Santa Teresa Hacienda lies in rolling countryside outside the city. When one of the gangs from the slums raided the plantation, beat up a security guard and stole his gun, they knew they had problems. If the gang was not dealt with, they would have future problems and the gun would be used to kill people. They therefore went into the slums and took on the gang. They gave them a simple choice, you either come and work for us and pay back your dues or we hand you over to the police. The gang had little choice, they went to work for the hacienda.

This though led to further problems. The second gang, even nastier than the first, would take over the territory vacated by the first gang and grow even more powerful.

The hacienda therefore had no choice, they had to take on the second gang. The boss of the hacienda went into the slums and met with the gang and gave them the same choice as he had given the first gang: you either come and work for us or we eliminate you.

These are ruthless gangs, drug dealers and killers. The hacienda offered them a way out, a future. They earn far less money than as gang members, it is harder work, but at the end of the day, they get to keep their money, have employment.

More gang members wanted to join Project Alcatraz. They were told this is a project for criminals, if you want to join you cannot proclaim your innocence, you have to confess your crimes.

Alcatraz to me conjures up the prison island in San Francisco Bay and the brilliant film of the same name with Clint Eastwood, at least I thought so at the time, maybe now I'd find it a bit dated.

The project is actually named after the prison. It is for criminals and there is no escape.

 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4854506.stm
 http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p003xx6s

The hacienda has now hit a second problem. Hugo Chavez wishes to turn over the sugar plantations to food production. The hacienda may have a reprieve because of the useful social work it is carrying out.

I was very much reminded of the film Favela Rising (real-life City of God) which I saw at the BeyondTV International Film Festival a couple of years ago. This looks at the violent gang culture in the favelas in Rio. The founder of AfroReggae used music to overcome the gang culture in the favelas.

 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2006/12/357751.html
 http://www.favelarising.com/
 http://www.heureka.clara.net/music/afroreggae.htm

Innovative solutions to social problems do work but it takes people of vision to carry them out.

One such visionary is Brazilian writer Paulo Coelho. The Paulo Coelho Institute was founded in 1996 by Paulo Coelho and his wife, Christina, to provide support and opportunities for the underprivileged in Brazil, especially children and the elderly. The Institute is a non-profit-making institution financed exclusively by the author's royalties.

 http://www.paulocoelho.com/engl/ins.shtml

Recently Paulo Coelho launched a range of exclusive t-shirts from the Spanish fashion chain Mango, all funds raised will go to Instituto Paulo Coelho.

 http://www.indymedia.org/en/2009/04/923797.shtml
 http://www.paulocoelho.com/port/ins.shtml

Why is there an apparent concentration of these radical projects in Latin America? Project Alcatraz in Venezuela. Porto Alegre and Curitiba in Brazil. Gaviotas in Colombia. Zapatistas in Mexico. Seizing of shut-down factories and businesses from their absentee owners in Argentina. The Second Bolivarian Revolution, first in Venezuela, now in Bolivia. Could it be that extremes of wealth and poverty force radical solutions?

 http://www.heureka.clara.net/gaia/curitiba.htm
 http://www.heureka.clara.net/gaia/zapatistas.htm

The one noticeable exception is Grameen micro-credit in Bangladesh. In Bangladesh there is obscene variations of wealth and poverty.