the intelectual great-grandfather of these "revolutionaries"
From left to right: former Acción Democrática and now V-Republic hero Aristóbulo Istúriz, PDVSA boss Ramírez, former special police force Freddy Bernal and old IV Republic-turned Chavista Chaderton
And according to them,
evil Conqueror Losada is the intellectual father of
Socialist Ismael García, union leader and socialist founder of Causa R, Andrés Velázquez, and independent Corina Machado (yes, her background is as posh as that of Chaderton)
The Chuzpah
Former guerrilla man and current president of the Venezuelan National Assembly, Fernando Soto, made clear what understanding he has of history and democracy when he stated (here the official version) that "yesterday's persecutors and persecuted meet today at the Venezuelan National Assembly". He was referring to the fact he, as a guerrilla man, was persecuted in the sixties and "the others", apparently, where his persecutors. He was implying that people who do not agree with the Chávez regime are "from the IV Republic". He needs to have some chuzpah for that. When he came from Cuba on a boat to start the violent opposition against a very dysfunctional but still democratic government in 1967, Corina Machado and Julio Borges had not been born yet.
Most deputies from the opposition are actually younger than Chavista deputies, with some notable exceptions like Enrique Mendoza (born in 1945). Among the Chavistas there is Aristóbulo Istúriz (born in 1946), who first belonged to the infamous Acción Democrática party and then to the Causa R party and now pretends he did not have anything to do with the IV Republic. Among the "revolutionary" guys, there are also people like Freddy Bernal (born in 1962), who was a notorious police agent during that IV Republic, one who was active in the Special Forces of the Carlos Andrés Pérez government, and one who sympathized, as his father did, with the extreme right and had a crush on former dictator and right-winged military Pérez Jiménez. Bernal is also someone who has been accused of corruption on different occassions, but nothing happens. Fernando Soto talks in the VTV interview about opposition deputy Mazuco. Mazuco can indeed be a criminal or not. I have read some articles against him and some defending him. I think it would be interesting to have a public inquiry with independent judges to judge him and to judge people like Freddy Bernal. Wouldn't that be fine?
When the new Chávez deputy team - with almost 2/3 of the seats for 48% of the votes through recent gerrymandering, not just "circuit majority" - came in, they "took an oath" in the name of "their fathers", Guaicaipuro and Bolívar.
Guaicaipuro was a native American who was killed by the Spaniards. Bolívar is the most hyped caudillo that ever existed in America. In any case: the Chávez movement has a capacity to resell time after time the same story: we are the persecuted and they are the persecutors. We are the Indian-Africans and they are the European descendants. We, 52% of the voters who rejected the Chavismo system, seem to be the children of conquistador de Losada, the one who sent Infanta to capture and kill Guaicapuro.
This is really pretty silly. Very few Venezuelans have not a lot of European ancestry - from the XX, from the XIX, from the XVIII century or earlier. That goes even for dark-skinned Aristóbulo, who is "lighter" skinned than many of my cousins. Very few have not native American or African blood (and that includes freckled, blond cousins of mine as well). The vast majority of Venezuelans today have little to do with the IV Republic. It is true the poorest still tend to have a stronger African or Indian component and the richest still have a more European component, although that is much less the case than in most other nations I have been able to see.
And yet the Chávez regime will keep on telling people through VTV, through national broadcasts through all radio and TV stations that those who opposed them are the Eternal Evil and they, they are the eternal revolutionaries. We are the compradores. They are the anti-imperialist fighters. Never mind our economy is as dependant of oil exports as before. Never mind the Chinese are buying our oil at half the price and sending it to the US in exchange for some cash now.
Eternal Fight for what really?
And yet the Chávez regime will keep on telling people through VTV, through national broadcasts through all radio and TV stations that those who opposed them are the Eternal Evil and they, they are the eternal revolutionaries. We are the compradores. They are the anti-imperialist fighters. Never mind our economy is as dependant of oil exports as before. Never mind the Chinese are buying our oil at half the price and sending it to the US in exchange for some cash now.
Eternal Fight for what really?
Minister of Foreign Affaris, Nicolás Maduro, declared yesterday that "Venezuela is a country in permanent fight". Sure, we have a permanent fight now. We have more murders in one week in Venezuela than what we got during the Battle of Carabobo. We do not struggle to attain development but a permanent fight to blame it "on the others".
Maduro also justified the actions taken by the government "to rescue lands from the latifundistas". As I wrote in previous posts, the funny thing is that the average size of those lands taken now by the military is smaller than the lands many Boliburgueses have. It would be nice if Ramírez Chacín's family and Chávez's cousins and brothers declare how much land they have. Hacienda El Cristo someone? Hacienda La Malaguena someone else?
Revolution my foot.
Maduro also justified the actions taken by the government "to rescue lands from the latifundistas". As I wrote in previous posts, the funny thing is that the average size of those lands taken now by the military is smaller than the lands many Boliburgueses have. It would be nice if Ramírez Chacín's family and Chávez's cousins and brothers declare how much land they have. Hacienda El Cristo someone? Hacienda La Malaguena someone else?
Revolution my foot.
Some interesting reading in Spanish about the boliburguesía here.