Caracas Chronicles

So far, I’ve avoided discussing Hugo Chávez’s Twitter account. But let’s face it – the thing is downright depressing.

Chávez’s last tweets were on November 1st, and they dealt with Cristina Kirchner and Dilma Rousseff.

Fact is, the guy doesn’t really use Twitter that much. Still, it doesn’t prevent hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans to use it as a means of (hopelessly) trying to communicate with their leader, asking for some sort of help. Clearly, foreign policy is much more important than those pesky peasants asking for stuff.

Here’s a sample of recent tweets:

– Adrian Francisconi, an Argentine national who was fired from Sidor, asking for a visa and to be rehired. He claims he has been contacted 15 times by the government, but every time all they do is ask for his personal information.

– Laura Mujica, asking – no, begging – for work.

– kiruajo asking for land, or something.

– Imara Gonzalez, a nurse, complaining about her meager wages and asking for a raise.

– Osvaldo del Campo, who asked for a house three months ago and complains he has not heard back.

And this is just from a real-time search! Try it for yourself…

Sure, a lot of the tweets are from people wanting to insult the guy. But the overwhelming majority of them are from regular folks – ones who still believe in the Revolution – asking, and asking, and asking yet again for a favor.

I don’t know what’s sadder – that our institutions are so decadent that people go to Twitter to ask for help in solving their problems … or that they are gullible enough to think someone is listening.