Chavista Minister: We Don’t Want People to Become Middle Class, Lest They Become Opponents

Español Venezuela’s Education Minister, Hector Rodríguez, said the government has a plan to bring Venezuelans out of poverty, but he added during his speech that he hopes they don’t become middle class and political opponents of the regime.

“Not that we are going to get people out of poverty and bring them into the middle class,” he said, “so that later they aspire to become ‘escuálidos’ [a popular Chavista term for political opponents].”

Minister Rodríguez was speaking at a high-level workshop held in Caracas, within the framework of the Campaign to Eradicate Extreme Poverty.

“President Chávez always said it’s not enough to shoot, one should also make sure that the shot hits the target.” With this metaphor, the minister referred to the official goal of lifting people out of poverty, but accompanying the process with “lots of political organization, much debate,” so that people, once they belong to the middle class, don’t become opponents of the regime.

Source: El Comercio.