In Caracas, Venezuela the Caracas Country Club looks like any ordinary country club build for the American elite, only it’s a place where the Venezuelan elite venture to for a game of golf or a day of leisure away from home if you could afford its $100,000 and up membership entrance fee. Built back in the 1920s by an American landscape architect, Olmsted Brothers, the 18-hole luxurious club is an icon to some but to others, especially some within Venezuelan government, the country grounds could be haven for 4,000 families who have lost their homes.
In a study published Ciudad Caracas, the country grounds that has been around for a good part of a century could house thousands of misplaced Venezuelans who lost their home due to heavy rainstorms or the lack of housing inflicting the growing country. The country club’s vice president, Manuel Fuentes, aged 69, fears that the seizing of the club in order to house the homeless “would be a tragedy for the city to lose such an icon, but it’s a scenario we’ve been forced to acknowledge,” in a statement made to the New York Times.
While some may find the country club to be an icon, there are some who disagree believing the country club should become something more important. A motorbike courier who works in the neighborhood near the club, Jose Bejarano, aged 34, believes since the country is in a “national emergency, and the club has empty land that can be used for the poor,” a idea shared by members of his government.
Despite having a historical presence within the country, the country club’s presence goes against the country’s socialist-inspired ideology where the presence of a higher class society goes against the development of equality. Despite the country club being a representation of the higher elite, its ties to the United States makes it even a simpler target by the Venezuelan government and President Hugo Chavez. Aside its members being Venezuelan, the country club also has members from the U.S like American ambassadors to a group of American oilmen who frequent the club to golf on its green.
The Caracas Country Club isn’t the only club targeted by the government, in fact, several other Western built country clubs have been addressed by President Chavez who reached out to them hoping they would “put their hand on their hearts” to house or assist the victims of the floods plaguing the country while adding as not-very-subtly ‘or else’ “we’ll put their hand there for them.”
The Caracas Country Club has an estimated 2,000 members, members who are divided in regards to the country’s government and President Chavez. Members have been known to clash with one another in regards to Chavez and the government. While infighting amongst members is present, some have even secretly accepted deals from the government to make the acquisition of the club easier according to reports made to the New York Times.
With many Venezuelans displaced from the block houses that blanket the hills of Caracas which was swept away by the floods caused by the heavy rains this month, the option to convert the acres of green land seems like viable choice considering the surmounting amount of civilians who have lost their homes against the members who rarely visit the club.
