Tuesday, July 14, 2015

Chavistas or Greeks: eat shit and die

Long time no post- But this is what I want to write about.



I want to remember when I eagerly awaited for the first pictures of Uranus and Neptune from Voyager 2  on the New York Times front page. I want to remember how emotions choked me and how the page shook (there was no Internet then). I want to remember the glory of discovering Jupiter and Saturn and their moons.  I want to feel a little bit of that tomorrow when I know that New Horizons will fly by Pluto in a few hours.

I do not want to write about these things.
I do not want to write about how bankrupt Venezuela is and how the currency lost another 20% last week alone.

I do not want to write about a cruel regime that does shit about anything.

I do not want to write about how unequal is the press coverage of Greece and Venezuela, how it is all Ooooh and Aaaah over Greece having limited Euros withdrawal at ATM or a few shelves empty here and there when we have been living like that, and much worse, for years now.

I do not want to write on how foreign correspondents cover Venezuela as some type of sick reality show when they cover Greece as unacceptable news for a civilized world.
Monsieur, avec du grec on ne peut gâter rien.

I do not want to write about how, inasmuch as I think Greeks have been leeches for decades, I also think they were right to vote NO, because Europe fucked up,  because it was still an election infinitely fairer than any election held in Venezuela in the last decade and a half, because I want them out of Europe; and because they will be better off outside

I do not want to write about idiot Europeans wanting Greece in Europe at any cost because for some reason they think, the French in particular, that today's Greeks are the same as Greeks of the Persian wars, of Sophocles times.
Ah! permettez, de grâce,
Que pour l'amour du grec, Monsieur, on vous embrasse.

I do not want to write about all of these idiots saying that it is OK for Greece, and Spain and Italy and Portugal not to pay their debts because the people do not have to suffer, never minding who is going to pay for welfare state once banks go bankrupt and taxes stop coming in.

I do not want to write about why these idiots are not applying such standards on Venezuela today, ruined, totally, absolutely, not owing a penny to banks but owing its ass to China and much worse creditors than banks.

I do not want to write about how, from now on, in Venezuela if you are the valedictorian of your graduation in high school the public universities will not take you in, preferring instead somebody more in accordance to social reality even though that kid may not be able to write a proper sentence nor use Pythagoras.

I do not want to write on how possibly can we rebuild Venezuela.

I do not want to write about how idiotic and intolerant the opposition in Venezuela is becoming when one of its main leaders, Capriles, in a major international interview rants against the "right" as if it were a bad word, with same verbiage as the regime, as if right was absolutely incompatible with democracy.

I do not want to write how idiotic the opposition is, thinking truly that not only it will win next December elections, but that these will be held and that the next assembly will be able to start solving things in Venezuela.

I do not want to write on how out of the blue it is noted homophobe Diosdado Cabello that suddenly speaks of equal marriage when the opposition is unable to rally around the idea because, well, it comes from Lopez.

I do not want to write on how in the US in spite of it all some still advance the argument of State Rights against gay marriage, like Ted Cruz, like blog colleagues, forgetting conveniently that had it been left to States we might still have some slavery here and there.

I do not want to write on why too many people cannot understand that feminism, gay rights, racial equality are the same fights than the fight for democracy and freedom and individual basic rights in Venezuela.

I do not want to write about how difficult it is becoming to find medicine, food, security, and the like, with sick relatives.

I do not want to write about yet more people I know leaving the country.

I do not want to write about people I may lose, I may never see again.

I do not want to write about how long until I cannot find dog food.

I do not want to write how long until I cannot hold my tears anymore.

And so many other things I do not want to write about.

Go NASA. Go Germany. Go ESA.

Fuck Greece, fuck chavismo, fuck Venezuela.

Fuck me.


44 comments:

  1. You should leave. Starting over is hard, but it's better than Venezuela. Eso no tiene solución.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Charly2:34 PM

    Lots of rant there. The one that particularly attracted my attention although they all did was the one about Capriles. Ever since he shat himself after the vote was stolen from him, I have had no respect for the man whose only motto is: " me too". With all the santeria going on in this shadow of a country, why don't you people wake Perez Jimenez from the dead? He killed far less people than Chavismo did or allowed, corruption was limited to the upper crust, construction was booming and people used to keep their nose clean. Democracy for Venezuela? An oxymoron!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I do not if I would qualify this entry as a rant. "Curse you all damned bitches" would be better?

      Delete
    2. Chris K.7:39 PM

      No doubt your last sentence is the one you want most and foremost.

      Delete
    3. Chris K.

      Funny how some people cannot help themselves from being despicable.

      Delete
    4. Charly3:51 AM

      Daniel, your last sentence is in Brendan Behan's vein. In my student's days, the great man was slated to give a talk at my Alma Mater that night. However during the course of the afternoon, he just bounced from one pub to another in downtown Montreal. At night,he arrives (late) in the amphitheater, totally pissed, climbs the stairs to the podium, look at the audience, can't find his words, then spurts: "Fuck us all". Goes back down, never to be seen there again.

      Delete
  3. I have to be honest. I search every day--every day--for a new post from you, Daniel, and last night when I found one, finally, I was happy! Until I started reading, that is, and I realized how much despair you feel. Your post made me cry hard tears, for you and your partner, for my family still there, and for the millions of other Venezuelans that are living this harsh reality. You can't leave, you can't live there. We can't go out of fear, we can't send anything to make your lives easier. It's a huge understatement and simplification of my feelings to say that I hate the government for what it's doing. Please take care, Daniel.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous6:17 PM

      I do and feel exactly like mary. Stay well Daniel
      LJ

      Delete
    2. Anonymous7:19 PM

      Same here. Bitter tears shed for you and my home country.
      Gold

      Delete
    3. Milonga3:33 AM

      Mary expressed exactly what I was feeling... I also search everyday for a new post, also could not hold back my tears as you are holding yours. Your despair is my despair. Absolutely depressed. Can't see a light at the end of the tunnel.. Love you, my friend. Take care. Things are falling apart and there´s no way out. No way. Life is not Hollywood. The good guys lose all the time.

      Delete
  4. I feel your pain and you are absolutely right! Yet, I can't leave so all I can do (and hope you do too) is fight on. It must feel good to send everyone to hell on a blog. I must try it, since I do it everyday in real life, so here I go:

    FUCK EVERY CORRUPT POLITICIAN IN VENEZUELA OVER THE COURSE OF MY LIFE, FUCK THE LEACHES THAT KNOW THINK THEY ARE GENTLEMEN BECAUSE THEY STOLE THE COUNTRIE'S MONEY IN SHADY DEALS WITH THE POLITICIANS I MENTIONED ABOVE, FUCK EVERYONE THAT CHOOSE TO LOOK THE OTHER WAY WHEN THEY SAW WHAT CHAVEZ AND CHAVISMO WERE DOING TO OUR COUNTRY AND, IN MY MOST POLITICALLY INCORRECT STATEMENT OF THE DAY, FUCK ALL WHO CONTINUED VOTING FOR CHAVEZ AND MADURO TIME AFTER TIME. TO THOSE OF YOU WHO DID, FUCK YOU A 100 TIMES OVER.

    Yes, it felt good.

    ReplyDelete
  5. "I do not want to write on how possibly can we rebuild Venezuela".

    In less than 50 years? Un coup de la droite. Only way.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's a right wing, authoritarian, dictatorial, yet somewhat benevolent and re-constructive regime. The opposite of Chavismo. I'm talking Perez Jimenez or something tough like they had in Singapore or Chile.

      Delete
    2. robert1:04 PM

      Would like anyone of you write about how to rebuilt venezuela, is there someone?

      Delete
    3. robert1:07 PM

      Sledge i hope that ultra rightwings like you will die out so thye world can know some peaceful moments for the mayority

      Delete
  6. I'm living here too and I feel your pain/anger/frustration/rage/hopelessness/etc. I hope you're not as at-the-end-of-your-rope as the post sounds. Be well.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I agree, anon, I hope Daniel has a lot of caring friend and relatives. I am worried about him.

      Delete
  7. Wish I could write something positive, Maybe this: As bad as it gets in Venezuela, today, it's better that the Chavistas keep ruining everything, that is, than if things got somewhat better. That's because if Chavismo improved the economy, say, a tad, it would give them staying power. We don't want that. We want them to keep fucking up until they run up against the wall, without exits, that all dictators face.

    And at least, Venezuela is not an island, like Cuba.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous6:19 PM

    100 percent totally agree and understand....do i know of any consolation for you? Only that after the dark night comes the dawn....and believe in yourself.Goodluck!

    firepigette

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anonymous6:50 PM

    Daniel, a while back I wrote a somewhat silly rude post about Napoleon, I felt that as a Brit. it was my duty to tease a Frenchman a bit. However having just read this post I think I should say that I have read your blog for a few years now and believe that in reality you are a true gentleman in the traditional sense. I think that you are a kind and thoughtful person and I hope things work out well for you and your loved ones.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. robert1:11 PM

      Daniel wrote how things musn't be done. Hope he knows or his kind could write how they think that they could "repair" venezuela.

      Delete
  10. Island Canuck7:22 PM

    I also live here and feel as depressed as Daniel.

    We've just experienced a collision with a moto.
    Although according to transito we were 100% without fault it has cost us almost Bs.200.000
    in lawyers, bribes & repairs.
    Of course, the bike has no papers, no insurance and belongs to someone other than the driver.

    We had to buy 50kg. of chloro for the pool to ensure that our business would be able to continue for another 12 months - over Bs.100.000.

    That doesn't include potential problems with A/Cs (we have 14), dryers, washers, fridges, etc.

    Ours is a middle class market who are quickly being priced out of the possibility to take a vacation.
    In truth it's not that prices are so high it's that the salaries are so far out of touch with reality that everything is grinding to a halt.

    I can only imagine where we'll be in 6 months.

    Daniel we can only hope that some miracle is going to happen though I strongly doubt it.
    Keep your head together & survive.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Anonymous7:31 PM

    Surprised you held it in this long.

    I left last year for many of the reasons you mentioned, but still check your and the devil's blogs to know what is really going on inside VZ. I still have family there, but they haven't been able to process visas to get out even for a visit to this point.

    I am amazed that the country continues to deteriorate unchecked with no solution in sight, that Lopez is still in jail, and how easily the government supplements the plummeted crude price with cocaine trafficking.

    It is easy to see from the outside looking in just how "Fucked" Venezuela is. I would like to say "Keep up the fight", but sometimes you need to know when all you knew is lost.

    concerned

    ReplyDelete
  12. Anonymous6:38 PM

    Daniel, fellow readers, its sad to hear one of the most motivated and courageous bloggers out there show a sign of despair like this one. It is mostly true that this regime has demoralized , corrupted and entrenched itself for over 15 yrs systematically and relentlessly.

    My share of fuck them will go to all the enablers that for so long have looked the other way and allowed this to continue.

    My sympathies to you Daniel and all other honest fellow countryman fighting this state of affairs. I wish you all the best, strength and resiliency.

    My silver lining, this regime stands on its feet only as long as people tolerate it, there is no legitimacy left and everyone knows the king has no clothes. hoping for a black swan event to take it all down anytime.

    LuisF

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  13. Lovely how you managed to include Ted Cruz with all your undesirables and miserable circumstances. For what, for suggesting a constitutional way for handling an issue that you care. Oh the humanity! What a monster!

    For years you've been doing this to conservatives and constitutionalists. So after much thought, reflection and consideration I decided that you deserve the miserable life you've been getting from your government. You wouldn't act any different than they do if you had the power.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You Shawn, are an idiot.

      Ted Cruz, born in CANADA, is an undesirable. Why is that? Because he believes in State Rights when it serves his needs. But when his needs are different, say needing help for Texans suffering from the latest climate change of flooding weather in Texas, he is all for Federal handouts. He's one of those who pretends he doesn't come from a certain stock and then accuses others of belonging to something that they're not from. He will say and do(trying to destroy America by shutting it down) anything that fulfills his needs.

      He's a twerp, just like you, Shawn.

      Delete
    2. Shawn, I don't know who you are or where you are from, but to say that anyone deserves the miserable life they have been getting from the government in Venezuela is appalling and extremely disturbing. No one deserves to live in an environment where necessities like medicine and healthcare are so scarce that you have to search for them, where mothers can't find milk for their babies anywhere, where elderly have to wait in lines for food for hours and hours and even then might not find what they need. Shawn, I don't know who you are or where you live, but the conditions in Venezuela are so bad that I don't think I would even wish them on you.

      Delete
    3. My guess is that Shawn is clearly a supporter of Ted Cruz who is a politician and as such as they all do will take advantage of whatever gets them to win votes. Much the same as Chevez who could have cared less about the poor used their ignorance to get votes to ultimately become a dictator and rape and pillage. Politics everywhere is broken with little accountability and for most parts only the self centered slim becomes a politician. There is little common sense in politics and for a big part in the human race. Is no end to the selfish and bad in the world. Unfortunately the good are also often the most tolerant. When it comes to politics every ballot in the world should have the option non of the above and for most part it would win across the globe. If non of the above wins those people running should be banned for 10 years from politics and let some people in that would care or reach the same fate.

      Delete
    4. That's deep Canadian that's deep.
      Your philosophical insights are worthy of Socrates, Rousseau and Hobbes.
      < /sarc>

      Delete
    5. Mary you sound like a very nice person so I'm going to address your points.

      Of course no one in their right mind would wish someone to live in a place governed by Chavez/Maduro -and if you read closely what I wrote I didn't - particularly to someone already carrying the heavy burden of being French and gay to boot, but, as they say where I come from "couldn't happen to a nicer guy".

      Delete
    6. Shawn, I am a nice person, but I don't suffer fools. Your comments here are cruel and inappropriate. I don't know what interest you have in what is going on in Venezuela, but you most definitely don't family or friends there. Your comments indicate that you have psychological problems that make you happy to bully people who are in unfortunate situations. No one likes a bully, Shawn. Maybe you could find a blog that is more appropriate for people like you.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous6:16 PM

      I read closely what you wrote, Shawn: "So after much thought, reflection and consideration I decided that you deserve the miserable life you've been getting from your government."

      Seems to me you certainly are wishing Daniel live in a place like the Venezuela of today.

      To quote you, then :"Of course no one in their right mind would wish someone to live in a place governed by Chavez/Maduro"

      Means you are not in your right mind. Or your left one. Actually it demonstrates you have no mind.

      You are therefore an asshole. But that is evident isn't it?

      Anon242

      Delete
  14. Daniel you must be very proud of the intellectual level of your readers.
    While you gently sip your creme de cassis your fans write "ed Cruz is an ass" while another frequent poster chimes in "well said".
    I don't think these guys are sipping creme de cassis....

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I cannot fail to notice that you you attack me, vilelely, on my criticism of Ted Cruz. Yet, you did not counter my point on Cruz.

      And then you attack me further by bemoaning the intellectual level of this blog readers, not realizing I suppose that you are not only a reader of such blog but that in addition your debating skill put you well inside the alleged average you so disparage of.

      Next time I suggest you call me straight a cock sucker faggot and leave it at that. It will be more sincere and representative of the fringes you seem to embody.

      Meanwhile the witness may step down and pour himself another shot of cassis.

      Delete
  15. Anonymous2:55 AM

    Es arrecha la gravitación, como ceres a pluton, dwarf or , es question... Gracias por dar muchas preguntas que nos pondrían a los servicios de conciencia y inteligencia preguntarse!!!

    aunque se crean los duendes de la novela, Tu eres un Autor!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Anonymous5:18 AM

    Daniel is French? How long has he lived in Venezuela?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Daniel is born and raised in Venezuela. Except for a college stint in France and a much longer graduate school stint in the US he has lived continuously in Venezuela.

      That he also holds a French passport is just accessory to the conversation.

      Delete
  17. Boludo Tejano5:13 AM

    I have looked at some of your Twitterings. Rather pithy, they are. You are a master of this 21st Cemtury Haiku.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It is quite a challenge to go from a blog where I can be as verbose as wished to an electronic form of Haiku as you say. Thanks for the compliment.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous5:42 AM

      Dont lose hope.... By the way did you keep a copy of that NY front page with the space pictures ? I still have somewhere a Newsweek with the Surveyor color photos of Mars , and once in a while I take a look and remember better times.....Moses

      Delete
  18. Daniel I hope you find the time and will to continue to write your thoughts and experiences on Venezuela as we miss them. As for the negative people on y]our site why respond that is all they are looking for. They search the net looking to negatively comment where they can, they are very unhappy with their lives and best to let your fans comment to them as they please.
    I noted Maduro finally came out and said no way that the world would observe the elections making it clear there is nothing fair about them and he has no care what the world thinks about him. Any chance you can comment on the latest?

    ReplyDelete
  19. Anonymous7:06 PM

    Shawn is a chavista in disguise!

    ReplyDelete

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