Anarchism in Venezuela has historically played
a fringe role in the country's politics, being
consistently smaller and less influential
than equivalent movements in much of the rest
of South America.
It has, however, had a certain impact on the
country's cultural and political evolution.
== History ==
Between the late 19th century and the first
third of the 20th century, the most active
period in the region's anarchist history,
there were few Venezuelan anarchists.
There were, however, a somewhat significant
number of local intellectuals who were at
least influenced by the ideology's theorists.
Among them were Ezequiel Zamora (1817-1860),
a Liberal politician and prominent rebel leader
during the Federal War, who is said to have
been influenced by among others Pierre-Joseph
Proudhon.
The 2001 land reform program Mission Zamora
was named after him.One reason behind the
weakness of the early anarchist movement was
the regime of Juan Vicente Gómez, who ruled
Venezuela both as elected president and unelected
military strongman between 1908 and 1935.
Gómez extensively persecuted rivals, political
dissidents, and trade unionists.
Among the later victims were members of a
nascent anarcho-syndicalist movement, belonging
to an ideology brought in by radical immigrants
from Europe.
While they were few in numbers, the efforts
of these people in forming mutual societies,
organizing oil industry strikes, spreading
propaganda, etc. gained them a certain notoriety,
but also the full attention of Gómez's persecution.Some
early communists had anarchist influences
- Pío Tamayo (1898-1935), a revolutionary
poet and co-founder of the Communist Party
of Venezuela, taught his fellow political
prisoners the "socialism of Bakunin and Marx".
Tamayo, who died in prison, was imprisoned
by Gómez.
Another political prisoner during this period
was the Colombian individualist anarchist
Biofilo Panclasta (1879–1943), who participated
in the "Revolución Liberal Restauradora"
of Cipriano Castro, aiding in the overthrow
of President Ignacio Andrade, prior to his
encounter of anarchist thought.
Arrested in 1914 after returning to Venezuela,
Panclasta spent seven years in prison, more
due to his friendship with Castro (deposed
in a coup d'état by Gómez) than for his
ideology.After the end of the Gómez regime,
and with the growth of new politicals movements
in Venezuela, many libertarian-minded radicals
were absorbed by or helped found non-anarchist
organizations, as in the case of Pío Tamayo.
Like Tamayo, some joined the Communist Party
of Venezuela.
Others were among the founders of the Democratic
Action in 1941.
Between 1936 and 1945, anti-anarchist repression
had a constitutional footing, in the form
of the Ley Lara (Lara Law).
After the Spanish Civil War, many exiled anarchists
arrived in Venezuela, finding a political
climate far different from that of interwar
Spain.
This second wave of anarchist European immigrants
caused the regrowth of the small libertarian
scene, primarily through the foundation of
the Federación Obrera Regional Venezolana
(FORVE, Venezuelan Regional Workers Federation)
in 1958, after ten years of harsh military
dictatorship.
FORVE was affiliated with the International
Workers' Association, a global anarcho-syndicalist
movement founded in 1922.
Some additional minor groups were formed,
and newspapers, pamphlets and books were published,
but few of these left the Spanish immigrant
milieu.
In later years, as the ageing Spanish Civil
War veterans diminished in importance, few
movements would associate with the anarchist
label.
Some libertarian influence was seen among
students in the Renovación Universitaria
(University Renewal) of 1968-1970, part of
the Protests of 1968.
It wasn't until the 1980s that anarchist movements
again resurfaced - the Colectivo Autogestionario
Libertario (CAL.
Libertarian Self-managing Collective) was
the most visible.
Two journals, El Libertario (published by
CAl 1985-87) and Correo A (published 1987-1995)
emerged.
Some youths were drawn in through anarcho-punk.
The Cuban anarchist editorial collective Guángara
had correspondents in Venezuela, by 1985.
Prominently, the Argentine anarchist philosopher
and university professor Ángel Cappelletti
(1927–1995) worked in Venezuela for 26 years,
until his retirement in 1994.
=== Contemporary ===
In 1995 the newspaper El Libertario reappeared,
published by a group calling itself the Commission
of Anarchist Relations (CRA).
The CRA, which restyled itself the Collective
Editorship in 2007, opposes the Chavismo and
Bolivarian Revolution of former President
Hugo Chávez, the Fifth Republic Movement,
and its successor the United Socialist Party
of Venezuela.
The group sees itself as involved in a "tri-polar
struggle" against both the left-wing government
and Venezuela's American-backed right-wing
opposition movement.
El Libertario publishes five editions yearly.
Other minor groups exist or have existed,
such as the CESL in Caracas, the CEA in Mérida,
and the Ateneo La Libertaria, first active
in Biscucuy and then in the rural area to
the southwest of Lara.
In January 2006 the Alternative Social Forum
was organized in Caracas, and the Anarchist
Black Cross has been somewhat active in the
country.
In 2011, the minor Federación Anarquista
Revolucionaria de Venezuela (FARV) was formed.
Unlike the CRA and El Libertario, the group
took firmly pro-Boliviarian stances, stating
that it supported the "Bolivarian process
critically as radical militants of the Social
revolution".
Their ideas and principles were "based on
the especifist trend within libertarian communism".In
October 2013, Chávez's successor, President
Nicolás Maduro, accused unionist workers
of the SIDOR steel company of being behind
regional unemployment, denouncing them as
"anarcho-syndicalist populists".
== References ==
