I must admit that Teodoro Petkoff has never been my favorite person. It might be due to my natural disposition towards individuals who achieve intellectual maturity after 45. Nevertheless, Teodoro is a figure of admiration in certain Venezuelan social circles. Now he is supposedly one of the most influential Spanish-speaking thinkers. If the foolish Noam Chomsky can be seen as the world’s most influential intellectual, then Petkoff could certainly hold that title in Latin America. For those who consider themselves erudite and ‘progressive’, the former guerrilla is, much like Chavez, the infallible, the one who never errs, the ultimate enlightened one.
It’s no surprise then that Teodoro, along with his publication Tal Cual—which Michu Capriles is interested in—is directing policy for Henrique Capriles Radonski, the latter’s cousin and, seemingly, the former’s preferred candidate. Teodoro has published several articles in his newspaper, critiquing, if not mocking, the actions of another contender for the primaries, Diego Arria, in The Hague.
Henrique Capriles Radonski, like a devoted student, memorized the script, and at the last meeting—which was not a debate—he dropped a gem that was quickly picked up by those who view him as the great white hope. He stated, more or less, that a president’s job is not to imprison anyone. I’d like Capriles Radonsky or his advisors to tell us when and where Arria claimed he would imprison Chavez.
However, I don’t fear being wrong when I say that the role of a presidential candidate is also not to be irresponsible.
The duty of a president, of course, is not to imprison anyone. That belongs to competent and independent courts. Since these do not exist in Venezuela, Venezuelans find themselves in the unfortunate position of seeking justice elsewhere, as Leopoldo Lopez has done.
The primary role of a president should be to uphold and enforce the constitution and the law. This is dictated by the current constitution (art. 236, section 1a) regarding presidential powers.
A president’s role cannot be to mechanically disregard the thousands of victims of human, civil, and political rights violations in Venezuela.
It cannot be to assume that the country’s problems will just vanish like magic after a presidential election. Only teenagers, those immature souls wanting to be more populists than Chavez, could think that.
A president, who will face countless issues even before assuming office—and if advised properly by intellectuals—should not adopt an absurd and impractical policy of wiping the slate clean. In many of the known resolutions for international conflicts, including those where Arria has participated, one of the first conditions for establishing lasting peace is that those directly responsible for heinous crimes must be held accountable for what they have done. As Arria rightly states, it’s not revenge; it’s justice. Courts will determine guilt.
Thousands of Venezuelan families have suffered abuses in the last 12 years. It is irresponsible to tell these families to forget about seeking justice, as Capriles seems to suggest, and as some so-called intellectuals want as well. It is irresponsible to imply that justice can be bargained away based on electoral desires and political ambitions. If Capriles Radonski, along with his advisors, wants to personally forgive the actions that the Chavez regime may have committed against him, that is entirely a personal decision. Each individual copes with tragedies in different ways, and it is irrational to expect that all victims of Chavez or their families will accept that in the new Venezuela, which Capriles hopes to lead, they should coexist with murderers, terrorists, thieves, and corrupt individuals—as if nothing ever happened.
Without justice, there is no peace, and without peace, reconciliation is impossible. This should be understood by the so-called intellectuals, like Petkoff and his admirers. Ironically, Petkoff can also be seen as a ‘dinosaur of the fourth republic’, that which the ‘progressives’ so detest. Naturally, I will not cast my vote for Capriles Radonsky if he wins the primaries. I would prefer to vote for Chavez and see if some of the timid adolescents competing in the primaries gain maturity over the next six years.