by Father James E. Flynn
World for Peace
CARACAS, Venezuela — I had the privilege of making a brief but jam-packed journey to Venezuela with Witness for Peace (WFP), Feb. 16-24. My 18 companions were from Chicago, Louisville, Washington, D.C., and Utah. It was my first time in this beautiful and mountainous country, and we had the (mis)fortune to be there during "Carnaval," the three days before Ash Wednesday. The country was in a very festive mood.
But while there for those few days, I saw and heard remarkable things happening, especially among poor Venezuelans who make up the vast majority of the population:
• I saw free health clinics for all citizens in a number of places, places my group toured and marveled at, and heard from medical people that they had received much support and training from Cuban doctors.
• I heard that education is free for all, including College, available also to adults who had been illiterate till the present.
• I heard from Eduardo Sanchez and Roman Velasco of the National Union of Workers that with the election of Hugo Chavez the repression of unions and workers stopped, and with a change in the Constitution in 1998 new rights were now available to workers.
• I saw and heard from a dynamic group of women who over the past few years have lifted themselves out of poverty – with the help of the present Venezuelan government – and have established a bank they’ve named "Banmujer" ("Women’s Bank"). It’s like the famous "Grameen Bank" in Bangledesh, providing opportunities for micro-loans to women, and though some men are included in their efforts men remain in a minority status. The women told us that 98 percent of their low-interest loans have been paid back by women borrowers.
• I saw and heard from a woman named Barbara Puglis from a right-wing opposition group called "Primero Justicia," a "Human Rights" group. She told us that her group was established in 1992 as an NGO (non-goverment organization), but become a political party in 1999 in opposition to the party of Chavez. She also told us that her group received funds from the U.S. "National Endowment for Democracy" and from the Mexican PAN political party.
• In several different locations in Caracas and in other places in the country we saw food stores for the poor, where supplies of beans, rice, sugar, milk, coffee, and other staples were subsidized by the government.
• I saw a cooperative where poor women were making shoes, a coop they themselves established with low-interest loans from the government.
• I saw and heard from a group of school children in a mountain village named "La Magdalena," about three hours south of Caracas. They told my companions and me that they go to school every day, and though they are poor they do not have to pay for their schooling, their books, nor their school supplies. Two very brilliant fifth grade girls told us that everything at the school is done democratically.
• In that same mountain village I saw a bread and bakery shop in a new building, owned and operated by a group of poor women, whose shop was underwritten by the government with a low-interest loan.
• In a very poor neighborhood in the town of Charavalle – three hours from Caracas – I saw a small soup kitchen in a poor neighborhood operated by a group of people with foods given by the government.
• I saw and heard from a group of fishers, male and female, on the shores of the Caribbean, who had been given small motors for their fishing boats by the government, and though some of the motors had been stolen, they still fished and had great hopes for greater catches and a better life-style.
• My companions and I visited the U.S. Embassy and heard from a political officer there who explained to us why the U.S. Government is so wary of the Chavez government. He assured us that the U.S. did not participate in the shortened "coup" in 2002 against President Chavez, when Chavez was captured and imprisoned for several days.
• I saw and heard from a Caracas City councilman, who admitted that while there was a lot of bureaucracy in the mayor’s office, still the leadership operated in a democratic way. We also heard him plead with us U.S. citizens: "Let us be ourselves. Let us be free. We have a right to be free."
• I also saw and heard a representative of a left-wing party, "Bandera Roja," which opposes Chavez’ party from the far left.
• On Sunday, Feb. 18, my companions and I went to Mass in a small Catholic chapel in a very poor neighborhood named "Carapita." When we arrived there the nun, Sister Jenny Russian, who works in the parish and neighborhood, told us that the local priest was sick. Our WFP leaders told her that I was a priest, so she invited me to celebrate the Mass with them. I did, though she preached the Homily – I wasn’t at all prepared to preach that Sunday – kind of a "day off" for me.
• I saw a lot of graffiti all over Caracas, most of it, though not all, favorable to President Chavez.
• I saw and marveled at a lengthy series of murals on a wall in Caracas that told the history of Venezuela – a way for the poor who can’t read to learn the history of their country – and a way for us pilgrims as well to learn the history of Venezuela.
• I also saw the small home that was the birth place of Simon Bolivar.
What I saw and heard from different sectors of Venezuelan life was the one word: hope.
There is so much hope in what Venezuelans call "The Bolivarian Revolution."The country is rich with oil monies, and it appeared to me and my companions that those riches are being shared more equally, and not pocketed by the few, a history of Venezuela and much of Latin America.
While I have been to Nicaragua, Guatemala, El Salvador and to Chiapas, Mexico, many times, I saw Venezuela as many, many times richer than those poor countries and state (Chiapas). Buildings are booming all over Caracas. A marvelous subway system is clean and efficient.
Out in the town of Charavalle a new train has recently connected this town of 90,000 people to the subway system of Caracas, making that town almost a bed-room community.
It was interesting to me and my companions that the Chavez government’s efforts to bring health, food, education, and infrastructure to all Venezuelans, and especially to the poorest sectors, are being called "Misiones" ("Missions"). The almost-religious implications of that word were not lost on us – and certainly are not lost on Venezuelans.
So this is some of what I saw and heard in eight days in Venezuela. No doubt a week-long visit is too short, but thanks to Witness for Peace leadership in Venezuela, our visit was packed with interviews with and visits to different sectors of the society. I regretted that we did not get a chance to interview some of the Catholic leadership.
One thing I came home with: what I saw and heard differs dramatically from U.S. reports of what is happening in Venezuela. Certainly the jury is still out on how this "Bolivarian Revolution" will play out, but for the present there is hope among poor Venezuelans.
Two days after I arrived home, I heard something at our daily Mass in Park City. It was the Gospel of St. Matthew, Chapter 25. There Matthew writes about the so-called "Last Judgment," wherein Jesus says that at the end of the world all the nations will be assembled before the King. The King will speak to nations on his right, and nations on his left.
The King will judge all those nations on whether they fed the hungry, gave drink to the thirsty, clothed the naked, cared for the sick, welcomed the refugee, visited the imprisoned.
I couldn’t help but hear that Gospel with new ears – two days after seeing and hearing so many things in the nation of Venezuela. I reflected that in Venezuela – at last – the hungry were being fed, the sick had access to health clinics, those in poverty were being lifted out of that prison, and people living like refugees in their own country were being welcomed to live at last like human beings made in the image and likeness of God. Would Venezuela be a sheep on the King’s right hand?
On the other hand, it all made me wonder about my own nation where the poor are becoming poorer, hunger and health are problems of major proportions, refugees are not being welcomed, and in fact are being walled out and sent home. Would my own nation be one of the goats on the King’s left hand?
Fr. Flynn is a retired priest from Louisville Ky. Living in residence at St. Mary of the Assumption Parish, Park City.
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