I have a question about our government’s venal, butt-smooching support for Nicholas Maduro, the Venezuelan tyrant. Deal me out of “our”, please.
The question came soaring to mind—again—after reading a deeply troubling article in The New York Times, captioned, “Maduro Government Accused of New Dark Tactic: Assassinations”.
I am going on the premise that you have been listening along to this government. If so, it’s fair to assume that you know anything said in a negative light about their twisted benefactor—or his regime—has been, and will be, reverently dismissed as “American propaganda”. Sometimes tacitly. Often unconsciously. It is an ethos built around greed by persons who have been seduced by Venezuela’s oil wealth. I strongly disagree with the propaganda defence, but that’s me—though I know I have company. The rest of you, however, ought to remember that the government speaks on your behalf.
I won’t waste time quoting from the article because it will be dismissed even before it is read. You will have to seek it out yourself to get the question. Leaving the choice open is my way of filtering out the closed-minded who do not read. Laughable, I know, but still.
Now, my question: If a Venezuelan government assassination or kidnapping reaches one of us, how do you think our government would react? Be careful how you answer, there is history.
The beauty in your response is its privacy: an opportunity to be honest and candid. Lock yourself in the solitude of your inner sanctum, say your bedroom at midnight, and do not even wink your thoughts.
For me, though, I don’t need sanctum. I believe they’d do nothing. Nada. Nothing? That die has been cast — long ago. It is the history. Lest we forget what nothing looks like, it looks like this. Nothing is what became of the fatal Venezuelan drug deal that went wrong in Union Island — the Vincentian’s death amounted to nought the way the government played it. And to add insult to injury, the cover-up earned the chief cook and bottle washer promotion to where he can be more valuable to them in that line of work.
Do not underestimate simple greed. Even as unfortunate Venezuelan citizens suffer en masse, Venezuela’s oil moolah too sweet to risk. And just by not showing support for the rancid despot is a risk in itself. That’s how we got the “free and fair” opinion on Maduro’s election … erm … “victory”.
Sometimes when you peep behind the curtain of power you will find not just a lack of morals, but a lack of intellectual heft. A lack of commitment too. When the right thing to do versus the wrong isn’t a cliché or a passé principle, then those things like right versus wrong get kicked aside as long as they stand in the way of their sleazy ambitions.
Patrick Ferrari
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