I was going to write about the fact that the Chavez Government stole Hato Piñero from its rightful owners, only to give it away to the Lybians for God knows what reason. But then I saw this Editorial in Sunday’s El Nacional and decided it was just best to translate it.
The Sad revolution, Editorial from El Nacional
Libya in Cojedes
Just about three years ago, the President traveled to Cojedes, and among his innumerable promises (you can’t deny the the richness of his imagination), he told the people of the area that the expropriation of Hato Piñero would take place ” with the objective of forming a unit of socialist development unit ” The revolutionary leader added: “We will place a large development center for the people of Cojedes and all the people of Venezuela and its products will not be to enrich minorities, because that is capitalism. The meat, food, animals, vegetables, milk, cheese, corn and everything will be produced here will provide cheap food and goods for the people of Venezuela. ”
The President, addressing the state’s governor, said, “Continue following down that road, Theodore. Hit hard the large farm estates and the capitalist speculators, always in defense of the people” He added that “the national government is committed to the recovery of businesses and estates and houses of leisure abandoned to consolidate projects in order to conform the socialist economy.”
That was in the midst of the campaign for the constitutional referendum in 2007. Chavez traveled around the country expropriating and promising villas and castles. Hato Piñero, a farming unit located between the municipalities of Pao and Girardot, in the southeastern state of Cojedes, had special connotations because it was sheltering large areas and preserved several species. It was one of the rare places in Venezuela, intimately connected with our history and traditions.
Three years later, there is no such socialist development nor is Hato Piñero being devoted to the enjoyment of the people of Cojedes. The decline replaced the splendor of nature that was preserved with passion with the care of the species that make their habitat there. Then after such demagoguery came the surprise filtered, incidentally, when the commitments signed with the Arab Socialist Republic of Libya, the country ruled for half a century by Colonel Gaddafi were revealed. It just so happens that Hato Piñero has been negotiated with Libya to develop it. (We Venezuelans are useless).
This is more serious than people realize when they see these stories lost among so many that overwhelm and confuse. We are an open country and we have no discrimination. But for those familiar with the ideas of Colonel Gaddafi criticized for his worldwide sponsorship of causes incompatible with freedom, and familiar with his doctrine of the Green Book, the handing out of Hato Piñero to Libya generates all sorts of anguish. Gaddafi will install in the 75,000 hectares a Lybian colony, and, when Venezuelans awaken, we will find an irreversible fait accompli. Grave. Very grave.
The Devil's Excrement 