[Excerpt] One of the main issues in recent years for those desiring profound social transformation – especially in Latin America – has been the question of taking power. Should we to some extent collaborate with State institutions, or should we reject any involvement with them? We can define these general visions respectively, grosso modo, as “top down” (desde arriba) and “bottom up” (desde abajo).

With the rise of Comandante Hugo Chavez Frıas to the presidency at the beginning of 1999, there began in Venezuela a process of deep social transformation guided by a broad Left ranging from social democrats, revolutionary nationalists, developmentalists, and socialists, to different currents of the revolutionary Left and various popular movements. This confluence of “top down” and “bottom up” approaches, generally considered incompatible, required all the Left forces to rethink various questions. These include the State, the economy, participation, democracy, and strategies and paths of social transformation.