Modern Venezuelan history, according to “Chavism”
On the backside of the book, there is a list of names of the people who gave birth to the so-called Bicentennial Collection—the series of textbooks that have been distributed in public schools by the government across Venezuela.
At the top of the list is the late President Hugo Chávez, followed by his appointed successor, the current President Nicolás Maduro. Then appear the names of the education minister, deputy ministers, and other officials, who have been responsible for promoting “Chavism” – the philosophy that Chávez had touted as a continuation of the pro-independence movement of 19th-century liberator Simón Bolívar.
In the book, The History of Contemporary Venezuela, a required text for high school students, the first chapter reads: “When we enter the second half of the 21st century, we will begin talking about a modernized Venezuelan society, whose roots were based on the American style that came from the United States of America from 1824. We bring up this fact so that the reader can become aware of its reappearance in the following pages within the framework of Venezuela’s foreign trade relations.”
This sentence sets the stage for the entire 272-page book, which was first published in 2011 and updated this year for a third time. The textbook is one of about 70 written by the authors of the Bicentennial Collection, a series that is required reading from first grade through to graduation in Venezuelan public schools.
http://elpais.com/elpais/2013/12/26/inenglish/1388088444_318642.html