Chávez calls his vision '21st century socialism'. The vice minister of planning 'Rafael Lander' announced that the government's goal is to create a place where there is no inequality, where everyone has an equal voice.

At a cost of 145 million US dollars, the new city will have space for up to 100.000 residents. It will have its own radio station and newspaper. The community will be ecologically sound and self-sustaining. There will be parks, a university and medical clinics. The most important feature however, is the significant number of community councils that will be organised around groups of housing complexes.

Even though the government is optimistic about this grand vision, others have little faith it will be successful. A history professor at the Catholic University Andres Bello in Caracas states: "just as 21st-century socialism has no clear definition, neither do these new societies. These social projects of Chávez come from utopian ideas from his imagination."

The government dismisses criticism of Caribia as just another battle between pro- and anti Chávez forces. Yet many questions remain. The project was announced nearly a year and a half ago, but not a single apartment building yet stands, for example.

Source: The Christian Science Monitor