Venezuela's real problem is that NOBODY is willing to work on any real solutions
<a href=www.vheadline.com>venezuela's Electronic News Posted: Thursday, May 22, 2003 By: W. Wingfield
Date: Thu, 22 May 2003 11:54:30 +0000 From: W. Wingfield will46@att.net To: Editor@VHeadline.com Subject: Reality
Dear Editor: I have read your web site with interest over the past year. In that time I have read many differing viewpoints from those with diverse backgrounds. I have hesitated to write more letters since the two that I have written prompted a deluge of negative (some threatening) responses to me. My wife is Venezuelan and I am in contact with her family in Venezuela on a regular basis. I know what is happening to the Venezuelan economy and the people: it is a tragedy.
I have read with amusement and sometimes amazement the diatribes and epistles of the "pro government" reporters on your web site. Too often their editorials focus on the emotionalized political aspects of the struggle in Venezuela between the self-destructive Chavez and the inept opposition.
The reality is that there is no effective opposition in Venezuela. What opposition exists certainly doesn't have any answers other than to blame all the country's ills on the elected megalomaniac President.
The Chavez regime certainly can't take all of the blame for Venezuela's problems. For decades Venezuela was in a political "malaise" and only now has it been "woken up" by Mr. Chavez. The problem for Venezuela is not simply an entrenched pseudo-democratic dictator.
The real problem is that NOBODY is willing to work on any real solutions.
The reality in Venezuela is that there are shortages ... there is a shortage of honesty, of integrity, of justice, of security, and of food. Of all the shortages the one that will plunge Venezuela into ultimate chaos is the lack of food. Every day it is becoming more difficult to obtain foodstuffs from the markets in Venezuela. Goods (the majority imported) are disappearing off of the store shelves due to the draconian fiscal policies imposed by its embattled regime.
A modern society is integrated with the world and no country can thrive when it isolates itself from that world economy. All of the political rhetoric and dogma can't change the reality of the Venezuelan situation.
The absolute reality is that Venezuela is on the road to a blood-letting that it has not experienced in its modern history.
All the political garbage about the "Bolivarian" revolution won't matter when the people are hungry and adequate food is unavailable. The cry of "Valor Venezuela" will be replaced by the cries of hungry children. Time is running out for the Venezuelan people.
One of your frequent commentators, a Mr. Heck, is fond of reminding the readers that Venezuela's problems can only be solved by Venezuelans. This is true and the Venezuelan people will find the courage to take the necessary steps to rectify the current situation.
When this happens, then it will not matter how many of the military are receiving "extra monetary compensation" from Mr. Chavez; for even they (the rank and file) will not shoot their family and friends: they most likely will turn their sights on Mr. Chavez and his entourage.
I spoke with some friends in Margarita yesterday. They have told me that the police are almost non-existent in Porlamar now and that crime is rising at an alarming rate. They have also that food is becoming more scarce at the market and that the once thriving tourist trade is only now a dream.
Mr. Editor you say that your site is objective: is it really? *
Whenever I read the fantastic "reports" of Mr. Heck I can only imagine; is he simply a "mouthpiece" for the corrupt regime or does he really believe most of the profuse lies that he regularly submits as editorials?
Venezuela in 2003 is not the Cuba of 1959 and all of the "guidance" that Mr. Chavez receives from his master in Havana will not stop the inevitable.
W. Wingfield will46@att.net
Editor's response: We make no claim in our editorial policy statement other to be "a wholly independent e-publication promoting democracy in its fullest expression and the inalienable right of all Venezuelans to self-determination and the pursuit of sovereign independence without interference." Our declared editorial bias * is pro-democracy and pro-Venezuela. Oscar Heck expresses his feeely-held opinion in the same way as Gustavo Coronel and other commentators of the Venezuelan scene expresses theirs ... that is the essence of press freedom in that we recognize the freedom of expression of all sides in the Venezuelan debate. Like you apparently have been, we are also subjected to an effusion of hate-mail and abuse by those unfortunate individuals who are so deeply entrenched in their own bigotries that they do not recognize the possibility of any opinion other than the one to which they religiously cling. We at VHeadline.com encourage and publish well-formulated editorial opinions provided they are within the usual concepts of upholding the law and recognized forms of democracy. We have a zero tolerance policy on abuse and hate-mail.