Venezuela: Teeing off on golf
鈥� A local, slice-of-life story from a Monitor correspondent.
CARACAS, VENEZUELA 鈥� Mark Twain described golf as 鈥渁 good walk spoiled.鈥� But for Venezuela鈥檚 President Hugo Ch谩vez, the sport represents everything wrong with modern Venezuelan society. 鈥淕olf is a bourgeois sport,鈥� he railed on television. 鈥淭hirty hectares just for playing golf!鈥�
Golf arrived in Venezuela at about the same time as oil was first exploited here. Many of the first courses were established near the country鈥檚 key oil-producing regions. Up until 10 years ago, Venezuela had 30 courses, but seven have since been closed down 鈥� mostly those belonging to the national oil company, PDVSA. The government wants to close down two more.
In 2006, Juan Barreto, then mayor of Caracas and a Chavez ally, moved to shutter the Caracas Country Club, Venezuela鈥檚 oldest course, to build housing for the poor. But after infighting and a legal battle, he backed down.
Julio Torres, president of the Venezuelan Golf Federation, denied that golf is an elitist sport. 鈥淚n all parts of the world it began as a sport of kings. Here about 10 years ago golf began to open up mainly in the oil fields. Those who worked there played golf 鈥� managers, supervisors, and workers.鈥�
One prot茅g茅, Jhonattan Vegas, the son of an oil worker, is currently playing on the PGA Tour.
