A Dead End

A Dead End / Fernando Damaso

Fernando Damaso, 24 May 2016 — Historically, Venezuela has been a
country of dictators, as have others in Latin America: Simon Bolivar was
one, regardless of his merits as the Liberator of America from the
Spanish yoke; and then the Monagas brothers were (1846-1858); followed
by Guzmán Blanco (1870-1888), Cipriano Castro (1899-1908), Juan Vicente
Gómez (1908-1931), Delgado Chalbaud, Marcos Perez Jimenez (1950-1958),
Hugo Chavez and now, in the process of learning, Nicolas Maduro.

Maduro's pedantry, his attempt to be Chavez's "designated" successor,
his accelerated loss of popular support, the unassailable triumph of the
opposition in achieving a majority in the National Assembly, the
systematic setbacks of his operation and, now, the overwhelming number
of signatures collected to proceed with a midterm recall referendum,
plus his economic failures, have made him hysterical, inventing
conspiracies, economic wars, interventions and other absurdities,
products of his fevered mind and those who guide him from inside and
outside the country. As Uruguay's former president Mujica said, "He is
madder than a goat."

To this is added the environment around him which is not favorable:
Argentina without Cristina Kirchner and with Macri, Brazil without Dilma
Rousseff and with Temer, Evo Morales unable to be reelected, Correa
responsibly dedicated to the his country's recovery from the earthquake,
and Cuba getting worse all the time.

As if that were not enough, the institutions and organisms created by
the Latin American Left (UNASUR, ALBA, CELAC and others) in the years of
splendor, for their mutual support and to maintain themselves in power,
ignoring those existing previously, are in the doldrums, having lost
their main sources of economic support, and very little has been done,
other than some passing some generic declarations, more formal than
real, to make it clear that they are still breathing, although they are
in intensive care.

Maduro blames the opposition, the "empire" the OAS, Uribe, and the many
who criticize the problems in Venezuela, but forgets that it is, above
all, he and Chavism that is to blame. With Maduro and those who sustain
him in power, Venezuela will not emerge from the political, economic and
social crisis in which it finds itself.

Source: A Dead End / Fernando Damaso – Translating Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/a-dead-end-fernando-damaso/