The MVR was created 27 years ago: a revolutionary party that opened the transformation of popular democracy

Published at: 21/10/2024 08:01 AM

On October 21, 1997, the Fifth Republic Movement (MVR) was created to participate in the presidential electoral processes of 1998.

Commander Hugo Chávez headed the general direction of the movement, which was made up of left-wing civilians, soldiers, unions, workers and political actors who wanted a change in the national political scene.

The forerunner of the MVR was the Bolivarian Revolutionary Movement 200 (MBR-200), which within the ranks of the Army brought together the middle and lower levels of the Venezuelan Armed Forces of the time, who were unhappy with the economic crisis, the constant violation of national sovereignty and the repression against the people during the government of Carlos Andrés Pérez (CAP).

The CAP administration led to the rebellions of 1992, which resulted in the political-partisan divide that had been developing since the 80s.

The strength and drag of the MVR with Commander Chávez at the helm achieved victory in the presidential elections of December 6, 1998 with 56.20 percent of the votes.

In this regard, the political scientist and professor at the Bolivarian University of Venezuela Carolina Escarrà, in a telephone interview with Telesur in 2015, said that “what mobilized the Venezuelan people towards the MVR was the political proposal of President Chávez and with the call to the Constituent Assembly she demonstrated that this offer involved the transformation of the Venezuelan institutional structure and, of course, the charism of the Commander, his sincerity and detachment from the parties traditional ended up breaking the weak credibility of AD and Copei before citizens”.

The ideology of this movement was based on the thinking of Simon Bolivar, Ezequiel Zamora and Simon Rodriguez, the Tree of the Three Roots, as President Chávez explained at the time.

The MVR was the project that Chávez and his collaborators worked on since the 90s to change and refound the State with the intention of bringing to Venezuelans, through the enactment of a new Constitution, social benefits that would allow a better quality of life and give power to that people who were oppressed during the years of AD and Copei government.

The MVR was the most voted party in the country from 1998 to 2007 (a new Venezuelan political phase called the Bolivarian Revolution), when it was dissolved to give way to the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), an organization that has been winning overwhelming electoral victories since it was made official.

Mazo News Team