Venezuela's Press of gloom and doom

www.vheadline.com Posted: Wednesday, March 12, 2003 By: Charles Hardy

VHeadline.com commentarist Charles Hardy writes: "Two men looked out of prison bars. One saw dirt. The other saw stars" -- I wish I could tell you the name of the genius who wrote those words. In very few phrases the person wrote a whole book, and I have carried the book with me for decades although I never saw the name of the author.

The words came to mind the past week as I observed the pessimistic newspaper coverage of Carnival in Venezuela. Throughout Latin America the days before Ash Wednesday are days of fun and celebration ... however the Venezuelan press' forecast for this year was Gloom and Doom!

It started by saying that, because of the terrible situation in the country (according to them) very few people would be traveling and the beaches would be empty.

That news came as a surprise to the people who were already on their way, or who were trying to find a parking place near the coast, or lying on the beach reading the newspaper to protect their eyes from the sun.

It was similar to a weather forecaster predicting a storm and the sun shines all day ... a good TV forecaster would simply joke the next day and say "Well, I can't be right all the time."

To expect such a reaction from the press here in Venezuela would be asking for too much. Instead they went into Gloom & Doom, Stage 2 ... the people filling the downtown streets with their children dressed in costumes and participating in the traditional 'Miss Carnival' pageants weren't having fun because they didn't have enough money to buy their costumes this year ... they had to make them themselves!

...and the people filling the beaches were not happy either, because they brought food with them from home instead of buying it from vendors on the beach.

The smiling faces and suntanned bodies that were shown in the newspapers didn't go along with the headlines, but what did it matter.

This is the press in Venezuela that doesn't have time to notice that there is still a sun in the sky and the stars do come out at night.

One good thing did happen. Carlos Ortega of the CTV and Coordinadora (anti-) Democratica were in hiding.

You might recall that he and his group asked children not to celebrate Christmas last year. and then staged a party for the little ones on December 28 ... the day when the Catholic Church commemorates the killing of the children by Herod.

• If Ortega had still been making public statements he probably would have urged people to hold off celebrating Carnival, too ... until Good Friday!

But, returning to the home-made costumes, my brother and sister-in-law had a family of seven children and always made their own Halloween costumes. When my brother died, one of his children talked at the funeral about the unique costumes they always had. One was a baked potato (a burlap bag covered with aluminum foil), two became a pair of dice (boxes covered with white paper with big black spots), and a third was a nun (with a black garbage bag for a veil).

Who says that to be happy everyone should dress as Spiderman, Superman or Barbie?

And the need to travel?

In the barrio where I lived, very few people traveled, but we always celebrated in a variety of ways. One of my most memorable recollections was the day I was carried the distance of a city block and dropped in a pit of mud, grease and whatever else that would make me totally black ... by the end of the day, a good part of the neighborhood looked the same way I did.

Taking your own food to the beach?

That has been a custom of most families for ages ... the food is better and you know how it has been prepared.

When the week was all over, Ultimas Noticias said that bus travel was down only about fifteen percent ... not bad, for all that the country has been through.

But what about the level of happiness and celebration?

Was it up or was it down?

Everyone I talked to had a nice Carnival, but that doesn't prove anything.

The newspapers have no way of judging that either, but you can guess what they would like to have you believe: In Venezuela this Carnival, there was no sun, no stars.

Having "adequately" reported on that ... they can now start working on their next project: Gloom & Doom, Stage 3.

Charlie A native of Cheyenne, Wyoming (USA), VHeadline.com columnist Charles Hardy has many years experience  as an international correspondent in Venezuela. You may email him at: hardyce2@yahoo.com