Third National Multicultural, Multiethnic and Ancestral Meeting for Peace and Sovereignty

On October 11 and 12, 2025, His Excellency Ambassador Jean Mary Vaval of the Republic of Haiti, accompanied by his team, including Minister Counselor Jeançois Joseph and local communications officer Patrick Mettelus, was in the Quibayo sector, located in the Sierra de Sorte mountain range, Yaracuy State, Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, to participate in the Third National Pluricultural, Multiethnic, and Ancestral Meeting for Peace and Sovereignty. This event brought together representatives of various Indigenous and Afro-descendant communities from across the country, national and local authorities, and international guests.

The gathering began with a floral offering and concluded with the famous Baile Candela (Candle Dance), a religious celebration linked to the devotion to María Lionza, a female deity of Venezuelan spiritualism and the central figure of a cult that blends indigenous and African beliefs in the country. Preparations for this ceremony begin every October 11th in the evening, culminating in the midnight service on the 12th. Without a doubt, if anyone is looking for an authentic religious and spiritual expression of Venezuela, this is the one.

For his part, Ambassador Jean Mary Vaval, moved by the cultural resistance and history of the peoples in search of freedom and peace, associated the religious manifestation “Dance in Fire” on Maria Lionza Hill with the religious manifestation of the Bois Caïman ceremony in Haiti.

It is worth noting that on the night of August 13-14, 1791, a group of Haitian slaves secretly gathered at Bois Caïman to invoke the god of freedom. Today, a group of women and men gather here to invoke the god of peace and sovereignty, similar to the same god of Bois Caïman.

By: Patrick Mettelus