The fascism of the good, and the tyranny of just causes: we face this daily in Venezuela, because not only do we have to deal with a government that in its collectivist zeal destroyed the economy of an entire country, but in addition to that, we must also struggle with fellow members of the “opposition”, who loudly blame the “right” (yes, you have read correctly) for the humanitarian crisis in the country.
The justification of false moral ethics, the loving piety of the left, that which will never be guilty of chaos, for chaos will always be the empire (for the abhorrent and abominable will always be the capital) and with respect to the just causes there will always be some silly political figure raising the red flag, now appropriating the fight for the environment or against corruption to justify their ideological incongruities.
In a very unfortunate interview, Primero Justicia deputy Miguel Pizarro alludes to this verbatim: “Although this is a government that presents a left-wing narrative, its economic practices are absolutely right-wing.” And so, with just one sentence, he throws away the political struggle of Venezuela over the course the last 20 years, mocks the political prisoners and those who died in protests, and the brutality that Venezuelans have experienced, accusing the right of being the culprit of the country’s problems, and not the Communist establishment orchestrated from Havana.
These types of statements are not only irresponsible and ill-founded, they are also quite worrisome, because they denote that a large part of the political coalition that seeks to “restore the freedom” of Venezuela has learned absolutely nothing in these twenty catastrophic years, and they continue to think that the problem with Chavismo “is that oil was not distributed well enough.” More worrisome, is that there are those who defend these statements, and are “offended” by the criticism unleashed against Pizarro’s political language. Hasn’t Venezuela endured enough of the left after twenty years? Do you think that Venezuelans have not yet endured enough hunger?
In a country corrupted by the deformed concept of pater familias, where the forced imposition of a social collectivism has destroyed the entire productive apparatus, it is inconceivable to suggest that “the fault is on the right.” I ask, are CLAP boxes right? Are the expropriations of private property policies of the right? The restrictions on obtaining foreign currency, the nationalization of private companies, the ridiculous price of public services, the disproportionate increase in the state payroll and public spending, are these practices on the right?
One can not make their way around the world saying such atrocious things and then continue on as if nothing happened, because there are more than 300,000 Venezuelans who have been killed under the mandate of this ultra-left government. 3.4 million Venezuelans have fled: they have left the country starving, leaving behind their families, and it is estimated that by the end of this year, if the narcotyranny is not displaced from power, there will be more than 5 million Venezuelans scattered around the world.
To say that the government presided over by Nicolás Maduro is a right-wing government is the greatest irresponsible political outburst in history; actually, I do not know if it’s an irresponsible outburst, an impudence, or a consensual statement.
The truth is that the left has already done enough damage to Venezuela and the Venezuelans, that it is preposterous to consider that Venezuela will now seek “representative voices”, in left-wingers more “moderate”, more “reasonable”, more “cool”, or whatever they want to call them.
If anything could rescue the Venezuelan people from all this tragedy, it would be meritocracy, the end of cronyism. All those who have emigrated and have managed to succeed, and all those who remain in the country struggling to survive, have shown that personal and common well-being, are only achieved with work, and that for the full development of societies, what is needed is less state intervention, and open policies of free trade. Enough of the pious speeches! Enough of the tyranny of just causes! Enough to feed mediocrity with pitiful prophets who always find others to blame!
If we Venezuelans have learned something in these twenty years, it is that the only way to get ahead is by working, working, preparing, working, and going back to work. There is no other way, there is no “acceptable distribution of resources”, there is no possible way for Venezuela to move forward if it is still led by those who think that the solution to problems is to give a man a fish, rather than teach him to fish.
Within the Venezuelan “opposition” there are many leftists cooperating with the leftists in the Chavista government, not merely Pizarro. Venezuelans know these characters well and it is not worth mentioning them. To point this out does not constitute being extremist or unreasonable: rather it constitutes being cautious, since there would be no greater misfortune in Venezuela, than to get rid of Chavismo, only to end up with Chavismo lite.
Article by Emmanuel Rincón, a Venezuelan lawyer, writer, and the author of five novels, first appeared at Panampost.com
Article originally appeared on Today Venezuela and is republished here with permission.
