Haiman El Troudi - Venezuela
Who is Haiman El Troudi? He is Venezuela's new planning minister.
Why watch him? El Troudi will be responsible for the planning ministry as President Hugo Chávez enters a "new phase" in his administration, aimed at "revising, rectifying and giving new impetus" to his political project. This follows a year of setbacks for Chávez , marked by increasing inflation and his defeat in the referendum over his constitutional amendment proposals - his first defeat in a popular vote since coming to power in 19998. Significantly, El Troudi claims to have a view of socialism that is "non-populist, not adverse to popular participation, non-centralist, not based on a single-party ruling, non-military and not a believer in exporting its model". These are opposite characteristics of the model Chávez 's detractors say he is trying to implement in Venezuela and other countries in Latin America.
Born: 1970.
Place of Birth: Barinas, Venezuela.
Educated: El Troudi graduated in systems engineering and is a lecturer and researcher at the Centro Internacional Miranda, an academic institution linked to the Venezuelan education ministry that is made up of leftwing ideologues and former guerrilla fighters from Latin America and the US.
Public Life: A member of Chávez 's Movimiento V República, El Troudi first came to prominence when he co-founded and lectured at the Instituto Universitario de Tecnología de Barinas in 2001. After that he held many posts in the Chávez administration, the most important of which so far was secretary of the Maisanta National Command during the presidential recall referendum of 2004. He is the author of several books on socialism and Chávez 's "Bolivarian Revolution".
Time Line:
2001:
Co-founded the left-leaning Instituto Universitario de Tecnología de Barinas.
2002-2003:
Aide to the planning and development minister.
2003-2004:
Director of planning at the ministry of communication and information.
2004:
Secretary of the Maisanta National Command.
2005-2006:
Director of the Presidential Office.
2006-2007:
Lecturer and researcher at the Centro Internacional Miranda.
6 January 2008: Appointed planning
minister.
Strengths: El Troudi is a member Chávez 's inner circle (not least because they were both born in the state of Barinas) and as such may have more space to implement his ideas than his predecessor at the planning ministry, Jorge Giordani. Despite his Marxist background, he claims to believe that he does "not want to repeat" the mistakes made in planned economies of socialist states. This would appear to fit in perfectly with Chávez 's declaration that he would "apply the brakes" in his plans to implement socialism in Venezuela.
Weaknesses: Despite his academic and junior cabinet member background, many doubt that El Troudi has sufficient expertise to head the planning of Venezuela's economy at a time of persistent high inflation, food shortages and decreasing manufacturing and agricultural production. For many, El Troudi is a "vague ideologist" who claims to experiment with new methodologies but remains in reality a Marxist radical.
Prospects: El Troudi once declared that "the people are better planners than the best planner of the government or academia". This suggests that he could take a more laissez-faire approach towards price controls - a strategy employed by his predecessors, which has not only failed to curb inflation but is also said to have contributed to the short supply of goods. At the same time, the declaration would appear to contradict the principles behind the traditional socialist economic system and belittle his own position as head of the planning ministry. In order to be successful, El Troudi will most likely have to adopt policies that are closer to the same free-market capitalist practices which Chávez has attacked in past. While this may attract middle class support for the coming October general elections, as Chávez hopes, it could shun leftwing supporters. Yet all this depends on whether El Troudi really is a new socialist or, as critics say, just a man of empty words.