Unfortunately for our Venezuelan brothers and sisters, the often sung refrain from Willy Chirino’s song of hope and the eventual end of tyranny in Cuba appears to mean the opposite for them. The times have certainly changed in Venezuela, and the country is looking less and less like a democracy.
Chávez sneers at the 18-year-old Scotch whisky and brand new Hummers favored by his cronies’, the so called “Bolivarian Bourgeosie,” while at the same time he springs for four billion dollars of Russian jet fighters, combat helicopters and Kalashnikov assault rifles. Meanwhile, at “Mercal,” the popular supermarket network where scarce basic goods are supposed to be subsidized by oil revenues, a Cuba-like rationing card system is at work. Venezuela has the highest inflation rate in the Americas (20%) and is set to redenominate its currency in January 2008. Given those circumstances, the dollar has become the most sought-after commodity in Venezuela.
Last night I walked down to my neighborhood supermarket for a bottle of relatively inexpensive Chilean red wine. As I approached, I ran into an upset and disappointed neighbor of mine. She usually knows when basic goods are about to arrive, so I asked her if she had found milk at the supermarket.
“It’s all gone now, again,” she said with a grimace, “but I still have some dollars to sell. Interested?
For years now I have warned my Venezuelan friends of the impending tragedy if they allow the macaco mayor, chávez, to continue gutting their democratic constitution and eliminating their freedoms one by one. At first they told me there was no way he could do what castro did in Cuba, but now their only reply is a blank and anguished stare. A look, I am sure, that hundreds of thousands of Cubans, like my parents, know all too well.
Although there is still time for them to avoid the same mistakes made by Cuba in the past, their window of opportunity is rapidly closing. Soon there will not be any freedom left and before they know it, a new generation will come of age in Venezuela that has no idea what freedom is. That generation’s only concern will be finding enough food to eat and shoes for their children. The conversations will turn from politics and the inalienable right of every human to live free, to black market deals and resolviendo.
If a parent employs a known pedophile as a babysitter, and the predictable happens, does the parent deserve any sympathy?
It was always quite obvious that Chavez was Bad News. He should never have been able to get elected mayor, let alone president.
Trust me, I have serious issues with my own people over what happened in Cuba. I cannot simply blame Castro and a few others for the disaster and give the rest of the Cuban people a pass. That’s a very easy, convenient and relatively painless cop-out, but it’s still a cop-out, and it won’t wash. The truth is far less simple and far more disturbing.
However, Venezuelans basically behaved as if they were mentally retarded, to put it kindly. Castro was far more deceptive than Chavez, at least until he was firmly entrenched in power. Chavez might as well have been wearing a sign that read “If you elect me, I will screw you.”
Venezuela is surrounded by other countries, making it easier to leave. Cuba is an island, making it easier to turn into a prison. Does this limit Chavez’s ability to completely extinguish freedoms a la Castro? Just wondering what other people think.
The Colombian narco guerrilla groups FARC and ELN have agreed to coordinate military action. It does not seem possible that Hugo Chavez’s militia will stay out of it. And with the weapons Chavez provides there may be a massive intent to overrun all of Colombia. If so the US will be involved.
Venezuela is surrounded by other countries, making it easier to leave. Cuba is an island, making it easier to turn into a prison. Does this limit Chavez’s ability to completely extinguish freedoms a la Castro? Just wondering what other people think.
Only marginally. Nazi Germany, the USSR, China and Warsaw Pact nations were able to turn entire countries (many landlocked) and even continents into prisons. It’s definitely harder to get off an island but don’t sell any tyrant short on his ability to make his country’s borders all but airtight.
The Miserable Part of this whole scenario is that Chavez WAS for all intents and purposes deposed in a coup. Then, as I understand it, their Armed Forces got cold feet. Proves the old adage about killing the King, if it is your intention – JUST DO IT! – and take the consequences. -S-