Debuting soon is a new documentary about Colonia Tovar, the German settlement that lies just 60 kilometers outside of Caracas, but is culturally much further removed. The community, a small but well-touristed village of perhaps 6,000 people, was founded in 1840 by the intrepid Italian geographer Agostino Codazzi.
Colonia Tovar provides the setting for “María y el nuevo mundo” (Maria and the New World), the first full-length film from Venezuelan director George Walker Torres. It tells the story of a middle-aged woman who struggles to survive on a garbage dump and dreams of being reunited with her daughter. A parallel is drawn between her search to create a better life and that of the initial founders of the town.
The documentary is promoted by Venezuela’s National Film Board, or Centro Nacional Autónomo de Cinematografía (CNAC). Read more in Spanish. Check back here to watch the trailer once it’s available.
Intercultural education will soon become a reality in Venezuela, if Professor Angela Diaz has anything to do with it.
She spoke at at a public event today in Washington sponsored by TransAfrica Forum. Diaz has been making her way around the U.S. capital, speaking at Howard University and meeting Members of Congress to discuss the Afro-Venezuelan experience.
Diaz is a member of the Network of Afro-Venezuelan Organizations (La Red de Organizaciones Afrovenezolanas), has worked tirelessly over the past decade to help create a more inclusive education system. Like the U.S., Afro-descendants and Indigenous peoples in Venezuela have been too often distorted or omitted from public school curricula. Due to the work of people like Diaz, Venezuelan students will learn about all the ethnic groups that built the South American continent.
The new inclusive curriculum has been implemented in 17 states so far. Part of the process involves inviting community elders into the schools to teach. In one school, grandparents taught students how to make a fish recipe, which is stuffed in a plantain leaf. Fish is a vital resource for residents along the Caribbean coast, many of whom identify as Afro-Venezuelan. Along with the recipe, the children learned about history, culture, art, and the environment. Sharing ancestral knowledge is the key to transmitting what has been left out of the history books.
Diaz emphasized that students are inspired when they can see themselves and their communities represented in their lessons. See more of Professor Diaz’s work with Fundación Curduvare.
This year’s World Baseball Classic has been very exciting. Venezuela was back on top of its game yesterday, defeating the U.S. 5-3 to win pool C after losing to the U.S. 15-6 in a previous game. Their roster includes MLB stars like Bobby Abreu, Endy Chavez, and Francisco Rodriguez.
Venezuela moves on Saturday to play the Netherlands, which has been a proven to be a wild card this season, twice defeating the powerhouse Dominican team.
Keep watching, and keep your fingers crossed for the patria querida!
Women make history every day, and the women of Venezuela are doing so by cultivating a community-based economic model. They are embarking on new paths to autonomy within an historic social movement that is improving the lives of millions through “social missiones” that deliver new opportunities.
Government-funded programs such as Madres del Barrio (or “Mothers of the Neighborhood”) promote social inclusion and community action. Madres del Barrio gives women the tools to succeed personally as well as economically by offering education, training, and interest-free loans. These tools have been invaluable for women, many of whom had never before worked outside the home.
The Guardian Weekly showcases the personal story of one Caracas woman whose participation in Madres del Barrio led her to found the successful Guarayrapana Textile Cooperative. Yovita Vera had this to say about her experience:
It takes a lot of willpower to keep the cooperative working, but we couldn’t have done it without the support from Madres del Barrio. I feel like this government has finally given women the status they deserve. In the barrios, most of the families are headed by women with little or no support from men, so it makes sense for them to be in control of the finances.
As we celebrate Women’s History Month, Madres del Barrio deserves a round of applause!
Check out this video about Madres del Barrio in Spanish.
Johan Santana, the star pitcher for the Mets who hails from Venezuela, says that despite elbow problems he will be ready for Spring training on Thursday and wants to pitch opening day on April 6th.
“Right now, I feel pretty good, and I felt like I could get in a game,” he told the New York Daily News. This is despite the fact that he did not pitch in the recent World Baseball Classic, disappointing Venezuelans.
Santana told Newsday: “I haven’t skipped anything. Just staying with the plan. Hopefully whenever it’s the time, the right time, to get on the field, we’ll do it. We’ll get on the mound. But as of right now, there’s no reason to have that competition mind-set. It’s just about getting ready for Opening Day.”
Yesterday, March 8th, was recognized by countries around the world as International Women’s Day. In Venezuela, there were many achievements to celebrate as well as challenges ahead.
In 2007, the Law on the Right of Women to a Life Free from Violence was passed. It stipulates that 23 women’s shelters must be created throughout the country, but only two have been opened so far, according to an IPS article. Many women rely on the “rehabilitation centers” of the government-funded social mission known as “Negra Hipólita,” which provides services to those in situations of critical poverty. A new National Institute for Women was also created recently. Its initiatives include the expansion of a helpline for women that now provides 24-hour service.
Last week, the head of the gender team of the United Nations Development Programme, Winnie Byanyima (pictured here), was visiting Venezuela. In a Spanish-language interview, Ms. Bayanyima said “the [2007] law promulgated by the Venezuelan government is very important, but it must be put into practice and monitored.”
The UN, together with Spanish International Cooperation Agency, held seminars in Caracas that allowed participants from Spain to share with Venezuelans their experiences with setting up a three-tiered system of services for women who face violence. The seminars were attended by officials from the government’s National Institute of Women as well as police and citizens.
No visit to Venezuela is complete without a visit to Caracas, and no visit to Caracas is complete without Saturday night at El Maní es Así, a veritable institution of Latin American salsa.
Called El Maní (the peanut) for short, it is simply one of the greatest salsa clubs on planet earth. Located in the heart of Caracas in Sabana Grande, nearly every taxi driver can take you there. It’s Metro accessible, but you’ll need to take a cab back, since the Metro shuts down before the party does.
Admission to El Maní is usually free, and the crowd is diverse and friendly. Get there early to nab a table. The caraqueño nightlife custom is to purchase a bottle of liquor (with mixers) or mini keg of beer to reserve your table for the night. The waitstaff is attentive and quick, so tip well! The place is full by 9 pm, but the dance floor always has room for another couple.
Top Latin American salsa bands perform there every weekend, and even party goers without skills will be tempted (and invited!) to dance. Don’t worry — someone will offer to teach you the steps. The rhythm is hard to fight, the rum is superb, and the house lights will come on before you know it.
El Maní is a great place to see the real Caracas, and a wonderful place to fall in love — with Venezuela, of course!
Check out this great photo montage of the club with music by salsa legend “la voz” Héctor Lavoe.
The arepa is truly a food without borders. Though it is emblematic of Venezuela, the savory cornmeal snack has a presence abroad, too! Here are some suggestions for where to find arepas in the U.S.:
In New York, the Caracas Arepa Bar (pictured above) is located on 7th St. the East Village. Here, rumor has it you are nearly required to to try Venezuelan-style guacamole, called guasacaca. Rivals El Cocotero are over on West 18th St.
Lucky for folks in Boston, the up-and-coming Orinoco has two locations, one in the South End and another in Brookline. They have a nice date-worthy ambiance and also sell t-shirts with funny slogans like “arepa boy” and “no se aceptan sifrinos!” (no snobs allowed!).
This may not be the policy at Coupa Cafe in Beverley Hills and Palo Alto, which claims to sell “the finest mountain grown single estate coffees from Venezuela.” It has an entire section of its menu dedicated to gourmet arepas.
Surely Miami is home to the highest density of Venezuelan eateries, but we recommend you try this one first: Caballo Viejo (named for a famous folkloric song by Simon Diaz ) has been described as a “hole-in-the-wall” and a “mom and pop” restaurant that is clean and simple.
Where else do you like to eat arepas? Let us know in the comments section.
Venezuela’s successful state-funded youth music education program, “El Sistema,” continues to have an impact abroad. Most recently, it inspired a similar initiative by the Jackson Symphony Orchestra in Michigan. Their program, called “String Team,” offers affordable group classes in stringed instruments to elementary school students.
Venezuela’s “El Sistema” has reached about a quarter of a million young people in poor areas and produced classical music stars such as Gustavo Dudamel. Like “El Sistema,” the “String Team” is about getting young people to learn and improve their lives through music. Read more here. In case you missed it, don’t forget to check out the documentary about “El Sistema” on CBS’ 60 Minutes.
A while ago, we brought you Carlos Cruz Diez, Venezuela’s most colorific artist abroad. Cruz Diez studied architecture and the science of color in Europe and later returned home to open the Studio for Visual Arts in Caracas. He is known for his technique of “color saturation” and inviting installation art.
Cruz Diez creates interactive, livable art, such as the floor tiles of Simón Bolívar Airport that serves Caracas (above). Countless visitors and locals have exchanged happy greetings and tearful goodbyes on Cruz Deiz’s airport art. The multicolored walkway is angled to give the viewer a sense of movement and speed, which is especially important in those hurried airport moments.
Today’s featured photo comes from the Flickr photostream of metropanas, which has tons of great images of Caracas architecture.
In the Spanish-language video below, Cruz Diez describes his “chromosaturation” exhibit, which recently showed at the Americas Society in New York.
The “Metrocable” that is set to revolutionize transportation in crowded Caracas will open next month. It will reportedly travel 1.8 kilometers through the following neighborhoods: Parque Central, Hornos de Cal, La Ceiba, El Manguito y San Agustín.
What’s so cool about the Metrocable, you ask? For one, it whisks travelers overland through the clouds to reduce traffic congestion and pollution. It also helps reduce travel time to work for low-income residents in the city’s peripheral areas.
A Reuters article yesterday suggested that this project is well-liked in San Agustín. It prompted one resident to call Hugo Chavez “the only president who has really worked for the poor.” This sentiment is reflected in the statistics: a recent UN study shows poverty has dropped by 16.5% in the last five years.
And while the Venezuelan leader has been known to tout those numbers, he stressed earlier this year that the newest government-funded transportation project was designed for the good of all citizens:
None of the projects promoted by the Venezuelan government does [have political colors]; they will benefit all Venezuelans.
The technology and materials used to build the Metrocable were purchased from Austria and Brazil. The project may have been inspired by an existing aerial transportation system in Medellin, Colombia. Investments total $149 million, and it should create 200 direct jobs and 250 more indirect ones. It will carry 1,500 people an hour for a total of 15,000 commuters every day. See more pictures of the construction phase here.
Bolivia’s President Evo Morales announced today that Bolivia will soon begin building recycled “petrocasas” with the help of Venezuela. These low-cost plastic dwellings are built with waste generated by oil refining, and are providing a solution to economic and environmental pressures. Tens of thousands have already been erected in Venezuela as well as Cuba and Peru. It was in Peru where Morales first saw the petrocasas and the role they played in the country’s recovery after a 2007 earthquake.
With an investment of $80 million, Bolivia will open a factory to produce petrocasas in Oruro. The first recipients will reportedly be the relatives of the victims of Bolivia’s “gas wars” of 2003. The eco-friendly houses will go up in low income areas, including El Alto and Trinidad. The project was announced at an event commemorating the 228th anniversary of the first uprising against the Spanish colonists.
See our last post on petrocasas here. For coverage in Spanish, see Reuters.
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Venezuela World 