Paper short abstract:

This paper discusses the tensions arising from the state-led implementation of a national food system in Venezuela based on principles of social and economic justice on the needs and desires of its citizens.

Paper long abstract:

When Hugo Chavez became President of Venezuela in 1999 he re-configured the nation's identity to align with the newly instated Bolivarian Principles: to assert independence from corporate control, and to put in place strategies and infrastructure towards goals of equality, social inclusion, shared wealth and resources, endogenous development and participatory democracy. This shift from a capitalist to socialist economy sought to empower the previously marginalised majority poor and to celebrate the strengths of 'el pueblo', the people. Food sovereignty was one such pathway to attain these goals - to provide equitable food access by establishing multi-tiered, decentralized strategies supported by legislation to encompass aspects of land reform, agro-ecology, and equitable access for food for all. However, these aspirational political strategies overlay a country that remained both connected to its past and to the pulls of a global capitalist economy. This paper examines the tensions experienced from the assertion of a state-led food program over a country struggling to meet the needs and desires of its citizens. It emerges from ethnographic research conducted from 2009 to 2013 across Venezuela.