My proposition to Venezuelan society
By Aleksander Boyd
Who in Latin America has not heard the song "Tiburon" (Shark) by Ruben Blades? Even those who do not enjoy salsa music know this song from the 80's. Its lyrics could be extrapolated easily to the Venezuelan case, although our Shark is not the same as the one originally referred. The chorus goes "en la union esta la fuerza y nuestra salvacion, si lo ves que viene palo al Tiburon" which translates "in the union lies our force and salvation, if you see the Shark coming give it a good beating". I have mentioned this for the furtherance of today's editorial.
Vcrisis sources report secret meetings among old time politicians in Venezuela and the US, basically to figure out which candidate they will launch when the referendum comes to fruition. It shows the true fibber of the politicians in Venezuela, in my opinion they are the scum of the earth. Rather than working towards a contingency plan to save the country from its miserable state, they are too occupied assigning future key posts to accolades, but have I got news for them, if they maintain their stupid stance there will not be any key posts available and we will have the Shark in power for endless years.
There are a few candidates who have shown their intentions to run for the presidency, namely Enrique Mendoza, Juan Fernandez, Manuel Cova, Julio Borges and Henrique Salas Römer. If all of them run, Chavez will win easily yet again as the recent polls have shown. To be able to choose the best man for the job, Venezuelans must narrow down the list taking into consideration their experience in public administration and ability to govern. In so doing, Fernandez, Cova and Borges have no credits on such areas.
Only two names remain, Mendoza and Salas Römer. Mendoza has been major of Sucre district twice and governor of Miranda state twice. None of his administrations have been characterized to be an easy ride for him due to the sheer magnitude of the social problems present in those areas. In spite of it, he continues to have the support of the inhabitants of said constituencies. He won the sympathy of many people in 1999 during the floods of Vargas -which left thousands of victims-, when he was coordinating the rescue operations and was interviewed by the TV networks with mud up to his waist. I remember exactly what I thought that day "this man has just won the presidency". At that precise moment in time, Chavez or "the champion of the poor" was sipping single malt whisky in la Orchila Island with former foreign secretary Ignacio Arcaya, former interior minister Luis Miquilena and many others, who were celebrating the approval via referendum of the new constitution.
Unlike Mendoza, Henrique Salas Römer has not had a brilliant political career. He is considered by many as the impersonation of the oligarch and his time as governor of Carabobo state passed almost unnoticed. Vcrisis sources report that nothing happens in Proyecto Venezuela (his political party) without his explicit approval, which says a lot about his capacity of governing by consensus. Realistically he stands no chance of winning whatsoever.
The time has come for the Venezuelan society to demonstrate its maturity. None
of the candidates afore mentioned will win if we do not support them and if
we abstain from voting Chavez wins. It is therefore of paramount importance
that we choose which one we will support. It is not up to them, is up to us
no matter what they do. They will go on forever with their dispute that will
not change. What can be changed is our attitude towards them and hence my proposition.
Undoubtedly all of the chavistas will vote for one man and one man only. Can
we not do the same? Is it too difficult to realize the fact that if we do not
unite (by we I refer to the Venezuelan society, to the man on the street, to
the victims of crime, to the poor, to the unemployed, to those desperate for
a solution) our country will disappear? Think hard about this, if we fail it
will be our fault. To conclude another excerpt from the song: "Y luego
a trabajar en la reconstruccion!"
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