In the opinion of Defense Minister Carlos Mata Figueroa, the comprehensive plan on
military education is a paper for the army only (Photo: Angel Dejesús)

Interview

All that fuss over Resolution 017621 which contemplates the Comprehensive Plan on Military Education of the National Armed Forces (PIEM) does not matter a damn to General-in-chief Carlos Mata Figueroa, the Venezuelan Minister of Defense. "That is premised on our laws; it is still revised and it is an internal paper."

Major General Jesús Morao Gardona, the brand-new Vice-Minister of Education for Defense, joined the Defense Minister during an interview with daily newspaper El Universal to lobby for the military educational plan. "Nobody is talking about rifles in schools."

Some sectors claim that you purport to militarize children.
Carlos Mata Figueroa (CMF): Not at all. Such decree is based on our laws. People who talk about child soldiers, war ideology, are twisted minds. Pre-military training has been given here since the eighties.

In senior high school, though.
CMF: We have changed nothing about it.

Now, however, starts from elementary education.
CMF: This is being revised. Just as our commander-in-chief (President Hugo Chávez) talks about the three Rs, we are in constant review to improve. And we have improved indeed!

Will you revise the implementation of the PIEM in the elementary and higher educations?
CMF: This is being revised. It is an internal paper.

What about seeking advice from the sectors involved?
CMF: There is a committee, mostly composed of non-militaries. It includes the ministers of Higher Education and Education; vice-ministers; social areas and our vice-minister of Education.

Jesús Morao Gardona (JMG): Yes, this is ours. And we have a minister of Education, another of University Education. Clearly enough, they are the bodies responsible for it. Once it is defined, it will be released. There is not need to include anybody; this is rather our business. It forms part of a committee, the creation of which was ordered by President Hugo Chávez on November 24, 2009, to deal with the subject matter. (...) Nobody is talking about rifles in schools, or militias in schools. No, they are wrong. Once the committee does its work, we will submit it.

However, there is a proposal on education for defense in the first and second years.
JMG: This is being revised.

What is the proposal of the army -include or not include children?
CMF: We will do whatever the Ministry of Education dictates, because they are the governing body. We recommend some things; we cannot impose anything.

JMG: The committee is revising the plan. That committee will somewhat determine everything related to education which, some say, will indoctrinate children concerning weapons. No, the committee will just deal with the issue of turning children into better citizens; educate them on the Venezuelan State, democracy, nation, institutions, constituent elements of an organization inside the country. There are not weapons.

That, in the past, used to be social, moral and civic education. Why should the military take part in it?
JMG: It is a comprehensive plan for military education (...) It does not mean that we will give arms to the people; the people should know what a State does. If you are to defend anything, you need to know about it, love it. It is true, we were taught social, moral and civic lessons. This is somewhat more than that. The committee likely will result in knowledge by kids about their flag, their anthem. Is that militarizing the people to carry a rifle on their shoulders?

Criticism is made about the militias giving the training.
JMG: It is not this way. Comprehensive defense is not like they see it. They regard militias as if they were armed.

Some say that President Chávez gave strength to militias for being afraid of middle ranks inside the army in the event of not recognizing the results of the presidential election in 2012.
CMF: That is untrue. He who thinks about it does not know what he is saying. You cannot compare a skilled, regulated army with the militias, which just complement the army in the so-called comprehensive defense of the nation. One of our main strengths in the new military doctrine is that the people's war will last according to the invader. Our militias would play a key role there. But in an ordinary war, the army takes the lead. Militias have not arms. We do have the arms.

Translated by Conchita Delgado

Source: ElUniversal.com