Politics
Advocating the new phase of the Bolivarian Revolution, in 2009-2019, Venezuela's President Hugo Chávez, addressed the country in a nationwide mandatory broadcast on all free-to-air TV and radio channels, and announced that his government plans to invest "USD 100 billion over the next four years." The main goal of such funds, according to the ruler, is "to continue promoting social and productive development."

Without directly naming the draft constitutional amendment promoted by his United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), the National Assembly and the president himself, Chávez said "we have saved Venezuela and we have been called to continue saving our country." 

Chávez said that officials with previous administrations at this time "would be simply selling the remains of the country." He added that Venezuelan authorities in the past would have made moves similar to those ordered by the International Monetary Fund and economic prescriptions that would have affected the country.

According to the head of state, when he took office at the end of the 90's, Venezuela was in the midrange of the Human Development Index (HDI), at 0.77 in a 0 to 1 scale. Today, a decade into his revolution, Venezuela's HDI is 0.8263, which ranks the country in the upper range of such indicator.

On the other hand, Chávez said that in 1998 extreme poverty was above 20 percent and at the end of 2007 it declined to 9.5 percent. "A reduction higher than 50 percent... Never in the history of Venezuela has our country experienced such profound changes. This is only possible thanks to the revolution," said the Venezuelan president.