Claudia
Thursday, January 22. 2009
Merida, Venezuela (Jan 4, 2009)
This is Claudia, aunt of Victoria. Claudia is a cousin of Mayli (my wife) in Merida, Venezuela, where we have been for the new year holidays.
As I wrote many times, Venezuela is a complicated country. When I met Mayli the first time, I thought that Venezuela was a sort of “Switzerland” of South America. Oil rich country, I thought it was avoiding the strong social conflicts (and military dictatorships) that in recent decades have plagued other countries in the continent. I realized how far this impression was from reality the first time I flew to Caracas, and saw the “Christmas lights” of the girdle of slums surrounding the capital, with million of people living precariously without services in neighborhoods on landslide-prone foothills. That was before the sweeping elections of Hugo Chavez to the Venezuelan presidency in 1999, running on a platform of reform for social justice and reduction of poverty.
Many years later, the slums are still there, and the social struggle is unabated. The photo was taken along the via “Panamericana” in Merida, while we were driving to Mayli’s grandmother house. Anybody from Merida knows the reasons for the protest in the photo?
