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October 15, 2005
Movie Makers and Manifestaciones
Em was feeling sick this morning so Vladimir and I headed over to meet with filmmaker Malena Roncayolo on our own. She and her family were very nice and we had a good talk. More than anything, both Vladimir and I threw out some ideas that could possibly get her films in the hands of more people. It was interesting that she had a good deal of success getting the film distributed in Italy with the help a socialist party in the country. Apparently they don’t think Chavez is worthy of their party’s name. That despite the fact in his own words he is creating socialism for the 21st century.
This afternoon we had quite an adventure and a first for both Emily and myself. We attended an opposition party rally that totaled 5,000 to 6,000 people from all walks of life on the streets of Caracas. Like yesterday, everyone thought Em was international press so she got some great pictures. I also took some video that I’ll possibly be able to put online and link to in the near future.
One of the speakers at the rally, Tulio Alvarez, a lawyer who was leading the legal crusade against the electoral fraud in August 2004, is currently in hiding from the government. When he showed up people erupted in cheers. Helicopters at this point were also circling above. After his fiery speech, Em saw him hop on the back of a motorcycle and disappear into traffic. Some of the pictures will do the event more justice than I can in words so I recommend people head over to our photo site and take a look.
One woman who Em spoke with was a Venezuelan doctor. When asked about the Cuban doctor situation she told of stories of unqualified Cuban doctors treating patients, misdiagnosing the problem, and something going terribly wrong. Patients then had to be transported to military hospitals to attempt to cover up the situation. She was no happy about being locked out of the system as a Venezuelan doctor, and being labeled by Chavez a selfish esqualido. Obviously, she is coming from a unique perspective but it would be interesting to see a study on the quality of treatment within the Barrio Adentro program.
As if that were not a full enough day, after the party we ended up going a party to celebrate the baptism of one of Elisabeth’s nieces. It was an incredible event and quite a contrast the demonstration we had just come from. Best of all was the story of her sister’s husband had come from Spain with basically nothing and started a business doing catering and parties that had turned into a huge success. Needless to say they knew how to throw a party and tonight Emily and I were lucky to be the benefactors of this expertise.
It was an eventful day but now it is off to bed.
Posted by Peter Mork at October 15, 2005 6:54 AM
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