However, there is one mission which is the "Mother of all Missions" – "Mission Identity" which opened up the path for the rest. It allowed the social debt to be paid off. Mission Identity protects the general population by changing the spotty system of the past to today’s secure identification system. The previous system, if it warrants the term, has been cleaned up in 95% of cases. It also protects what had been a fragile indigenous population, whose identification documents were missing altogether, prior to this mission.

The former system allowed people to exist with two or three ID cards which were then use for double or triple voting at election time in past decades. The "living dead" could vote at that time, contaminated data was used by such crimes as changing birth dates and civil status. People with physical impediments who lacked state attention rarely had an ID card and they also suffered; this is without mentioning foreigners who had come to Venezuela in order to survive fleeing from violence, economic hardship and ended up living without ID cards for decades. This gave rise to family dramas where children, their cousins, grandchildren etc. could not obtain an ID card or acquired a forged one which could not be documented. As a result, parents could not even legally recognize their offspring and had to use a "legal" family member or friend to stand in for them.

The same situation was prevalent in the student population where many registered with false documents in order to be able to study. It was impossible to update their ID cards due to blackmail, embezzlement and extortion exercised by the corrupt mafias running the ID offices. One must also not forget the labor exploitation carried out by economic sectors for many, many years by denying social security contributions, housing rights, salary increases, bonuses and other benefits befitting human dignity. Unfair dismissals were rife, all because these undocumented workers could not exercise their rights and had no recourse to official institutions.

In light of these unjust realities and deportations, President Hugo Chávez took measures to end this pain and suffering in the foreign communities. He saw it as a human right that every citizen on the face of the earth deserved the opportunity to change their legal status from the disrespectful term of being "illegal" to "irregular". In this way he eliminated the parallel system of nationalizing people which was the main "business" of the mafias operating in the Immigration Department at that time. This also benefited all foreigners who had been living in Venezuela, waiting years to obtain Venezuelan citizenship, since they could not pay the astronomical sums of money which the mafias demanded.

President Chávez decided to launch the decree "Nationalization and Regularization of Foreigners" in 2004 based on the constitution precepts ruling in the 1999 Bolivarian Constitution. This decree was aimed at restoring human dignity without taking into account race, religion or political ideology and above all, it was completely free of charge. This decision allowed all fellow countrymen to enjoy the benefits of this decree and make full use of the constitutional duties and rights to obtain an ID card, apply to study, obtain work, housing, old age pension; to participate in elections, pay taxes, incorporate themselves legally into the productive apparatus of the country…..in other words, be able to live an unhindered life and become a first class citizen and not remain in the fourth and lowest category.

Let's now look at some results of this policy:

• Before 2003 some 15 thousand people received ID card per year. Now, this figure is more than 1,200,000 per year.
  
  
• In 60 years the capitalist system managed to issue ID card to 5,000 indigenous people but up to now the revolution has issued 280,000.
  
  
• In the IV Republic which lasted 20 years, 90,000 foreigners were nationalized. On its fourth anniversary in April 2004, Mission Identity has created some 425,000 new Venezuelans and regularized more than 800,000.

We are certain that all these advances point to new moral, social and family values looking ahead to a socialist society which will be more just, fair, humane and with mutual solidarity.

Nevertheless, just when President Chávez is leading by example by being firm and upright in the struggle for human rights and world peace, the intention of the imperialist countries (mainly in the U.S. and Europe), is to change their immigration laws to jail illegal immigrants without hearings and then deport them. Immigrant workers have been very useful for these countries and now they are facing a terrible drama after years of psychological torture. They are now having their children taken away, their nationality not being recognized when, in fact, the so-called immigration "problem" was created by the governments of these countries themselves.

Each time the imperialists have destabilized countries or whole regions, installing dictatorial puppet regimes in the past, or more recently imposing unfair Free Trade Agreements, this has always resulted in an exodus from these countries. Now they do not want to recognize the immigrant workers who contributed to their national development and thus prevent them from sharing in the benefits.

The day will come when all transnational companies could also be deported, mainly in the U.S, and Europe. Ask Exxon-Mobil! These corporations were always given the red carpet in Latin America, enjoying obscene profits by having exploiting our people, paying them miserable, starvation wages.

© Copyright 2008 by AxisofLogic.com

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*The author, Ubaldo Rosales P., is a regular contributor to Axis of Logic. He is a member of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), recently formed to bring together Venezuelan socialists together in solidarity. Since President Chávez came to power in 1999 the author has been a consistent analyst of events in Venezuela. He also serves local communities to heighten awareness and to safeguard their constitutional rights. He can be contacted at: rosubaldo@yahoo.com