Tucked between the Essequibo River and Colombia, resting atop the overshadowing Latin American country of Brazil, lays Venezuela, a country Carles Muntaner has been keeping an eye on for the past 10 years.
In a presentation Monday evening to about 50 UF students and staff, Muntaner, a professor at the University of Toronto, described the ins and outs of Venezuela's Misión Barrio Adentro (Mission Inside the Neighborhood), a Bolivarian social welfare program established under current Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.
"The idea of this program is a social change," Muntaner said. "It's interconnected."
The program seeks to provide publicly funded education and health care to poor communities in Venezuela.
And the numbers may speak for themselves.
Under Misión Barrio Adentro, 2,000 heart surgeries were performed in Venezuela free of charge in 2008, Muntaner said. There was also a 7 percent increase in the health budget over the last three years.
But Muntaner isn't getting caught up on the numbers.
"These are just numbers," Muntaner said. "By themselves, they don't have meaning. It's about their indication."
These numbers indicate that there is a growth in the medical profession in Venezuela, he said, adding $22 million was invested in an oncology center in Lara.
Philip Williams, the director of the center of Latin American Studies, found Muntaner's evaluations relevant to current studies.
"I didn't know much about this program, so it was great to have an expert from Venezuela, who is also an expert on public health issues," Williams said.
But not everyone was content with the presentation.
Pepe Clavijo, a graduate student, shares a different story.
"I am Venezuelan," he said. "I lived their all my life. I've personally seen how all of this works, and it's nothing like what was presented."
Clavijo voiced his refutation to Muntaner during the presentation Q-and-A and was asked to discuss his questions directly with Muntaner during the reception.
Muntaner recognizes the controversial nature of the program, attributing it to the "typical rich against the poor" argument.
"It has the potential to be a very effective program," Muntaner said. "It's just the beginning."
