Caracas Chronicles

Sobre desmadres y desgarramientos

by Federico Vegas

I miss Pablo Antillano?s articles on Todo en Domingo.

I read one on water leaks that still resounds in my nights of insomnia. He once wrote something on the December 2002 strike. Based on the famous judgment by king Solomon, he described “how the government cusp on one side and the opposition ‘super-cogollo’ on the other, had preferred to divide the boy (the nation, the fatherland, the county, the people) and kill him, instead of finding a truly wise way out.”

Of this case, which took place in Jerusalem, versions better adjusted to our times. I remember a story called “The Caucasian Chalk Circle” by Bertolt Brecht. In this second example, judge Dollinger hears two women out, Ana Otterer and Mrs. Zingli. Both claim to be the child?s mother. The judge ordered a circle to be drawn on the ground with chalk. The he said: “For this test, I’ve been inspired by a very old book.”

Bertolt Brecht

“Both women should pull the boy by a hand. The one who manages to pull the boy out of the circle will be the one that feels a stronger love?. With a violent pull, Mrs. Zingli yanked the boy out of the circle made of chalk, while Anna looked bewildered and aghast. It was then, Dollinger knew who was the true mother.

The Caucasian Chalk Circle.

Antillano’s allegory was valid in its intention, but forgot to place one of the most important characters in the story. Antillano presented a kind of tie in guilt between two equally aggressive mothers, and it is dangerous to use the implications of an ancestral tale only hallways. In Jerusalem and Augsburg, there is a mother who yields and a wise man that would not have allowed the ripping.

He might not have been interested then in establishing whether the true mother was either the opposition or the government, but it was certainly convenient to show the absolute absence of Solomon in the Venezuelan example, and establish who should play that role.

When we elect a President we have to keep in mind that undying judgment, which in words of Antillano, ?we carry planted in some part of our psyche and it is revealed, when we are confronted with dilemmas of justice, credibility, love, sacrifice.

Each new Solomon must redefine and redimension the conflicts of his time to grant us that justice, allow us that credibility, spread that love and make sense of our sacrifices.

In a country, where even the most officialist vision recognizes the existence of two antagonist halves preparing for a cruel struggle, a sane president should understand that, whether he likes it or not, he is the guide of both parts, and should be able to bring concord and harmony to his nation.

Our President, who has a bigger responsibility in this task, incarnates more and more fanaticism a hysterical mother who carries a child of dubious health. During the strike, he announced the firing of 18000 workers with the same fruition Marta Colomina describes an oil leak. Now he has declared himself in battle, using as generals those who should occupy themselves in performing a fair and effective government duty, and the money of all Venezuelans. He insists in confronting the tragedy of a torn country with a badly disguised smile, threats and mockery, even to the proposals of some opposition members who propose taking of his government work worthwhile initiatives.

To measure his respect to those who oppose him it suffices with thinking what kind of argument was offered to those who changed their signatures in just a few months, and his public and notorious reproaches to those who failed to achieve more ?convincements?.

The paradox is he started out by uniting the country with the same illusion, and then he started methodically dividing what he had united, until he made irreconcilable. An you can no longer speak of minorities and ?super-cogollos?. It?s difficult to find in our history anyone more apt for discord, for impenitent, denigrating and increasingly unfair aggression. Offering as only compensation the liberty to receive them.

It is one thing not to agree, and another to detest. He, especially with his words, has structured visceral loves and repulsions. His ambiguous refrain about his role until 2021, is perhaps his most painful and gomecist slogan. He mocks a Chavismo without Chávez, when that should be the proud legacy of a democrat after five years of rule.

The spirit of the referendum, points towards finding a solution to this state of turmoil and tear, not only to measure its proportions.

The objective of the constituyentes was to find a medium to let the governor of his great ineptitude for harmony and the need to find an alternative.

But justice has wise ways of operating: our president has been enforcing, with his unending yanking, our ability of integrating, to oppose him with a force that is calm and harmonious, plural and democratic, peaceful and brave, and with God’s help, salomonic.

© 2004. CA Editora El Nacional.

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