The FINANCIAL -- According to RIA Novosti, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez approved on May 14 a list of books for schools to educate young people on socialist ideology, local media said.

In line with the 'Revolutionary Reading Plan,' the works of communist theorist Karl Marx and revolutionary socialist Che Guevara will become compulsory for schoolchildren.

The country's culture ministry said on its website that the plan will help schoolchildren to get rid of "capitalist thinking" and better understand the ideals and values "necessary to build a socialist country."

In addition to books on communist ideology, the school program will include the love letters of Simon Bolivar, credited with liberating the Spanish colonies in the 19th century, to "entertain" the children.

Earlier this year Chavez, who has led Venezuela for 10 years, said the country had entered the third phase of a "Bolivarian Revolution", set to last for another decade.

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