Venezuelans only need of our own opinions to solve our problems!
<a href=www.vheadline.com>Venezuela's Electronic News Posted: Wednesday, May 28, 2003 By: Elio Cequea
Date: Wed, 28 May 2003 12:57:08 -0500 From: Elio Cequea feico57@aol.com To: Editor@VHeadline.com Subject: Time for our leaders and intellectuals to raise the standard
Dear Editor: Its time for our leaders and intellectuals to raise the standard: Please, get rid of that low "developing country" self-esteem.
Steve Forbes wrote an article about Venezuela and the article became a headliner in a Venezuelan national newspaper. If you read what he wrote, it is hard NOT to conclude that it is far from anything worth the attention of a "national" newspaper.
Steve's May-26 "Fact and Comment" does nothing but repeat some of the opposition best slogans ... he starts with the "attempt to make Venezuela a second Cuba" and ends by calling for the army to "send Chavez to Havana on a permanent vacation."
Steve Forbes wrote that the protests against Chavez were "spontaneous." He does not make any attempt to support his opinion with facts or intelligent arguments. To put it mildly, his work was ordinary at best ... even though, somebody considered his work good enough to be a national headliner. Why?
A couple of days later, Gustavo Coronel writes about his personal problem with the friendship between former US Congressman Jack Kemp and Venezuelan Ambassador to the US Bernardo Alvarez Herrera. He seems to feel threatened by that relationship. Why?
Can that friendship have negative or positive effects on Venezuela's politics?
Apparently that is what GC thinks ... he "explains" that the reason Jack kemp is a friend of the Ambassador is because of his misunderstanding of the Venezuelan situation. Is something as trivial as a friendship an issue that would affect Venezuela's national security?
Jack Kemp has the right to be a friend with whomsoever he chooses. Steve Forbes has the right to have any opinion he wants. Neither the friendships of one, nor the opinions of the other, should have any effect on Venezuela's politics. They are not even in a position of power ... if they do have an effect, we definitely have a major self-esteem problem.
It is a good time to practice to be "intellectually developed" as a country ... it only requires independence of thought.
Our leaders and intellectuals should take the lead on this matter ... El Universal could have found something more meaningful than the mediocre Steve Forbes article as a headliner.
I am also sure that Gustavo Coronel has better things to put his mind to than worry about who are the friends of Bernardo Alvarez Herrera and why.
We Venezuelans only need of our own opinions to solve our problems!
Come on people concentrate!
Elio Cequea feico57@aol.com