What a Heck?
<a href=www.vheadline.com>Venezuela's Electronic News Posted: Thursday, May 15, 2003 By: Oscar Heck
Attempt by a self-confessed Chavez-hater to discredit Chavez and the government
VHeadline commentarist Oscar Heck writes: Gustavo Coronel's <a href=www.vheadline.com>“An open letter about PDVSA to President Hugo Chavez Frias” is another attempt by a self-confessed Chavez-hater to discredit Chavez and the present Venezuelan government. It is also another desperate and futile attempt to vindicate the anti-Chavez and pro-opposition people from their without-conscience, illegal, unethical, immoral and criminal actions … actions which they have obviously (and publicly) shoved down the throats of all Venezuelans … and by “all Venezuelans” I mean all Venezuelans.
Coronel states that “Chavez” fired 18,000 PDVSA employees in an undignified fashion.
What crock!
I was in Venezuela while most of this happened:
First, Chavez himself was not the one who fired the employees ... he read a list on TV of the employees that were being fired!
Second, if they were to be fired (as they were) how else would these employees know that they were to be fired if they were not showing up to work as they should have been?
By mail? No, the mail service was shut down by Coronel's so-beloved pro-opposition people.
By phone? Probably not, most of the ex-PDVSA saboteurs were probably partying in Aruba or Miami!
Third, they deserved to be fired.
Fourth, they deserved to be “undignified”, as Coronel calls it...
Why? Because they assisted first-hand in destroying the Venezuelan economy … which cost several billions of dollars (not to emphasize the long-term effects of their malicious and pre-meditated actions that caused untold prolonged damage onto the vast majority of “humble” Venezuelans -ú as Coronel's so-beloved pro-opposition people often likes to call “them.”)
Coronel goes on to say that these ex (and I stress ex)-PDVSA employees will go back to work for PDVSA. No way Gustavo. Would you re-hire an employee of your hotel/resort on Margarita if that person sabotaged your installations, stole your keys and went to the media to discredit you? I don’t think so.
What will happen “as sure as the sun goes up every morning”, is that these PDVSA saboteurs and criminals will never work at PDVSA again.
Hopefully, they will never work at any other petroleum company again … they deserve to be “selling cakes in the streets”, as you so derogatorily state! (What is wrong with selling cakes on the streets, Gustavo?)
Now, I have worked for over 20 years as a professional recruiter: corporate executives, upper and mid-level managers, scientists and technical people. I have interviewed and evaluated over 12,000 people in a vast number of fields of activity in several countries. I have helped to mount some of what are today the biggest manufacturing firms in the world in their field. I have also done extensive fraud/criminal/corruption investigation work at high levels.
Coronel considers the PDVSA saboteurs as “real PDVSA professional managers and technicians.” That is also a bunch of crock. True professionals would not have sabotaged PDVSA, especially knowing that the results could be so devastating!
Coronel says that “these values had been accepted by the nation as the guiding principles for the Institution.” This cannot be true ... by implication, most Venezuelans are not saboteurs. Most pro-opposition people are.
Anyone who supports the kind of “values” that the opposition-supporters and the ex-PDVSA saboteurs support, has no “human” values. They have been heartless and without-conscience, thinking only of themselves … as Coronel mentions “…putting everything on the line: jobs, financial stability, family and career.”
Furthermore Gustavo, it is not because someone has “knowledge and experience” in the petroleum industry that it makes them “valuable” for PDVSA. Knowledge and experience are “acquired,” they are not “innate.” There are other factors that play more important roles in the selection of “valuable” employees: human values and inborn character traits, capacities and talents. The fact that a person has a university degree does not make someone more “intelligent” or more “able” or more “persistent” or more “creative” or more “reliable” or more “honest” or more “human” than someone who doesn’t have a degree.
It applies as well to someone who has “experience and knowledge.” Some of the best “crooks” in the world are also some of the most “intelligent” and “creative” people in the world. What one does with his/her talents, traits and capacities depends on the “human values” to which one subscribes.
Example: Who do you think collects priceless “illegal” antiquities and artwork?
Coronel is dreaming (or having some serious nightmares). He is accusing Chavez (and by implication, the present Venezuelan government) of trying to destroy PDVSA.
Where has he been for the last year or so?
Who “stopped” PDVSA?
Chavez? The present government?
No, PDVSA was stopped by those 18,000+ ex-PDVSA employees that so willingly supported the mafia-incited-stoppage … whether duped into it or not!
Coronel addresses Chavez suggesting that he should reflect on his own ethical posture. Maybe Coronel should ask the PDVSA saboteurs and anti-Chavez supporters that participated in the destruction of the Venezuelan economy!
Does he really believe that it is ethical to create a “stoppage”, block streets, sabotage PDVSA, try to close banks and schools?
Does he think that it is ethical to call for the murder of someone in public?
Does he think that it is ethical for employers to intentionally shut down operations (threats included), leaving thousands of average Venezuelans jobless and wageless (!) … simply because the employers are part of the Fedecamaras/CTV/Media/USA backed “stoppage?
(Three of my brothers-in-law lost their jobs -ú due to being locked out in December 2002 -- and still haven’t been paid!)
Coronel says that the ex-PDVSA people were trained in “meritocracy, apoliticism and professional management.”
First, according to the dictionary, “meritocracy” is: a system in which such an elite (an intellectual elite, based on academic achievement) achieves special status, as in positions of leadership. If you believe that “intellectual academic achievement” is “good” criteria for managing/operating a company, then you are simply confirming that the ex-PDVSA employees should not be re-hired. Company leaders selected based on their “intellectual academic achievement” do not guarantee good or great management. “Intellectual elites” are better suited for university and institutions of the like.
Second, if meritocracy is the ex-PDVSA system, then it is very difficult to imagine that “professional management” was one of the backbones of the ex-PDVSA.
Third, you say “apoliticism”. The evidence is abundantly to the contrary! This “meritocracia” brought down PDVSA for political reasons (and probably also to detract from the excesses in personal privileges). It appears to me that Coronel, as well as many pro-opposition supporters really believe that “meritocracy” is a valid contender in today’s world.
Sorry to tell you Gustavo Coronel ... times are changing ... the “intellectual academic elites” are losing ground in Venezuela and worldwide … and for obvious reasons.
Oscar Heck oscar@vheadline.com