The Venezuelan issue
Talking about the Venezuela issue is very complicated lately but, I have been seeing that this in English is not a very big discussion and the times it is touched upon there are some biases involved.
That is why, I want to talk to you about my country, I am going to skip the political stuff. I will simply tell you about the country that I have known. Then you can draw your own conclusions.
So, can we please have this conversation?
Chapter 1: The Chavez's phenomenon
I was born in 2000, President Chavez had already come to power a couple of years earlier. So, I only know this system, nothing more. For me, there has only been “socialism of the 21st century”.
Do you know how I saw Chavez and what I think of him today? As power, simply. I lived the golden era of “Chavismo”, electorally they were invincible, barely a couple of victories could have the opposition. When I talk about the phenomenon of President Chavez, I mean one thing: everyone talked about him, for or against, but everyone spoke. You either loved him or hated him, but you couldn’t ignore his presence.
I remember very serious family fights started only because someone was in favor of Chavez and another not. That’s just it, funny. For the Americans who read me: although they are different contexts, use the Trump phenomenon as a reference.
How do we define those years? Like the best years we had at home economically. I can’t lie, the oil boom was a before and after for everyone. Suddenly the dream of a power country was possible.
As I said, I will not impose my political opinion, I speak of what I experienced, and what I experienced can be summarized in that: Chavez made half the country dream of being a powerful nation where the problems we have historically had are reduced to nothing. Also, for another half country, Chavez was making decisions that endangered democracy, but no matter, Chavez was simply invincible. The opposition in those years was tiny compared to what we are today.
For me, and I don’t say this with a fan attitude, because I’m not, Chavez is by far the most influential politician in this country. He could change a country, he could create dreams and create fears, it was like magic.
We were fine, I wasn’t rich but, I never missed out on anything. My father, who has a disability, was able to support us without any problems with a simple job as a doorman in a public hospital. He was well paid, it was a good time that I have often missed.
But... that dream began to break little by little...