Venezuela´s New Independence Day
Venezuela celebrates the 195th anniversary of her independence Tuesday amid a transformation process that President Hugo Chávez identifies with the principles of the 19th century struggles led by Simón Bolívar.

Supported by an abundance of natural resources, including the largest oil reserve in the world, Chávez has initiated a series of changes toward a more equitable distribution of these riches among the nearly 80 percent of the population still living in poverty.

Social programs to combat the legacy of poverty, illiteracy and unemployment in this petroleum-rich country are indications of an embryonic 21st century socialism, the Venezuelan president explained.

Using profits from the sale of three million barrels of oil daily, Venezuela's "missions" begin today, for the first time in the history of the country, to concretely benefit her marginalized sectors.

The two-year Robinson Mission, in the process of concluding, has taught 1.5 million adults learn to read, while Robinson Mission II will help those without prior opportunity to study to reach a sixth grade level, and the Ribas and Sucre programs are concentrating on university education.

The health mission, Barrio Adentro, has brought free medical attention to marginalized areas, while more than 600,000 unemployed Venezuelans receiving training from Vuelvan Caras (About Face) Mission to become incorporated into national production, chiefly in cooperatives.

In his official speech Monday evening, Chávez called on soldiers to support the transformation and reunification of the national Armed Forces (FAN) and to "keep pace with the country's institutional transformations" that he called the "Bolivarian Revolution," referring to the ideas of the Liberator.

July 5 is commemorated as Venezuela's Independence Day because on that day the First Venezuelan Congress solemnly declared its emancipation.