Venezuela and Latin America: Separated

Venezuela rises on the right hand side of the South American realm as a giant of the northern part of the continent. Not only does it posses the fifth largest oil reserve in the world but also is the largest natural gas owner on the globe. Venezuela is a land where the sun rises every morning and with it its people rise with a smile on their faces. It is a land where the Amazon basin and the Caribbean seashore are not boundaries but sentinels of their secrets. Venezuela has it all; wealth, beauty, spirit and courage. Despite these qualities that might create an illusion to the many onlookers, Venezuela
also has oppression, misery, mismanagement
and suffering all related to one single name: Hugo Chavez.
Hugo Chavez had great ideas when he ran for office. I remember that even though the opposition of Venezuela was against him since the beginning, Latin Americans pictured him as a true defender of the Latin American spirit. His ideals, his daily fight against the subjugation
of the international world powers and his true sentiment of nationalism, charmed all those who had a center left view of life. People believed he was going to make a difference.
South Americans like me thought that he was going to change the system; I personally believed that he was the solution for all the maltreatments that the Latin American community
had suffered in years gone by.
Nowadays, I am not able to see that dream he painted. He has become a person corrupted by power and money, a person who, instead of being inspired by the ideals of Simon Bolivar,
wants to become Simon Bolivar. He has become an opportunist that is trying to make South America a Roman Empire without the essentials, without the bases and, above all things, without true continental pride.
Through petrodollars he has not only bought the conscience of fellow presidents, but also brain washed them to act according to his erroneous and retrograde ideas. He has offered
help in return for allegiance, and it is this allegiance that is going to break the continent apart. South America, in a time of union and interaction with the peoples of the world, is becoming more and more isolated by the ideas of a person who has no clue of what foreign relations means. It trusts a person who does not represent the ideals that he proclaims. It trusts the word of a man who calls a president “The Puppet of the Empire” when he is trying to become a puppeteer himself.
Now, the President of the Bolivarian Republic
of Venezuela wants to add to the original
tricolor that identifies the former Great Colombia
territories, an eighth star to the seven stars that have represented the country for so long and a shield on the left hand side of the flag. He is not above changing historical dates such as “Columbus’ Day” or historical names like the “Republic of Venezuela.” He is not above having the Congress renamed National Assembly, and all open seat in it filled by his cronies. Still, he wants to punish the people with a “will drive,” an infatuation to proclaim
himself “omnipotent” in the country.
If that is the idea, why doesn’t he create a “Kingdom of Bolivarian Venezuela?” If that is what he wants, why doesn’t he bring down all the monuments of “The Liberator” and honor himself as “The Executioner?”
If it is not a dictatorship, why does he record on the Venezuelan ID cards if you are from the opposition or a “Chavista?” Why, if he is such a “people’s person,” are there people living in shantytowns with houses on the edge of dignity, but with Direct TV functions?
This is not a matter of being against or in favor of this person. This is a matter of understanding the true principles of something if you want to apply them. Our continent is too fragile, and it will become more fragile if we let subversive ideas overwhelm it. Chavez does not need to change the focus of his ideology. What he needs is a change of attitude and to see that by threatening people he will not get the support he needs. A true leader is one who works with groups to enhance their performance. As far as I am concerned, and as far as half of the Latin American realm is concerned, he is not a leader but a clown who is trying to make our continent be his show.
If you are a Latin American or a Foreigner with true conscience about this, you will understand the true meaning of this article. freedom for Latin America! No imperialism, no “Chavism”. true freedom and independence, what our Liberator Simon Bolivar really was eager for! Abajo Chavez! Viva la democracia!