Cristo Rey, Todos Las Santas and That Kiss

Rio Caribe is a popular seaside town smack bang in the middle of the anvil shaped750 kilometres of  coast that forms the north of Sucre state and Venezuela, bordering the Mar Caribe.  A little further on from the town Trinidad is just a stone’s throw away.  That Caribbean influence is felt in the food, the atmosphere and the drug trade.   Nestled between sea and verdant hills, as the capital of Arismedi municipality, Rio Caribe has pretensions to greatness that probably derive in part from the fact it was founded in 1523 by  Reverendo Francisco Miguel Estaban de Aurolán, though most records of the origins of the town are lost to the mists of time.  Iglesia San Miguel Arcángel  overlooking Plaza Bolίvar was first constructed in 1717 and last restored in 2005.  Perched on a hill overlooking the church and the town is Cristo Rey, a Rio style sculpture designed by Colombian artist Esdra Misael Gutiérrez and erected in 1958.   Christ, arms outspread, watches over Rio Caribe. And at night he shines down upon the town. I’m not sure if he has electricity when the rest of us don’t, which is not an infrequent occurrence though thankfully it is usually short-lived.

And down in town what Christ doesn’t see the saints surely do.  I don’t know about most other towns in Venezuela but in this one, at least one day a week sees devotions to one or other of the Catholic female saints.  I’m sure some of those honoured have been delisted by the last Pope.  I’ve been to the celebrations for St. Cecilia, patron saint of musicians.  It seemed as though anyone with an instrument showed up at the mass and all played with gusto. St. Cecila was then carried around town as the musicians blew, and banged and strummed.  On another day an almighty banging, which turned out to be a combination of fireworks and drums, shocked me into wakefulness at 6am.  Celebrations for some saint or other.  Last night was St. Barbara. Patron saint of I’m not sure what (I must look that up).  I was kindly invited to a home in one of the barrios to say the rosary. Women and children only though.  (I’m wondering if maybe the men have days devoted to male saints.)  We were afterwards served a lovely supper and then stood around a huge birthday cake singing Happy Birthday to St. Barbara.  Bizarre or not? 

Venezuelan men generally revere their mothers.  It is sometimes said Irish men do too though I haven’t seen this in my own family.  But then not everyone has a mother like us!  Like the female saints, Santa Maria is given, in my view, way too much attention.  But in Venezuela she has a  mirror image in the cultish Maria Lionza and in the occult.  While Cristo Rey watches and the saints are carried around town, they pass perfumerias.  These perfumerias do not sell Chanel No. 5 what they sell is potions and spells.  Yes, sir. The dark arts are alive and well here in Rio Caribe.  More than one person here has spoken very seriously to me about witches (good and bad) and shamans and strange goings on in the cemetery.  Of effigies being made and ritually buried so as to do the real life human being harm.  I was thinking perhaps this was some Caribbean influence or a hangover from the slave trade but I’m told it’s stronger in Barinas!  Barinas, the plains and mountains, cowboys and horses!

I seem, without trying, to have cast my own spell on someone.  The muchacho who stacks shelves and does the donkey work at my local Chinese run/owned store.  Having first gone in there to look for coffee and not finding any,  I asked for help. It turned out there was a shortage of coffee – and powdered milk which is used here instead of fresh – so he couldn’t help beyond offering me Nescafe instant.  Next time I went in I was looking for cooking oil.  He found me and offered to help.  There followed 5 minutes of me trying to tell him in Spanish what I wanted and we eventually solved the language problem when I spelt the word and he corrected my pronunciation.  That’s when he told me he loved my eyes. Blue eyes and fair skin being not very common  in these parts.  Every time I went in thereafter, he would come over and start asking what I wanted and trying to help me.  And every time he would tell me loves my eyes. Then he started asking if I would go to the beach with him.  When his Chinese boss started hovering around he would start to whisper to me…he loves my eyes and will I go to the beach with him, do I have husband…Now, he isn’t quite sure if I understand all this Spanish so he’s trying to supplement with sign language without his boss seeing this.  He’s pretty determined and continues with his ‘advances’ and our exchanges of Spanish about where I’m from, what I’m doing here, if I’ve children, how long I’m staying. And what goods I’m looking for – always the eye for a sale.   Never mind that he’s about 24 years old and I’m clearly nowhere near that age range!  So the last time I was in there he catches me in an empty isle furthest from the most popular goods and he does his usual, I love your eyes, please come to the beach, appeal.  Only this time he asks for a kiss. On the cheek.  And because it’s nice to be told you’ve nice eyes (just because they’re blue), and to reward his persistence, I agree.  Figuring this is going to be the swift peck on the check that is the usual salutation in Venezuela I was taken aback when what I got was a minute long, lingering kiss – on the cheek!  And then he has the nerve to say that next time it is going to be a kiss on the mouth…hahaha…I’ll be gone tomorrow and so will magic spells.

Post script: I looked up St. Barabara..she was delisted (removed from the Liturgical calendar to be correct) in 1969....

Rio Caribe, 5 december 2011

The Goddess Without

Riding high on a specially constructed staircase, crown shimmering, teeth gleaming out from the fixed smile, waving like the Queen, she came rolling slowly down the shoreline road that leads into Rio Caribe. Miss Venezuela. Homecoming queen. Four hours late but the enthusiasm of the crowd wasn’t dampened.  Sustained by the crates of beer, bottles of rum and fast food that had been consumed in the Plaza Sucre from early afternoon, the steel drum band touring the Plaza on the back of a truck, the various vehicles blaring out competing music and the anticipation of what was to come.  Rio Caribe, a seaside town in a tropical climate was throwing quite a party.  They’d come from near and far to see their beauty queen.  Don’t underestimate the value Venezuelans place on this version of beauty and the pride Rio Caribe feels at having provided more than its fair share of Miss Venezuela’s over the years.

The boob job and nose job (Venezuelans have plastic surgery as easily and more often than other nationalities have manicures) and the marijuana use,  should remain a poorly kept secret. She is of course quite gorgeous, if slim, tanned, Mediterranean-looking, magazine ready, is your idea of beauty.  The crowd went wild. The cavalcade, which had been heavily advertised on radio and from giant loud speakers on the back of a truck, took almost half an hour to move up the coast road that takes you into Rio Caribe. I job it in 5 minutes.  She then toured the pueblo. No-one was going to be able to say they hadn’t seen Miss Venezuela.  That was the last we saw of her for another 3 hours.

She was whisked into the government-owned Venetur hotel for media interviews and a change of clothes, and maybe even a quiet spliff.  Guarded by the local police, the state troopers, the national guard and the army, no unauthorised person was getting beyond those gates.  Outside we drank more beer and ate more roast chicken and hot dogs. I seemed to be the only one feeling a bit fed up at the long wait. I had a hot dog, and another beer. Still no sign of her. The giant stage that had been erected overnight was all lit up in anticipation. Music blared. I had time to wander off up town to my friends hot dog stall and back and still no Miss Venezuela.  I hung around outside the hotel.  There was a long collective breath and a rush forward. She was at the gates. From half a meter away, I looked at her face and I saw fear!  She fixed her smile and flanked by minders and the various civil and military security forces, the gates slowly opened and she was ushered the 15 steps to the car that took her the 10 meters to the other side of the plaza and the awaiting stage.  She had changed into a white evening gown. .

Another half hour and finally the show began. A troupe of modern dancers took to the stage and danced around like demented animals.  Then she gave herself to the crowd. “Irene, Irene, Irene” they shouted. It sounds much nicer in Spanish! The next two hours was a mad ‘This Is Your Life’ affair.  Irene was given numerous  plaques and flowers as past school teachers, music teachers, friends and relatives paid tribute to her on a white sofa to match her white gown.  The local priest and his curates prostrated themselves before her like she was a wondrous crowned Madonna.  The Chavista Alcalde (Mayor) did likewise. The government claimed her.  Christ himself come down from the cross or cancer recuperating El President Chavez walking up the street would not have deflected the adoration bestowed on Irene Esser last Saturday night.  And on it went. Only her parents did not get a look in. Strange but perhaps the divorced couple and very troubled father couldn’t be trusted not to ruin the perfection of it all.  And so, at close to midnight, the Goddess was whipped away leaving the crowd still electrified and searching for more alcohol to keep the party going without her.  Not a single brawl was seem throughout the pueblo which was just as well as every policeman in town was looking after Irene.

“My life has changed completely since becoming Miss Venezuela” she told the crowd. Yes, but look at what’s happened to your soul, my dear.  The current Miss World is last year’s Miss Venezuela. Perhaps that reduces Irene’s chances of taking the title next year.  I'm not sure what fate is worse though, that of a future Miss World or that of a 'failed' beauty queen. Go Irene?

Rio Caribe, 28th November 2011

Lest I Forget

 

I was just over a month in Pedraza in the midst of a complex and at times seemingly incomprehensible situation.  All that happened in that craziness reflects  how the rest of the country works.  Revolutions are no walks in the park!  It was, it is, fascinating, to have been in the eye of the storm of Chavez' revolution – in microcosm.  I enjoyed every moment of it. But as a kind of interloper I could afford to.  Nothing has been resolved there as of yet.  Workers have ousted the 'appointed' Student President, Fundacea has little or not control, salary payments have stopped again and the government make weekly promises to announce the process for resuming educational activities. And the London International Office distances itself to the point of oblivion.

The business of appropriate stand out but there were ordinary every day things too that made life enjoyable and I don't want to forget them.  The beauty of the place – running into a wall of mountain that looked like so many limpet shells all joined together and stretching from left to right as far as the eye could see on my jog along the pisto back towards the college campus.  The snow capped tips of the highest peaks of that Andes range.  The long stretches of open flat country, the plains of Los Llanos with rivers crossing along the way.  And the skies at night, unpolluted by city lights, the constellations twinkled in all their splendor. You just had to remember to look skywards!  The absence of the sounds of human habitation that bombard you amidst Caracas' densely populated suburbs and apartment blocks. The presence of so many birds from the tiniest little bright yellow tits to the soaring black hawks.

Going drinking with six 20-something guys from 4 different countries and dancing the night away in a tiny tavern where we were the only customers.  Them running out the door to shout at every other group of chicas who passed by! The best hamburgers in the world from the dodgiest looking of places.

Collecting avocados as the guys knocked them from high off the branches with sticks – we needed those avocados to supplement the lousy diet and limited food supply.  I didn't mind the endless teasing about my “love” for pasta after I simply couldn't face another plate of the stuff when it was served for the seventh consecutive meal.  It wasn't that I complained, I just refused my serving. But everyone noticed!  Staff bringing me food from their homes and inviting me to into their homes and families where we struggled to communicate in Spanish but managed somehow.  Enough so that when they inquired about my experiences in Africa, mother's scolded their kids for not eating what food was put in front of them!  Being given a salsa lesson in the back yard of a small house in Pedraza on a hot, sunny, Sunday afternoon as a tamarind tree was mutilated.  My afternoon coffee and chat with the receptionist – me understanding about 10% of what she said but we still managed to make jokes, usually about the fat man!

Demonstrations too brought their own sense of solidarity.  I can't forget joining the protesters late at night at the College gates where the solitary bulb attracted too many insects and we played endless rounds of dominos. The convention of slamming your domino down hard as if you wanted to reach the centre of the earth unnerved me. I got used to it but could never copy it. 

On the morning I was leaving there was a mad 6am bus ride to Barinas in search of a cap with the image of Chavez on the front. It was unsuccessful as I knew it would be but someone wanted me to do it and I went along for the ride. 

I have been touched by the sadness people expressed when they knew I was leaving and feel a little guilty that they continue to tell me how much they miss me. Though I'd like the 2am text messages a bit earlier in the evening!  I will forever be touched by the many kindnesses people showed me and the joy they brought to my life.  I've been so privileged and so humbled.  

What there is not

“There be so many things goin' on ya caan keep up” said my Caribbean friend. And he was right of course. Amidst the Student Association President's ever secretive activities and the to-ing and fro-ing to meetings with persons unknown his one grand gesture was to publish an open letter to President Chavez. Using confrontational language and the most strident of tones, it was not at all helpful. Worse than this – he claimed to speak in the name of all students, staff, alumni, and a whole host of others. The first problem with this was that not a single one of the people in whose name he spoke had been consulted about the 'carta' and second was that no-one believed he had actually written it or that it was his idea to post it on facebook, to many individual email addresses and to media outlets in Spain, the US and Venezuela. The culprit, it was thought, was Fundacea. Within hours of the world seeing it he was forced to take it down but he did a less thorough job of retracting it than he did of circulating it in the first place. I can only think the aim was simply to rile the authorities irrespective of what effects, if any, it might have on the situation. And so began Monday of last week.

Tuesday saw the return of Senor Marcano of Fundacea to a somewhat hostile reception in Pedraza. Around 20 students had responded to the call of the Student Association President (for which read Fundacea) to return to the College for a meeting. They held a shambles of a meeting the night before with no agenda, no order and at which nothing was decided. Apparently, “it is always like that..”. The volunteers had been invited to attend the student meeting on Tuesday but we were promptly thrown out by Senor Marcano. funny, I thought this was a meeting initiated by students who should be free to invite whoever they wished. They in turn did not challenge Marcano's taking control of things.  Staff wanted to join the meeting too but they were refused entrance and it looked as though there might be a bit of an altercation as they marched en mass from their protest at the gates to the room where the meeting was being held. Why Marcano behaved in this way and provoked confrontation is not clear to me. Perhaps it was a final exercise of what little power he had left.   Part of the ongoing games that have been played for months now.  In his own words, “There is no Fundacea, there is no United World College” and that was that! Basically he had wiped his hands of everyone and everything. His only response to questions was that Fundacea has no money and he's no idea how workers will be paid what they're owed. As far as he knew the government would turn the place into a public university.  He was quite adamant about this in Pedraza but not when he spoke to London, insisting that it is just 'leaked information'. More games.  Many students and staff walked out and the meeting died a death as he lost all authority. The 2 weeks back pay staff had been promised for the previous Friday finally came through on Wednesday. But academic staff are owed more than 6 weeks pay and non-academic staff more than 4 weeks pay.

And so we are one step closer to becoming a public polytechnic-university. No-one will put it in writing, no-one will discuss the process or dates.  But it is inevitable. Having been shown the door the week before I packed my bags and my heavy heart and said goodbye to the circus on Wednesday just ahead of the arrival of the Alcaldi (Mayor) of Pedraza. He assured the striking workers that the College will become a public educational establishment but like everyone else could provide no details about the process.

By Monday, that is today, government has agreed to pay a further 15 days salary and workers have returned to work. There is talk of classes beginning on 15^th November. The Ministry of Education will have a meeting with students at the College this coming Friday. Presumably more information about the process of take over will be made available then. It seems there is a willingness to grant current students the UWC imprimatur on their graduating certificates. Whether or not UWC will agree this is still an unknown. Quite what students will be graduating in, and when remains a mystery. Not a good way to have to live.

So it seems it is goodbye UWC Simon Bolivar. The dying patient is drawing the final breaths and as I watch from Caracas, I believe the real travesty will be to treat this as a death by natural causes. This has been no act of nature and someone(s) must be held responsible. It shouldn't be assumed that someone is the Chavez government.

Caracas 7th November 2011

This is what it's all about - 3 simple points

This is what all the trouble in Pedraza really comes down to:


1. Fundacea, a private foundation does not want to keep the College because it has become unprofitable in recent years and has not been at full capacity for some time. Likely government will pay compensation for the infrastructure and assets though whether it will pay for land that was donated by a previous regime is more doubtful. How any compensation will be divvied up and to whom I am not sure.
2. UWC is not interested in keeping the College. Having expanded the network in recent years, this College is too much of the odd man out - a different curriculum from all the others, run by an intermediary that is difficult to control, unlike most of the others I believe, and too many issue with poor quality of education, a failure to fully promote the mission and inculcate the ethos of the UWC movement and not to mention having to operate in an unstable political and funding environment.
3. Next year is an election year and Government must be seen to deliver on it's revolutionary promises. Government wants the land for the campesinos and the infrastructure for a new polytechnic university that has already been created on paper.  They have run into a few internal problems because more ministries/departments and levels of government are involved now than was probably foreseen. They're having their own internal 'bun fight' over who gets what and who pays for what. Having now reviewed all the financial information, inventory and the condition of the land, they'll see the place hasn't seen any investment for a while and the buildings and other infrastructure are in a poor state of repair.


The trick now is to deliver this without any side seeming like it gave up the fight or causing too much damage to its reputation. Of course there will be winners - votes for the Chavistas come the 2010 elections as they deliver on the promises of the revolution, a better deal for those workers who are retained, more jobs for people in Padraza, students get to finish their education and more students get the opportunity to go to higher education locally.  And the losers? Not all staff will be retained with the change of regime - not even all the pro-Chavistas. Students are likely to lose the highly valued imprimatur of UWC on their graduation certificates. This will affect international students more than Venezuelan's who make up 75% or more of the current student body. Perhaps some of the Fundacea staff in Caracas but I'm told the CEO has 3 foundations in all, so perhaps he retains them.


The apple cart could still be upset with the entry into the fray of an association of rich, anti-Chavista ranchers, but they'd have to play a very good game to win this one.  !Viva la revolucion o no?

Is this the road to hell?

It doesn't get any better in Barinas and the revolution is really starting to piss me off, but so is Fundacea, the NGO administering Simon Bolivar United World College (UWC) and come to think of it so too is the UWC International Office.


Friday saw the kitchen staff call a meeting of all staff to discuss the food situation.  With much shouting and jeering and clapping, discussion was extended beyond the issue of food, to the other manifestations of the present crisis.  I can understand the focus on lack of food and lack of salaries but no-one, and I mean no-one is asking any of the types of questions that will actually give useful answers.  So, one of the main suggestions for a solution to the food crisis was to send away the 5 Haitian students stranded here!  This came from the fat one who competes with them for chicken in the dinning room.  They are fussy eaters and do not like red meat, which here is beef only. He claims to have health problems with red meat but this doesn't stop him having hamburgers from the food stalls in el pueblo!  I'm not sure where he thinks they can possibly go.  If they go, I definitely go. It's a matter of principal.  I am probably on his hit list anyway but for different reasons.


Saturday saw breakfast sabotaged. Yes, that was the exact word used, and accomplice was also mentioned. Something about the milk we get from the College farm for making cheese being not delivered or not made into cheese.  


Monday saw staff vote to go on strike and to stage a lock out/in. They've stopped working, closed the gates of the College, put up various banners demanding their pay, a new administration and that they become a public university.  No-one is allowed in. Thankfully they let us out.  


Food is an ongoing issue. There is none. Now it is limited only to students. This morning I was refused breakfast because I am not a student but that was soon sorted out.  As I was going back to my room, the fat one, had round to the back of the kitchen and was trying in vain to pull his great bulk up to the windows, begging for food to be passed out to him secretly. It was pathetic.


At last the Executive Director of Fundacea arrived. Staff refused to hold a meeting inside the College and insisted it be held outside at the locked gates which are now festooned with new, additional banners. He said nothing new....Fundacea has no money, the solutions are to become a public university or to jointly run the place with Govt.  The next breath he contradicts this and says he may have some money for them on Friday and that the problem is political but that a decision from govt is expected tomorrow. Oh, and yes, he attended a meeting with government yesterday to discuss things. Really. When students asked about their situation they were told government had not paid their scholarships this year and they'd just have to stay at the College and cook fro themselves.  I'm not sure where they are to get the food.  It did not help anyone and told us nothing new.  People begin to suspect he is hiding something...a secret deal with government, that he wants rid of the College, that government will take over and staff will lose jobs.  


Then suddenly just after lunch word came that El President was in Barinas, an hours drive away.  Vehicles, national flags, College flags and people were on the road within 15 minutes.  We got to Barinas but Chavez must have changed his mind.  Of course he wasn't there..hadn't anyone verified this?  And why would he agree to see them without any kind of appointment.  They wanted to talk about food and money. Eventually, the Governors office sent out a lawyer from the Ministry of Education, a senior INTI person turned up.  They gave the College staff no real answers and said it will be some time before there is any decision.  


Then the media turned up.  One Haitian student told the interviewer the College treats the students like slaves, working on the College farm. Uproar.  You have to learn where to draw the line of criticism!  


And still no-one is any the wiser.  No-one asks questions that will illicit useful answers. This is not a particularly Venezuelan trait, but is a trait of people without a good education.  And people who are desperate because they don't know how they're going to feed their families, or pay their bills or whether they'll keep their jobs.  B ut I still can't help feeling that in times of crisis, the best people are able to step outside their own crisis and think bout the plight of others who are still worse off.  And as for professional behaviour, forget it. The Executive Director, refused to stop to talk with students after the meeting and completely ignored us international volunteers. In my professional opinion we all deserved at least the courtesy of a 'hello'. Fundacea is responsible for us too!

 any concrete answers. - like what exactly is the process we're following? Who is going to make decisions?  What

Man Eat Man?

And so the plot thickens in Pedraza and el colegio.  


This week has seen no progress on resolving the situation.  The administering NGO in Caracas does not communicate with the college but is generally believed to be bankrupt and without the statutory employee social security type funds.. Staff are increasingly frustrated and stressed. If the worse happens and they lose their jobs they will get nothing. Some have given more than 20 years service.  


The local Mayor claims to know nothing but says a report will go to the State Governor, the other Mr Chavez.for a decision. Earlier in the week there was talk of a meeting today in Barinas between the Governor and/or government and the administering NGO. If that happened no-one from the college was there and no-one from the college knows that it took place.  The acting 'coordinator', because it would not be correct to say Acting Principal, has no authority whatsoever and cannot make decisions.  Especially those affecting international students and volunteers, i.e. me!  Some Haitian's students, stuck here because they are too poor to go anywhere else, needed to go to the state capital to process visas. The college refused to provide them transport or bus fares.  Now, bear in mind the cost of a litre of petrol here is a few pence, I kid you not. $1 will exchange for Boliviars 4 through the bank or 8 on the black market. A litre of petrol is less than a quarter of a Boliviar. A small bottle of water is BFS 7!  Apparently, Caracas was approached for a decision on the students' request and refused.  No-one in the college gives a damn about these students and the College has retained their stipends.  And when I say these are poor students I really mean it - they do not have families who can send money from Haiti. They are looking at their education and the last 2 or 3 years of their lives going down the drain.  The College, the administering NGO and when it comes down to it, the International Board, all have a duty of care to students.  None are fulfilling that duty and it is simply unacceptable.


Today all the staff had an informal meeting about the current situation. There are many interest groups and factions within the staff body and the divisions from an earlier ruckus with an ousted Director have never been addressed. There was much shouting and jeering and angry exchanges. The grossly overweight, incompetent and lazy English/Spanish teacher, who refuses to teach me Spanish, is obsessed with food. After the meeting, when I asked him what had happened, his response was, "There's no food, they're restricting it. These guys have got to go".  This didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. "What guys?" I asked, "And go where?".  It seems he wants rid of the students from Haiti. I suspect he also wants rid of me and the other volunteer and as many people as possible because he has to share the food with us.  But more the Haitian students than me because I often give him half my breakfast.  although he may want rid of me for other reasons.  The fat man refuses to eat red meat in the College, claiming he has a health problem.  Never mind that he is often seen at the street hamburger stalls in the pueblo.  And the Haitian students are very fussy about food with one of them not eating red meat for religious reasons. So that's it, they compete for the chicken the kitchen prepares especially for them.   He's getting rid of the competition!  I can't believe it. None of us are safe from this glutton!  I feel like putting pictures of delicious food all over the school to remind him of what he is missing.  Somehow I don't think he needs reminding.  But rubbing his face in it would give me a little perverse pleasure.  


We don't know what the next week holds and talk of  resuming today's meeting on Monday to make some decisions seems like pie in the sky to me. Let's hope the fat man doesn't eat that too!


Oh, and one more piece in the puzzle. For those who have been following.  It seems one of the reasons the recent Director was ousted is that he used the money paid by the Ministry of Education to begin repairing a very run down campus.  He wasn't supposed to do this. He was supposed to transfer the money back up to the administering NGO in Caracas.  Lack of financial transparency or financial impropriety? That dirty rat I smelled weeks ago still stinks!

Barinas for the Baffled

 I've been avoiding updates about Barinas. It's mostly of interest to those who know the College and want the details and the details don't make for easy reading even for those in the know. But a few other people want to know what's going on, so let me try my best to re-cap the situation in the simplest way possible.

A residential College which is an experimental technical university with a practical action approach to education was given 650 hectares of land by government back in the late '80s or early '90s for teaching purposes. The College, part of an international non-governmental educational network of 12 or 13 colleges has run into difficulties over the past number of years, most likely due to poor management and leadership (which has been based in Caracas, an hour's flight away) and partly to the political climate in the Venezuela (21^st century socialism). As a result, there are few international students and practically all student places are funded by the Ministry of Education although the level of funding has been variable and payments often delayed. In some years operating costs have had to be met though selling off assets. Most students are from relatively poor backgrounds. Funding for this academic year has been in serious doubt for many months.

Just as this academic year was about to begin the Barinas regional level National Institute of Lands (INTI) issued legal papers staking a claim to all the agricultural land of the College with a view to giving it to 4 co-operatives for productive use. The regional INTI did this without the knowledge of the Minister or INTI at the national level and without informing the local Mayor. All these parties are of course Chavista and dedicated to implementing 21^st century socialism. Exactly why the action was taken is too complicated to get into and remains the subject of speculation. A number of families moved on to 6 hectares of the land but contrary to some comments have done nothing so far other than plant the Venezuelan flag and camp – there are no houses and we see few people. There are concerns the legal action is not technically legal because the measure to 'rescue' land can only be applied to certain’ types’ of land and the College land is not one of those’ types’. But what the action did initiate was a defence of the existing order of things. And this is where it all starts to get complicated.

Actions to address the legal claims included calling on the international network of college/college students and alumni, to tweet Chavez to help 'save the school'. The College Board opened discussions with INTI and the Ministry of Education at the national level. The start of the academic year was postponed both because of the legal action and because there was no money to run the school. At the local level, the Student Association President and a few local students opened discussions with the local Mayor (Chavez' political party). The upshot of this was that just over a week ago, INTI, the Ministry of Education, the local mayor and various advisers arrived at the College for a meeting with all the parties. They gave lectures on socialism and decided to establish what they call 'mesas de trabajo' to make a study of the situation and take views and 'evidence' from all parties before submitting a report to El Comandante Chavez for a decision. He is now in Cuba for medical check-ups following his chemotheraphy treatment. And no-one seems to be asking why the land claim issue is now one and the same as the College funding issue. The future of the College in it's totality is now at stake.

Meanwhile, back at the farm, as they say, the situation is, shall we say, muddy! There is no Principal in place at the College (the last one lasted 5 months). Students have been told not to return for the new term until November! We were told the mesas de trabajo business would run for about 2 weeks continuously. What we got was 2 days of work. Then a national holiday – I think a day to celebrate indigenous people – interrupted things. The day after that a storm had taken out the bridge so the important regional level parties could not get from the state capital Barinas out to the sticks in Pedraza. That lasted 2 days. One table, the 'international' mesa for international students and volunteers, ie, me, never met at all. Then the weekend came. Nothing seems to have happened at all this week. There was a meeting with the local mayor and the students on the weekend. No one really seems to know what's happening with this process. In the meantime, rumours abound. The one that seems to have gained most ground is that the College and land will be taken over by government for a public university. The College Board (an NGO) will disappear (that is it doing a deal with the government is also a variation on this rumour). The co-operatives or ‘landless peasants’ as they are sometimes referred to, named in the court order, are said not to be so landless and they too will be removed. No-one knows when or how it will all happen. And since it's a rumour no-one can be sure if it will happen.

As of last Friday, professional staff the College had not been paid for a month and few people here have savings that can cover a gap in salary like that. The atmosphere is tense although there is a great capacity to find humour in the situation. But now we see all kinds of uncoordinated and almost desperate action by students and staff (who were already divided along pro and anti Chavista lines). The Student President is garnering support from the National Union of Students and through this national newspapers are getting a whiff of things – yesterday a journalist from one of the national papers spoke to several of us. They are running a story in their weekend edition. Some staff have signed a petition addressed to the Governor seeking assurances that if the College is taken over by government they will keep their jobs. Another group of teachers is talking about going to meet with the state Governor (one Mr Chavez, brother of El Presidente) to highlight the impossible position they are now in. The College Board in Caracas seems not to communicate with the school, and if does, whoever is getting those communications is keeping schtum! It communicates little with the International Board of the College and they in turn communicate with no-one actually staying in the College.

At a more mundane level, the kitchen has run out of most food and there is no money for more. Most meals for the past 4 days have consisted of spaghetti, the only staple left in the larder. And it is not always served with meat sauce, or indeed any sauce! Portions are getting smaller. Yesterday breakfast was a piece of flat bread and a dessert spoonful of grated cheese. It is reported that staff are no longer going to be provided breakfast or supper. The 4 Haitian students here have demanded a meeting with the town Mayor to complain about the food which is not only silly but selfish – we're all in the same boat. No-one is going hungry so long as they like spaghetti! And amid all this activity and rumour milling still nothing concrete seems to happen and no-one seems to know what's going on..........seems to me like it's all a great distraction from whatever is really going on!

Padraza, 18 October 2011

Reggaeton and me

I found myself climbing over the college gates at 22.45 on a Saturday night to get out to go dancing in the nearest pueblo! I felt like L was 17 again! I was with a college student no more than 23 years old, male. This wouldn't look good if we were caught! 

This wasn't quite what I expected when earlier in the day I was asking him what students did on the weekend. “Fiesta”, he said, now there's a word I understand. “¿Donde?”, I asked – see my Spanish isn't is getting better! I even understood the answer, “En el pueblo”. There followed some discussion about Venezuelan dance, did I know reggaeton, ranchero? I'd heard about reggaeton music in Caracas, where they claimed it is 'venezuelan and that there is a salsa type dance that goes with it'. Now this turned out to be one a dangerous inadequate explanation if ever I've heard one but more on that in a moment. “Do you like to party?” was his next question, “Come on” I said, “¡Soy Irelandesa!”. From the conversation that followed I understood he would take me to some club for ranchero music and dance. As we stood at the other side of the gate in the dark and chatted while he tried to get a taxi it started to dawn on me that I was getting more than I bargained for here. My Spanish needs to get a lot better!

In the first place, in Ireland, party means more than two. Were was everyone else? Maybe we'll be meeting his friends there, I thought. Before I could establish this, we're in a taxi driving through a long, barely lit, seemingly quite town. And then we arrived – I knew this not just because the taxi had stopped, but because there was a long line of parked cars and an equally long line of motor bikes.  A lot of chicas and chicos were hanging around.  And it wasn't ranchero! I knew this because the first lyrics I heard were “girl I'm gonna fuck you tonight”. Ranchero is a kind of nasally sounding country and western or folk-type music and dance particular to this region. Reggaeton on the other hand is of Puerto Rican origin, mixing Carribean and Latin urban music. Jamaican dancehall meets salsa, elecronica and latin rap! The dance that goes with reggaton has explicitly sexual overtones – and that's putting it mildly.

Now knew I was in trouble. I can't dance for a start. I can party all right but dirty dancing isn't really my thing. I wasn't wearing appropriately tight jeans, skin-tight top or 5 inch heels. I'd barely brushed my hair for the occasion! I was most certainly the oldest person in the place. I needed a drink! And the only thing they served was beer and I mean that was the ONLY thing, though I could have suave or fuerte! Fuerte pro favor and rapido! My young friend didn't drink, he'd come for the dancing and would I like to dance. When I picked myself up off the ground, I needed another beer. Eventually the inevitable had to happen and I had to dance. Which wasn't too bad, I'd him well warned that that kind of dancing was illegal in my country! The real disaster came when he went off to the bathroom and some guy asked me to dance. Not taking no for answer, up we got. Not having advance knowledge of my inability to dance reggaeton, he started up close and personal. His toes got stepped on, we were out of zinc with the music, I wasn't close enough. He started to complain! My student came back, as he passed us I grabbed him. My dance partner got a little ticked off. He indicated I had been perfectly capable of dancing with my student but not with him. My student laughed. Humiliated, my new dance partner fled in one direction – out the door and I in the other – for another beer! I'm still afraid to go into town in case I bump into him..there ain't any other red headed blue eyed women around here!

My student and I made another few attempts at the reggaeton business before he would accept that I wanted to dance like I did 'en mi pais'!  Disco suits me just fine.  We climbed back over the school gates some time after 2am. And I think it remains our little secret.  Despite the embarrassment, I did enjoy my cultural experience but next time I'll make sure it's ranchero! 

Mesas de Trabajo

Having ended Friday's meeting with the promise of a two week mesa de trabajo come Monday, a letter appeared at the college from regional level INTI calling for a meeting on Saturday afternoon. I’m not quite sure what the meeting was about and know only that students were told they shouldn’t worry. Very reassuring then!

No-one was quite sure what was supposed to happen come Monday or where the ‘mesa de trabajo' was going to take place. The mesa de trabajo, in case you've forgotten, is to discuss and analyse the situation and based on this an analysis will be made and presented in a report to el Comandante Chavez. Eventually around 11.15am they started arriving in the college. The Mayor, INTI, various national, regional and local reps, the campesinos, the staff, the student reps, etc. Plenty of red shirts again. It took some 45 minutes or more just to write up all groups/affiliations present, 15 in all were identified. Wow! While all this was going on various questions were put to the red shirt side. Why couldn’t students return to school one of the student reps asked, they’ve already missed some 6 weeks of term? The Ministry of Education rep stood up and shook a piece of paper and said something about analysing it. I’ve lost count of the number of times ‘we’re analysing it’ is the reply to a question - any question.! There was a bit of an argument about where the ‘mesas’ should take place. The campesions wanted the college land they are occupying to be the place because then everyone would ‘see their situation’. I'm not quite sure how it was resolved.

In the end 4 ‘mesas’ were established; co-operatives, social 'studies', education and international (for the international students and volunteers) and representatives assigned to each. It was now 1pm. The first 3 mesas were to meet at 2pm to discuss how they are going to proceed with the international mesa meeting the following day morning at 8am. INTI will be shown around the college finca, soil samples will be take. Two days later and the international mesa has not yet met – that's how important international students and volunteers are here! I had understood the full forum would be resumed before now to report back on how each mesa will proceed with their data collection. If the 3 mesas that have met so far have done that I am not aware of it. In fact, I've no idea what's next in the process, and I wonder if anyone really does.

But continuing murmurings indicate the decision as to what will happen has already been taken. It’s just that no-one is sure what that decision is! It could be that half the college land is given over to the co-operatives and an affiliation between the college administrators (an NGO) and a public university (or ministry of education) is established. Over the medium term, say between 1 and 3 years, they will slowly take over and the administering NGO will be eased out. It is recognised that Chavez tends to maintain already existing treaties or signed agreements. Since there is one signed between the college authorities and the NGO administering the college, this will not be just torn up and thrown away. There will be some kind of educational establishment here but it will be administered jointly with government. Similarly, the agreement regarding the affiliation with the international group of schools will be maintained. Whether or not the international group will want to continue could, I suppose, go either way. For them to pull out may look like disrespecting a legitimate national government but on the other hand if the nature of the college changes, the curriculum offered and the mission are also likely to change, so there will be that to considered too.

Whatever happens, the only certainty, as I’ve said before, is that nothing will stay the same. Still, interesting days ahead. More on the processes of 21^st century socialism as it unfolds.

Hasta luego.

They came wearing red

And so they came. The College President and Executive Director arrived at breakfast time. Their coming had been an on-off affair depending on who one spoke to the previous day. They were followed a few hours later by a great many government officials including the Secretary General of INTI, the department that issued the legal proceedings to'rescue' the college land, representatives from regional and local level ministries, including the Mayor of the municipality, dressed in the ubiquitous red polo shirt. At least one university professor accompanied the government parties. Representatives from four co-operatives who would all like the college land had also been invited by the government. College staff, all 7 seven students currently on campus and 2 volunteers were also present. Armed police were on hand too. The whole proceedings were filmed by the government.

The college authorities had been lead to believe the purpose of the meeting was for the Caracas bods to have a look around the college, for the college to present its position in situ and for a decision to be reached. Not so. The college may have been the location for the meeting but it was certainly not the host! Setting aside for the moment why we were even having this meeting, proceedings seemed very democratic. All parties to the 'dispute' were represented and would get to have their say. The Mayor opened the meeting, giving a lecture on socialism. He was followed by the more eloquent Secretary General of INTI from Caracas who gave another lecture on socialism and the meaning of the revolution – least we forget, it is not for the benefit of any individual but for the benefit of the whole of society. It was a very civilised meeting, considering how angry people were. The only person who spoke with any ire was a campesina from one of the co-operatives. She demanded 100 hectares of land. The Secretary General reminded her the revolution does not serve individual needs. Nobody was being guaranteed anything until the commission has concluded. Some disagreement among the co-operatives emerged. The staff clapped when staff members spoke. The Secretary again reminded everyone that no claims seeking to advance the individual will be met.

In the course of the meeting INTI's Secretary General said the order to 'rescue' the land was not from the Minister but from the office of the Governor of the state. One Mr Chavez, brother of Hugo. Indicating perhaps who is really in charge and that the usual hierarchies have not been respected. The Mayor of the Municipality was a little miffed too because his office had not been informed the court proceedings were going to be issued. One suspects that regional INTI did not anticipate the course events might take once they started legal proceedings. Things are not going as smoothly as they may have liked. Now that national level INTI, the Ministry of Education, The Mayor (Chavez Party) and what feels like the world and his wives, are involved, mesas de trabajo (roughly, working groups) will be established to collect the proposals of each side and the necessary information to enable government officers and their experts to make an analysis (presumably framed in terms of what will best lead to 21^st century socialism) of the situation and compile a report for El Comandante Chavez who will make a final decision. The process of hearing proposals will last about 15 days. I've no idea how long it will take El Comandante to reach his decision. And in my experience of how things work here, this time frame is subject to change.

And so with that agreed the meeting was called to a close and I'm not sure who left happy. Not the college staff or students. Probably not the campesinos. Possibly not the Mayor whose nose was put out of joint because he was not informed, as he should have been, about the court action. Possibly not national level INTI because not only was the chain of command ignored and their hands are tied because of the involvement of Chavez' brother but now they have to deal with the fall out. Possibly the only happy participants were the local level INTI! Which has already served a second set of documents to the college with additional and perhaps contradictory 'orders'.

The reality for the college is that students will now be told to delay further their return to classes. However, under the agreement originally signed by the administrating body it is illegal for them not to open the academic year. They're in a bit of bind then! There is still no money to pay staff salaries due at the end of this coming week – the second pay packet they will miss. And poor administration means there is no social fund to pay staff off which is probably illegal, but that is another matter. Food at the school is getting worse with fresh vegetables being a rarity. The farm is not producing chickens any more but I saw some lovely looking pigs today and we seem to have a plentiful supply of (tough) beef. I'm afraid our rations are going to be cut to one meal a day very soon, already at meals they often only fill one of the 6 compartments on our prison style metal trays.

Having considered selling some trees to raise cash for salaries and essential running costs, the college has been told there is some kind of 'measure' attached to the court order which prohibits either of the sides from doing anything to the land, including clearing or planting. Lawyers for the college cannot find the 'measure' on the statutes. But INTI has informed them they may put a proposal to sell off trees to the mesa de trabajo next week and if all parties agree to it they can override the unwritten measure. Now there's an idea and something else to add to the confusion! In return the campesinos might just propose they start using that big tractor they've moved on to the land or maybe better still they should be given the teak plantations.

Who knows whether the outcome of the process will be fair or just or truly fit the aims of the socialist revolution. I'd like to think so but I have my doubts, after all why has the college, a non-profit making establishment with almost all student places funded by the Ministry for Higher Education, teaching farm management to students from poorer backgrounds and with a social outreach programme, been a target ahead of the private landowner across the road with thousands of hectares of fallow land|? Perhaps because such landowners organise private armies to kill campesinos? Perhaps because powerful personal interests are at play? It's definitely not because 'shit just happens'.

One possible outcome, hinted at by some on the government side, is that not just the land but the buildings as well will be taken over and transformed into a public university. That would be revolutionary and not necessarily a bad thing. But then just do it. The international movement of which the school is a part may or may not choose to see the loss of a member – the first in its almost 50 years in existence – but will have to confront a new regime and possibly a new, expanded curriculum. In this case the revolution wins in principle but it is in the execution that the real commitment to slogans will be seen. Current students must be enabled to complete their course and staff must be treated respectfully and provided work. That's the promise, let's see the reality.

“Solidarity, fraternity, love, justice, liberty and equality” we see the slogan everywhere, not lets see it in action. Viva la revolucion!

The Winds of Change

The two and half hour delay at Caracas domestic terminal wasn't nearly as awful as it could have been. Plenty of food outlets, shops (window shopping was all I could afford) and free wi-fi. I was sure some-one would be in Barinas to meet me but carried a newly purchased mobile phone tied in to the now publicly-owned Movilnet., just in case anything went drastically wrong. It didn't. “Don't trust any man with a big belly and a moustache” was the last piece of advice imparted by my friend as I left Caracas. I laughed out loud when I was met by none other than a man with an enormous belly and a moustache. I lie, he didn't have the moustache.

At last I was in Los Llanos, and it sure is cowboy country. Fields, men with cowboy hats, real ones, like in the movies, and moustaches. Space aplenty. Dangerous driving on a road where every second vehicle was an agricultural machine or a truck full of agricultural produce. Thankfully the tarmac was in a reasonable state of repair. Police check points at regular intervals as well as stalls in the middle of the road selling various snacks that no-one seemed to buy. Cosmopolitan Caracas was very far away. A little over an hour and the foothills of the Andes range stood majestic and welcoming. And at last I was were I was meant to be.

But where I am meant to be isn't what it's supposed to be! A college without students is a soulless place. And there is no certainty there will be students this coming academic year. There is no certainty this college will exist in the current form this time next year. The college is being buffeted about on the winds of 21st century socialism. Revolutionary change is always going to create victims as well as beneficiaries and it takes skill to negotiate the winds of this kind of change. While the revolutionary ideals maybe admirable (or not) the execution of revolutionary policies often leaves much to be desired. And the catalyst for what is happening here is not the revolution itself but personal vendettas, incompetent management and irreconcilable ideological differences.

A number of forces have aligned to bring the college to the point it is at now., reflecting in microcosm, the unfolding of the revolution throughout the country. Near to the top of the list we have a disgruntled ex-principal with 'friends in high places'. The current tensions among staff and the reason several refuse to speak to each other is the aftermath of a bitter battle, waged as a war for the heart and soul of the college, against a new, seemingly too-Chavista Principal. There are accusations he was on the payroll of the Ministry of Defence and wanted the college for a military academy. It is said his brother is a senior military figure in the State. I've been told that the co-operatives who want the land have documents they could only have obtained by someone inside the college. On the other hand, I'm also told the department actioning the 'rescue' of the land has not made available all the relevant papers. Central to removing the Principal from his post is a rabid anti-Chavista teacher with an axe to grind. A decade ago he worked for PDVSA, the now re-nationalised oil company that is almost omnipotent in Venezuela, but claims because of his political opposition to Chavez, he was forced to leave and live in exile for a year,when PDVSA was nationalised. This is what has held back his career. Maybe. It might also be that he is well recognised as a bad teacher, though part of this I put down to the power he derives from being the soul person who can speak English and Spanish. I hadn't been so conscious until recently of the dangers in having a single person as the conduit for all serious communication. I am rather at his mercy, not being able to speak Spanish and having no-one else who can speak English! Without this college he is probably a goner but I'm not sure he reckoned on things going quite this far when he pushed out the Chavista Principal.

Meanwhile, the financial crisis which has been a wreck coming down the track for several years is still acomin'. True, part of the problem relates to a change of government department with responsibility for funding 7 years ago. But changes of this kind happen all the time in all countries. Institutions have to deal as best they can, the smart thing to do would be to build new relationships and diversify funding sources. Apparently some money has been set aside by the Ministry for this year and an agreement signed but no funds, which fund every student place, have been released and no-one knows why.  Salaries of professional staff at the college have not been paid and I am not sure how true it is that staff are talking about stopping work. Though with no students to teach, there really isn't that much to do at the minute except worry about the future. The court order on the land apparently prohibits any party from doing anything to the land until the issue is settled. I say apparently because it seems the 'measure' (I forget the exact term) is not known to lawyers but has been explained verbally by the Secretary of Land & Agriculture. This means that while the college might harvest crops it cannot sow seeds or sell trees to raise money for operating costs. Those occupying the 6 ha are under the same restriction though it seems they moved a tractor on to the site in the past few days with the intention of starting to clear land for planting.

Earlier this week a meeting with the national level department responsible for the court action was arranged. All relevant government departments were to be present as was the Minister for Land and Agriculture. Some local students along with the Mayor of the Municipality in which the college sits all travelled down for it. It was to be a meeting to resolve the issue. Instead, the college parties were given the run around, several changes to time and place later the meeting resolved nothing and the Minister failed to show. However, it was agreed they visit the college Friday 7^th to see the situation first hand and take a decision on the issue.

So that's where we are.....Friday's going to be interesting!

Salsa Vicariously

There is a world beyond Disneyland that I intend to visit when I return from Barinas.  On Saturday night, or rather the early hours of Sunday morning, my female friend drove out to a Salsa dance hall in a Caracas satellite town. Working and lower middle class clientele.  Some of the best known Salsa musicians in the country.  Sounded like it was humming!  She wasn't looking to pick up men, just to Salsa.  She sat at the bar drinking a beer, was approached courteously by men asking her to dance and then graciously returned to her chair as said men asked others to dance.  She says she wouldn't be able to do this and feel comfortable with it in upmarket Los Palos Grandes.  I'm not sure where in the world a woman would be able to do this comfortably.


She observed that most of the Salsa musicians and singers sported a hand gun down the back of their trousers!  One of her dance partners, a man who had lived in Chile for more than 10 years, observed that prior to his departure from Venezuela he was a regular at the dance hall and that at least one person was shot dead every night. "Now they only hurt you" he said.  "Oh" she replied, "what do they do, like beat you up?".  "No, they break your heart".  Now that could mean lots of things and doesn't negate the fact it was well known you didn't go there without your gun back in the '70s and '80s, pre Chavez.  The 'great times' as the anti-Chavistas often refer to them.  It sounded like a chat up line to me.  Needless to say, my friend, a happily married woman, didn't fall for it.  The 8 National Guards on duty were her back up if anyone got too heavy.  They are a Chavista era presence.

Caracas 2 October 2011

Algunos Problemas

Caracas has been fun but it has always only been a stop over. My intention was to have gone to Barinas about two weeks ago. My final destination being a school that teaches agricultural management to young people aged 18-21 years. The school is part of a net work of international schools that aim to “make education a force to unite people, nations and cultures for a sustainable future”. The school in Barinas differs from the others in that it is the only school dedicated to agriculture and does not teach the International Baccalaureate. The school is administered by an NGO based in Caracas but is itself several hundred kilometers from Caracas in the area of Venezuela known as Los Llanos. Hot, flat and rural country.

Since arriving in Caracas I have made several attempts to contact the Executive Director in Caracas. It's not like she hadn't been aware of my impending arrival. Unanswered emails I let pass, it was the holiday period after all, but as the month reached its end my suspicions that something was amiss were in a direct opposite trajectory to my budget. By the third week of August when schools started to go back and my friends started to think they might have to host me indefinitely, a call was made to the office. Yes, La Directora was aware of my presence in Caracas and had intended calling a meeting the previous week, she would call to arrange one for this week. I waited on her call, in fact I very generously gave her another week to arrange the said meeting. Nothing happened. I called the office. It was answered by someone who does not speak English but even my not much progressed Spanish understood that 'algunas problemas' was not the answer I wanted to hear. And yes, La Directora would call me. Still no call. Some days later I called the office once more to be put through to La Directora who felt no need for even perfunctory words of introduction and welcome to Venezuela. None of that nonsense, no way, she was on Skype and would call me back. No call back. After 2 days my friend could bear it no longer, ashamed of the unprofessional and downright disrespectful behaviour she felt I was receiving, she called the office herself. 'Yes, yes, the administrator agreed, it was unacceptable. She agreed to give out the personal phone number of the Director but would say nothing of the 'agunas problemas'. Not good enough my friend decided. She sent La Directora a sharply worded text message. I realise now that Blackberries are a necessary evil.

The next day, just as I was reading a Facebook message stating the school had been invaded by the army and the land expropriated illegally by a pro-Chavista Regional Government, she rang. Wow. Her story was that 6 hectares had been 'rescued' by court order and landless peasants had moved on to the land. However, the court order applied to all 650 hectares. Chavez himself was aware of the school and had spoken highly and publicly of it. The only way to save it was for Chavez to intervene. Furthermore, the Ministry of Higher Education had been refusing to help and to allocate any funds to the school. Without these funds, as she had indicated to me even before I came to Venezuela, the school would not be able to operate. Teachers has returned but students had been told not to come back until mid-October. She simply didn't know what I would do there and the school may not operate at all. No way! What I would do there was learn Spanish, support teachers, and find out for myself what is really going on. Having arrived in Venezuela under their auspices they are responsible for me and my ticket cannot be changed. I'm here to stay until the date of my return flight in mid-December. Anyway, I smelled a big dirty rat here and much more to this than meets the eye. My instincts were right! Having agreed a meeting for Thursday of this week, she conveniently didn't show at the agreed time nor call as arranged to say she could not make it. Her phone was turned off. Half an hour past the appointed time, my by now irate friend sent an even more strongly worded text. The phone rang immediately. Four hours past the agreed time we met for the first time. Over a coffee a much more complicated story began to emerge – political intrigue, conflicts of ideology, opportunism, disloyalty, conflict and money. Great stuff. Nothing is going to keep me from finding out all about this, from all sides, for myself. I am on a plane to Barinas on Tuesday. I want to enjoy the thrust of the revolution. I'm still waiting for the promised contact details for Barinas and the information I need to do some of the work she wants me to do. I am not surprised at this but she may be surprised when I turn up at the office on Monday with my Venezuelan friend of the forceful texts.

Experience had prepared me for what I am likely to uncover and encounter in Barinas but nothing prepared me for La Directora's request that I should pay for my own coffee! While the unreturned calls and the lack of care towards a volunteer may be particularly Venezuelan (I am told) I cannot believe that being asked to share the coffee bill is anything other than this person's own human failing. Certainly, this, rather than the scandalous situation that has unfolded under her directorship, is what will remain most shocking to me for the rest of my days.

Caracas, 30 September 2011

Chavez - Saint or Sinner?

Wednesday 21^st September was International day of Peace. It was marked by candid, anti-imperialist fighting talk from Evo Morales, President of Bolivia. Bravo. TeleSur in Venezuela, an al-Jazera type station for Latin America, created by Chavez, gave much coverage to the Morales speech. It also covered an ecumenical service at Riverside Church for the health of Chavez, who has returned to Cuba for another bout of chemotherapy. Despite being in Cuba for treatment, Chavez joined the worshippers and spoke to them for several minutes via satellite link up. He called for peace and for the world to speak up against imperialist attacks on sovereign states.

The pulpit at Riverside displayed quite an amazing portrait of Chavez, the pioneer of 21^st century socialism, in the icon Mother Teresa and Dalai Lama, hands in prayer in front of the face pose. Was there a subliminal message here? Is Chavez a saint or a sinner, does he feel his immortality close at hand? 21^st century socialism, Chavez style, has issues with the church but not with religion. We should pray for his recovery.

Although my Spanish remains rudimentary, I attempt to read newspapers and notice that in papers of a certain hue, el imperio, is used to refer to the United States. Chavez has taken a stance against el imperio on a regular basis but clearly the ante is being upped. Following Venezuela's supply of an oil product to Iran earlier this year, the US imposed sanctions against several Venezuelan oil companies/subsidiaries. Since the government owns the oil company this was seen as an attack on the government. What the US did not impose however, was sanctions on the sale of oil to the US from the very same companies. The hypocrisy of this is self-evident. And while Chavez and Morales highlight the way in which the US and other Western powers play games with sovereign states – think Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, they must also fear for themselves as promoters of a different political and social ideology. One which capitalist powers, for all their claims to democracy, seem unwilling to let flourish, either inside or outside their own borders. Chavez is right to feel threatened but he's coming out fighting and if that means invoking 'great' leaders such as the Dalai Lama and Mother Teresa, I won't complain.

And one more thing, price controls on meat came in to effect in Venezuela this past week. It caused chaos in supermarkets in Disneyland! But more on that next time.

Beyond the Gates of Disneyland

Today I ventured way beyond the gates of Disneyland, or about 6 Metro stops beyond where I've gone before. Downtown Caracas, restored under Chavez and cleared of the chaos of multitudes of street vendors, has some beautiful old buildings, including the St. Theresa church, the Court of Justice, the Parliament Buildings and Bolivar's house (now a small museum). Bolivar is the Libertador, a military and political leader of great significance in Venezuela and the man who led the country (and others, then part of Gran Colombia) to independence in 1812. A statue of him on horseback dominates the Plaza Bolivar. It's a pity they can't get rid of that pigeon that sits on his head. This was the place where a very enthusiastic member of the army battalion charged with protecting the country's heritage wanted to practice his English. His boss had told him not to fraternise with the visitors (i.e. people like me) and only to speak if spoken to. He disagreed. Furthermore, he insisted I speak to his boss and ask that he be allowed to act as tour guide to Simon Bolivar's house. The boss was none too impressed. Disciplinary charges could follow!

Across the plaza, a socialist cafe served excellent (and cheap) coffee and cakes. Overstaffing and talking among themselves marked 21^st century socialism's customer service policy. But it came without the sense of intimidation and downright rudeness that typified 20^th century East European communist style customer service. A man at the next table, wearing the trademark red polo shirt of government supporters (and employees), hearing us speak English, struck up a conversation in which he shared his socialist philosophies and knowledge of the history of the Irish who fought in Venezuela and Mexico's wars of independence. The Irish do love a good revolution, I assured him! What could I say when he highlighted that an Irish man also supported Hitler? There's always one bastard who lets the side down.

The gangs of street cleaners, clad in their red polo shirts add a sense of order and civic pride. This was much in evidence when a newspaper vendor (socialist papers of course) proudly pointed us in the direction of a public toilet, which was, he said, 'very clean'. And so it was. The man at the entrance handed over a generous strip of toilet paper and pointed out which cubicle I should use. He refused any kind of payment for the service. All of this is a remarkable turn around for a city centre that ten years ago was dilapidated, insecure and chaotic. Apparently public sector workers are given a free uniform (coloured red). While not compulsory attire, a central district hiving with red clad citizens has the psychological effect of making it seem like everyone in the capital is a Chavista!

Which they are not. Later in the afternoon, I was assured the rejuvenation of Caracas doesn't extend more than 2 blocks, north, south, east or west of downtown. Makes me think maybe I simply went from Disneyland to Universal Studios!!

22^nd September 2011, Caracas

You can hate the revolution and enjoy it too

So, standing in line for the free fusion music theatre event, a man looking exactly like a 65 year old Fidel, greets two guys in front of me in the queue. 'How are things going?' they ask. “How do you think, now that our country belongs to Cuba” is the dead pan response. I noticed he was one of the first through the doors (seniors being permitted entry before all others). There has be some democracy when you can criticise Chavez in one breath and enjoy the free cultural events that have come with 21^st century socialism with the next.

Viva la revolucion!

21 September 2011