Trying to plan a trip to Venezuela..thoughts?

[Lun7200]

So I'm entering my sophomore year in college and I am currently leaning into majoring in Urban Planning, more specifically Community Organization.

I highly admire Hugo Chavez and all of the work he has done in their country. I was envisioning a trip to Venezuela in the near future. I was wondering if anyone had any thoughts on this or experience with this.

Living in the U.S its hard to understand the Venezuelan way of life since everything is distorted by our media before it reaches us.

I am of Mexican descent and I speak fluent spanish as well as english obviously. I am brown skined so I feel like I would blend in somewhat with the locals.

My main concern is for my safety. My home country of Mexico, atleast the majority of the country is under the control of the large drug lords and kidnappings and massacres are part of everyday life. Is Venezuela any safer than Mexico.

Also this may seem like a long shot but is there ANY way I could possibly meet with Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez? He seem very dedicated to his people and very dedicated into making this world a better place. If I was to undergo the trip it would probably take place next summer so that would give me the possibility of contacting anyone necessary.

What about back here in the states? I dont want to be permanently kept on a watch list because of the trip.

Thanks in advance

[MarxSchmarx]

I have no idea how to meet Hugo chavez.

Caracas is fine if you stick to the main thoroughfares or go about with someone who knows the neighborhood. Most leftist orgs int he USA have contacts in Venezuela, 95% of them in Caracas who could hook you up. I think there are a few users here from there as well, pm them and they could probably introduce you to someone.

The other thing to consider is trying to do a study abroad at UCV, and have students show you around town. The kids there get a bad rep, but more are now from working class families since Chavez took over, at least that is what I am told.

The rural areas (at least in the south) are teh same story. you have to be careful, again, going with somebody who is from there is indispensible. Althoguh they are a little safer now because they are full of checkpoints although they will shake foreigners down for a bribe more so than in Mexico (actually it's better to pretend you don't speak spanish if you have a non-hispanic passport). Still it's an inconvenience, but you do feel safer. Roads are pretty reliable, now is the rainy season tho so you may need a 4x4 in some places.

On the whole I'd say it is probably safer than a lot of northern mexico or near the central american border. There are less gang problems and organized crime is quite weak by comparison - most violent crime stems from the widespread availability of firearms from colombia and brazil, which is still less than the deluge of guns from America to mexico.

Also there are organized tours to visit some bolivarian clinics, centers schools and whatnot. Finally the US government doesn't care unless you do something stupid. 95% of people traveling to and from venezuela and the usa are likely to be anti-chavistas anyway, the rest are bird watchers

[Ele'ill]

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