The Summit of the Americas is over. They didn’t invite me, they missed it. I wanted to promote a parallel summit with CELAC, but my comrades from the progressive left did not want to tighten the rope any further and that is why I decided to go for a walk to show them that I do not care. This is how the occupant of Miraflores must have thought when he decided to undertake the “important state trip” to Turkey. Meanwhile, some of the other protesters preferred to be present in Los Angeles “just in case”, at least to listen to the promises reiterated for the umpteenth time to the effect that “this time” it is true that the United States will be a reliable partner and cooperative etc etc Someone else, like the already devalued Alberto Fernández, did it in his capacity as defender of the “excluded” despite the fact that just a month ago the “malevolent” International Monetary Fund had to rescue him from the well of Argentina’s foreign debt. So are the things! the remembered Oscar Yanes would have concluded.
It is true that Turkey is a country whose importance, not only historically but also contemporary, is relevant. Its geographical and political presence, which until a century ago extended to the Balkans, once even besieged the Vienna of the Habsburgs and has left deep traces, as has its fall as an empire and the proclamation of the Republic. by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk in 1923. With him and his successor IsmetInonu – not at all democratic either – an era of crucial modernization opened up under a system of authoritarianism that – with brief exceptions – endures until today at the hands of Recep Tayib Erdogan who so far, with difficulties, he is achieving some success in the difficult task of international tightrope walker that he has imposed on his country.
In effect, Turkey, due to its geographical location –and at the time political situation– is a member of NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) promoted by the United States and Western Europe to prevent and dissuade Soviet expansion during the Cold War after World War II. World War. As such, it housed – and perhaps still houses – nuclear missiles aimed at the East. At the same time, today’s quite westernized Turkey, especially in Istanbul, has softened its relations with Israel, but has also been an ally of the horrible Syrian dictatorship of El Assad, has contributed troops to quell the insurrectionary movement in that country, has occupied and severely repressed the Kurdish minority that lives in its territory yearning for independence, maintains a utilitarian relationship with Putin, etc.
With these credentials, good and bad, Turkey has been requesting admission to the European Union for years and has not achieved it, precisely because of its status as a non-democratic country and the poor human rights situation that are essential conditions to enter that scheme.
But none of this is an inconvenience for Erdogan or for Nicolás, who due to the hazards of geopolitics have found common areas of understanding and practical cooperation without taking into account the trifles inherent to democratic freedoms.
This is how Venezuela has obtained, through Turkey, a route to process and circulate the “blood gold” that is illegally, inhumanely and ecocidally extracted from the Mining Arc of southern Venezuela, serving to alleviate the accounts of the outlaw State and step – surely – to leave something for the pocket of those who control that business.
In the same way, taking advantage of the isolation imposed on Venezuela, the Turks have established a good business through the Turkish Airlines airline that flies direct from Caracas to Istanbul, providing, at a reasonable price and with good service, access to Europe for those who Otherwise they couldn’t get it. Likewise, Turkey has entered with investments and construction businesses, etc.
Now Nicolás comes to us with the story that he has signed important bilateral agreements on various matters that will surely be contained in some documents signed during the meeting. It must be something more or less similar and equally fanciful, such as a “Bilateral agreement on scientific, tourist, financial, transportation and military cooperation between Venezuela and the Solomon Islands.” Incidentally, he left an invitation for Erdogan to visit us for the second time soon. As you can see, an unnecessary, inopportune and decidedly irrelevant trip.
It is true that in this 21st century the United States no longer acts as the hegemon of the hemisphere. Times have changed both in Washington and in Latin America. But it is no less true that, as was recently seen, Venezuela still resolutely depends on the possibility of extracting and selling its oil for payment in dollars. So much so that before the first opening that the “empire” made some time ago with the controversial visit of some officials, the stockings loosened for those who for two decades have been postulating theories of market diversification with an ideological vision, gifts of crude to buy loyalties, etc.
Thus, even if one wants to market the perception that “Venezuela is fixing itself”, the truth is that in the international concert our country does not figure except in the issues of drugs, drug trafficking, tolerance of terrorism, violation of human rights, destruction of the rule of law, etc. The simple verification of the regional and world reality makes it very clear that these are not the values that sustain the development and progress with justice of a society.
