During the last six years, the “revolution” has been promoting
mediocrity. Few Government officials have been considered either
experts or competent in their fields, as Chávez rotated Ministers and
officials from one position to another, independent of their
qualifications or knowledge of the field. Few Government officials even
had management experience but only the “belief” that anyone can do any
job, that knowledge, academic preparation or experience is not that
important.
Yesterday, the Minister of Education Aristobulo Isturiz, the same man
that before he was named Minister in 2001 said Hugo Chávez had
apparently “smoked an eggroll”, announced in the National Assembly that
this is in fact a state policy. Isturiz simply announced that all of
the changes being made in the educational sector are being made “so as
not to continue forming meritocrats”. In this manner, the Minister
ratifies what we had suspected all along, advancement in the revolution
will not be based on individual achievement or ability, but simply on
political loyalty to the “process”. According to Isturiz, the
system created “stateless” meritocrats and technocrats with no sense of
belonging. Of course, his sense of what the state is, what the truth
is, his own sense of belonging has to be imposed on everyone. His own
sense of mediocrity has to prevail. Only a mediocre Venezuela can
follow from that.
We may have known this all along, we may have suspected it, but to have
it articulated so clearly is simply shocking. It is indeed a sad day
for Venezuela. Just another one.
The Devil's Excrement 
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