Media and Freedom Tour: Happy Birthday, Simon Bolivar!
In 2007, I participated in a "Media and Democracy" Reality Tour to Venezuela organized by Global Exchange. The research tour included 12 North Americans and 1 South African with backgrounds in teaching and media -- one person worked for Free Speech TV channel and another for an alternative weekly Milwaukee newspaper. Others in the group were community activists and artists. Many in the group had traveled to various parts of Latin America - Chiapas, Oaxaca, Colombia, Argentina, Peru, Chile, Brazil, Nicaragua and Cuba. The combination of professional backgrounds and Latin American experience generated thoughtful discussions at each of the meetings we had with 15 different community groups, media outlets or individuals. Crowd listening to ceremonies commemorating Simon Bolivar's birthday in Caracas, Venezuela. July 24, 2007 - The group struck out today in hopes of watching ceremonies honoring the birth of Simon Bolivar, a revered person in Venezuelan history, as well as