Special Report LAST UPDATE January 1, 2008
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December 6, 2007 The Good Fight – Young Activists from Latin America Join Peace Boat as Part of the Bolivar Project
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The Bolivar IS hold up a banner showing their respective countries’ flags made by their onboard helpers
As part of a joint project between the Venezuelan government and Peace Boat, ten students from Latin America joined Peace Boat to participate in the Bolivar Project. Hailing from Brazil, Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru, the young activists are shaping the future of Latin America which is undergoing sweeping changes in an attempt to address the growing inequality between rich and poor, halt environmental degradation, restore rights to indigenous people and dignity to everybody. The project, which was held onboard for the third time, is named after liberator Simon Bolivar who released Latin America from the shackles of imperialism in the early 1800s.
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The indigenous flag of Bolivia which represents the diversity and harmony of various ethnic groups sits in the background of a lecture given by the Bolivar IS
To keep his vision alive, the Bolivar Project gives these students an opportunity formulate strategies for uniting the region into one of peace, cooperation, and equality. While onboard, the Bolivar International Students (IS) held lectures and workshops about their respective countries, as well as about their vision for a unified Latin America. Currently, the region is working together to create mutually beneficial relationships, playing on the strengths of each country. Venezuela is giving Cuba oil in exchange for medical professionals, for example. The Bolivar IS also completed a constitution outlining their vision for the future and steps they can take now to realize this vision, such as eradicating illiteracy, and offering free health care. Their immediate goal after disembarking was to present the Bolivar Constitution to their respective governments.
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Elba and Luis Felipe came together for an interview with Peace Boat
We spoke with two of the Bolivar students about their time onboard Peace Boat and how they are working to bring about change. Elba Maldonado Jumbo is a 28 year old youth coordinator for Ecuador’s Youth Christian Association, and Luis Felipe Benassuly is a 30 year old doctor from Brazil who currently works in public health administration.
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The Bolivar IS took some time out of their busy schedule to relax while Peace Boat went through the Panama Canal
How has your experience on Peace Boat been?
Elba: Personally, it’s been a very special experience. You can learn things here that nobody can take away from you. My horizons have been broadened, and seeing different standards of living has reaffirmed what I want to do. I now also want to give youth information about other countries and broaden their horizons and show them how although there are very big differences, we all want the same things in the end: peace, justice, dignity.

Luis: A trip like this really opens up your eyes and lets you see what other lifestyles are like. It has opened up doors to other possibilities. Also, being here with the other Bolivar students, it is interesting to see that although we have the same goal, we will realize the political vision differently. We can take our similarities, unify our strengths and fight for the same thing. Also, being on the ship is a space where the Japanese are the majority and they have a different level of development and technology than us and don’t face the same issues. However, it’s a nice space to work in because it offers us a different perspective on the world.
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Oscar from Ecuador gives a presentation about his country wearing traditional dress and accompanied by volunteer GET (Spanish) teacher Gabriela Tello, also from Ecuador
In your presentations, we heard a lot about the “New Socialism.” How is this different from past models?
Elba: Mostly, there are new things that are appearing – for example, civil society is making a big difference and now people have a global vision and are much more aware about politics. It’s more intellectual now. Globalism and globalization are new, so we are fighting new elements. It’s not the old socialism that was around then. We have a new set of problems to deal with. The new socialism is adapting to the way society is now. We want to create tools and ideas that we can use in our own countries, with a more humanistic approach. Socialism used to be imposed by the government, but now it’s a new social movement from the people, so NGOs and grass roots movements are creating their own version which will be connected with the government and implemented with government policies.

Luis: It’s founded on the same things with the same goal, but the means to bring it about are different. Last century was an armed revolution, but now it is a more intellectual fight. For Chavez, he bases it on history and the same principles as [Simon] Bolivar and [Francisco de] Miranda but it’s not an armed fight. As Fidel Castro said, we are entering the battle of ideas, it’s all about mentality and intellect. If we can improve health care and education for the people, we can win the battle of ideas because that’s what our goal is in the end.
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Participants enjoyed teaching the Bolivar IS the traditional Japanese tea ceremony
Do you have a message for Peace Boat participants?
 Elba: Arigato! Thank you to Peace Boat and participants! I was surprised by how disciplined the Japanese are and how beautiful the culture is. We can learn from this – in Latin America, we are not punctual and this lateness is holding us back from progress. I realized that although it is important to know about Latin America’s history, it’s important to learn about other countries too. I learnt about Article 9 [the pacifist clause of the Japanese constitution], and that’s something we can make global, which benefits everyone. Also, climate change is really affecting the whole world. We all need to look into other countries and see how we’re going to fix this problem together. I’ve been so well taken care of and that’s because everything works because everybody is behind the scenes helping and making things happen, from the captain to the cleaners.

Luis: I’d like to thank Peace Boat and the Venezuelan government. Thanks to participants for their support and for attending lectures. I hope everybody will continue to study and fight for peace, and against human rights abuses and the embargo in Cuba, so that we can all have peace around the world. I want to keep in touch with our new network and I think we’ll end up taking a little bit of everybody with us in our hearts.