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<h1 class="title">Venezuelans Protest Privatisation of Social
Housing as Parliament Approves in First Discussion</h1>
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<p class="byline"> By <span class="author">Rachael Boothroyd
Rojas and Jonas Holldack </span> </p>
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<p class="p1">Caracas, January 30th 2016<br>
</p>
<p class="p1">Venezuelan housing rights groups took to the streets
of Caracas on Thursday to reject the political opposition’s plans
to privatise social housing.</p>
<p class="p1">Since launching its housing "mission" or program in
2012, the Bolivarian government, together with communities, has
built more than 1 million homes for some of Venezuela’s poorest
families. </p>
<p class="p2">But the recently built social housing is now under
threat of being sold off, thanks to a motion pledging to privatise
the houses introduced by the newly elected opposition-controlled
National Assembly early in January. </p>
<p class="p1">Dubbed the Law for the Award of Property Deeds to the
Beneficiaries of the Venezuelan Great Housing Mission (GMVV), the
legislation was approved by parliament in initial discussions on
Thursday. It will now go to second discussion where it will likely
be passed. </p>
<p class="p1">“The majority opposition assembly is defending the
rights of the banks, the construction and property lobbies that
have been hit hard,” said marcher Kristal V, a member of the
Pioneers Movement, to Venezuelanalysis. </p>
<p class="p1">“Nobody is going to privatise our right to housing,
our right to be a socialist community. Today we are fighting for
the right to urban soil,” she added. </p>
<p class="p1">The new law follows an opposition win at the country’s
National Assembly elections on December 6th last year - when
legislators affiliated to the Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD)
swept a two-thirds majority <span class="s1">for the first time in
over seventeen years.</span></p>
<p class="p1">The new majority allows opposition legislators to pass
national legislation virtually unopposed in parliament and has led
to a stand-off between the Bolivarian government and opposition
controlled legislature.</p>
<p class="p1">On Thursday, protesters took to the streets to lend
support to the government against the new legislators. They said
the law was a direct attempt to eliminate the hard fought right to
public housing in Venezuela. </p>
<p class="p1">“The approval of this law would be a huge setback to
the advances made by the state to ensure the right to housing,”
Juan Carlos R of the Settler’s Movement explained to
Venezuelanalysis. </p>
<p class="p1">“We poor people do not need a house as a piece of
merchandise, we need it to live in! It’s the bourgeoisie that has
two or three houses which they buy and sell for business,” he
added. </p>
<p class="p1">The mastermind behind the law, MUD legislator Julio
Borges, has said that the new legislation will give residents the
official property titles to the houses, allowing them to sell the
state-built homes on the private market. </p>
<p class="p1">Until now, GMVV residents have been granted a Deed of
Use legal document which gives them the right to the houses for
life - but the homes can only be sold under specific circumstances
and not on the private market. </p>
<p class="p1">The opposition move has been vehemently attacked by
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who has vowed to block the
legislation. He told opposition legislators that they would “have
to overthrow” him in order to pass the motion in his annual state
of union address. </p>
<p class="p1">Maduro’s government has promised to build millions
more public homes for the approximately 50% of the population that
currently lives in makeshift houses in the country’s shantytowns -
also known as barrios. </p>
<p class="p1">For Borges, however, it’s not the role of legislators
“to build houses”. </p>
<p class="p1">“My role is to give ideas for people to progress, and
to that end we are doing what is correct.” </p>
<p class="p1">“There is no explanation why the executive would deny
something that is as important to Venezuelan families, such as
having the full deeds to the property they live in. Something that
will mean that families can progress, inherit and sell these
houses if they want to keep progressing,” stated Borges. </p>
<p class="p1">But the government and social movements argue that the
homes should not have a speculative value, but rather remain as
houses destined for families in need. </p>
<p class="p1">“They (the opposition) never supported the project of
the GMVV, they protested when the state took over urban soil for
construction and now their mouths are filled with hypocritical
lies about democratising the right to housing. They never built a
single home, and now they want to capitalise on this project,”
explained Kristal. </p>
<p class="p1">For many other marchers on Thursday, the proposed law
also leaves a huge question mark hanging over what options will
remain for those Venezuelans who rely on the subsidised social
housing. </p>
<p class="p1">Many fear they will be unable to access the houses
once they are floated on the highly speculative and unaffordable
private housing market. </p>
<p class="p1">“They want to send us back to the hilltops, that’s
what they want,” said Ricardo Molina, who echoed several other
protesters in describing the law as an attempt to re-gentrify
exclusive areas of Caracas where blocks of social housing have
been built - to the dismay of many middle class voters. </p>
<p class="p1">On Thursday, MUD legislators made no reference to the
march, but confirmed that they will move ahead with the planned
legislation - despite government and social movement opposition. </p>
<p class="p1">If Maduro blocks the law, it will then be passed to
Venezuelan Supreme Court judges who will have to decide if it
potentially violates the constitution. </p>
<p class="p1">But social movements aren’t leaving the future of the
housing to chance, and they have pledged to continue resisting the
proposed legislation in the streets. </p>
<p class="p1">“We will take over all urban land if the opposition
nullify the laws,” stated Molina. </p>
<em>Reporting by Jonas Holldack. <br>
</em>
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