UMaine Peace Studies Coordinating Delegation to Venezuela

Contact: Barbara Blazej, 581-2625; George Manlove, 581-3756

ORONO, Maine — The University of Maine Peace Studies Program, in conjunction with Witness for Peace, is inviting anyone who is interested to join a delegation to Venezuela March 4-13, 2007.

The trip, which focuses on the theme “Exploring the Complexities of the New Venezuela,” “comes at a historic time to bear witness to the dramatic changes taking place in our hemisphere,” says Barbara Blazej, an instructor in the Peace Studies Program who is coordinating the trip.

Previous delegations organized by UMaine Peace Studies have attracted participants from around New England and beyond. “We’d love to have a broad range of people coming on these delegations,” Blazej says.

Venezuela, one of the northern-most countries in South America, represents an interesting and challenging new chapter in the history of the United States’ relationship with Latin America. Nearly 200 years ago, independence movements swept through Latin America to rid the Western Hemisphere of European colonialism, led and inspired by revolutionary leader Sim