US embassy cable - 04CARACAS3817

C O N F I D E N T I A L  CARACAS 003817 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
NSC FOR CBARTON 
USCINCSO ALSO FOR POLAD 
STATE PASS USAID FOR DCHA/OTI 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/02/2014 
TAGS: ELAB, PGOV, PHUM, VE 
SUBJECT: VISIT TO MASS MARKET AND BOLIVARIAN SCHOOL 
 
 
Classified By: Abelardo A. Arias, Political Counselor, 
for Reasons 1.4(b). 
 
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Summary 
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1. (C) Caracas' El Coche food market is a blend of formal, 
informal, public and private economies.  Accompanied by 
members of the NGO Asociacion Nina Madre (Child Mother 
Association, ANM), poloff visited the market December 7 to 
observe child labor conditions there.  More than a dozen 
children aged 5 to 13 sold produce performed menial tasks in 
the market.   The ANM reps also showed poloff a model 
government "Bolivarian School," nearby.  At the school, walls 
were decorated with references to children's rights and the 
need to "rescue" Venezuelan values.  In one classroom full of 
world flags, the U.S. flag was conspicuously missing.  End 
summary. 
 
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Food Distribution Center A Hub of Social Ills 
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2. (U) Poloff visited a sprawling retail-wholesale food 
market in the early morning of December 7 accompanied by 
Marta Moronte and Gladys Madriz, directors of the NGO 
Asociacion Nina Madre (The Child Mother Association, ANM). 
ANM holds workshops and training classes to help young girls 
avoid premature pregnancy and help young mothers cope with 
the challenges of raising children.  The market is located in 
the lower-middle class neighborhood of El Coche and is ringed 
by lower class slums on nearby hills.  Hundreds of 
wholesalers from throughout Venezuela come to the market with 
agricultural products, mostly for sale to small grocery 
stores.  Clientele to the market is a mixture of middle and 
lower class.  The Municipal Caracas Police have an office on 
site and were observed making rounds in the market.  Several 
commercial banks have branch offices on the premises for 
facilitating the cash deposits generated by the sales. 
 
3. (C) Poloff observed more than a dozen children between 5 
and 13 years old working as errand boys and selling products 
in outdoor stalls.  One child told us he had been working 
since 3 a.m. and was not enrolled in a school (some boys 
indicated they did attend school).  Madriz said some children 
pick through piles of rejected produce for items to sell on 
the street.  In the night hours, Madriz said, young girls are 
hawked, often by their family members, to the truck drivers 
parked outside the market prior to opening.  Madriz and 
Moronte also claimed that drug use is rampant in the market, 
and children often serve as mules.  One vendor complained 
that very young children -- as young as three years old -- 
are working as street performers at the entrance to the 
highway that runs near the market. 
 
4. (C) The GOV operates a large building on the market 
grounds with more than one hundred storage or retail sites. 
The hallways of the building are painted in yellow, red, and 
black, the colors of President Hugo Chavez's Fifth Republic 
Movement (MVR) party.  The government-subsidized goods for 
sale appeared to be of good quality and reportedly priced 
lower than the private sector.  Moronte said that prior to 
the August 15 presidential recall referendum, shopping in 
this part of the market required MVR membership.  Moronte 
said that requirement was dropped because "Chavez owns 
everything now."  Poloff observed Ministry of Defense trucks 
loading products supposedly for sale in the GOV subsidized 
markets known as "Mercals."  Poloff also saw an office nearby 
for "Barrio Adentro," the GOV medical program for poor areas; 
the Cuban doctor, according to a sign on the door, was on 
vacation. 
 
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Bolivarian School A Model of Order 
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5. (U) Poloff also visited a Bolivarian School, with grades 
first through sixth, where ANM holds workshops.  Bolivarian 
Schools receive special funding and offer breakfast, lunch 
and a snack, a rarity among public schools.  The buildings 
had been remodeled and were well maintained, in stark 
contrast to the surrounding rundown slum.  The students wore 
uniforms and seemed to have well supplied classrooms.  The 
 
school's interior was decorated with references to the 
children's rights contained in the Bolivarian Constitution. 
One bulletin board read "Together, with the family and 
school, we are rescuing our values."  The values included 
participation, cooperation, responsibility, and solidarity. 
Another said, "I am honest because my family, school, and 
environment help me train myself." 
 
6. (U) The school's assistant principal said the GOV also 
used the facility for other educational programs, including 
Mission Robinson (literacy), Mission Ribas (high school), and 
Mission Sucre (college).  Poloff observed several television 
sets with video players in the classrooms.  In a sixth grade 
class, the students were practicing handwriting by copying 
articles of the Bolivarian Constitution out of the trademark 
blue booklets often flashed by President Hugo Chavez.  An 
exhibition entitled "Traveling Through The Countries Of The 
World" contained a stylized globe with a projection that 
occluded North America.  Flags of the nations included Cuba, 
Iraq, and China, but not the United States.  Poloff also 
noticed the older classes were supplied with the Bolivarian 
libraries, sets of books produced last year in cooperation 
with the Government of Cuba. 
 
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Comment 
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7. (C) What was noticeable about this trip to the barrio is 
that the level of political propaganda has been ratcheted 
down compared to pre-referendum levels.  As for the children 
working in the market, while there was a sense that perhaps 
things could be better, their activity was not the object of 
repudiation.  We had heard from Chavez critics that the 
Bolivarian Schools are indoctrinating poor children in 
revolutionary thought.  The visit suggested the schools' 
approach, when there is an attempt to inject ideology, is 
likely to be subtle, as evident in the absence of U.S. flags 
in the school. 
 
Brownfield 
 
 
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      2004CARACA03817 - CONFIDENTIAL