Interesting interview in today’s El Nacional with the Mayor of Naguanagua. Naguanagua is in Carabobo state, a municipality of mostly poor people. The Mayor, Julio Castillo, is part of the Proyecto Venezuela party, which us led by former Presidential candidate Henrique Salas Romer. Castillo is reportedly very popular.
On his perception about how the people of Naguanagua see the present
I perceive a worrisome lack of hope when confronting their misery. The Chávez theme is not in the daily life of the very poor; their theme is how they are going to eat that day. Politics is discussed, but Venezuelan politicians have not understood that in popular areas, political opinions are not formed by the media.
What do people ask for?
The conscience of the people is diminishing due to the grave crisis. Each day, individual problems become more important than collective problems. …You find homes where people have not eaten in two or three days. What stresses me the most is the large number of problems I can not solve. One ends up just aiding people, giving bags of food.
What is your biggest concern?
The gap between needs and resources. It has truly been a nightmare to spend two years without a single bolivar from the Special Assignments law. It had never happened that a Government embezzled, because that is what is happening, the funds for the regions…..They owe us money…that is my biggest concern someone has our money and people do not get it because someone made the decision to strangle the regions.
On working together
We have worked with the National Guard and the local police and we have worked well. That is one of the great aspirations of the people, what is called unity. That the President, the Governor and the mayor work together to solve problems.
This is reality, the rest is BS.