Baseball Update: Get Well Soon

A favorite Venezuelan baseball player, Magglio Ordonez, will be out of the game for 2 weeks after he pulled a muscle.
The injury occurred on Saturday, when his team, the Detroit Tigers, beat the Colorado Rockies 7-6.
He told the press, “I’ll be back when I’m ready.” Get well soon, Magglio!

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Public Art in Caracas Evokes Popular History

Venezuelans know their history. This fact is emphasized in a Florida Times-Union column today that describes a guided visit to a mural in Caracas that depicts many aspects of the past. The author was hosted by Global Exchange, which does “reality tours” in Latin America.
Here is an excerpt: “It begins with pictures of its original [...]

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Venezuela’s Youth Music Program Spreads Smiles

By now, you’ve surely heard of Venezuela’s renowned music program “El Sistema,” which gives young children from poor families an opportunity to learn how to play classical music. The program is 30 years old, and currently reaches quarter of a million students. It is also having a big impact around the world.
Here is a roundup [...]

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Venzuela’s Petrocasas Featured in BBC News

We love petrocasas, the eco-friendly houses that are taking poor families out of the crumbling barrios in Venezuela and also in Cuba.
That’s why this new coverage from BBC News is so exciting!
The petrocasas program is setting new standards for how developing countries can address poverty and related housing issues in a way that is affordable [...]

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Venezuela’s Cooperatives Revitalize Idle Farms

Now here is something that is good for the economy and the environment.
Idle estates in rural Venezuela are being used for small-scale agricultural production by local farming cooperatives. This is a result of a program of land reform that has benefited over 100,000 families. The cooperatives have helped poor and previously landless communities become powerful [...]

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Venezuela and Paraguay Look Toward Cooperation

Paraguay’s President elect, former Bishop Fernando Lugo, visited Caracas yesterday to meet with President Chavez. We can probably expect to see lots of cooperation between Venezuela and Paraguay once Lugo is sworn in in August.
Amazingly, Paraguay spent the last 60 years under one-party rule. With the election of Lugo last April 20th, the country voted [...]

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Venezuela’s Banks Branch out into the Barrios

In Venezuela, going to the bank is getting easier for people who live in low-income neighborhoods.
The government is pushing financial institutions nationwide to open up in areas that historically lacked access to banking. Small loans are being given out in these areas, which are hotbeds of entrepreneurship.
The technique of microfinance, as it is known in [...]

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Venezuela’s Comeback Kid: Oscar Salazar

Oscar Salazar of Maracay, Venezuela, is earning a reputation as a strong infielder and powerhouse hitter with the Baltimore Orioles.
His success was not always a sure thing, though.
Salazar debuted in Major League Baseball in 2002, but only lasted eight games with the Detroit Tigers. He tried his luck in the Mexican leagues, and, with no [...]

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Art in Motion: Venezuela’s Jesús Soto

If you’ve been to the Museo de Bellas Artes in Caracas, and if when you were there you got tangled in a mess of plastic strands that looks like the underside of a yellow jellyfish, you’ve probably heard about Jesús Soto. He is Venezuela’s most famous modern artist.
Venture further into inland Venezuela, and you can [...]

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Venezuela: Putting Money Where the Mouths Are

Venezuela is upping investments in agriculture in response to concerns about food supplies that are part of a rising global crisis.
Agriculture Minister Elias Jaua announced plans on Tuesday for a 20% increase in the production of food crops including cereals, rice, corn, and sorghum. The transformation is dramatic in the area of soy farming: while [...]

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President Chavez’s Message of Peace Welcomed Abroad

After Venezuela’s President Chavez said last Sunday during a weekly televised address that Colombia’s FARC guerrillas should lay down their arms and release all hostages, positive reactions are being heard from around the globe.
French Foreign Minister Pascale Andréani said that Chavez’s words may help restart the humanitarian effort in which Venezuela has been a key [...]

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Venezuela a Tempting Locale for Director Tim Robbins

Sean Penn, Kevin Spacey, Naomi Campbell… Hollywood just cannot resist the charms of Venezuela!
The Academy Award- winning U.S. actor and director Tim Robbins visited yesterday, scouting a location for a film.
Robbins was particularly interested in seeing Coro, the desert-like peninsula that juts out into the ocean from the northern state of Falcón.
He also made the [...]

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