A Shattered Dream
www.vheadline.com Posted: Wednesday, February 26, 2003 By: Gustavo Coronel
VHeadline.com commentarist Gustavo Coronel writes: Ten years ago my wife and I decided to move away from too large and unpleasant Caracas into a small rural community. For some time I had believed that living in the country did not have to be equal to misery and backwardness. A citizen living in the countryside did not have to become a peasant. I was sure we could live graciously, with most of the urban amenities plus fresh air, a pool, plenty of fruits and flowers.
We started looking for a suitable place and found it, some 20 kilometers west of Valencia, the most beautiful city in Venezuela (in my opinion). We found a modest, very middle class development called Sabana del Medio, selling lots of 2-10 acres. We chose a beautiful lot of 3 acres and paid some $5,000 for it. It was fallow but had a nice gravel road all the way to the entrance. Its northern boundary was a small river carrying water all year long, a valuable asset.
To build the house we hired a local team of carpenter, plumber and bricklayer under the supervision of a "maestro", one of these men who "know" how to build a house without being an engineer. My wife knew what house she wanted and the "maestro" obeyed faithfully. Every week we would drive from Caracas to the site to pay our team, to supervise the work done and to plan the future work. For us, this was a wonderful experience, not only because of the pleasure of seeing the house become a reality but also because of the high quality and decency of the workers. Money was used judiciously and our local supplier of materials never failed to deliver in time.
After many weeks the house was finished, together with another, smaller house for the keeper and a very nice 70,000 liter pool. To celebrate, we had an open house and invited our workers and families and some other friends from the nearby village. We also installed a dish for TV which allowed us to see even some soap operas in Chinese.
Today some $80,000 later, the house has matured. We planted more than 600 fruit and ornamental trees which have been giving us plenty of flowers and fruit: oranges, tangerines, grapefruit, lemons and limes, mangoes, avocados, loquats, soursops, passion fruit, plums of diverse types, as well as some other exotic fruits I do not how to call in english. The Araguaneyes (Tabebuia), the national tree of Venezuela offer us their yellow golden flowers. The majestic Samanes (pithecellobium) give us shadow and the bucares (erythrinas) and Acacias (delonix) give happiness to our eyes. We had found and created our small paradise and we had proven that we could live in the countryside as citizens, connected to the world. The community grew rapidly until more than 200 houses were built, trees growing, lawns manicured. We were proud of our community and lived in harmony with the adjacent village of Barrera.
20 months ago this paradise suffered a setback. The cattle lands to the north of the community, across the river were invaded by hundreds of squatters, led and protected by the government. Within a very short time the lands became huge slums. Hundreds of shacks were erected overnight. Illegal connections were established with the public water mains and the electrical power lines. Crime in the area increased exponentially. The cattle became the target of squatters for dinner. What had been an orderly rural landscape became a chaotic scene.
At the same time we received letters from the Institute of Land, managed by Adan Chavez, the President's older brother, challenging our ownership to the land. We had to spend time and considerable money in legal fees to prove what we already knew, that we were the owners of our property.
Today, however, we are being encroached upon by misery and squatters. Our properties are now worth next to nothing. For one year I have tried to sell my property but no one has even bothered to take a look. Ten years of solid and perseverant improvements are going down the drain.
Today we hear a lot about social justice. I am all for it. I believe that the concept should apply to all citizens. Social justice should convert slums into communities and not communities into slums. Social justice should guarantee citizens the free enjoyment of property honestly obtained. Social justice should guarantee our right to dream.
We are now almost at the end of our dream in Sabana del Medio. For my wife and I there is no time to start all over again. But we will find some other dream to fall in love with.
As Willie Nelson sings, we are: "On the road again..."
For those with the proper baggage the road is always a source of wonders ... I always love to see what is around the bend...
Gustavo Coronel is the founder and president of Agrupacion Pro Calidad de Vida (The Pro-Quality of Life Alliance), a Caracas-based organization devoted to fighting corruption and the promotion of civic education in Latin America, primarily Venezuela. A member of the first board of directors (1975-1979) of Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), following nationalization of Venezuela's oil industry, Coronel has worked in the oil industry for 28 years in the United States, Holland, Indonesia, Algiers and in Venezuela. He is a Distinguished alumnus of the University of Tulsa (USA) where he was a Trustee from 1987 to 1999. Coronel led the Hydrocarbons Division of the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) in Washington DC for 5 years. The author of three books and many articles on Venezuela ("Curbing Corruption in Venezuela." Journal of Democracy, Vol. 7, No. 3, July, 1996, pp. 157-163), he is a fellow of Harvard University and a member of the Harvard faculty from 1981 to 1983. In 1998, he was presidential election campaign manager for Henrique Salas Romer and now lives in retirement on the Caribbean island of Margarita where he runs a leading Hotel-Resort. You may contact Gustavo Coronel at email ppcvicep@telcel.net.ve