Page 12 - ARUBA TODAY

A12 WORLD NEWS
Thursday 4 april 2019
For Venezuela’s 1 percent, a lavish wedding amid crisis

By LUIS ANDRES HENAO tory. Some 3 million people, from a distance. Waiters who nearly lost an eye in set up a stage worthy of a
Associated Press or nearly 10 percent of the in bow ties passed around anti-government protests. rock concert.
ACARIGUA, Venezuela population, have left the cold beer and grilled cho- Many of the couple’s close Then came the lakeside
(AP) — It was the sort of wedding. Women in flow-
celebration that’s become ing summer dresses fanned
rare in troubled Venezuela: themselves with delicately
a lavish destination wed- painted folding fans as they
ding of two young entre- held pastel-colored para-
preneurs at a dude ranch sols to shield themselves
on the country’s vast tropi- from the sun. Men wear-
cal plains, a region known ing white shirts, suspenders,
for its rugged cowboys on bow ties and beige pants
horseback rounding up donned Panama hats pro-
cattle — and where camps vided to the guests. Among
like this one cater to the na- the bridesmaids was 2009
tion’s ever-diminishing elite. Miss Universe Stefania Fer-
Over three days, guests, nandez.
including a former Miss Uni- Maickel Melamed, a Vene-
verse, wealthy landowners zuelan motivational speak-
and others among Ven- er known for his TED Talks
ezuela’s 1 percent, emp- and marathon running
tied bottles of expensive despite suffering muscular
whiskey, herded water dystrophy, officiated, join-
buffalo on horseback and ing the couple on a wood-
stomped their feet to the en pier to the sound of the
sound of a popular country Beatles’ “Here Comes the
music crooner. Sun” and Disney’s “A Whole
“This is not the real Venezu- New World.”
ela,” a waiter noted at one As the sun set over the lake,
point during the back-to- Melamed asked the guests
back partying. In this Feb. 16, 2019 photo, guests wait for groom Juan Jose Pocaterra and his bride Maria Fernanda to close their eyes and
But even at this destination Vera to arrive to their destination wedding in Acarigua, Venezuela. “make a wish for the home-
reserved for the wealthy Associated Press land that we all long for.”
in a nation in the throes of Back at the ranch, the par-
economic crisis, reality in- country to escape hunger, rizos as a band played friends did not make it be- tying began and the John-
truded, at least for a while. violence and hyperinfla- “joropo,” fast-paced folk cause they, like many well- nie Walker Black flowed.
A local children’s hospital tion. Basic medicine is lack- music performed with a healed Venezuelans, were Some lined up for a buffet
was in disrepair, and the ing. Many who remain can- harp, maracas and a four- now living abroad in places of beef, pork, yucca and
couple and their guests not afford bare necessities string guitar. Decked out like Miami, Madrid and oth- cachapas, the sweet-corn
began by painting its crum- on salaries that average $6 in a cowboy hat, 72-year- er cities with large Venezu- crepes filled with rich white
bling walls. a month. old crooner Joel Hernan- elan expatriate communi- cheese popular in Venezu-
“Hosting a celebration In an acknowledgment of dez serenaded the bride ties in Europe and South ela. More than 110 pounds
amid these circumstanc- that reality, as the events and groom to the strains of America. (50 kilograms) of cheese
es is obviously tough, but began on a Friday, about “llanera,”the region’s tradi- Talk turned to Juan Guaido, were brought in for the
that’s why we did the work 50 guests joined in to help tional country music. the 35-year-old opposition event. Others hit the dance
at the hospital,” said the stencil white diamond- Many guests wore T-shirts leader who had declared floor until past 4 a.m.
groom, Juan Jose Poca- shaped patterns on the designed by the bride’s himself interim president in For a politically active for-
terra, the 32-year-old co- bleak blue walls of the chil- fashion label that read “La January in a move quickly mer Miss Universe, it was
founder and CEO of Vikua, dren’s hospital in the near- Tierrita,” — the Little Land recognized by the United the first time back home in
a startup tech company by city of Acarigua. — a reference to her heri- States and some 50 other years. In 2014, Fernandez
whose name means “Qual- The activity, organized with tage on the vast savanna countries, and who, for joined other celebrities, art-
ity of Life” and that Forbes the help of the Venezuelan that spans much of central this group like many Ven- ists and sports figures in a
magazine has called one NGO Tracing Public Spac- Venezuela from the Ori- ezuelans, offered the first campaign called “Gagged
of Latin America’s most es, “is a way to contribute noco River to the Andes. hope for regime change in Venezuela” to protest
promising. amid so much suffering,” It’s a region of exotic birds, in decades. Sitting at long restrictions on freedom
“For Juan and for me, who Pocaterra said, as his bride, caiman and capybara, wooden tables, some half- of expression. She posed
are entrepreneurs, it was who regularly contributes as well as the birthplace jokingly wondered not if — wearing a crown, her face
very important to have this powdered milk and other of the late President Hugo but when — U.S. Marines blackened and appear-
wedding here because supplies to the hospital, Chavez, who often used to would arrive. ing bloodied, a rope tied
we’re betting on Venezu- nodded. claim he was born there in The next morning, the around her mouth. Soon af-
ela,” added 33-year-old As night fell, though, any a mud hut. guests awoke in rustic log ter, she said, she lost all her
bride Maria Fernanda Vera, reminders of the humani- To be sure, though, any cabins to the chirping of modeling and other con-
the founder and CEO of tarian crisis gripping the na- talk of Chavez, or his hand- birds — and a slight hang- tracts and left the country.
Melao, a fashion company, tion disappeared. picked successor, President over. After a breakfast of After some time in Miami,
who grew up in this region The guests gathered under Nicolas Maduro, was not traditional stuffed corn-pat- she now lives in Colombia.
known as the “llanos.” ‘’We a full moon at a hacienda welcome with this crowd, ty arepas, the day’s events “The decision to come here
believe in Venezuela’s re- on the property. Some which included landown- included wall-climbing, wasn’t easy,” she said. “I
construction.” donned helmets and sad- ers whose property had horseback riding, swim- feared facing Venezuela’s
The oil-rich, once-prosper- dled horses for a game that been expropriated by the ming and bocce ball. In reality, and it’s much crud-
ous nation, is reeling from involved herding water buf- socialist government, as the grassy fields, workers er. There’s more hunger
the worst economic crisis in falo into a pen as the rest of well as opposition politi- slaughtered a cow and a and more poverty. But to-
modern Latin American his- the guests watched safely cians, and a student leader pig to grill on a stake, and day, there’s also hope.”q