Nescafe, El Mundo and Pepsi labels dominate the Caracas skyline. Multi-colored homes form haphazard piles in the barrios climb up the city's hillsides.
These images, part of Carol Thomas and Connie Canney's Wednesday presentation at the Civic Media Center, are evidence of a contradictory Caracas. One with vibrant capitalism and startling poverty.
Thirteen people attended the presentation.
Thomas and Canney said that under the leadership of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, conditions are improving.
After the US presidential elections in November, Alachua residents Thomas and Canney traveled to Venezuela for the gubernatorial elections.
"Their election day is a day of national celebration," Thomas said. "It's on a Sunday so everybody can participate. Transportation to get there is public, and it's free."
Thomas and Canney traveled for 10 days through Global Exchange, a human rights and social justice advocacy group and non-governmental organization based in San Francisco.
Chavez' party, the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), won 17 of the 22 state governorships. The capital's mayorship went to the opposition, but Chavez' party also won eight out of 10 mayorships for Venezuela's 10 largest municipalities, according to the National Electoral Council of Venezuela's Web site.
"It's a very democratic government," Thomas said. "In Venezuela they believe in participatory democracy. They form a strong, committed electorate. They have a vision of empowering themselves."
Election polls opened at about 6 a.m., and most closed at 4 p.m., but some polls stayed open as late as 10 p.m. There are no exit polls in Venezuelan elections, so citizens don't find out results until all the votes are tallied, Thomas said.
Thomas and Canney were impressed by the organizations that empowered the local citizens by helping boost the local economy. Thomas showed images of a 24-hour clinic in Caracas where Canney was treated during the trip. They toured Mudebar, a woman's sewing worker-run cooperative that sews army uniforms, baby clothes, sheets and sports clothes. They learned how to make chocolate at the Chocolate Doña Petra cooperative in Barlovento, a district near Caracas.
Venezuelan people have a lot of opportunities and resources they didn't have before Chavez entered office, Canney said.
"In Venezuela, these changes are going deep and they are very, very complex," Thomas said. "The people are being empowered through action, education, through improved health care, and there's a whole process going on."
