Something remarkable is happening in Venezuela. The lives of millions of Venezuelans are improving as historic wrongs are being righted. The world's fifth-largest oil producer, Venezuela has long been a country of contrasts: despite its great wealth, 80% of Venezuelans live in poverty. Now, for the first time, millions of Venezuelans have access to education, job training, housing, land, clean water, health care, and something maybe even more precious: dignity. Community-based preventative health care missions are making health care a tangible human right, causing infant mortality to plummet. Educational missions are putting millions more children into thousands of new schools, while high school and college scholarship programs keep kids reaching for new horizons. At the same time, Venezuelan elders are imbuing their citizenship with new meaning as over one million of them learn to read and write for the first time in the Literacy campaign. Women, Indigenous peoples, and Afro-Venezuelans are gaining power and rights, while a high-profile land reform campaign is sweeping the nation, giving poor farmers access to land and opportunities.

However, despite their overwhelming contribution to the everyday life and culture of Venezuela, coastal Afro-Venezuelan communities continue to face racial and economic divisions that prevail from the days of colonization. Racism against Afro-Venezuelans continues to perpetuate historically-rooted class divisions and contributes to a lack of political participation in decisions that most affect them. Despite a legacy of hundreds of years, Afro-Venezuelans are conquering new political spaces in government institutions while communities organize themselves from the bottom up to make sure guarantees are met. How are Afro-Venezuelan communities creating their own movement within the revolutionary process in Venezuela, and how is Afro-Venezuelan culture empowering communities to fight against racism?

Travel to Venezuela with Global Exchange during the San Juan Festival -- 3 days that celebrate San Juan, the patron saint of the descendents of freed slaves, and a time the African heritage of all Venezuelans is celebrated -- and learn about the realities of Afro-Venezuelan communities on a delegation to Venezuela that is a blend of culture and politics, introducing you to a side of Venezuela rarely heard about in the United States.

To learn more about fundraising or scholarship opportunities, click here.

Program Highlights:

• Meet with members of the Afro-Venezuelan Network to speak about the history of slavery, racism, and economic inequality in Venezuela, and learn about the movement to combat racism in the country. Dance with Afro-Venezuelan musicians during the 3-day San Juan Festival to celebrate African heritage in the coastal area of Barlovento/Curiepe. Visit government-sponsored health, education, and literacy programs aimed towards eradicating poverty in coastal communities. Learn how Venezuelan hip-hop groups are intersecting with social justice to create new voices of youth leadership in barrios in Caracas and elsewhere. Compare conventional cacao plantations with organic agricultural cooperatives that are creating endogenous ("from within and below") development in Afro-Venezuelan communities. Talk with government representatives about the economic, social, and political integration of Venezuela, the rest of Latin America, and countries of the African continent. View Sample Itinerary for this Tour

Cost: $1600

Price Includes:

• Cost assumes double-room accommodation, but if we are unable to pair delegates accordingly, we will assign single occupancy accommodation at an additional $300
• Two meals per day
• Transportation to and from all programmed activities
• Language translation
• A qualified trip leader

How to Register:

This trip will be as diverse as possible in terms of race, age and life experiences. We strongly urge people of color to apply. In some cases, a limited number of partial scholarships are available for low-income applicants.

Make your reservation online now!

Contact Sneh with any questions about this trip, or call toll-free 1-800-497-1994 ext. 221.