Hugo, me and the Revolution

Hugo, me and the Revolution

When I see our industrial cemeteries, where the hopes of so many Venezuelans lie due to a very poorly implemented trade liberalization and a stupid exchange rate policy, I know that Hugo and I want a revolution.

When I see the United States apply a 60% tariff on the import of orange concentrate and only allow the best quality to be imported, while Venezuela only applies 20% and allows the entry of any garbage, condemning our orange groves to die, I know that Hugo and I want a revolution.

When I observe the very unfair distribution of income in my country, the inefficiency of fiscal spending and I notice how efforts to collect an income tax are abandoned for the ease of VAT and other direct taxes, I know that Hugo and I want a revolution .

When we reflect on the decades of silence in the face of a terrible education system and the obscene and violent programming with which our television stations indoctrinate our youth, I know that Hugo and I want a revolution.

When I see my Venezuela immersed in anarchy, without an authority capable of controlling that small percentage of abusers, who exist everywhere, I know that Hugo and I want a revolution.

But, when Hugo says that his revolution is the daughter of the Chinese or Cuban revolution, I also know that Hugo and I are not talking about the same revolution.

My revolution only pursues the humble goal of achieving a good Venezuelan government for Venezuelans and that, if we ever make a mistake along the way, at least it will be in favor of Venezuela. My revolution welcomes the foreign investor happily, but it is only happy when it manages to retain the Venezuelan investor. In my revolution, except for the strengthening of OPEC (including gas and incorporating new members), a pragmatic Great-Colombianism and a rational environmental solidarity, there are no resources or time for other geopolitical considerations.

Although I consider that selling about 53 thousand barrels of oil to Cuba under overly generous conditions is a minor sin, compared to the still not so distant proposal of selling 5 million barrels to the world at a price of only 7 dollars; The fact is that as long as some Venezuelan is dying of hunger, does not receive a good education or decent health care, my revolution does not contemplate giving anything to anyone – except, a Christian solidarity in emergencies.

Hugo has an amazing ability to communicate, in a pedagogical way, Venezuelan messages to the Nation and in this sense, for those of us who know that the future requires building bridges of understanding, he represents a very valuable asset for the country. For this reason, whoever has access to Hugo, please ask him to stop with this invention and not waste his talent, speaking to the Sovereign, in Chinese with a Cuban accent.

Translated by Google from an Op-Ed in Venezuela April 26, 2001

https://radicaldelmedio.blogspot.com/2001/04/hugo-yo-y-la-revolucion.html