There is a primary school in a quiet village in Bengal with a building named after a Venezuelan revolutionary who helped liberate much of South America. The answer lies in the long, meandering story of India–Venezuela relations.
Last week, as the world awakes to one of the most startling geopolitical developments in decades — the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro by U.S. forces in a dramatic military operation, it’s worth pausing on an unexpected tributary of history.
In a week when Venezuela has once again crashed into the global news cycle; amid dramatic claims and Washington’s familiar long shadow, it may be worth stepping away from the noise and asking a quieter question: what does Venezuela mean to India, really?
Let’s go to Bagu – an unassuming village in North 24 Parganas. Yet here stands a primary school building named after a Venezuelan revolutionary Simón Bolívar, who led independence movements across South America and became a continental symbol of anti-colonial resistance.
It sounds implausible. It is entirely true. This India Venezuela connection is not a mere coincidence.
Maduro has also reportedly acknowledged his admiration for Sathya Sai Baba, the Hindu Spiritual Guru, whom he met during a visit to India in 2005.
That curiosity, Venezuela’s strange, recurring pull towards India, did not begin with Maduro. Nor even with former president Hugo Chávez. Its roots go back much further. India and Venezuela established diplomatic relations in 1959.
It was not an obvious partnership. Latin America lay far outside India’s immediate strategic imagination, and Venezuela was still largely seen through the lens of oil and Cold War alignments.
Yet Venezuela opened its embassy in India in 1962, and in 1968, Indira Gandhi visited Caracas as part of an ambitious tour. It was a short visit, barely 18 hours, but it landed with surprising force.
Caracas turned out in numbers. The airport was crowded, the press unusually attentive. Images of Indira Gandhi – tall, composed, dressed in a green sari with black checks threaded in gold, pearls at her neck – were broadcast across Venezuelan homes.
“I come to build bridges of love between Latin America and my country,” Indira Gandhi said on arrival.
Venezuelan newspapers ran long features on India’s freedom struggle, on Tagore’s poetry, on Nehru’s stature and Gandhi’s philosophy of non-violence.
For Venezuelan women especially, Indira Gandhi became something more than a visiting diMrs Gandhignitary. She was proof, visible and undeniable, of what political leadership by a woman could look like.
Even, the First Lady opened her small evening bag, took out something to write with, and, smiling, said—almost apologetically—“Please forgive me Mrs Gandhi, but my children will never forgive me if I return home without your autograph.”
Security protocol bent that day. She stepped forward frequently to receive bouquets from children of Venezuela. Indians living in Caracas sang Tagore’s national anthem spontaneously as she departed.
“I walk this new world in the name of peace,” she said.
A relationship, modest but sincere, had been seeded. Decades later, that seed bore an unexpected fruit. In March 2005, Hugo Chávez arrived in India on a state visit—the first ever by a Venezuelan head of state.
Delhi focused on oil. Chávez spoke of an “all-weather” energy partnership, promised increased production, and positioned India as a long-term beneficiary of Venezuela’s oil reserves.
But after Delhi, Chávez went east; to Kolkata.
His Kolkata visit lasted barely 24 hours. Yet it remains etched into local memory with the clarity of a folk tale. In a city long accustomed to political theatre, Chávez brought something different. Unguarded warmth.
At a public event, speaking through a young interpreter, he paused, smiled, and then spoke directly to the crowd in Bengali, his baritone unexpectedly gentle:
“Aami apnader bhalobashi.” I love you all.
He then went to Bagu, the village of Nikunj Sen—a Bengal Volunteers revolutionary who took part in armed actions against the British during the freedom struggle and later devoted himself to building education and schools in his home village.
Chávez visited the village primary school. He did something no other VVIP had ever done for them. He served the midday meal to children. He joined them in a dance. Security officials looked on helplessly as protocol dissolved.
He promised funds—for a new school building, for improving the meal scheme. But, only few expected the promise to be kept.
Two years later, a cheque arrived from Caracas for the school: Rs 11.91 lakh.
The donation made the construction of the school building possible. It was named after Simón Bolívar, the liberator of South America, who shaped Chávez’s political ideas. And when Chávez died years later, the people of Bagu held a condolence meeting to remember him.
In an age when India’s global relationships are increasingly discussed in transactional terms, this school at Bagu offers a reminder of an older diplomatic instinct – one shaped by shared struggles and an almost naïve faith in solidarity across continents.
Sources:
Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India. Joint Statement, Visit of H.E. Mr. Hugo Chavez Frias, President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela to India, March 4‑7, 2005. New Delhi: Ministry of External Affairs, March 5, 2005. mea.gov.in/bilateral-docu.
MEA India Embassy of India, Caracas. Indira Gandhi in Venezuela (1968–2013): Historic Visit Documents. Caracas: Embassy of India, 2013? eoicaracas.gov.in/docs/IndiraGan.
Seshasayee, Hari. India‑Venezuela Relations: A Case Study in Oil Diplomacy. Washington, DC: Wilson Center, February 2019. wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/
Telegraph India. “An Unasked Question — When Hugo Chavez Visited Calcutta.” Telegraph India, Opinion section. telegraphindia.com/opinion/an-una. Telegraph India
“Communism Binds: Chavez‑Funded School in WB.” December 5, 2007. rediff.com/news/report/ch.
Frontline. “Kolkata Remembers.” Frontline – The Hindu, cover story. frontline.thehindu.com/cover-story/ko
