In today’s politics -not only in Venezuela- the idea that perception can define and even alter reality has been gaining ground. From the propaganda campaigns designed by Goebbels in Nazi Germany, when it was said that a lie repeated a thousand times could overcome reality, to the time when television appeared with the technique of constructing the image of the candidates for whom a pleasant and a captivating smile were more important than his electoral offer. Today with the emergence of “social media” supported by new technologies, the invasion of “fake news” and other communication paraphernalia, perception definitely overshadows reality.
The foregoing is relevant in relation to the new image that the group that dispatches from Miraflores presents -and in a certain way achieves-. The still lifes, full old and new restaurants, shops with clients and the verifiable fact that at least in eastern Caracas well-being reigns, has allowed to build the perception that “things are being fixed in Venezuela”. Naturally, it is a fiction or bubble limited to small sectors of the country, since in most of its territory the reality of poverty, shortages, collapse and other misfortunes that surround the majority of our compatriots endures. But perception is perception and there is no denying that those who manage this fiction do so with some degree of success.
Along with the fiction of well-being, attempts are made to convince internally and externally that the underlying problems of the country, such as Maduro’s dictatorial attitude, Diosdado’s unpunished repellence, rampant corruption, the complacent discourse of the official media and the few private that still exist, etc., are part of a virtual reality that is far from the real one. Unpunished violation of human rights, disappearance of the rule of law, political prisoners, institutional chaos, economic collapse, PDVSA on the verge of bankruptcy, Guayana in bankruptcy, predatory Mining Arc, dissolving banking sector, Colombian guerrillas controlling areas of Venezuelan territory, populations displaced and stop counting.
Faced with these two coexisting realities, there are those who, due to economic, political, personal or other interests, prefer -in good or bad faith, as the case may be- to embrace the fairy tale of a recovering Venezuela and there are also those -people or governments – Protected by the advantages of “real politik” they ignore what they see and subordinate it to their businesses or ideologies.
An unfortunate and very recent example is the case of poor Mr. Alberto Fernández, president of Argentina, who has just announced that having seen and considering that “Venezuela’s problems are being fixed” it is time to resume bilateral diplomatic relations at the level of ambassadors (they have several years at the level of business manager) and continue hand in hand happy and content as if nothing had happened here.
The real truth lies in the unusual fact that although Dr. Fernández is the president, the owner of the votes that took him and sustain him in power is Vice President Cristina de Kirchner. An internal arm wrestling match for royal power is taking place between the two, in which Alberto prevails for a while and Cristina for another. Depending on the prevailing wind, Argentina takes one course or another. Just weeks ago, southerners – with an Albertist accent – voted against Venezuela in the UN Human Rights Council and supported the expulsion of Russia from that body, or gave timid support to causes of continental democracy in the OAS. The following week, when Kirchnerism takes its breath, they throw themselves into the arms of “progressive” ideological causes such as Puebla, revive Unasur, strengthen Celac (of which Alberto is president pro tempore), taking photos with Putin and other causes demanded by Mrs. Cristina, whose main concern has nothing to do with her country or the world, but rather with resolving her compromised legal situation in the face of serious accusations of corruption being processed in the Argentine courts that -without being as independent as the English – are much more decent than the Venezuelans.
Surfing on that fiction, the bulky occupant of Miraflores (you can see the bulletproof vest he is wearing under his shirt) propagates figures and projections to the world that pretend to show a Venezuela in solid recovery, with the rule of law in full operation, ideal climate for investment, miraculous multiplication of oil production. It is a pity that the cake that they have just laid with the “renewal” of the TSJ and other sleight of hand handled by prosecutor Saab, it will be difficult for them to convince the prosecutor Karim Khan of the International Criminal Court, who has already realized the ruse and Consequently, it has definitively decided to launch a criminal investigation against those responsible, as provided for in the Rome Statute, of which -things in life!- the decent Venezuela of yesteryear was a decisive promoter and negotiator.
@apsalgueiro1
The entrance Alberto Fernández: che kid, you let yourself be fooled! was first published in THE NATIONAL.
