An Apology to Héctor Agüero

By
Francisco Toro
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34

The Venezuelan interwebs – including Caracas Chronicles – had a field day yesterday making fun of PSUV old-timer Héctor Agüero‘s speech at the opening of the National Assembly. It’s since been brought to our attention that Mr. Agüero suffered a stroke, which accounts for his difficult to understand speech. We apologize for the offence caused.

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34 COMMENTS

  1. Glad to see this apology, although I’m not saying that I didn’t laugh at some of the videos making fun of Aguero. I didn’t know he had had a stroke, but he is almost 80 years old, stroke or no stroke, I wouldn’t be surprised he is not the most articulate person.

  4. Call me a radical all you want, if you want to apologize go ahead, but lets not kid ourselves, chavismo played a dirty trick here and in a machiavellian I gotta hand it to them, they knew this guy was pretty much an unknown and knew that people would pounce on his speech inpediments.

    I mean, we know how low chavismo is willing to sink to gain to gain political points, even if it means using a sick, nearly 80 year old man to score them.

    I think its ok if you want to apologize to the guy directly, we should show the people we’re the grown ups here and apologize when we’re at fault, but it bears mentioning how he was used, the government could just have said, this old guy had a stroke whatever months ago, maybe he shouldn’t be “on the stage” but they didn’t,

  5. Produce satisfacción leer esta disculpa. Puede parecer un detalle sin importancia pero cosas como esta son las que diferencian a unos medios de otros, las que dicen dónde se quiere estar y donde no (por cierto, descubrí hace poco el twitter del Sr. Toro – en qué estaría yo pensando que no se me ocurrió buscarle antes – y me lo estoy pasando muy bien)

    • Bienvenido, Ramón. Ponte cómodo, el blog está activo desde el 2002. Hay hasta un libro de lo mejor del blog, por si te interesa!

      • Llevo visitando este blog más de un año e incluso hemos hablando alguna vez. Si esta respuesta era una broma me la he perdido. Gracias en cualquier caso por la nueva bienvenida. Acabo por cierto de leer en el New York Times algo que en cierto sentido es humor negro referido a Venezuela. Esto es lo que trae en la maleta el nuevo corresponsal en Caracas: “I brought Old Spice. For detergent, I brought a ton of Tide… two nasal spray bottles, three tubes of toothpaste, one package of floss, a bottle of body wash, shaving cream, contact lens solution, AA batteries, sponges, detergent, toilet paper and a big bottle of ibuprofen. Two bottles of Scotch” Si alguien que cobra en dólares necesita todo esto me temo que los venezolanos que cobren en bolívares lo tienen realmente mal. Maduro mientras tanto dice que está muy tranquilo y que va a relanzar las capacidades productivas del país, se entiende que hacia abajo, para hundirlas un poco más… Todavía no entiendo por qué hay gente que no está interesada en lo que ocurre en Venezuela

        • Ramon there is a lot of stuff which no matter how much you can pay for them cannot be reliably found when you need them , finding stuff requires a persistent search effort and a bit of luck in that what can be found in one place today will not be there tomorrow .

          Locals have a big advantage over visitors , usually they can rely on an extended web of relatives and close friends who will be on the look out for what your looking for and will find things for you which you cant find for yourself , of course that calls for some reciprocity in being alert to what family and friends tell you they need and cant find. for many items its usually a hit or miss thing !!

          • Correct Bill. This is a matter which was very well documented in Soviet Union era… The use of “Svyaz” (social connections) to obtain “blats” (favours, goods, etc.) which more often than not, couldn’t be obtained with money. Money didn’t matter as the system has deteriorated so much (scarcity, etc.) that even with a pile of cash (local currency that is) you weren’t able to buy anything regardless.

          • Muchas gracias por la aclaración. Reitero una vez más mis deseos de que toda esta locura desaparezca de Venezuela cuanto antes.
            Un saludo

    • Hola, Heidy! desde ayer estoy buscando esta información sobre lo mismo, pues antes de “juzgarle” pense que era posible un ACV. Lo cual me “freno” de comenarios: NO he conseguido aún NADA que me lleve a concluir que él está superando un derrame… Y de haber sido esa la razón de su “actuación” ayer: Los ÚNICOS responsables de estás burlas SON ELLOS MISMOS con sus aberrantes “técnicas Maquiavelicas-Macabras” de humillar al Ciudadano y a ellos mismos… Por otro lado SÍ consegui esta entrevista que ofrecio el día Diciembre 3 2015… Acá se expresa muy “bien”…

  9. This apology is due only to someone with the decency of backing out of the responsibility of directing this act due to his recent condition, or at least with de decency of restricting himself to what was required from him.

    The speech he gave was out of order. He had no right to use that time for a speech and he did so knowing his state so all the mocks are well deserved.

    Respect is something you earn.

    • I agree with the essence of your idea, pero en fin, pobre viejito.

      As soul lifting as it can be for person coming back from personal difficulty as he is doing, it is unfair to expect the whole nation to accommodate the poor man’s limitations in such an important event. It is an embarrassment to the elderly man and to everyone that put him in this position.

  11. I made a lot of fun of this guy. No apologies from me. It’s not OK to put an 80-year-old guy who can barely speak to deliver such an important address. One of the greatest acts of corruption of Venezuelans is to accept posts that they are unqualified for, Maduro being the perfect example. This was such a case. That gentleman, with all due respect to his seniority, was unqualified to deliver that speech, and the PSUV simply made a fool out of of him and the nation. Well, anyway it’s just “one more stripe for a tiger.”

  12. If the poor man had a stroke he shouldn’t be attending such an important event, they could have sent someone able to speak loud and clear

  16. Really? That must be awkward, having to designate/elect them when few will ever serve, and the possible baggage of a bad choice.

    I don’t know of any other legislature that has pre-selected alternates.

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