United Socialist Party of Venezuela

History

The process of merging most of the unidentified parties involved in the pro-Bolivarian Revolution coalition was initiated by Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez after he won the 2006 Venezuelan presidential election. The process was led by Chávez's own party, the Fifth Republic Movement, and was supported by a range of smaller parties such as the People's Electoral Movement (MEP), Venezuelan Popular Unity (UPV), the Tupamaro Movement, the Socialist League, and others, which all together added up 45.99% of the votes received by Chávez during the 2006 election. Other pro-Bolivarian parties like the Communist Party of Venezuela (Partido Comunista de Venezuela, PCV), Fatherland for All (Patria Para Todos, PPT), and For Social Democracy (PODEMOS), which cast 14.60% of the votes from that election, declined to join the new party.

On 7 March 2007, Chávez presented a phased plan for founding the new party until November 2007. PODEMOS, PPT, and PCV initially stated they would wait until PSUV had been founded and decide their membership in the new party based on its program. On 18 March 2007, Chávez declared on his programme Aló Presidente that he had opened the doors For Social Democracy, the Fatherland for All, and the Communist Party of Venezuela, and that if they want to leave the alliance, "they may do so and leave us in peace". In his opinion, those parties were near to be on the opposition, and they should choose wisely, between going "in silence, hugging us or throwing stones". At its 2007 congress on 10 and 11 April, PPT decided not to join but re-affirmed its support for Chávez and the Bolivarian Revolution.

The party held its founding congress in early 2008, from 12 January to 2 March, with 1681 delegates participating. Chávez was proclaimed President of the new party on 14 March. Internal issues also appeared in the party, with an email address and telephone hotline created to report "internal enemies". In the PSUV elections on 23 November 2014, it was reported by party dissidents that very few individuals participated, with less than 10% of the supposedly 7.6 million members casting a vote.

Overview

The PSUV defines its values and principles as follows:

As a multiethnic and diverse party, it nurtures its roots of Afro-Indianism bequeathed by Guaicaipuro and José Leonardo Chirino, all inspired by the fundamental leadership and revolutionary ideas of Commander Hugo Chávez, aimed at creating the new man and woman in a melting pot of hopes and dreams that make our socialism a mestizo socialism, loaded with Africanity, the elements of the indigenous peoples, and with the international vision that has had Francisco de Miranda as its greatest proponent.

We assume the principle of civic-military unity to guarantee the defense of national and popular sovereignty.

The PSUV defends the Bolivarian Revolution as a process of peaceful transition to socialism and, therefore, of overcoming capitalism. This is in line with Chávez's socialism of the 21st century. The party considers the establishment of socialism to be necessarily linked to an anti-imperialist struggle, that, currently, must consist of the formation of a block of socialist countries in Latin America. With the creation of PSUV, relationships greatly soured with former coalition parties that chose not to join. By the 2008 regional election campaign in October, Chávez declared that Patria Para Todos and the Communist Party of Venezuela "must be swept from the Venezuelan political map because they are disloyal, liars, and manipulators".

Chávez said that the PSUV was "a very young party" with an average age of 35 among members. Analysts agreed, saying: "The assumption is that the younger people are going to be [Chavistas], they are going to be the ones whose families have benefited from Chávez's social programs." In April 2010, an Extraordinary Congress of the PSUV resulted in the endorsement of a range of "general principles", including among others socialism, Marxism, and Bolivarianism; humanism, internationalism, and patriotism; and the defense of participatory democracy and use of internal party democracy. It also defined the party as the "political vanguard of the revolutionary process". The party held its 3rd Congress in 2014, which elected Nicolás Maduro as the 2nd party president and honored Hugo Chávez posthumously as the party's eternal president and founder, and party policies were updated. It was followed by the 4th Party Congress in 2018.

Symbolism

The Party builds on the cult of personality of Hugo Chávez, with revolutionary symbols like the Chávez eyes sometimes along with the party symbols.

Party symbols

Vereinigte Sozialistische Partei Venezuelas logo.svg|Official logo, 2007–2024 PSUV_2024_logo.svg|Official logo, 2024–present Vereinigte Sozialistische Partei Venezuelas rot logo.svg|Electoral logo, 2010 election Logo of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela.svg|Variation of the official logo featuring Hugo Chávez's eyes Hugo Chávez Mural in Punta de Piedras.jpg|Street painting of Hugo Chávez in Punta de Piedras Bolivarian propaganda in Guarenas.jpg|A billboard with Hugo Chávez's eyes and signature in Guarenas

Structure

Party Congress

The highest level of organization is the National Party Congress, which is the party's supreme organ, and is held upon the discretion of the National Board whenever necessary. It is composed of elected delegates both from the national level and state representatives of party committees, and is empowered to:

• nominate the President of the Party and his/her Secretary-General
• elect new or returning members of the National Board, National Political Bureau, and departments of the National Board
• amend the Party Charter and Rules
• discuss and enact any new party policies, as well as to amend existing ones

The National Party Congress is held every four years.

National Board

The party is headed at the national level by the Eternal Leader Hugo Chávez (a posthumous title), the president (currently Nicolás Maduro), secretary-general (Diosdado Cabello), and the national board of directors currently made up of the following:

• Adán Chávez
• Alí Rodríguez Araque
• Ana Elisa Osorio
• Aristóbulo Istúriz
• Darío Vivas
• Cilia Flores
• Elías Jaua
• Erika Farías
• Freddy Bernal
• Héctor Rodríguez
• Jacqueline Faría
• Jorge Rodríguez
• María Cristina Iglesias
• Nicolás Maduro
• Noelí Pocaterra
• Rafael Ramírez
• Rafael Gil Barrios
• Ramón Rodríguez Chacín
• Rodrigo Cabezas
• Tareck El Aissami
• Vanessa Davies

The PSUV National Board is the highest organ of party leadership and is empowered by the Charter to enact new policies in between Party Congresses.

Units of Battle Hugo Chávez (UBCh)

Main article: Units of Battle Hugo Chávez

The Units of Battle Hugo Chávez (UBCh) is a collection of organizations with multiple members of PSUV involved that has both military and political characteristics. The UBCh originated as a group to defend the Bolivarian Revolution and support the party through electoral processes in Venezuela, and were transformed into their current name in 2013. They form the basic party unit in Venezuelan communities, and four or more of them form a People's Struggle Circle (Círculo de Lucha Popular) at the community level. The Unit itself is divided into ten Unit Patrols serving various functions for party members in various sectors. Other assisting groups include:

• PSUV National Political Bureau
• PSUV Regional Departments, led by Regional Vice Presidents
• PSUV Sectors Organizations, led by Sectoral Vice Presidents
• United Socialist Party of Venezuela Youth

Election results

Presidential

Parliamentary

References

Notes

References

1. (8 December 2015). "Venezuela: la oposición consigue mayoría calificada de 3/5 en las elecciones parlamentarias".
2. PSUV. (June 2010). "Libro Rojo: documentos fundamentales".
3. Lopéz, Ociel Alí. (11 July 2018). "Chavismo: Its Strength Could Be its Greatest Risk".
4. "Conference Proceedings Library".
5. (2017). "China, The United States, and the Future of Latin America: U.S.-China Relations, Volume III". NYU Press.
6. Malešević, Siniša. (2023). "The Many Faces of Nationalism". Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for the Study of Nationalities.
7. (11 March 2024). "Más de 4 millones de chavistas apoyan candidatura para reelección de Maduro, según partido". SWI swissinfo.ch.
8. (14 October 2022). "Paris Declaration: The rising tide of global war and the tasks of anti-imperialists". World Anti-Imperialist Platform.
9. (8 October 2011). "Chavez launches election alliance".
10. "Himno del PSUV".
11. (7 December 2015). "Venezuela Opposition Won Majority of National Assembly Seats".
12. (7 December 2020). "Boycott-tainted poll win gives Maduro total control in Venezuela". [[The Jordan Times]].
13. Morsbach, Greg. (19 December 2006). "Venezuela head seeks party merger".
14. (19 December 2006). "Grupos políticos se suman a nuevo partido de Chávez". [[Milenio]].
15. "Presidential Election – December 3, 2006".
16. (5 March 2007). "El XIII Congreso Extraordinario: PCV resalta el papel del Presidente Hugo Chávez Frías".
17. . (5 March 2007). ["José Albornoz: El PPT no se disolverá"](http://economia.eluniversal.com/2007/03/05/pol_ava_05A841497.shtml). *[[El Universal (Caracas)*.
18. (5 March 2007). "Podemos no se disuelve y propuso una constituyente: "No participaremos jamás de pensamientos únicos"". Diario el Tiempo.
19. Buckman, Robert T.. (2012). "Latin America". Stryker-Post.
20. Da Corte, María Lilibeth. (19 March 2007). "Los que se quieran ir, váyanse, pero escojan bien cómo irse". [[El Universal (Caracas).
21. (11 April 2007). "PPT Ratifica su Apoyo a la Revolucion Bolivariana y al Presidente Chavez".
22. Agencia Bolivariana de Noticias (ABN). (19 December 2006). "MEP aceptó propuesta de Partido Socialista Unido de Venezuela".
23. Agencia Bolivariana de Noticias (ABN). (19 December 2006). "UPV se disuelve para formar parte del Partido Socialista Único de Venezuela".
24. Gutiérrez Nieves, Luis E.. (6 January 2007). "Tupamaros apoya adhesión al PSUV". El Tiempo.
25. Agencia Bolivariana de Noticias (ABN). (21 December 2006). "Liga Socialista se adhiere al PSUV".
26. Prensa MDD. (19 December 2006). "MDD apoya el llamado a conformar el PSUV".
27. (27 January 2007). "PSUV: Partido Unión se disuelve para incorporarse al PSUV".
28. (30 January 2007). "PSUV: Propuestas del Movimiento Cívico Militante (MCM) sobre el Partido Único y el Socialismo del Siglo XXI".
29. (24 January 2007). "PSUV: Partido Independientes por la Comunidad se incorpora al PSUV".
30. "Somos un faro para América Latina y el Mundo".
31. Macias, Amanda. (June 2022}} As of 2014, the party has been described as "fracturing" and "weakening" due to the loss of Hugo Chávez, the poor state of Venezuela's economy and falling oil prices.{{cite web). "Venezuela Is on Borrowed Time".
32. "Estatutos del Partido Socialista Unido de Venezuela".
33. (24 April 2010). "Bases programáticas del Partido Socialista Unido de Venezuela (PSUV)".
34. (12 Oct 2008). "Rompe Hugo Chávez con dos partidos aliados".
35. Walter, Matthew. (11 October 2007). "Venezuela May Lower Voting Age, Add Gay Rights to Constitution". [[The New York Sun]].
36. (30 July 2018). "Fourth PSUV congress gets underway".
37. (18 February 2014). "Contraataque de Maduro: alista las "Unidades de Batalla Hugo Chávez"".