the most important political and social movements in Brazil. Initially, it focused on the struggle for agrarian reform and the search for social change in the country. The MST mobilized landless rural workers and pressured the federal government to adopt policies that would guarantee a more just and equitable distribution of land in Brazil. In recent years, however, with the advance of Brazilian agribusiness, the MST has lost some of its original agenda and, as a result, some of its political strength. Today, the movement continues to exist, but it faces different challenges and is trying to adapt to the country’s social and economic changes.
²Note from the editor – Despite the fact that Maduro’s regime is clearly a dictatorial autocracy, there are still some supporters who try to create a false image of democracy by calling him ‘President’. We understand that autocracy is an authoritarian form of government in which power is concentrated in the hands of a single person, the autocrat. Democratic principles, such as free and fair elections, freedom of expression and independent media, are neutralized or act only as a façade. While the president is an elected leader in a democratic system, the autocrat concentrates all power in his hands, often without being accountable to anyone.