Latin American greetings from Caracas, Venezuela, home of Escinetv School of Film and Television, a private company. These times of pandemic resulted in widespread adoption of online education, allowing for convergence among all countries and cultures, as we are all on same level. Barriers between Latin American countries have diminished considerably, and in terms of physical presence, given the specific political and economic situation in Venezuela, many of our compatriots emigrated to Argentina. There, they had the opportunity to support presidential candidacy of Javier Milei, who promised during his campaign libertarian policies to privatize a number of public companies that, in his opinion, were unnecessary, most notably Ministry of Education and Ministry of Health. In Argentine president’s view, education and healthcare can be better served by private companies, and many Venezuelans in both Argentina and Venezuela agree because public education has not worked. Schools are dilapidated, and public hospitals have also failed. Education and healthcare are expensive. It’s utopian to expect healthcare and education professionals to work for free.
You always see protests about low salaries of teachers and doctors, and inadequate resources of hospitals and schools. There isn’t enough revenue to maintain a public health and education system if there’s demand for education and healthcare services. There’s also supply because there are doctors and educators. Market will establish equilibrium prices. If equilibrium price is very high, and few people are willing to pay it, it means that despite fact that we’ve been bombarded with information, perhaps people aren’t interested in education or healthcare. Because if we were interested in education and healthcare, people would be willing to pay for them. It’s common for educational institutions to receive a large number of resumés from people who want to be teachers, which implies that there’s a supply of education. But where is demand? Where are the students who want to study? At National Autonomous Center of Cinematography in Venezuela, they offer free courses. Students enroll and don’t even attend. We have to make education attractive. We have to teach what market demands. In my personal case, Rubén Rivero Capriles, president of Escinetv Film and Television School, I support Javier Milei, president of a country that isn’t mine. I didn’t vote for him, but he’s doing what needs to be done, and in Venezuela, we do need those kinds of policies.
It’s important to lower inflation, and it’s important that health and education services meet public demand. We can’t keep subsidizing everything forever because our countries can’t sustain that fiscal deficit. At Escinetv, we receive some subsidies for faculty salaries from National Autonomous Center of Cinematography, and we always try to keep those subsidies to a minimum. National Autonomous Center of Cinematography has always made it clear to Escinetv’s authorities that we have to be self-sustaining, that we can’t live off the state. And they are right. We appreciate subsidies; we need them. We hope they will be minimal. Ultimately, we voted for Argentine Congress and the Argentine presidency to establish a dialogue and reach agreements that respect the will of Argentine electorate, which requested transparency in public spending.
Rubén Rivero
President Escinetv Escuela de Cine y Televisión, C. A.
https://www.facebook.com/escinetvonline/
https://www.instagram.com/escinetvcomunica/
https://www.youtube.com/@Escinetv1