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The purpose of this research is to analyze the execution of the National Surgical Plan in Venezuela, taking the Human Rights Approach as a conceptual framework. In order to achieve this objective, documents emanating from the national government, experts on the subject, multilateral agencies of the United Nations and national and international non-governmental organizations were examined. The documentary review carried out shows that the National Surgical Plan, in force since 2017, has focused on quantitative criteria such as the number of patients operated on and not on substantive aspects that guarantee the health and dignity of vulnerable people who require this service and avoid risks unnecessary. The lack of information about the criteria that were used to schedule the surgeries and the resources used; as well as the absence of clear mechanisms for both monitoring and control and citizen participation in decisionmaking, transparency and accountability are indicative elements of a failure to comply with international preaching about the need for health policies and programs whose center is dignity. of the human person. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To exist in relation to the State, it becomes necessary to be "counted," that is, to be part of the official statistics that underpin political and public action and control. In the case of individuals injured by firearms, not only are data not published, but there are no official statistics that reveal the number, context, and situation of gunshot victims, rendering these individuals invisible victims of a State that does not recognize them as citizens or victims, nor does it take responsibility for the failures in its function of monopolistic control over violence and the firearms that cause it. For this reason, the absence of statistics on individuals injured by firearms in Venezuela is addressed, highlighting the invisibility and neglect of these victims by the State. Hospital records were collected from three healthcare centers in Caracas, subsequently converted into statistical data to describe and bring visibility to the issue of individuals injured by bullets in this city. The analysis of the data reveals the lack of access to information, potential abuses by security forces, and the masculinization of armed violence. It is concluded by emphasizing the need to recognize these individuals as victims, demand their inclusion in public policies, and improve the conditions of care. Finally, the importance of having accurate statistics to effectively address armed violence and its consequences in Venezuelan society is underscored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article has the purpose of establishing, describing, and analyzing the religious ideology of Venezuela following the theoretical assumptions of Bloom (2009), who proposes a religious criticism to understand such social issues and show that, in this country, there are six religious groups based on Christianity. and how textually and explicitly they differ from each other. For its part, for the analysis, the Theory of Action proposed by Argyris and Schön (1974) was used to establish the common aspects and similarities shared by the six religious groups selected for the present investigation. The results show that there are ten common beliefs among all these religions, so the Christian Religion in Venezuela has defined itself through publications that promote what they believe, statutes, and precepts having God as the only magnanimous and regent deity, Jesus of Nazareth as a connection of humans with God as well as being an incarnation of divine perfection in the world and that actively practicing religion in public allows keeping faithful believers as pristine as they are focused, who will receive everlasting rewards for their obedience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this essay is to describe the (non)observance of state obligations regarding the legal security of housing awarded through the Great Housing Mission Venezuela (GHVV). The review is carried out from the human rights-based approach (HRBA) because it places people as rights holders and the State as the main bearer of obligations. The analysis highlights the existence of a regulation, of varying relevance, that is supposed to be aimed at protecting the human right to adequate housing, especially for low-income families, which coexists with situations that represent risks to the effective realization of its purposes, such as limitations on the ownership of real estate and complaints of forced evictions and discrimination based on political affiliation or nationality [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The frontier between Brazil and Venezuela is approximately 2,199 kilometers long. It has been the scene of marked tensions and migratory flows due to the Venezuelan crisis, especially centered between the cities of Pacaraima (in Brazil) and Santa Elena de Uairén (in Venezuela). This border passes through isolated and difficult-to-access areas, with little public service infrastructure and currently has only one land crossing point, between the cities of Pacaraima and Santa Elena de Uairén. In this context, the fundamental objective of this essay is to analyze the territorial dynamics between the two countries, in the period 2016 and 2021, seeking to emphasize, from the perspective of the frontier in motion, the main socioeconomic consequences generated by mobility in this part. of the Amazon. The methodology used is based on the review of reports from Brazilian government agencies and pre-existing bibliographies of related research in Venezuela-Brazil. The question of the border strip implies the (re)cognition of the diversity and interdependence of the challenges, potentials and specificities of the two regions. The results point out important challenges in integration, health and education due to migration, as well as the similarities and differences in the internal dynamics of these two important countries in the border area, mainly in stimulating the sustainable and integrated development of the borders, valuing their cultural, environmental and economic wealth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the migratory dynamics that occur on the Brazil-Venezuela border initially involves a survey of the state of the art on what has been studied on that border. To understand this issue, the objective of this work aims to explore the production of knowledge on the topic. The studywas carried out using document review as a methodology. The results pointed to research that initially started from the perspective of the physical border under the definition of the State and geography, which converged to the field of identity under the sociological prism. In conclusion, research on the border has been carried out with a focus on the State and geography, in which the physical space is a conflictual scenario, composed of different ethnic groups, who fight among themselves to maintain their identities; School is one of the universes where customs are revealed and expressed from their place of origin, even in the linguistic aspect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a dossier that analyzes the dynamics of the border between Venezuela and Brazil, highlighting the biodiversity of the area and the social problems caused by deforestation and illegal mining. It also mentions the high unemployment and poverty in both countries, which has increased social segregation. The article emphasizes the importance of preserving the cultural heritage of the region and addresses the institutional and environmental challenges faced by the borders. It highlights that territorial occupation on the border involves different actors, from small farmers to businessmen and real estate speculators. Despite the challenges, progress has been made in terms of governance and sustainable use of natural resources in border areas. The article is an important academic analysis for understanding the complexity of borders and promoting equitable and sustainable solutions. [Extracted from the article]

The so-called 'Colectivos' are one of the most prominent and controversial non-state armed groups in Venezuela. This study aims to compare the legitimacy of Colectivos against the level of support for the police, as state armed forces, using data from a survey of a nationally representative sample of public opinion conducted in 2021. For this purpose, data from 1,200 survey respondents is analyzed considering individual-level variables such as gender, education, work status, and political alignment, as well as contextual variables of the respondents, such as state of residence and urbanization level. The study employs a multilevel regression analysis to examine the individual and contextual factors influencing attitudes towards the polices and Colectivos among the Venezuelan population. The findings reveal a substantial lack of legitimacy for both the police and Colectivos. Moreover, the study identifies a moderate positive correlation between attitudes towards the police and Colectivos, indicating that individuals who view the police negatively are more likely to hold negative views towards Colectivos as well. Regarding the individual socio-economic variables, only political alignment was found to influence perceptions of legitimacy, whereby Chavistas viewed both polices and Colectivos more positively than non-chavistas. Additionally, the analysis of territorial differences reveals variations in public opinion towards these groups across different states. The findings highlight a concerning situation for Venezuelan population about the legitimacy of state armed forces and the potential consequences of a failed state. The perception of inefficacy of state armed forces, like the police, can leave the population feeling unprotected and vulnerable. They also indicate a potential fertile ground for non-state armed forces to control and exercise violence. The authors argue that efforts should be made to restore the state's monopoly of violence in a legitimate and effective manner, while considering the underlying political factors and geographical differences that shape public attitudes towards armed actors. By addressing these issues, steps can be taken towards fostering a sense of security and trust among the Venezuelan population [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through rapid qualitative research, the experiences of young migrant Venezuelan women in Mexico City on migration and health were analyzed. To this end, virtual semi-structured interviews were conducted, which considered a wide spectrum of migratory experiences of this group of women: from the procedures to obtain permits to their access to health services and mental health care. For the elderly, and as a novel contribution, the PhQ-9 patient health scale was applied, designed to know the possible level of depression of the person, and stressors and vulnerabilities of the Ulysses Syndrome were evaluated with a gender perspective. The reported experiences were diverse and the conclusions drawn from the study are that these women suffer instability despite the regular administrative situation, due to delays in procedures, among others; they show a lack of access to health services, due to ignorance or difficulty in paying for it, especially in the case of mental health; the majority present stressors and vulnerabilities for migratory reasons that generate emotional discomfort; and they all recognize the importance of taking care of their mental health. But they also raise the need for expert therapeutic services in interculturality or migratory dynamics [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main objective of this research is to interpret the meanings that the inhabitants of the municipalities of Rosario de Perijá, Machiques de Perijá and Jesús María Semprum in Zulia state, Venezuela, assign to the presence of the Non-State Armed Groups in their living spaces. The premises of qualitative research are considered and for this reason subjectivity is valued as a source of scientific knowledge, in consequence the perspectives of key informants who live such a complex situation are considered. The results showed that these municipalities share a reality that can be translated into a loss of sovereignty of the Venezuelan State, which brings with it profound disorders. Three conclusions stand out from this research: 1) These three municipalities and their towns are controlled by Colombian guerrilla organizations (ELN and FARC dissidents). 2) The permissiveness of the Venezuelan State in consenting to a kind of small but significant parallel States, which includes territorial possession and actions of the type commonly available to governments to govern are pointed out. 3) For these municipalities the guerrilla constitutes "a necessary evil", given the absence of Venezuelan State in the border of Zulia state with Colombia, which implies the existence of criminal governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describe and analyze the so-called Collective's role as an armed group operating in Venezuela in areas of Aragua and Carabobo, specifically in the cities of Maracay and Valencia. Some reflections on the role of these groups within Venezuelan society and their relationship with government agencies are presented. The data that feed the content of this article are part of an investigation carried out during the first semester of the year 2021, in several states of Venezuela. It was a qualitative study, where the interview was used as a data collection technique, and as an instrument an interview guide for community members, and another for members of armed groups. The interviews were recorded and transcribed and then subjected to content analysis to extract the findings presented here. An analytical look at the information obtained in the research allowed us to see the phenomenon's complexity and understand how the armed organizations represented in the collectives have managed to maintain their power and leadership in the social, political, and economic spheres of communities. There seems to be a weakness or exhaustion of the State model in its capacity to defend the interests of citizens and the government, through its structures, has granted these armed groups impunity in committing crimes and in appropriating their functions. The Collectives represent a key piece for the security of the government, so it may be a government strategy transferring responsibilities and the legitimate use of violence to exercise authority and control in some sectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Armed collectives have had an important presence during the 21st century in the state of Lara in central-western Venezuela, a region where, since the sixties of the 20th century, the presence of irregular groups insurgent against the governments of the time has been observed with varying intensity. This article analyzes the changes experienced by these groups during the Chavista period and during the government of Nicolas Maduro, in addition to understanding the existing continuities from the sixties of the twentieth century onwards, whether against or in favor of the governments. In-depth interviews with members of these organizations, political leaders, police officers, former combatants, newspaper material were used for this purpose. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article aims to characterize the type of governance exercised in their territories by the collectives of Caracas, Venezuela, based on the cooperative relationships they established with the State at the beginning of the 21st century. Interviews were conducted with neighbors, people working in the area and police officers during 2018, 2019 and 2021. Secondary sources were consulted from the organizations themselves, as well as from the media and social networks. The results showed that the collectives have a territorial control that limited the drug retail market, substitute for police forces and impose on neighbors norms of social and political behavior and punishments not contemplated in the law; they have a financial base based on contributions from the national government and that they used to build legitimacy based on the distribution of benefits they have obtained from the state and links with national political power. The collectives exercise a shared or collaborative governance that can be catalogued as a duality in power or as a hybrid political order, in which they share the territorial domain with the State, acting in parallel or superimposed, where the group acts to favor the interests of the government and the government acts in favor of the group, so they ceased to be a subversive political movement to become an expression of the constituted power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the financial crisis of 2008, there has been a revitalization of elite studies and of their role in the fate of contemporary societies. However, few of these studies have had the scope and depth of Richard Lachmann's theory, who had been developing his theory of elite conflict since the 1990s. In order to contribute to said theory, this article analyzes the case of Venezuela in the 1990s. This case was characterized by a cohesion of political elites that resisted democratizing State Reforms at the beginning of the decade, in the context of the delegitimization of the system of political democracy. Said elites were ultimately forced to give in on certain areas of the reforms, which favored an intensified conflict between them, which resulted in their defeat and the fall of the system of political democracy that began in 1958. By incorporating the context of a crisis of legitimation of democracy, the article's contribution to the theory of elite conflict focuses on the dynamics between cohesion, reforms, and elite conflict. Methodologically, the article is analytical and is based on well-established previous studies on the subject. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article systematizes the elements that provide a better understanding of small-scale gold mining activity in southern Venezuela, based on an institutional framework built from modified practices and emerging representations of the participating actors between the years 2017-2021. The research has a non-experimental, exploratory - descriptive, hermeneutic, interpretative and statistical design. Clean Among the results, the achieved form of State intervention with an extractivist mining policy in recent decades, with a legal architecture and regulations, with new instances of participation for miners, is rescued. It also presents the experience of the case study of the Agrominera la Ramona community in the El Callao municipality, Bolívar state, rooted in a socioeconomic dynamic dependent on gold mining configured as a figure of collective organization for the work required by the State to regularize its activity, thus formalizing the practice of small-scale mining in underground gold mines. However, the characteristic traditional forms of the extraction process on a small scale, the use of mercury with incidences on the health of the participants, their community environment and the natural components of the territory persist. It is concluded that, despite the instances of participation created, the defined role of social actors and current regulations, there are still challenges; among them the control, follow-up and monitoring, especially in this phase of expansion of this type of experiences within the Orinoco Mining Arc as a special unit defined in the gold production policy of Venezuela. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In March 2020, a pandemic was declared by COVID-19 and the governments of the world implemented the quarantine. We start from the premise that everything would depend on the social representations of the pandemic, a variable that also impacted the economy on all its scales. In Venezuela on March 16, 2020, the government decreed a radical quarantine that was restructured to a method called 7+7. The article shows the multilevel collective action of the socio-institutional actors with emphasis on the Bolívar State, of national and international economic importance due to its border link with Brazil. The field work was carried out in the Caroní municipality between March 2020 - December 2021, with a real-time research approach on the processes of interactions between the actors involved and Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). As a result, the collective actions undertaken; between the levels of government and its institutions, the private sector and civil society were significant in containing the spread of the virus and maintaining the subsistence of the local economy. It is concluded that the 7+7 quarantine scheme and the actions at the local level resulting from the agreements between most segments of society were decisive. Finally, they will highlight the form and method for the management of information and communication that made it possible to clean up the norms, agreements, and functional rules in a pandemic in the midst of complex and confusing social representations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research consists of an experiential and qualitative exploration of the understanding of Venezuelans in migration. First, aspects related to the cultural meanings of concrete life and how these are intertwined with the interpretations produced within the framework of contemporary belonging, mobility and uprooting relationships are addressed by Geertz, Anderson, Maffesolli and Schutz. Next, a reading of the constitution of the gentilicio is formulated through linguistic expression where tonality, vulgarity and metaphorical power are presented as articulating elements supported by Austin, Becker, Nietzsche and Gergen. Subsequently, the constitution of Venezuela is analyzed through life stories of two migrant women who have made Santiago de Cali their destination from 2018 to the present date. It is concluded that Venezuela is presented as an issue that takes shape in the midst of unexpected contrasts and constant reinterpretations. In some cases, the migratory circumstance requires the expatriate to formulate for the first time the question resulting from the abrupt departure from the daily life that constituted him which, it is worth emphasizing, he took for granted in his place of origin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims to identify the context in which the reception of European positivism is generated in Venezuela at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, in addition, it seeks to observe the theoretical proposal of this sociological current through the texts of Laureano Vallenilla Lanz and the different interpretations that exist on its contents, this with the intention of advocating for the characterization of the specificity of thought of Creole positivism in Vallenilla’s work on the opposing typification of originality at all costs or simple European imitation that have built two of the main historiographic currents of the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Debate on the existence and quality of democracy in Venezuela in the Chávez and post-Chávez years remains highly polarized. Many scholars view Venezuela throughout this time as an authoritarian (or competitive authoritarian) regime, while some view it as an example of radical democracy. This article uses a case study of Torres municipality to build on a third view, which emphasizes the contradictions and messiness of Venezuelan democracy under Chávez. The article shows that Torres is an example of a radical democracy in which ordinary citizens enjoyed significant real power over political decision-making. This came about through what Poulantzas terms a combined struggle inside and outside the state, with radical left forces and social movements exploiting the contradictions of the Hugo Chávez administration's left-populist regime to build radical democracy. Torres' experiment came under strain from 2016 on due to the consolidation of national-level authoritarianism and prolonged economic crisis. This set the stage for the end of the experiment following the November 2021 victory of an opposition mayoral candidate, which highlights the non-monolithic character of Venezuelan authoritarianism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within the discursively revolutionary project conceived by Hugo Chávez, the communes constitute one of the spaces of articulation and integration of greater relevance for the exercise of direct participatory democracy and, especially, for the inclusion and protagonist participation of the popular sectors. Although these organizations were supposed to constitute the pillar of Socialism of the XXI Century and of the Communal State, they have had serious difficulties for their creation, functioning and development. The objective of this article is to provide an inside view, from the perspective of the protagonists, about the scope and limits and the conjectural and structural challenges of the communes. Also, to discuss the territorial, political, economic, and social obstacles related to their conceptual foundations. To this end, we analyze the views of President Chávez, members of the communes and of communes so-called "under construction", and the Network of Comuneros and Comuneras. We also examine the conceptual framework of these organizations. The results of the field-work research is that all of these actors coincide in identifying the bureaucratic obstacles that hinder the creation and functioning of the communes; in addition to other conjuncture factors that have disrupted the dynamics of their organizational process. However, there are important differences around the structural factors and the conceptual bases that further limit the scope of the communes: the protagonist role of popular sectors, the self-government or direct democracy; the notion of autonomy and the relationship between the Constituent Power and the Constituted Power among others These structural differences occur within an increasingly authoritarian political context, an acute economic crisis, that severely limits government financing and the demobilization, weakening and partisanship of the communes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The building process of Popular Power in Venezuela within the framework of Bolivarian Socialism is studied with the intention of contrasting the project with what it has been so farof its execution. Two moments are contemplated. The first, focused on exploring the process of defining a political project in its foundations and in its most complete formulation as "Bolivarian Socialism", approached as an ideology. The second explores the process of construction of the subject that identifies as the meaning and north of the Bolivarian Socialist Project, the Community Popular Subject conceived as Popular Power. In here, two forms of its execution are approached: the institutional-regulation, focusedon the laws and public policies; and the symbolic, built in the daily life of the communal councils and communes, interested on investigating the elements related to the construction of a political identity and a political subject. From a nonpositivist epistemological stance, documentary research is combined with field work, integrating ethnographic and biographical methods in two communes located in Maracaibo. Within the framework of the contradictions with the Public Power as the main limitation for their constitution as the "Historical Subjects" of Bolivarian Socialism and the "geometry of power" it aspires to, the configuration of a political identity of the popular power, which coexists with the Chavista political identity, is revealed. Such conflicts, with the entities that simultaneously support and detract from their conformation, are what give content to their political identity, and what leads them to consider the possibility of their autonomy as political subjects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this article is to analyze the relationship between maternal mortality and the violation of women's human rights by the Venezuelan State. To that end, the status of the issue of maternal mortality, the international covenants and instruments regulating human rights signed by the Venezuelan State and the relevant constitutional provisions were reviewed; Similarly, the programmes and measures taken by the Venezuelan Government in the current century. The documentary review shows that maternal deaths in general are avoidable and are an indicator of social inequality and gender inequality. Venezuela does not escape this reality; the figures show a progressive increase in maternal mortality and thus a violation of the right to life, health and non-discrimination of Venezuelan adolescents and women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thousands of Venezuelan have returned to the country in the context of a humanitarian crisis and the Covid-19 pandemic. Since 2015, Venezuelans' flight, mainly to Latin American countries, has quintupled those who left during the 1999-2014 period. The pandemic and its political, economic, and social consequences in the host countries paralyzed the Venezuelan population's mobilization and forced many of them to return, mainly by land. This exploratory, qualitative, and documentary work investigated the underlying causes that motivated people's return from their host countries. The document presents the testimonies of 31 migrants extracted from the digital press, comments on social networks, from two in-depth interviews, and international statistics. The article has organized into four parts: the first offers a perspective of Venezuelan migration, placing it in two great moments marked by political and economic milestones that will be decisive in the type and destination of Venezuelan mobility; The second section provides the theoretical foundation for the explanation of migratory return; then, the methodological design helped answer the questions posed; finally, a comprehensive vision of the results, the discussion of the findings and some final reflections are shared. One of our main findings associated with the migrants that have had returned to Venezuela is that they are mainly vulnerable and needy people, those who, in the most critical moments of their insertion process, felt paralyzed or frustrated by no fault of their own. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Though the use of social media in general, and Twitter in particular, is not exclusive to the political domain, in the case of Venezuela this network is frequently used to tackle themes relevant to politics, country leadership and political change. The country as a problem is the fundamental subject tackled by over half of the most influential Twitter users in Venezuela. Through this research we have classified these users according to their value orientation, employing theory by Parsons, Shild and Olds, and we have classified them as followers of a pattern of politics as performance, centered upon realizations, or a pattern of politics as perfection, centered upon qualities. According to the results, the ascriptive and universalistic valuation of politics (politics as perfection) shows with a greater frequency the disqualification of political alters (70%), which constitutes a form of renunciation and compulsive independence, facing the undesirable social system (the country). We conclude that, in general, users value more highly the vision of politics as performance and, in consequence, follow Twitter users that demonstrate this vision. However, though users who show a vision of ascriptive politics as perfection have a lower number of followers, they also show a higher capacity for amplification of their message, that is to say, higher efficacy in communicating their opinions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since 1939, a large community of Spanish immigrants began to enter Venezuela, initially occupying in the majority of the cases low-skilled jobs, then moving up in their jobs, or venturing to create businesses on their own, many of which, in the course of some years, they would become successful companies that have represented a significant contribution to the advancement of the Venezuelan economy. Reconstructing the process of insertion of Spanish immigrants in Venezuela is the objective of this article in which the policies of promotion of immigration since the second half of the thirties and the development of agricultural colonies and other economic activities are analyzed. Finally, reference is made to a series of representative cases of this migratory flow that allows to outline a significant dimension of business history in Venezuela. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The conflict that Venezuela is going through has led some of its inhabitants to decide to migrate out of the country, of which a significant portion due to its geographical proximity has been established in Colombia, which implies a series of challenges for both the citizens and the citizens. governmental estates (as it was for more than three decades and until a few years ago for the neighboring country). This process of high immigration involves activating planning mechanisms to face the demands of attention in different areas. This article addresses two priority fields in the living conditions of the inhabitants of any territory, such as health and education. In this way, in this article a balance and analysis of public policy is made regarding the integration of Venezuelan immigrants in Colombia, through a systematic review of the policies and regulations existing in the country in contrast with the indicators of the Migrant Integration Policy (MIPEX, 2015). Although the migratory phenomenon is recent, the analysis recognizes that some instances of Colombia have tried to implement an effective public policy, which contributes to an adequate integration of the Venezuelan immigrant population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main objective of this article is to identify the migratory tactics used by Haitian immigrants to arrive at Venezuela. Based on this premise, it has been decided to use the theory of migratory networks as an explanatory corpus of the processes and not processes that derive from an emigration trip. In methodological terms, the research was based on ethnography as a tool of inquiry, being put into practice two of its main techniques, namely: interviews in-depth and direct observation. The results obtained show powerful migratory networks anchored in Venezuela for more than forty years, and that among other characteristics, have been articulating through family, friends and religious institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Testimony based on personal, subjective, partial, inevitably biased, memory. As every field of knowledge, the delimitation of the social studies of science and technology or STS studies obeyed to intentions of separation, autonomization of a sphere of reflection relative to neighbouring fields. In these notes I roughly sketch the development of the international context of the social studies of science in the first and second halves of the 20th century until the 1970s and the early growth of the field in Venezuela. I briefly review the evolution of the themes and theoretical perspectives and conclude with a brief epilogue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is done a critical retrospective review of what has been the path of the urban sociology in Venezuela in the last twentyfive years (1990-2016). In the available space for it only we can show the thick lines of his path in this period, to which we add some elements of what we characterize as the most wide area of the urban investigation, which if we do not consider her, would make the investigation incomplete on the urban Venezuelan phenomenon and the investigatory practice in the matter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents a balance short of the sociology of work in Venezuela during the past 25 years. Research in this period was oriented towards the areas of trade unionism, labour relations, the labour market, the Organization of production and work, gender and work; mostly dealing with the issues arising from the economic situation, at the beginning and for example: the internal crisis of the trade unions, their partidizacion; the labor flexibilization, precariousness of employment, then the strategy of ignorance of the working actor, outsourcing, among other issues. Identifies the academic spaces and institutions where running studies and the training, professorships and postgraduate programmes linked to the labour problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article points out some of the most important features of the Sociology of Education: its various dimensions, its history, the topics that has privileged, its main exponents, its insertion in Venezuela as a specialized field of sociology. The theoretical background of discipline is briefly described; highlighting the most important authors, as well as the evolution of the main issues that are currently present in the Sociology of Education. It briefly describes the situation in Latin America, highlighting the impact of Sociology of Higher Education. Finally, some of the features and authors of the Sociology of Education in Venezuela are indicated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides a progress report on the coming of a dialogic and critical sociologist in Venezuelan sociology. It paper studies the case of the historical evolution of sociological formation at the Universidad Central de Venezuela and its link with the recent contemporary social theory in relation to the postmodernism and critical theories of Habermas, Wallerstein and postcolonialism thought. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyzes the effect of consumption of news about lack of security, crime and the overwhelming effect on becoming a victim of crime (fear of crime). For this, a sample of 199 students from the Universidad de Los Andes in Merida, Venezuela was used. The results of this study indicates that students get their news through TV and the press on events primarily related to crime, that levels of fear of becoming a victim are significant, and there is also, a positive and significant relationship between these levels and consumption of news related to lack of security and crime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is proposed to discuss the relationship between inequality and violence in the case of Venezuela. While a vast literature has established a close link between the two variables, in the Venezuelan case, where in recent years the social indicators have improved substantially as homicide rates soar, this association seems questionable. From fieldwork in two Caracas neighborhoods with high levels of armed violence and a prison in a central country region, it is suggested that the targeted social policies, although have improved the living conditions of disadvantaged social groups, have also contributed to the emergence of new social divisions within the working class, differentiating between sectors that have achieved better positions and others who are being relegated. In addition, even with higher income and cash flow, significant asymmetries persist in relation to other capitals such as social relationships or the cultural and political capital. These new inequalities refract to inclusion policies and ways of measuring social distance, allow not only explain the intra violence that has grown over the years, but to account for new forms of social organization and new cleavages affecting working classes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article approaches description and analysis of prívate surveillance, coercion issues, typology and ways for expression, as scope and implications nowadays in Venezuela, a reflection which is part of a research project aimed to categorize and to explain the range of measures for protection, in the continuum of formal an informal control, as a response to perceived or real assessed needs among the population, and as a way to gather resources and to generate self employment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims to analyze certain characteristics of the Venezuelan democratic transformation during the Presidency of Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías, particularly from 2002 onwards and with a specific focus on the emergence of barrio women in the new participatory structures. There will be particular attention to the mechanisms enhancing local political participation and social inclusion through the Community Councils (ConsejosComunales) and the Social Battle Rooms (Salas de Batalla Social). Within these instances barrio women had increasingly discovered their own space for individual and collective empowerment. barrio women's participation in such instances frames a process of gender equality based in scale complementarity in which the structures of macro-politics more dominated by men, while those of micro-politics are generally subjugated by barrio women. In this study barrio women's instances of micro-politics will be conceptualized in terms of insurgent citizenship. The article connects thus to theoretical debates on radical participatory democracy, State-society relations, and the empowerment of barrio women that previously were excluded from the public sphere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Integration processes require the establishment of a subject that enables the necessary consensus for integrationist advances. In a region where integration processes are organized by inter-governmentalism, the establishment of a central axis, formed by the most important countries, is fundamental for concrete progress. Unlike the triad of Argentina, Brazil and Chile (ABC) conceived by some during the twentieth century, what is observed today is the structuring of a new regional motor in South America formed by Argentina, Brazil and Venezuela. This paper examines the scenario and possible formation of a "shared hegemony" in order to investigate the possibilities and importance of composing a new integrationist motor in South America, formed by Argentina, Brazil and Venezuela: the ABV. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study develops, in a broad manner, the contribution of Eco-Health, based on two application experiences carried out in two different spheres of action: school and community. In each one, the objectives, methodologies, operationalization, results, discussion or conclusions are explained, highlighting each actor that intervenes in the different experiences, as well as the importance of involving the population that suffers directly from the diseases transmitted by vectors, in this particular case, dengue. Fur ther more, visual recordings of the work developed by the participants for the two experiences are included (drawings, maps), where they were able to identify aspects of interest related to maps and health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reviews the police reform process in Venezuela since the establishment of the National Police ReformCommission in 2006 until the development of the General Police Council in 2009, discussing the background, the suppositions of fact and law and general directives for the new police model and its manifestation in ministerial laws and resolutions produced since then. It highlights the particular dynamic of the Commission that achieved integrating diagnostics with political recommendations due to co-participation of the commissioners in diverse tasks and the fluidity and transparency of information, emphasizing their influence on later processes leading to the formulation of public policies and suggesting assessment of these processes for institutional change on a broader horizon than that which is linked to changes in the political platforms of government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the ways that members of Venezuela's popular classes confront the lack of citizen security is through the religious beliefs, discourses and the practices of Evangelical Christianity, as well as the alternative social network it provides. Becoming Evangelical provides a way to step out of the logic of vendetta (la culebra), which in normal circumstances would oblige a person to perpetrate violence. The practice of conspicuous Bible-toting signals that a person is not a threat and is protected by God. And the practice of preaching and evangelizing provides Evangelicals with a way to engage attackers. These findings underscore the important local knowledge that members of the popular sectors have about crime and violence and the creativity they have in designing strategies for confronting it. These findings provide support for public policy initiatives that seek to remedy crime and violence through the participation and initiative of the popular sectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper advances the concept of "phobic imaginaries" to address representations that respond to the social anxiety generated by new social subjects and practices in contemporary Venezuela. Conclusions are that these responses reveal an inability to assimilate and contain new elements in a social body that display their agency in contentious ways, while promoting their visibility and life interests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An ethnographic research proposal was constructed to study the way of life in the El Chaparral, community (Venezuela). It starts from a flexible theoretical and methodological reference, problematized and enriched by field work. This helps to understand the social reality, since it begins from a perspective which shows that communities possess local knowledge related to their particular history and linked to global scenarios. From there, it arrives at a set of final reflections, establishing that the ethnographic perspective facilitates approaching the community and knowing its reality by understanding its speech and practical actions "framed" in socio-structural and sociosymbolic contexts. In this research, scientificity, reasonableness, relevance and subjectivity predominate as criteria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lifestyles or "subcultures," are social processes that include traditions, behaviors, beliefs and thoughts of people or population groups who share the same habitat and are influenced by the community context. For people with Chagas disease in its chronic form, these processes are the consequence of the risk of exposure to factors that determine this disease, since for many years, man has invaded the natural spaces of the vector and used materials for building his house that are ideal nests for these insects; furthermore, men have kept animals close to their homes. The precarious conditions of sanitation and the lack of adequate information are part of some of these factors which make man susceptible to this disease. The purpose of this study was to identify the lifestyles of individuals from rural, semi-urban and urban areas diagnosed with Chagas disease in its chronic phase. The research had a qualitative design in the ethnographic mode, using in-depth interviews with seven key informants, who, through their testimony, made it possible to identify: categories related to housing during their childhood and youth; beliefs about the disease; the lifestyles adopted; and their interaction with health personnel. The need to develop educational activities and information strategies became apparent, in terms of incorporating the subjects in analyzing and understanding the disease that affects them and modifying behavior that favors maintaining their health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to establish a link between participation assessment from the viewpoint of the subject, and the variables of socioeconomic strata and residence in the Zulian capital, as an operationalization of the aspects of "capacities" and "opportunities conditioned by urban development," respectively, aspects developed in the theory of human and endogenous development. As a framework for analysis, a general characterization of the sociopolitical dimension of Venezuela is established, emphasizing clientelism as a constant that produces vertical instigated participation (Meister) instead of self-reliant participation (Max-Neef). The assessment was developed through consultation of 10 Lickert-type items and the respective categorization of the participation assessments into positive (autonomy and self-reliance), negative (dependence on State power) and neutral categories. The main results of the investigation are: 1) participation assessment varies according to socioeconomic strata; 2) participation assessment varies in lower-income strata according to whether people reside in the capital area or not; 3) the intensity of positive and negative participation assessments by these lower-income strata is high; 4) there is a tendency towards positive participation assessment by stratum A; 5) there is a uniformity of neutral positions in the middle class strata, as well as among those who do not reside in the state capital. The study proves that in the State of Zulia, a participation assessment exists based on "dependence on State power" that coexists with another positive (endogenous) assessment of participation oriented towards development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rise of government with a leftist proposal during the last decade, in the midst of serious conditions of violence and crime in the region, would suppose the challenge of redefining terms of the debate about citizen safety in Latin America, recovering their interrelation with societal projects and distancing them from the previous reduction to mere management. The way in which the left in power faces the problem of insecurity would permit restating the connection between security and politics, frequently denied by hegemonic discourses on the topic. The case of Venezuela, so marked by political confrontation and severe problems of crime, illustrates ways in which security is transformed into discourse and political practice, at the same time that it permits situating some of the themes for treatment attributed to it from both the left and the right. This study reviews part of the discourses of the Chavez government and the opposition regarding insecurity in order to identify the recurring themes for each actor. In the Chavist discourse, security is a secondary matter and understood as a subsidiary to problems such as social inclusion, human rights, participation and "ideology." For the opposition, on the other hand, insecurity becomes a central, recurrent theme making it possible to propose the need for a new social consensus that sorts out political and social differences, such as denouncing the Chavist project not only for its inability to solve the problem, but also for favoring and stimulating crime and violence as an effect of its own position on the subject. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study analyzes, from a semiotic standpoint, the ideology behind media discourse on violence and death through its social representation in Mi Diario, one of Venezuela's most popular newspapers, specializing in reports on accidents and deaths. The work is based on the theoretic contributions of Imbert (2003, 2004), Pinto (2003), Rincón (2002) and others. Finol's Semiotic Model (2009) was applied, which consists of 1) the language level, including verbal language, color scheme, layout and photographs and 2) the semantic level, which studies the uniform reading of discourse. A typical month was analyzed, and the sample consisted of editions selected at random between 2007 and 2008, as well as 2009. Conclusions are that: 1) The current discourse about accidents and deaths has a communicative strategy of naturalizing violence and yields to the logic of the media entertainment industry; 2) It reflects an imaginary in which real violence and symbolized violence coexist as a previous stage to annulling social fear; 3) It promotes a simulation that culminates in communicative closure at the fringe of all rationality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this essay is to explain an ethnographic-hermeneutic study about discursive temporality and Venezuelan common sense, experienced during a series of bus trips during the 1990s, when the author travelled regularly to the city of Caracas. From an intimate, phenomenological psychosocial perspective, a discourse analysis model (Parker, 1995) is used, which fosters investigating the world of Venezuelan life starting from social semiosis and the common practices of people recorded in a "non place" (Augé, 1993), the limited functional space, ergonomically designed for inter-urban public transport: a Pullman bus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article deals with the proposals and strategic issues indicated in National Development Plans and Presidential discourses at the beginning and end of each presidential period over the last two decades, in order to determine trends, coincidences and omissions, as well as the initial vision of the national Executive regarding public safety and its assessment toward the end of each Presidential term. It was noted that the proposals are not based on supported diagnoses and do not seem to generate consistent policies for execution and follow-up related to the themes proposed at the beginning and end of each presidential term. Likewise, no integration was observed among different government agencies and other State powers for executing the proposed plans and policies, nor was there useful data for assessing the outcomes. The study suggests performing sectorial assessments based on the plans' contents to generate data that will permit determining the impact and fulfilling the rhetoric that often underlies their formulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The State of Roraima, situated in the Amazon region of Brazil at the frontier with Venezuela and the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, is considered one of the main areas for trafficking women for commercial sexual exploration and other unlawful activities. Flows of the aforementioned illegal network will become even stronger after paving highway BR-174, the road that connects Manaus with Venezuela, which will empower these practices, exacerbated by the ease with which people can enter and leave the country by land. In fact, this study details the socio-spatial interactions taking place around the BR-174 highway (Brazil) and Branch Road 10 (Venezuela), in terms of activities for prostitution and the trafficking of women within the framework of illegal activity networks at the border. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article states that automation of the Venezuelan electoral system makes it prone to being audited; furthermore, it mentions how the different audits applied guarantee legitimacy of the process. The audits seek to generate confidence in the platform and the automated system; paradoxically, that security rests on the guarantee of the assessments. For this reason, the suspicions that could exist regarding electronic voting find in the different audits, a mechanism for their elimination, because in Venezuela, the vote is completely auditable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]