I just watched a video of Maria Corina discussing her project and her ambition to become the first female president of Venezuela. She said something that left me speechless at minute 5:43 of the video regarding the horrific recent violations in La Concepción. Maria Corina remarked: “What is happening to us? This is not Venezuela.”
Maria Corina is mistaken. This is indeed Venezuela. In fact, she started her interview by stating that the crisis is one of values. It’s a moral crisis, that much is clear. And precisely because there is a moral crisis affecting all Venezuelans, it is incorrect to say, “This is not Venezuela.” I recall a conversation with my father-in-law a few days ago. The backdrop was Chavez ruling from Havana for three weeks in blatant violation of the constitution, while simultaneously, an armed conflict was taking place for the same duration between inmates and the National Guard at El Rodeo. When I asked, “So, how’s it going?” I received a, “…all good man, nothing’s happening here…”
This is Venezuela—a nation full of amoral people who have abdicated their civic power, along with the rights and responsibilities that come with it. It’s a nation where many find it tolerable that a wretched apatrida hands over sovereignty to the Cuban communist dictators. It’s a nation full of people who have renounced their dignity and inalienable rights. This is a nation filled with intellectual eunuchs, with individuals who don’t question anything, whose motto in life is “let’s see how it goes.” It’s a nation where seeing the extraordinary, the intolerable, the shameful, the amoral, the corrupt, and the bloody has become the norm. It’s a nation of people preoccupied with appearances at the expense of ethics, where parents gift their daughters breast enhancement surgeries for their fifteenth birthdays. It’s a nation that has allowed all types of humiliations from its public servants. It’s a nation filled with hungry people who watch as their resources are wasted and handed over to other countries without consent. This is a nation governed by criminals, who feel themselves beyond the reach of justice.
This is Venezuela, and this is the government and state of affairs it deserves. Given the inertia, negligence, and absolute moral poverty—across all socioeconomic levels—nothing else can be expected.