Venezuelan environmentalists are on alert after President Hugo Chávez proposed organizing massive tourism to Los Roques archipelago, an idyllic group of Caribbean islands with white sands and turquoise waters, 180 kilometers north of Caracas. “Who visits Los Roques? The rich. Why can't a commune from Vargas have an inn on Los Roques? We have to break down the paradigms of our geography,” Chávez said on his television program.

Bellatrix Molina, director general of Los Roques Scientific Foundation, told Tierramérica that “massive tourism would devastate a national park like the archipelago. Because of its fragility and logistics, Los Roques cannot receive massive numbers of tourists, whether rich or poor.”

With 65 small inns, and 1,600 residents who make their livelihood from fishing and tourism, Los Roques already receives 100,000 visitors per year.