“Each generation believes it is destined to remake the world. Mine knows, however, that it will not be able to do so. But its task is perhaps greater. It is to prevent the world from unraveling. Heir to a corrupt history – in which failed revolutions, crazed technology, dead gods, and exhausted ideologies mingle; in which mediocre powers, which today can destroy everything, do not know how to convince; in which intelligence is humiliated to the point of putting itself at the service of hatred and oppression – this generation has had to restore, in itself and around itself, starting from bitter concerns, a little of what constitutes the dignity of living and dying. Faced with a world threatened with disintegration, in which our great inquisitors risk establishing forever the empire of death, it knows that it should, in a kind of mad race against time, restore among the nations a peace other than that of servitude, reconcile again labor and culture, and rebuild with all men a new Ark of the covenant.” Albert Camus

These words, spoken by the great and controversial French writer Albert Camus upon receiving the Nobel Prize for literature in 1957, were framed in a post-war Europe full of conflicts and challenges. It was the same decade in which Adenauer, Schuman, De Gasperi, and other great men were gestating what would become the European Union.

“Reconciling work and culture anew, and rebuilding with all men a new Ark of the Covenant” was no easy task, but there was an important starting point: Europe, which more than a geographically delimited continent is defined by its culture. It is no coincidence that Adenauer, Schuman, and De Gasperi began their political work on the basis of Christian humanism. Without a clear identity, it is very difficult to define a north and to build in dialogue with those who have different ideas and confessions.

Our commitment to the development of Venezuela and to generate opportunities is what moves us to carry out all our social programs, in which working with allies is part of our DNA. An example of this is the project co-financed by the European Union in which we share responsibilities with the Italian and French Chambers of Commerce in Venezuela, within the framework of Fedeuropa.

“Venezuela Tierra de Cacao” is the occasion to discover all that we can do when we have a common goal. Because transforming cocoa into chocolate in a sustainable way, in various vulnerable communities throughout the country, is the opportunity to highlight the value of work as a possibility to transform a raw material of our tradition, into a competitive and quality final product.

Just like the beautiful and fragile cocoa flower, this project is a small example that only by working together can we create opportunities for all and develop successful ventures that allow us to move from being a land of cocoa to a land of chocolate.