The Devil's Excrement

After publicly inviting him last week, yesterday Hugo Chavez announced with joy that his friend Fidel Castro would be coming to visit Caracas today and would have lunch in the Presidential palace. Despite that announcement,  there were no reports of the Cuban Dictator showing up in Caracas today and reports indicated he was at The Orchila Island since Sunday, where Chávez met with him today. Curiously, La Orchila was developed by former Venezuelan Dictator Marcos Perez Jimenez for his personal enjoyment and that of his friends. The only indication today that Castro was in Venezuela was a letter published in Cuba, reportedly from Caracas, in which he greets Cuban teachers who are in Venezuela. Obviously, Mr. Castro did or could not make any statements like that of the Russian Foreign Minister, who was also visiting the country today and expressed his desire for Venezuelans to solve their problems through the Constitution and democracy. The “Solidaridad” group, composed of politicians who supported Chavez’ bid for the Presidency and accompanied him until a little over a year ago, were highly critical of the deployment of resources so that Castro and Chavez could have lunch. One of its members criticized the expenses at a time when Venezuelans are going hungry and can not buy presents for their kids.

I personally find the visit by Fidel Castro at this time to be another proof of how insensitive Hugo Chávez is. At a time when what is being questioned is whether this is a democratic Government or not, inviting the leader of the Latin American Dictators to have “a little lunch” is simply insensitive, if not grotesque or obscene. To spend all of this money on this visit is also another demonstration that Chavez loves the opulence that surrounds his power. Maybe somebody pointed all of this out to Chavez after his impulse invitation of the Cuban President and that is why it was “dissapeared” from the media. If anyone wants to defend Castro’s visit to Venezuela, here you can find thousands of reasons, why I am not even willing to listen to them.  Yes, these are all real people, killed by Chavez’ good friend Fidel Castro. Try to explain that one to any civilized human being.

This entry was posted on December 22, 2003 at 9:35 pm and is filed under Venezuela.