A reckless Heckler is on the loose

<a href=www.vheadline.com>Venezuela's Electronic News Posted: Monday, May 19, 2003 By: Gustavo Coronel

VHeadline.com commentarist Gustavo Coronel writes: I am perplexed by a most peculiar phenomenon related to my published letters. <a href=www.vheadline.com>No matter to whom I write, I get an answer from ... what the Heck.

A Canadian gentleman who travels incessantly throughout Venezuela, apparently observes, makes notes, writes about his experiences ... like a modern De Toqueville, although not with the same clarity of vision. This is great. It's also great that he loves Hugo Chavez ... he does not have many rivals left ... he's most welcome to take him back home, after the referendum, so he can advise the Canadian government on, say, economic development.

I wrote President Chavez a public letter regarding PDVSA, but the President apparently delegated upwards to Mr. Heck to answer it. I must say that the letter reads like written by Hugo Chavez himself ... the opening statement about the opposition being "without conscience, illegal, unethical, immoral and criminal" sounds like vintage Chavez, who thinks that, by using five offensive adjectives in a row, his point will be valid. On the contrary, it becomes weaker due to its lack of restraint, which suggests a fragile state of mind.

Now the nation knows why Chavez does not answer letters. A few days ago, at a public meeting, Chavez scolded a young woman for trying to present him with a letter about her problem. He rebuked her: "Muchacha," he said  over the microphone, " I'm talking about important problems here and you bring me your personal problem ... let me talk ... I have a room full of little pieces of paper like yours."

And he added, using geologic language: "The tectonic fault of my government is the poor information..." looking at his helpless Minister of Information Nora Uribe.

Chavez' outburst illustrates his true personality ... the term "Muchacha" is used in a condescending manner, as "boy" would be used in the US south. Talking about a room full of papers shows poor social sensitivity ... browbeating his ministers in public reveals his dictatorial tendencies.

But, let us go back to Heck ... as in wreck. He claims that Chavez did not fire the PDVSA employees ... he said that was "crock" because "I was in Venezuela while most of this happened." This is a non sequitur, just as if he had said "I was scratching my left foot when most of this happened" because there is no logical connection between the two events. He realized this and went bravely on: "Chavez himself did not fire the employees ... he just read the list of names on TV..."

Apart from the fact that he did not read 18,000 names on TV (since that would have taken him about 17 hours), Heck badly insults our intelligence. According to his reasoning SAddam Hussein did not kill thousands of Iraqis because he did not personally pulled the trigger ... or Hitler did not murdered millions of Jews because he did not operate Treblinka ... or Chavez is not responsible for the deaths in 1992 because all he did was to lead the failed coup.

Heck is risking a diagnosis of infantilism. His other arguments are pitiful. They could not be fired personally. Heck says, because "they were partying in Miami or Aruba." This is a clear case of "foot-and- mouth" disease. Any decent corporation has to fire an employee personally, giving the reasons for the dismissal. What took place in PDVSA was a purge, in the worst sense of the word, as in the Soviet Union of Stalin.

Heck insists ... as does Chavez ... in calling PDVSA rebel employees "saboteurs and criminals."  In doing so, he does not produce a shred of evidence to support the libelous accusation. Heck is breaking our laws by doing this ... his charges are not only lacking in grace, but potentially subject to penal action. It is unacceptable to call 18,000 Venezuelans saboteurs and criminals in the indiscriminate manner he has done. In the name of my countrymen and women I protest this fascist attitude.

As if to leave no doubt of his intentions he added "They will never work in any other petroleum company again and deserve to be selling cakes in the streets." Blackballing, Mr. Heck, is not a mechanism utilized in democracies... In fact, it does not work as some of these people are already working in Saudi Arabia and ... possibly ... Canada.

Start your witch hunt...

If you really want to help our country use your self-claimed expertise in fraud investigation to fight corruption in the Venezuelan government, I am sure you will find plenty of work.

You mix some of the paragraphs of my article to give the impression that I advocate sabotage as a "value" of real managers. This is a childish maneuver, because anyone who read my editorial knows that I defined "Meritocracy," "apoliticism" and "professional management" as the values which guided the real PDVSA. Meritocracy, by the way, has to do with performance and personal behavior, not directly connected with academic excellence.

Although I always welcome a dignified and civilized discussion, Mr. Heck's piece fell short of these standards. I suggest that he reads <a href=www.vheadline.com>commentaries by Burnett or the <a href=www.vheadline.com classy Dauphin-Gloire to inspire him ... he seemed to be improving but suddenly had a regression...

Keep trying ... do not give up hope.

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 gustavo@vheadline.com