On January 3d. of this year 2010 a police officer named Junior Galué was admitted to the Hospital Universitario de Maracaibo , with two bullets in the head and his condition, of course, was absolutely critical.. He was attended to by Doctor Frank De Armas.
This doctor graduated twenty years ago and in his student days he became president of the Student Union at the University of Zulia. When De Armas was preparing to intervene agent Galué he received from the Director of the Hospital Universitario, Dr. Damaso Domínguez, this unlikely command: “Send him to a private clinic because he belongs to the police of the Municipality of Manuel Rosales.” De Armas, absolutely stunned, said the wounded man was dying and needed to be intervene immediately.
Dr. Damaso Domínguez retorted, even more unusually, “If you do not abide by my order, tomorrow you are fired.”
De Armas, faithful to the Hippocratic oath and his human sensitivity, disobeyed the baseness and cruelty of his superior and operated the hapless agent, and by the way, he saved his life.
But the next day, Frank De Armas was fired, as he had been promised by Dr. Dominguez. Frank De Armas denounced the abhorrent behavior of his boss to the Prosecutor and the people´s Ombudsman. Until now, nine months later, no response has been received and he informed us that is waiting for the expiration of the periods granted by the law for actions by national authorities, and if this does not occur he is prepared to bring the case before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.
We are told that Dr. Damaso Dominguez is a very reputable doctor. There are no special reasons to doubt that, in addition to being a good professional, he is probably a normal citizen, a good father, a follower of his duties and may very well be liked by his friends.
Like all maracuchos, there would be nothing unusual for a person is friendly and open.
What has caused one person to be basically normal and correct, as Dr. Damaso Domínguez is, to make him act as a monster, capable of ordering that a patient not be catered to because he is from the “other side” and then fired from his job just because a doctor attended to the dying patient? Is there a brain poisoned by the hate speech, who exudes contempt and insults against his opponents, who insists on considering them as “enemies”, continually threatening to “pulverize”, “annihilate” people back turning them into “cosmic dust”, or “demolish them.”
It is a discourse that has transformed ordinary people into fanatics, in individuals who have delegated the power to reason within their heads to the Maximum Leader, “who is never wrong.”
The Leader thinks for them, but also by some of his opponents. Eleven years after that speech we have been sickened as a society and each end of it is simply the mirror image of another.
Fortunately, the ends are in the minority and the common sense is winning. But that is until now, the most painful and infectious legacy of Hugo Chavez
The Devil's Excrement 
September 28, 2010 at 1:18 pm
[…] otherwise apathetic folks stimulated by fear, Chávez’s largess, or otherwise to vote for the PSUV? As noted here, goodies promoted by […]
September 24, 2010 at 2:19 pm
stop writing Chavez with an S!!!!
September 24, 2010 at 6:15 am
I lived next to Coromoto hospital in Maracaibo that was taken over by Chavistas. They really fucked that place up.
September 23, 2010 at 7:51 pm
Odef007
chupamedias are sycophants who are given to adulation and bowing in front of those who have power or status.
September 23, 2010 at 6:30 pm
PB: “After 11 years it’s not just Chaves who will fight tooth and nail to keep the status quo!”
I agree. That is why I state “He has stayed in power because of his cheque book and by giving power to those that would never ever have been able to get it on their own (Ministers etc).” All those at the receiving end of this generosity will fight for status quo! They however will be the
only ones, not because they believe in Chavez or Marxism but because it is convenient for them.
They are profiting from the status quo 🙂 Chavez is not the only power hungry maggot in that rotten bushel of apples.
MEGA: I can not disagree with you at all. You elaborate on my thoughts with first person experience so well. I did say “remember their Oath or are actually QUALIFIED to take it.”
FIREPIGETTE: “chupmedias suck up to their favorite authorities (like on the blogs for instance)”
I have never heard the term CHUPMEDIA… would you be kind enough to define that for me please.
“I think Russian society is quite a bit more this way than the Venezuelan one. I see more hope for democracy in Venezuela than in Russia.”
Russia has generations of Marx oppressed people alive. They have no idea how democracy is theoretically supposed to work. I refer to them as GOVERNMENT CONTROLED DEMOCRATS. This is not the case in VE. They have generations of democrats alive who have already lived through a dictatorship and democracy. They have something to aspire to and are making their choice. Amen
September 23, 2010 at 2:39 pm
Sorry! But this is the only subject.
The GREAT question has yet to be asked of the Venezuelan people.
Are you better off now than you were four or five or one year ago?
How are the Cubans? Are they better off? Even though they have benefitted from the money and heritage of hard working Venezuelans. Communism does not work according to “Fidel”. The road to capitalism has just started in Cuba, unlike Venezuela, with the dismissal of 500.000 government workers in that impoverished island. Perhaps the Fidels’ took most of the money?
How are the Nicaraguans? Are they better off? Especially as they have benefitted from the money and heritage of hard working Venezuelans. – they seem to be better off than the Venezuelans. More housing, better electric service, better agriculture and bonuses for the government employees.
How are the Bolivians? Are they better off? Even though they have benefitted from the money and heritage of hard working Venezuelans. – Helicopters?
Etc., Etc., Etc., and many other countries. All this, as a Venezuelan grant, from the “Lord of the Ruin” – Chavez. The national assembly just complied – no discussion.
A lot of children here do not even have bread crusts on their plates, assumining they even have plates, yet this Government gives away more than enough to fill the bread baskets of every family and fill the pot holes in the roads.
The behavior is likened to the head of a family with a mistress, who gives all to the mistress while his family starves. However the wife is too stupid, proud or afraid to seek a divorce.
Perhaps on the 26S most people will realize that things could have been better here in Venezuela, less inflation to say the least.
Infrastructure, medical, water, electricity etc., and common decency.
Why do the MUD not ask?????????????????????????????
September 23, 2010 at 2:08 pm
despite what you heard about Damaso.My mother worked with him for years,and he’s always been a “coño e’ madre”,always politically involved with everything, and a real scumbag. Proffesionally he may be a good doctor,but personally he is worse than poop. And this reference comes from actual experience with him.
September 23, 2010 at 1:24 pm
Karl has it right, you are way too generous with Dr. Dominguez.
You say “to make him act as a monster”… I say, his acts define him. Dr. Damaso Dominguez is a monster.
September 23, 2010 at 12:59 pm
odef,
“All those doctors the Cuban machine turns out and ships out, I wonder how many of them remember their Oath…”
The “Cuban machine” turns no doctors out. Talk to any real doctor who graduated from a Venezuelan university (Central University, ULA, Unversidad de Oriente, LUZ, etc.) who’s had the “luck” to work with any of those Cuban “doctors” and whey’ll be happy to dispell very quickly that notion that “Cuban doctors” are really doctors. They’re “matasanos” at best (health technicians, really) or spies, and in many cases just some “pobre diablo” trying to escape that “prison island” and using Venezuela as a springboard to their end destination which is mostly Florida (USA, i.e. “El Imperio”).
September 23, 2010 at 12:20 pm
Politics and Military war have much in common. Each seeks to battle with the other and win power. War has no limits. Politics, on the other hand, is supposed to be regulated by rules that assure, in a democratic process, that the outcome is an expression of the will of the majority of the people.
In Venezuela, it appears that the differences between military and political conflict has been blurred. One may conclude that this is a good reason to keep military people out of politics.
September 23, 2010 at 10:50 am
Karl is the other way, a Dr is made but to be a Mr (Señor) you have to be borned with it. There are very few Señores in this goverment
September 23, 2010 at 10:29 am
Do not harm is in Latin: primum non nocere (as the first do not do any harm). Well in Europe (divided by East-West) was common, that a soldier on leave (hrs to two days) if dressed as civilian, hide the military papers. In case of accident, a civil ambulance came, but if they recognized, its military man, called other but military ambulance…but the life can dissapear within a while. Sometimes idiotical orders exists in written forms. Have got such bad expe too. The main matter- patient survived and the doctor, well I do not hesitate about his job. Can find anywhere, as such able.
September 23, 2010 at 8:42 am
No way Miguel.
Mr. Dominguez (I cannot say Dr. Dominguez) attitude is just a criminal behavior.
Chavez aggressive speech is certainly dsigusting. But the real problem are the thousands of Mr. Dominguez than want to play harder that Chavez.
Let’s praise the thousands of DR. De Armas that do the best.
September 23, 2010 at 7:56 am
To get good people to do bad things, it takes organized religion.
And somehow, the various isms of the modern age have become organized religions, when they fail as systems to understand the world.
September 23, 2010 at 7:17 am
The seeds for authoritarianism are sewn from tiny little acts and thoughts.These seeds sprout every time we try to control what others think or do( like forming little cliques or ignoring those who disagree), etc…
But not only do we see sprouts of authoritarianism when chupmedias suck up to their favorite authorities(like on the blogs for instance) and when those same chupamedias apologize for their humble opinions or simple human mistakes- even when they have NOT hurt anyone but just intuit that they might have irritated someone ” important” or might appear to others as disrupting the status quo groupthink……
These ” tiny” acts make up the fabric of Venezuelan society and to a certain but lesser extent, society here in the US,and all other societies, at least for many.I think Russian society is quite a bit more this way than the Venezuelan one.I see more hope for democracy in Venezuela than in Russia.
Authoritarianism is based on fear of differences and the unwillingness to take responsibility for one’s own thoughts and the subsequent fear of punishment from the parent figure.This happens in a very unconscious way of course.People are not THAT aware they are like this .Parent figures can be gurus, political leaders, academic authorities, bosses etc.
Each of us is responsible and has to do his or her part to stand up in the face of fear, and take total responsibility for our thought and actions, defending those who are deserving, and those who need us and defending what in most honorable.
September 23, 2010 at 6:46 am
DeanNash:
Just saw a good film called The Experiment with Forrest Whitaker that covers the same topic. Give a man power & anything can happen, including evil.
Mighel.
Do you have the link to the original article in Spanish?
September 23, 2010 at 6:38 am
Does anyone believe that this is an isolated incident? How many people have been mishandled and denied care in this hospital, and the thousands more hospitals and clinics across the country, just because of which side they support at the moment. This is just one incident that was reported by the disgruntled doctor who was fired for doing the right thing. How many others followed orders and placed the patients back in an ambulance?
September 23, 2010 at 6:30 am
odef007: “He has stayed in power because of his cheque book and by giving power to those that would never ever have been able to get it on their own (Ministers etc). By Socializing (stealing) property and companies and fictitiously giving them to the employees”
After 11 years it’s not just Chaves who will fight tooth and nail to keep the status quo!
September 23, 2010 at 6:13 am
Conclusion, in other view: It is most dangerous to live in brain poisoned societies that have two bullets in your head.
September 23, 2010 at 5:59 am
Conclusion: It is most dangerous for a society to be ideology brain poisoned, that have two bullets in your head.
September 23, 2010 at 5:06 am
two words
Milgram experiment
September 23, 2010 at 4:33 am
The “Hippocratic Oath” is historically taken by ALL doctors. In short – “Do No Harm” and as much good as you know how.
All those doctors the Cuban machine turns out and ships out, I wonder how many of them remember their Oath or are actually qualified to take it. Medicine is an art that must be in your soul. Compassion for his fellow man and reverence for his profession is what Dr. Armas exhibited by defying the order given by his “superior” ( by higharcy not by morals).
The fact that Dr.Dominguez even gave the order tells me he should no longer be a practicing doctor. He should go into research or teach. He lost his OATH. Even MASH units tend to the wounded enemy.
Can this be blamed on Chavez? Do we not expect more from a mind that has been trained for rational, objective and analytical thinking? Is this not what a University education provides? Should Dr. Dominguez be able to read between the B_S lines that spew out of the Chavez orifice? I think so. No one can be brain washed by TV unless it is convenient and or they are so inclined to start with.
Chavez got into power because he spoke to the poor- gave them a cedula so they could vote, uneducated – promised them free University education, underpaid and unappreciated – promised better wages and social reform. He verbalized the powerless anger they felt and built on it. He got there because of the capable minds he surrounded himself with at the time. He has stayed in power because of his cheque book and by giving power to those that would never ever have been able to get it on their own (Ministers etc). By Socializing (stealing) property and companies and fictitiously giving them to the employees (now wages are worse) The poor are still waiting for their Free Home. Everyone else woke up and will be voting accordingly.
“Mirror image of another” After being bombarded with constant insults, belittled, undermined, robbed and excluded – this sector of the population now feels what the poor felt when Chavez came in. They felt powerless and angry due to the lack of social justice. Anger when not satisfied can turn to hate. Is there a pill for this? Get him off TV – cool minds will start to prevail.
Marxism is an ideology just like the garden of Eden and Atlantis. It is not within human capabilities to live in large Packs ( communes ).
September 23, 2010 at 4:29 am
Teodoro says “… individuals who have delegated the power to reason within their heads to the Maximum Leader, “who is never wrong.””
My blog’s premise “He who surrenders his intellect to that of other, for ideology, creed, or belief sakes, commits the supreme act of denying his own self.”
That’s the problem with chavistas, oppo supporters, and many people in Venezuela: they sort of let others do their own thinking.
September 23, 2010 at 2:22 am
I was just today reading up on the Stanford Prison experiment from back in 1971. Basically, it confirms / shows that evil lurks in all of us and it is much easier to bring to the forefront than previously imagined.
This is like that. You can (and if you’re not familiar, should) read more here: http://www.prisonexp.org/
September 23, 2010 at 12:03 am
Conclusion: anyone who for any reason ends up on a Chavista radar can from then on expect hell to descend upon him or her.
I wouldn’t be surprised Dr. Rodriguez will find that as long as Chavez is in power there will be no justice made on his case, similarly (though hopefully will less adverse consequences) to Franklin Brito never getting his justice.
And one can only wonder whether there’s an end in sight to injustice after injustice.