Who is the Indian guru Venezuelan acting President Delcy Rodriguez follows?

The Venezuelan interim leader, who is a devotee of Sathya Sai Baba, is in India as the two countries aim to boost energy ties.

Delcy Rodriguez is in India for the first time since she became Venezuela’s interim president after democratically elected President Nicolas Maduro was abducted by the US military in January.

But diplomacy is not her only focus. Rodriquez, who is a follower of Indian guru Sathya Sai Baba, is expected to visit his birthplace in Puttaparthi in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. Rodriquez’s predecessor, Maduro, was also a devotee of Sathya Sai Baba.

So, who is Sathya Sai Baba and why are Rodriquez and other Venezuelan politicians connected to him?

Born Sathyanarayana Raju in November 1926 in the village of Puttaparthi, Sai Baba was an Indian self-styled ‘godman’ and spiritual leader who had a global following and whose teachings on unity, peace and spirituality transcended religion.

He was spiritually inclined from a young age. In 1940, at the age of 14, he said he was the reincarnation of Shirdi Sai Baba – an Indian saint, who was born in the late 19th century and followed by millions.

Sathya Sai Baba advocated for “peace, love and nonviolence” to the world. As a part of his religious mission, he encouraged people to “Love All, Serve All”.

Sathya Sai Baba became popular in India and worldwide in the 1970s and 1980s and was known to materialise objects such as rings and sacred ash. He is also believed to have performed healings and resurrections. While scientists have accused him of faking those activities, his followers have defended his miraculous skills.

Besides the average Indian, his followers included famous Indian cricketers such as Sachin Tendulkar, Bollywood actors including Amitabh Bachchan, as well as prominent business and political leaders.

In 2002, Britain’s parliament noted that Sathya Sai Baba had been sexually abusing the male children of devotees, and called on the foreign secretary at the time to raise the issue with Indian officials.

In 2004, the BBC produced a documentary titled The Secret Swami which investigated a case of alleged sexual abuse. In November 2006, the Guardian newspaper reported that the US State Department had issued travel advisories warning of “inappropriate sexual behaviour by a prominent local religious leader”, which officials later told the publication was a reference to Sai Baba. But he was never charged with the crime.

After his death in April 2011, suitcases containing cash and gold were found in his personal lodgings which led to fraud allegations. But officials from his Sr