page_title: Colectivo (Venezuela)
section_title: Education
hierarchical_section_title: Colectivo (Venezuela) / Social effects / Education
caption_attribution_description: English: Children of the La Piedrita Colectivo receiving awards at the Palacio Municipal de Caracas.
context_page_description: Colectivos are irregular, leftist Venezuelan community organizations that support Nicolás Maduro, the Bolivarian government, the Great Patriotic Pole political alliance and the party, the United Socialist Party of Venezuela. Colectivo has become an umbrella term for armed paramilitary groups that operate in poverty-stricken areas and attack individuals, engaging in "extortion, kidnapping, drug trafficking and murder". They are associated with extrajudicial killings and terrorizing those who disagree with them.
  The term may also refer to a community organization with any shared purpose, such as a neighborhood group that organizes social events. Some colectivos began by doing community work or helping with social programs in barrios, and their members said they promoted democracy, political activism and culture.
  As of 2019, there are dozens of colectivos in Venezuela. In 2018, InSight Crime reported 46 groups in one barrio, 23 de Enero, alone. They operate in 16 Venezuelan states, controlling about 10% of Venezuelan cities.
context_section_description: As of 2013, colectivos ran education initiatives. According to Ennio Cardozo, a professor of political science at the Central University of Venezuela, colectivos "do talks, forums and they indoctrinate very young kids into Marxism. The government finances all this. But if you don't agree with them they will shut you out from most of the social programs until you give allegiance to the (socialist) party." The president of the School of Teachers in Tachira, Javier Tarazona, stated that the Venezuelan government encouraged the participation of guerrillas and colectivos in schools and that their involvement allegedly "promotes violence, confrontation and, if necessary, war".
  The president of the Venezuelan Chamber of Private Education, María Teresa Hernández, declared in 2014 that Resolution 058 passed in 2012 by the government was unconstitutional and that it "seeks for colectivos with political projects of the ruling party to be directly involved in public and private schools". She stated that schoolchildren are "very easy to manipulate" and need to develop political beliefs on their own. Article 102, for example, states that "Education, is a public service, and is grounded on the respect for all currents of thought".
caption: Children of the La Piedrita colectivo receiving awards at the Palacio Municipal de Caracas.
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