It has. But Mr Chavez may not have bargained that the rows of lettuce, cucumber and mint now thriving amidst the traffic and high-rises of downtown Caracas would also produce a harvest of controversy.
The controversy has arisen because many of the advisers assisting with the gardening programme are Cubans. And Mr Chavez's opponents, who accuse him of desiring to convert Venezuela into a communist dictatorship similar to that led by his friend, Cuban leader Fidel Castro, suspect that the Cubans are here to do more than teach farming. ***
The ruling Thursday by the First Administrative Court rekindled a fierce debate in Venezuela about growing cooperation between President Hugo Chavez's government and communist Cuba.
Accepting an appeal by the Venezuelan Medical Federation, the court decided that 417 Cuban doctors working in Caracas' Libertador district under a bilateral cooperation program were practicing illegally and should be replaced by local doctors.
Calling the decision "grotesque," Health Minister Maria Urbaneja said the government would appeal. She told a news conference the Cuban doctors would stay in Venezuela and their numbers would be increased. ***