Venezuela, the great journey: part II
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Caroni 10th Anniversary
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Part II: the social work of Santa Teresa
Today, it is impossible for us to understand Hacienda Santa Teresa, without taking into account the social integration of this company with 90,000 barrels, in the Venezuelan fabric and more precisely in the Aragua Valley where it is located. . We have to go back twenty years to understand this important shift in social action, taken by Santa Teresa.
At the beginning
At the beginning of the 2000s , the Hacienda was invaded by demonstrators wishing to seize the land. Carried by a discourse of revolutionary violence, 500 families refuse to leave the place. Mediation is organized . Alberto Vollmer, director of the Hacienda, understands that the balance of power is not in his favor and that the Venezuela of the Chavez years is no longer what it was before. After numerous discussions, he agreed to cede land and begin a real estate construction program within a framework to be defined.
Alberto Vollmer believes that only education and responsibility can change society. We must commit to building individual futures. As for his own social responsibilities as a business leader, at the head of the most important economic entity in the region, Alberto Vollmer, accompanied by his brother, is determined to take them on.
An agreement is reached with the government to transform a confrontation into collaboration. The idea is to make the demonstrators owners under three conditions:
- that the house credit is fully paid
- that the inhabitants live there for at least 10 years
- that at least one of the children reaches the equivalent of the baccalaureate
Since 2013, Santa Teresa has deepened its action in housing and urban planning by integrating the community of Juan Moreno, adjacent to the Hacienda, into a renovation program with a view to welcoming tourists to the valley.
The attack on the Hacienda
The situation remains difficult. Society is very violent. In the Aragua Valley, in 2003, there were 173 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants. It's colossal. One day, a gang enters the Hacienda for a robbery . A tragedy is narrowly avoided because a gun jams.
Jimmy, the head of security, is subsequently responsible for identifying the attackers. The first prisoner is first handed over to the police who want to execute him. Faced with this, Alberto Vollmer negotiates his release and brings him to his office, leaving him with a simple choice : either he comes to work for three months at the Hacienda, or he returns to the hands of the police . A few days later, the gang leader and then the entire gang were arrested. Santa Teresa offers them a reintegration program based on work, education and sport, namely rugby, which is the birth of the Alcatraz project.
However, recruiting and reintegrating a gang does not necessarily ensure peace. Rival gangs have not laid down their arms. A global mechanism then begins , of reintegration, appeasement and forgiveness , which continues until today. In 20 years, the Alcatraz program has enabled around 250 people to reintegrate , to work for Santa Teresa, to stay there, to become bartender, brand ambassador, security officer, chocolatier, coffee harvester or other, and then, little by little, some follow their own path. It is estimated that this program saved approximately 2,500 lives.
The Alcatraz program makes as much symbolic reference to the American prison of the same name as to a bird, so named in Venezuela, which in France is called the gannet.
Head to prison
Our exploration of Santa Teresa's social work took us inside the walls of Rodeo III Prison , one of 36 in the country that operates the Alcatraz program. The first feeling upon hearing of this surprise visit is probably, for some of us, embarrassment, the fear of voyeurism. Why visit a prison? What will we have to say, we Parisian wine merchants, privileged to be welcomed in this country that we know little about? Then we arrive at the prison. We see an endless line of women , mothers, daughters, sisters, their arms full of food . We learn that the state can only provide one meal a day to prisoners and that families make up the shortfall.
We enter with our passport which is left at the entrance. We are not allowed to use the phone or the camera . We go up steps. There are obviously several neighborhoods. Maxims on justice and in homage to Simon Bolivar, the hero of independence, decorate some walls. In an alley, we see a trio of musicians. I was told later that it was traditional Venezuelan music , notably with the Ilanera harp as an instrument. She is accompanied by a cuatro (guitar) and a drum . The singer gives voice. The prison is colorful. The paints are peeling. We can see the prisoners through modest openings in certain buildings. It is easy to imagine the overcrowded prison. Our group progresses to the sports field . The prisoners present stop playing rugby and stand almost at attention in front of a guard. They utter quasi-military words that we do not understand. We don't know who they are really aimed at.
The Alcatraz project in application
The prisoners take up rugby again . Four groups of players in yellow and black jerseys displaying Spartan heads pass the ball to each other at the corners of a fictitious square. Once the ball is thrown, the player runs to join the next group. The game, faster and faster, takes place before our eyes and those of the sun. We gradually mingle with these prisoners . The first real contact takes place like this, through sport. They are very focused and enthusiastic.
After sport, we stand in a circle to chat . Alberto Vollmer, the boss of Santa Teresa, provides the translation. We listen to their journeys, their transformation as a man, these new values which guide them. We see them proud to rebuild and see a horizon emerging. For the moment, they are following the path traced by the Santa Teresa Foundation, in charge of the Alcatraz Project, and later they will refine and affirm their choices. We realize, moved , that they are already quite happy to see us, coming from outside, from afar. Our prejudices and fears are swept away by these exchanges.
This visit allowed us to understand the real impact of Santa Teresa 's action on mentalities, on humanity, on the notion of forgiveness. There would undoubtedly be 1000 questions still to be asked about the Alcatraz project, particularly through our European eyes. But things can happen like this in Venezuela. Have there been any failures? Certainly. It didn't work with some people, but through work, through sport, through learning, through commitment, through values, the results on security , reintegration and the Aragua Valley are there, and this for 20 years.
We will continue our journey rich in learning and emotion, with a third and final article, a priori lighter because it is devoted to cocktails, but not only...
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Written by
Matthieu Lange
Spirits Advisor