For an analyst, for a politician, for a journalist, for a business man; for all of them it is certainly different: it is real, it comes sometimes without warning and changes their lives, their view, all those things they once took for granted. But for the rest of us, what makes it unbearable to live under this Revolution has to do more about the threats and less about the facts.
Chavez makes different sorts of threats virtually every single day. In case he had no chance to make enough threats during the week; his Sunday show “Aló Presidente” gives him a perfect chance to do it. The treats can be predictable or totally crazy; he can either keep his words or easily forget about them on the next day.
His threats are addressed to a wide variety of enemies: one day can be Bush and another the Capitalism, then the Oligarchs, the land-owners, the students, the media, the international media, any thing that moves that has ever spoken a word against him, the middle class, the Catholic church, the opposition politicians and parties, the international community, Human Rights groups and non- profit organizations.
This means that eventually, his threats are addressed to all of us. I doubt there’s someone free of Chavez threats. There’s no one who can be considered untouchable.
With every threat that comes we feel more and more vulnerable. We think: “If he’s coming for this person or this group; how long it will take him to come for me too?” In that way, we have learned that under this Revolution we can’t take anything for granted.
We might not be analysts. We might not be politicians or business men or journalists. But we are us. We have a profession, a race, a gender, a social background, a political and a religious belief and sooner or later, when Chavez gets tired of fighting today’ enemies; one of those things about us will become a problem. The must insignificant detail can be Chavez reason to make a new threat, one not so sunny day at one “Alo Presidente” or at any other occasion.
That’s the shadow we are ought to live under. It’s the seductive effect of the threat, which consists on the idea that we better watch out, we better afraid, always, constantly. Because next time it might be real, it might be anytime. Next time, he can speak about us.
Chavez makes different sorts of threats virtually every single day. In case he had no chance to make enough threats during the week; his Sunday show “Aló Presidente” gives him a perfect chance to do it. The treats can be predictable or totally crazy; he can either keep his words or easily forget about them on the next day.
His threats are addressed to a wide variety of enemies: one day can be Bush and another the Capitalism, then the Oligarchs, the land-owners, the students, the media, the international media, any thing that moves that has ever spoken a word against him, the middle class, the Catholic church, the opposition politicians and parties, the international community, Human Rights groups and non- profit organizations.
This means that eventually, his threats are addressed to all of us. I doubt there’s someone free of Chavez threats. There’s no one who can be considered untouchable.
With every threat that comes we feel more and more vulnerable. We think: “If he’s coming for this person or this group; how long it will take him to come for me too?” In that way, we have learned that under this Revolution we can’t take anything for granted.
We might not be analysts. We might not be politicians or business men or journalists. But we are us. We have a profession, a race, a gender, a social background, a political and a religious belief and sooner or later, when Chavez gets tired of fighting today’ enemies; one of those things about us will become a problem. The must insignificant detail can be Chavez reason to make a new threat, one not so sunny day at one “Alo Presidente” or at any other occasion.
That’s the shadow we are ought to live under. It’s the seductive effect of the threat, which consists on the idea that we better watch out, we better afraid, always, constantly. Because next time it might be real, it might be anytime. Next time, he can speak about us.