Catia TV

Wilfredo spoke to us.
He told us the story of Catia TV.
It has been running for many years, for 16 years as an illegal station, and it has been legal for the past 5 years.

It began with a group of youngsters in the 80s, who were broadcasting with a 16mm camera.
They also played films on the barrio basketball court. They showed Mexican dramas because they exemplified and drama they were experiencing.
They began broadcasting out of an asylum that was in their barrio, where there was a cultural house that served as a space for them.
They began interviewing their elders, who were afraid of the cameras at first due to the reprisals in the past. In order to get the people talking, they would ask them questions about baseball games, specific ones in the past, and they would loosen up and speak about other events that had occurred in that time.
They would project movies and baseball games, and then show footage of the interviews. The neighborhood was only 153 families, but we competed with the commercial stations because people wanted to see themselves.
“Then we began to dream about creating a community TV station. People like to see themselves, we knew that.”
Now they have community teams of audio visual production, and they give workshops to other communities.
Their motto is “Don’t watch TV, come and make it.”
“Today we are networking with 45 community TV stations.”


Nucleus of Endogenous Development
The area was a PDVSA filling station. Because of population growth, this space was abandoned as a filling station. In 2003 it was agreed that homes would be built here.
“We have a textile factory, shoe factory, which are both coops.
We have the two fazes of Barrio Adentro health clinics, and we will be building a library info center, sports court, and much more.
There will be a school of construction that teaches building with more economic materials. There will be a Bolivarian School ( I am not sure it is a university or what level), there will be a day care center for children of the workers.
All on 12 hectors of land, this is the first project of it’s kind.

The textile factory named Venezuela Advances
Is a factory for shirts and other clothes, has 154 workers, only 3 are men.
All of these women took classes at Mission Vuelvan Caracas.
The make school and military uniforms, shirts and aprons, that they are contracted to make.
Before this project, the majority of these women were unskilled. They are all different ages. “We are all the owners. All of the ideas and decisions are decided upon all together, as an assembly.”
They got a loan from the government, (probably PDVESA) for 1 billion bolivares. It is not all spent yet. PDVESA also pays for their rent and electricity.
“We are divided into sections of work, there is not an overseer.”
They have been operating for 2 years. They are looking forward to entering into a South American bartering trade system/ organization- Mercosur.