Venezuela’s Corn and Rice Production Steps Up
President Hugo Chávez ratified that in spite of the world crisis, the agricultural revolution will not stop. Four corn-processing plants have been installed; the goal is to build 10 of them.
The corn production in Venezuela has grown by 205 percent and the rice production by 94 percent over the last 10 years, said President Hugo Chávez last Sunday as he inaugurated the corn-processing plant in Guanare, Portuguesa state’s capital city, in Venezuela’s west.
“Between 1988 and 1998, the corn production fell 23 percent. The increase between 2007 and 2008 was 17 percent, and the continuous growth has increased 205 percent during the Bolivarian Revolution. The rice production has grown 94 percent.”
“The prospect is to become self-sufficient. We will become a rice-exporting country; that day will come. Venezuela has everything to become an independent country regarding food. We are moving towards that direction and we have to speed up our pace,” he stressed.
The Bolivarian leader ratified that in spite of the world crisis, the agricultural revolution will not stop. Let’s move forward with the land investment plans, the credits for small producers and the creation of productive units.” He added that Venezuela has already started to export coffee to Belarus, and the United States though CITGO gas stations.
The Minister of People’s Power for Communal Economy Pedro Morejon said that four corn-processing plants have been installed, and that they plan to build one in Guarico state and one plastic injection factory in Monagas state. The goal is to build 10 corn-processing plants, 11 milk plants, and a plastic complex by late 2009.”
http://www2.minci.gob.ve/noticiaingles.asp?num=1918
Venezuela Ranks Second in Higher Education Enrollment
The Bolivarian government has installed 2,127 computer centers all around the country. Over 1,500 university villages were created, and 108,708 new students were pre-registered in 2008.
Venezuela is the second country in Latin America with the highest higher education enrollment (83 percent), after Cuba, which ranks first with 88 percent according to the UNESCO Institute for Statistics.
As President Hugo Chávez delivered his annual message to the nation, he affirmed that the UNESCO Institute for Statistics also included the rates of some other countries and concluded that Finland’s higher education enrollment rate is 92 percent, Greece’s 90 percent and Venezuela’s 83 percent.
“Latin America’s average rate is 29.6 percent,” he added.
The Venezuelan head of State mentioned the increase of the number of higher education students with respect to former governments. “It has increased to 78 students per 1,000 inhabitants in Venezuela.”
He stressed that Venezuela, with 83 percent, “can be compared, for instance, to France (56 percent), and Japan (55 percent).”
President Chávez pointed out that the government created 583 computer centers with access to Internet in 2008. In total, the Bolivarian Revolution has installed 2,127 computer centers all around the country.
The Bolivarian leader highlighted the importance of the creation of Mission Sucre (social program providing free and ongoing higher (college and graduate level) education), where 571,917 students have registered. There are also 101,400 students with scholarships and 34,968 volunteers.
“1,515 university villages were created, and 108,708 new students were pre-registered in 2008.”
In 2008, 30,680 students graduated from this social program of the Revolution.
“Formal education has expanded in the last years; the number of new students registered in higher education has increased 26 percent from 1990 to 1998. Since we took office these numbers have increased 193 percent,” he said.
President Chávez added that “in the last years of the Fourth Republic (this number) was stuck; private universities were outnumbering public universities.
Education in Venezuela was being privatized; the number of private universities ara now increasing at a moderate pace.”
http://www2.minci.gob.ve/noticiaingles.asp?num=1919
Venesat-1: A Step Forward to the 22nd Century
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As a multi-task tool, Venesat1 will benefit Venezuelan and Latin American long distance telecommunications, tele-education, telemedicine, culture and education
Venezuela, as a sovereign country, took the operative use of its first satellite on Saturday 10. President Chávez detailed some of the tasks the satellite will perform and announced that for 2011, a second Venezuelan satellite will be launched.
President Chávez defined the beginning of the operations of the Simón Bolívar Satellite, Venesat-1, as one more step forward of the Bolivarian Revolution.
In the land operations base in El Sombrero, Guárico state (central planes), under a brilliant sun, the president assured that “we are very happy for the path Venezuela is embracing, as the satellite does: the path of grandeur. We are building a new homeland.”
Likewise, he emphasized that the same day the satellite started to transmit. Simón Bolívar, built by China and launched on October 29, 2008, placed Venezuela in the group of four Latin American countries with Brazil, Mexico, and Argentina and the group of 62 countries in the world to have a satellite in orbit.
In the handing over of the satellite by the People’s Republic of China to the Venezuelan Government, broadcasted by TV and Radio national Network, President Chávez said “from today on we will use the satellite to make transmissions, for telecommunications, teleeducation, telemedicine, culture, distance education.”
He remarked that this means “a leap forward to the 22nd century,” and pointed out that the development of those projects has been possible for the freedom and full sovereignty exercise. “It is possible only for the freedom we have had. I have travelled seven times to China, apart from the travels made by the ministers; had we ever known of a minister travelling to China before?”
He also remarked the roll of Ministers Yadira Córdova, Nuris Orihuela and Socorro Hernández in the consolidation of the project, and with a joke he added: “only women put the satellite up there. If I had commanded that to a man, it would have been a disaster.”
President Chávez highlighted that the equipment is at the service of all the peoples of America and the Caribbean, and ratified that for 2011, Venezuela will have its second satellite.
“The satellite will be at the service of the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean, because its area of projection, band C, band Q and band K, permits us to cover all the American Continent and the Caribbean, specifically for the use of medicine, teleeducation, communications,” he said gladly to the audience.
Satellite dishes to render service
During 2009, 3,500 satellite dishes, out of 16,000, will be installed all over the country. They will permit the people to start enjoying TV, phone, and data transmission services.
Minister of People’s Power for Telecommunications and Informatics, Socorro Hernández, explained that this year the first phase of the program will be completed in order to reach the goal of 16,000 dishes in five years.
According to Hernández, it is expected, within the first semester of this year, to assist the most excluded populations, that is, indigenous communities and border towns.
She manifested her happiness during a contact established, through the satellite, with San Francisco de Guayos community, Antonio Diaz municipality of Delta Amacuro state (south-east), where they presented their experience of teleeducation and telemedicine, enhanced by the operational activation of Venesat-1.
“I feel proud and amused of knowing that we can communicate with our indigenous communities despite the distance. (…) As we can know our homeland, as we need to have all these resources to definitely share what we are, what this country is, let’s share our love for this land that is getting liberated, which advance we witness every day, which has the opportunity through technological tools to share and uplift knowledge,” she added.
She remarked that this is not knowledge for elites, but for all the people, because teleeducation and telemedicine “are projects that have a satellite available for the entire homeland.”
Another contact established was with the headquarters of CANTV, the national company of telephone services (Caracas), where they explained the government articulation that made possible the concretion of the satellite project, which will allow deepening studies and contribute to researches in diverse areas such as medicine, meteorology, agriculture, education, telecommunications and informatics, among other.
Source: MINCI
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