Today, on the way back home after class, a friend asked me the following question: "So, How do you feel about knowing that today isn't "the day of the flag" for the first time?" - I didn’t even thought about it until he brought it up, so I answered a little bit sad and astonished - "I feel... out of place".One year ago, our president asked to the assembly to add an eight star to our seven star flag.The assembly (witch its totally red, as you know) accepted and on March 12, 2006, our flag changed and because of that, last year was the last "day of the flag" we had on the traditional date: March 12. If you don't look at it carefully, you can't hardly see the difference:
(On the left is the old flag, and the right, is the new one; colors should be the same, notice the difference only by the number of stars in the blue part and of course there's another difference: the horse of the shield, but I won't discuss that difference on this entry).
That different amount of stars doesn't mean a thing for many people. You can usually hear comments like: "Is just one more star" but for me that star makes the difference between the Venezuela where I was born and grow up and this new Venezuela in witch one I almost cannot recognize myself. "I'm proud to say that I wasn't in the country when he decided to change our flag, so the only flag I respect as my own is the one who has 7 stars"- I added as some stupid honor point (I was in Mexico on that day, taking part of an academic event). I wasn't surprised, when I returned to my country, that no one said a thing about the flag: people tend to think that symbols doesn't matter. If they only knew...
As the days passed by; the old 7 star flag became an opposition icon so for that you cannot find the official 8 star flag among the millions of flags on any political demonstration against Chavez; witch on government demonstrations is completely different of course. And that only makes me think that we don't even fight for the same country. Or at least, not the same nation. This definitely has serious implications that I have mention (barely, I know) on previous entries.
A few months ago, a foreigner asked me what was the big deal about putting an extra star to the flag. I explained him that Venezuela before the independence had 9 provinces; only 7 were agree about the independence process and signed, Coro and Guayana stayed with the Spanish. After the patriots won over the resistance in Guayana, the last province on being liberated, Simon Bolívar, our liberator, designed a new flag that had 8 stars instead of 7, including in that way the province of Guayana. But for me, and many others, Guayana joined the independence process by war, by guns and not by pens putting a signature. So lets just say that is not exactly a democratic star. That's why is so important.
While I was giving to the foreigner that explanation, another girl who's not even pro- Chavez (but is not a friend of the opposition either), interrupted me and screamed saying: "Noooo... that's not what happen" and she started explaining another story: About Páez betrayal to Bolivar ideals and how he didn't allowed that 8th star to be included. The foreigner looked at my face witch was probably red and filled with anger and he immediately understood why a simple flag means such a huge distance between the ones who once were just Venezuelans.
"So when is "the day of the flag" now?" - I asked to my friend - "Some day in august I think... No one is going to remember it" - He laughed and then we saw an apartment building with one unusual detail: a flag showed in one of the balconies. Of course it was too far away and we couldn't count how many stars that flag had but yet, we have strong and obvious reasons to suspect it was a 7 star flag - "Hmmm, look! someone still don't know that the 12 of March isn't "the day of the flag" anymore"- He said pointing the flag.
I smiled and thought - "No... what a relief! , someone still resist...".