A Venezuela where race tracks glistened and hotels housed tourists
鈥� A version of this post ran on the author's blog, . The views expressed are the author's own.
In the late 1980s, my dad took me and my sister on holiday to Margarita. We drove all the way to Puerto La Cruz and then ferried to the island. One of the highlights of that trip was a night we spent at the 颁补苍贸诲谤辞尘辞 Internacional de Margarita, then a brand new track.
At the time, I thought it was pretty cool. Even today, I remembered it fondly because the dog I bet on won and I got 29听bolivares out of it, back when that was something. That was the first time I鈥檇 gambled (and just about the last).
Why I鈥檓 telling you this story? Days ago, I found out that How is it possible that after all this time, there wasn鈥檛 any kind of plan for this place? It鈥檚 like .
What happened between that night in the late eighties and the present? To make a long story short, the听track听went bust years ago. It wasn鈥檛 an isolated case, in fact the whole dog track world has been in decline for years and .
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The land was owned by the national racetrack institute (INH), which was then responsible of all horse-racing activity in the country. Then there was not much progress made at the time and the situation stalled further when Chavez took over:
What was left of the 颁补苍贸诲谤辞尘辞 has been. Skateboarders are probably the few users of the main stand, . Sometimes, the area was used on a temporary basis for and .
In 2008, a deal to sell the land was reached between what was left of the INH and some businessmen, but there were irregularities .
Some communal councils of the terrains in 2010 and the following year . Still, the overall control of the听颁补苍贸诲谤辞尘辞 indirectly fell back on Chavernment鈥檚 hands when , which was .
Fast forward to June this year, when, including houses, sports areas and cultural centers. Of course, .
What can be learned of the听颁补苍贸诲谤辞尘辞 episode? First, the concept of urban planning went MIA in Venezuela a long time ago, giving way to serial听. Second, the current situation of Margarita is problematic: with听 for people who lost their homes in floods, , , etc.
One thing is for sure, Margarita is not what it was 25 years ago.
鈥� Gustavo Hernandez Acevedo is a writer for , the place for opposition-leaning-but-not-insane analysis of the Venezuelan political scene since 2002
