Program Raison d'être
Geo-politically speaking, Venezuela is perhaps the most important country in contemporary Latin America. Its popular rejection of a neoliberal development paradigm in the caracazo of 1989 and its three time election of Hugo Chávez Frías as president in 1998, 2000, and 2006 has made this nation of tremendous oil and natural wealth the center of a new movement to redefine the political and economic landscape of the Western Hemisphere. The creation and propagation of new social development models based on community empowerment, cooperative work relations, fair trade, and participatory democracy epitomize this movement which is incorporating the historically excluded poor and working class into dynamic political and economic processes. It is a movement which has been met with resistance by powerful minorities both within and outside the borders of the country and it is a movement which has earned the attention of scholars and social justice advocates from all over the world interested in social change.
Yet, despite the recent global surge in interest in the affairs of Venezuela, much of the attention being focused on the country from journalists, pundits, academics, and students alike remains in many respects superficial. Either acerbic criticism of the 'dictatorial' Chávez government or unwavering praise for the 'Bolivarian Revolution' dominates the discourse surrounding contemporary Venezuela. Such depictions obfuscate the reality that Venezuela, like any nation, has a complex history of social relations which cannot be easily categorized into simple binaries of pro- and anti- government or chavista and escualido. What is occurring in Venezuela is in fact infinitely more interesting and complicated than what the vast majority of citizens from outside the country are exposed to in the media and in academia.
Global Exchange, through the work of its Reality Tours, has been successfully working to remedy this lack of perspective by creating links between community activists in Venezuela and program participants from North America and Europe. In 2007 alone, 24 Reality Tours brought some 400 people from the global North to Venezuela facilitating exchanges between human rights advocates and providing participants with a glimpse into what is taking place on the ground level. It is with this experience of collaboration that a semester-long study abroad program in the Andean city of Mérida has been created. The 14 week program gives students a one of a kind opportunity to study Spanish and learn about the history and reality of contemporary Venezuelan society. Participants have the unique chance to take classes at the prestigious Universidad de Los Andes and to meet with community activists leading change in the following areas: health care, education, popular economy, community media, the women's movement and agriculture. Participants will also have the chance to meet with and understand the positions taken by the country's active opposition movement. Return to Merida Homepage.
