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Chávez loves me?
All of these handouts are in anticipation of the referendum this weekend to decide on a constitutional amendment that would permit elected officials to remain in office as long as their constituents want them there. In itself, it seems a reasonable proposal. If someone is doing a good job, the people should be able to keep them. Nevertheless there are also dangers that have to be weighed since such a proposal could lead to an abuse of power.
In any case, the question here and worldwide doesn’t seem to focus on whether it is a good or bad proposal. Rather it centers on whether or not Chávez will be able to run for another term. And that is where love and hate enter the picture, more than rationality. It has been this way even before the day he was elected in 1998, and this referendum is not going to change that reality.
Nevertheless I wasn’t immediately pleased when a Chávez supporter handed me the paper telling me in the first sentence that one should vote for the amendment because Chávez loves us. And, the only way to repay love is with love—meaning to support the amendment. But as I read the brief paper, I began to change my mind about its appropriateness.
The flyer said that no oligarch here has risked their life for the people and yet now they appear as friends of the humble people—whereas before they always belittled these persons. I have to agree with this analysis.
The reality is that at no other time during the twenty-four years that I have been here has there been a love relationship between a president (or practically any elected officials) and the people. If not unique, it is not a common situation to find among world politicians.
Other flyers that I was handed during the day gave other reasons for voting “Sí,” but feeling cared for is certainly one of the principal ones that will decide this election.
Many years ago in Rock Springs, Wyoming, I heard some women talking about the doctors in town and who they would want to help deliver their babies. The one that had the highest rating was Doctor Bertoncelj who “comes in his pajamas if it happens during the night.” The feeling that one is cared for is important.
In my opinion, love is not completely irrational. Hate often is. We love someone because of some characteristics that attract us and these can many times be specified. Pajamas in the middle of the night have more than just a symbolic value. Hate, on the other hand, is simply a spontaneous wildfire that burns from within a person, destroying peace within themselves and provoking the desire to destroy another.
Anyone with open eyes has to see the incredible progress that has been made here the past ten years that no other government has accomplished: housing, health, nutrition, family income. Are there still problems to be solved? Yes, corruption, inefficiency, insecurity—at least partly a carryover from former governments. But there is no reason to believe that another government will be able to do better.
This afternoon I saw Luis, a young man in his early thirties. I have known him since he was about eight. He lived in a cardboard shack in the barrio of Nueva Tacagua where I lived. The day I arrived there in 1985, he offered to help me with my suitcase. He and his wife now live in their own home in a barrio near the airport.
Luis is a self-designated baggage handler at the Simon Bolivar International airport which serves Caracas. Today he wore dark glasses. The reason: a few days ago he had his eyes operated. As he explained the operation he told me that the same would have cost 7,000 bolivars in a private clinic. It didn’t cost him anything. He said under no other government would this have been possible.
He was excited because he has purchased a baggage cart and will be able to gain more income as a baggage handler. Before we left I told him to give Maria, his wife, a kiss from me. He said he would and then pointed to a tattoo he had on his arm. It said, “Si.” Luis loves Chávez.
But not everyone here sees things the way Luis does. There is a line from the Broadway play, South Pacific: “You’ve got to be taught before it’s too late, before you are six or seven or eight, to hate all the people your relatives hate. You’ve got to be carefully taught.” That certainly applies to the young ex-Cubans in Florida who continue in their hatred of Castro. It is also true in Venezuela as the upper-class young university students have become the leaders in demonstrations against Chávez. They do not have the memories that people who lived in barrios, including Luis and me, have. They only have the hatred for Chávez that their elders have passed on to them.
Will the amendment be approved? No one will know until Sunday. Will peace follow? No, no matter what the result is. Unfortunately, love and hate will dominate Venezuelan politics for years to come as they are passed on to the next generation. It would be nice if love could rule the world and that it could start from Venezuela. I don’t expect it to happen soon.
by Charles Hardy ©
Charles Hardy is author of Cowboy in Caracas: A North American’s Memoir of Venezuela’s Democratic Revolution, published by Curbstone Press. Other essays by Hardy can be found on his personal blog Cowboyincaracas.com. You may write him at cowboyincaracas@yahoo.com.