My conclusion is that Mr. Chavez is unfit to be the President of Venezuela
<a href=www.vheadline.com>Venezuela's Electronic News Posted: Monday, June 16, 2003 By: Caare W
Date: Sun, 15 Jun 2003 15:41:57 -0400 From: Caare W caarew@hotmail.com To: Editor@VHeadline.com Subject: Venezuela deserves better
Dear Editor: That previous governments have failed, can never be an argument to let a hopeless regime continue.
The last week there's been a debate here at VHeadline.com about whether human rights organizations didn't care about Venezuela before Chavez came to power ... in other words: Whether they can be suspected of taking action now because they have some interest in campaigning against the Chavez-regime.
In "If President Hugo Chavez Frias were a communist or a dictator..." one of the participants in the debate wrote: "My question was, and remains, where were the human rights organizations during those decades?" (The decades prior to Chavez).
The answer is that they were in Venezuela. For example Amnesty International concluded a visit in 1996 with a report named "Venezuela: Amnesty International delegation ends visit with disappointment and alarm." In 1997 Amnesty reported: "Dozens of prisoners of conscience were detained during the year. Scores of people, including children, were extrajudicially executed in the context of police and army operations ostensibly aimed at combating crime. At least 25 prisoners burned to death in a prison in Caracas. Torture and ill-treatment by the security forces were widespread and some people died as a result of torture. Prison conditions remained extremely harsh. Most perpetrators of human rights violations continued to benefit from impunity."
So as is now evident, human rights organizations were in Venezuela during these years too ... meaning that when they now report that the situation is worse than ever, they do that with a high level of credibility and integrity. They investigated both previous regimes and the current. The sad fact is that things were bad before, and they are even worse now.
One can keep talking about how bad the situation was before Chavez ... and some of what is said is correct ... but this can't excuse that Chavez hasn't been able to make Venezuela move in the right direction. He has promised and promised, but hasn't kept his words. I have no higher wish than that he had succeeded in constructing a better society ... but I don't believe that will ever happen.
My conclusion is therefore that Mr. Chavez is unfit to be the President of Venezuela. It is not because I'm an oligarch ... it is not because I hate him ... it is not because I believe that the poor doesn't deserve better ... it is just simply because I think he is a catastrophically bad President, and I see no hope of improvement with him still in power.
- That the opposition failed in previous years, can't be an argument to hold on to a hopeless President. Venezuela deserves much, much better than both Chavez and previous Presidents.
Unfortunately much of the debate is not rational, because there are so many accusations and insults thrown between people with different views of the situation.
So please: Let's put aside our assumptions about those who don't agree with us. Let's listen to those who oppose us. Let's introduce some mutual respect to this debate.
Regards, Caare W. caarew@hotmail.com