Only ONE game of the Copa America in Caracas.... Want to know why?

"Ciudad Universitaria, Caracas"

The Ciudad Universitaria de Caracas, built to the design of the architect Carlos Raúl Villanueva, between 1940 and 1960, is an outstanding example of the Modern Movement in architecture. The university campus integrates the large number of buildings and functions into a clearly articulated ensemble, including masterpieces of modern architecture and visual arts, such as the Aula Magna with the "Clouds" of Alexander Calder, the Olympic Stadium, and the Covered Plaza.

The Olympic stadium in Caracas (as well as the whole "Ciudad Universitaria") was declared by the UNESCO as World Heritage and is considered a masterpiece of modern city planning, architecture and art.

Reconditioned for the Copa America, the stadium was scheduled to host only 2 games: The Semi-Final and the game for the third place. However, at the last minute the goverment decided to change the Semi-Final game to the city of Maracaibo without giving an apparent excuse:



Olympic Stadium: The goverment spend over $30M dollars to fix up this stadium for the Copa America 2007. However, why not use it?. The stadium sits over 30,000 visitors.

So... why is this beautiful stadium home to only one game of the Copa America. Caracas is the most important city in Venezuela; isn't it?

I will tell you why.
In fact, the Mayor of Caracas will tell you that (sort of).

Yesterday the Ciudad Universitaria was taken over by the military. Today several students were arrested for protesting peacefully with their hands painted in white and yelling "Freedom". Right outside of the stadium.

But the most shocking moment came when the Mayor of Caracas and his bodyguards attacked a professor from a very well known and respected school (UCAB) who was watching the game; according to the Mayor, "he had insulted him".

The funny part is... this is all on video, check out the ABUSE OF POWER by the Mayor and his bodyguards; if you can understand Spanish you can also listen to his lies as well as the declarations (to Globovision) of Mexican and Uruguayan visitors who were sitting right next to the professor that was attacked. You don't have to believe me, see it for yourself:








Uruguay beat Mexico 3 vs 1. But the highlight of the game was the "episode" of Juan Barreto. The National guard had to step in and escort him out of the stadium because the 30,000 visitors were standing up yelling "FUERA! FUERA!". The pyrotechnic show the goverment put up during the game didn't cover the chants of "RCTV!!!" , "Freedom!!" and "Y va a caaaeeer..." from resounding on the stadium during the whole encounter.

You might remember the Mayor of Caracas from an episode last year when he made sexist remarks: "You can't trust an animal that bleeds every month when it hasn't been injured, the woman". Or maybe you might have heard of him after he attacked 2 members of the opposition in a "Mayors Committee" he hosted.

This is the reason the Copa America was not played in Caracas, the goverment was scared of whatever could happen.
Ladies and gentlemen: Welcome to Caracas.

Caracas Marches..... nobody listens?

Journalists and different media workers called for a march to protest against discrimination and the lack of freedom of expression in Venezuela.

Students, workers, journalists and different political parties took the streets of Caracas in what turned out to be one of the largest peaceful protests in the last 9 years. Students also protested in Puerto la Cruz and a few other cities in the country.

Meanwhile.. Chavez is visiting Russia, Bielorussia and Iran.

A few images are worth a thousand words:

A video of the concentration:

USB Marches for Autonomy

The students of the Universidad Simon Bolivar, a well-known school with a high reputation in scientific and engineering careers, decided to march to the "Board of Supreme Education" (the goverment entity that regulates universities) to demand that the university's autonomous status be recognized. (an status every university in Venezuela enjoys).

Funded in 1967 as an experimental school, today the USB is one of the most advanced and successful houses of high education in Latin America. However, it has not been granted "autonomy" by the goverment.

Students also protested for those students that have been victims of goverment aggression and for those that have been detained for protesting against the ilegal close of RCTV. The fourth and last demand made by the students was for Freedom of Speech, they asked the goverment to give them space in the goverment controlled TV channels and allied channels so they can voice their concerns and opinions.

We Protest, We Want Change!!

Protest: an expression or declaration of objection, disapproval, or dissent, often in opposition to something a person is powerless to prevent or avoid.

Another day, another protest. Students took "Playa la Caracola" in Margarita and wrote "SOS Freedom of Expression" with their bodies.

The students have changed the tone of their protests to more pacific and academic declarations of disapproval. Many agree on the change, many disagree. The truth is, there is no way we can fight a violent battle against the goverment. However, we will win. Our weapons are our minds, our hearths and our will to work for a better future.

We will get where the goverment will never be able to. We will show our fellow Venezuelans that IF we want to we can make things can change for the better.

You can insult us, you can ignore us, you can close our channels of communication and place cops in our halls. But you wont shut us up, we will be heard.

Caracas - Womens March For Freedom

Saturday: Students Protest Inside of the largest shopping center in Caracas.







Isla Margarita - S.O.S Freedom of Expression



Zulia - Students Burn the Ball of the "America Cup" and chant "We want freedom, down with Chavez, Long live the Universities"


We will be heard.
We wont back down.
We have no political agenda.
We want a better Venezuela.

Wednesday the 6th - A March for Freedom

Professors, workers and the students of the UCV (Universidad Central de Venezuela) had called upon a march on Tuesday, the students from all the other houses of study answered. However the goverment refused to allow them to march that day, so the date was switched to Wednesday. Once again the goverment tried to not allow the march to happen, however this time the students decided that theyre were going to march.

at 7:00 am the concentration of people started inside the UCV, a couple loud explosions went off somewhere in the school but nothing happened. The leaders of the student movement blamed the government and its followers as it was obvious that they wanted to scare the students from marching.



The goverment has lost the youth....
*Pink Floyd - Another Brick on the wal















Students from universities from cities relatively close to Caracas tried to join the march; to their surprise they found contingents of Police and the National Guard holding traffic in all highways leading to Caracas. The buses of the students were stopped for 2-3 hours and either turned back or arrived to Caracas too late.

Some of the students reacted by sitting in the highways and singing and yelling demanding their rights. However, It was pretty much impossible to get to Caracas.




This guy was seen at the top of buildings. A member of the Army. What was he doing there? Why so heavily armed?
Are you scared Hugo? I bet you are.



Hugo.
The youth isn't with the Revolution.

"When one voice is silenced, we all become mute. When one thought is eliminated, we all lose some awareness. And when a space for the expression of ideas becomes closed, we all become trapped in the dungeons of dictatorship. The authoritarian populism of Venezuela strives to convert all of the people of Latin America into silent citizens, and we cannot permit this.

Latin America’s common enemies are poverty, inequality and exclusion — not dissident thought. Hunger is not fought by silencing critics. Unemployment does not disappear by exiling those who think differently. We cannot have bread without liberty. We cannot have nations without democracy."

/Alejandro Toledo, ex-president of Peru -Pulled from the New York Times.
ps: thank you John Galt.