Submitted by John E. Farmer
“Mr. Comissiong, have you ever lived in Venezuela?”
On Sunday night 16th March 2014 I watched a program on CBC Television (The Peoples Business) in which the interviewer (Maureen Holder) was having a discussion with a representative of the Venezuelan Embassy in Barbados and Mr. David Comissiong. The subject was concerning the present situation of protests taking place in Venezuela against the Venezuelan Government and their President, Nicolas Maduro. Before I go any further I must ask this question: Mr. Comissiong, have you ever lived in Venezuela? For you certainly did not seem to have any idea of the actual situation at present that is taking place in Venezuela and you appeared to be stating facts that you had either read, rather than experienced, or restating information supplied to you by the Chavez Revolution, which is socialist Communist rhetoric.
Mr. Comissiong, you implied that the Venezuelan opposition protestors in the streets were from the very rich families –Extremely Rich – I think you said, who did not wish to give up their affluent life style, and this is why they were opposing the present Maduro Government and the Chavez revolution which was for the people. Mr. Comissiong, I would like you to know that the people marching in the streets of Venezuela who are against the Maduro Regime and the previous Chavez Regime are from the rich, the middle class and from the poor. Or, do you believe that the four million people (49.07%) who voted against Maduro are all rich? These people are fed up with a dictatorial oppressive regime which rules by the Gun! No democratic government goes shooting and gassing peaceful protesters – putting them in prison- beating them up until they are black and blue and purple all over their bodies – many of whom remain in prison just because they don’t agree with the Chavez or Maduro regimes. These people are marching and here is why:-
When Chavez came to power there were over twelve thousand manufacturing plants in Venezuela, now they are approximately six thousand – how many jobs loss here?
When Chavez came to power Venezuela produced 80 % of its food consumption. Now it produces approximately 20%
When Chavez came to power PDVSA (The Venezuelan National Oil Co.) was producing 3.2 million barrels of oil per day. It is now producing 2.6 million barrels of oil per day. At approx $100.00 per barrel – calculate the loss of revenue here.
There is a shortage of food – many supermarket shelves are empty of basic items.
The inflation rate is now 56% for the year, resulting in an absurdly high cost of living index and more poverty. Is this a government for the people? With all the millions of dollars earned per day by Venezuela – the Bolivar continues to be devalued.
You mentioned Mr. Comissiong that in the previous governments to that of Chavez, that more than 300 billion dollars had been taken out of the country by the ‘Rich’ who ran the PDVSA oil company.
However, Mr. Comissiong you did not mention about the billions of dollars that Chavez wasted on buying arms, 200,000 automatic attack rifles plus ammunition, attack helicopters, jet fighter/bombers from Russia – defence missile system, submarines and tanks – What does a Latin American Nation need this for? Who are they going to fight? Does the regime use this show of strength to frighten the people which is what Chavez did and Maduro is doing now? Yes, these billions of dollars have also come from the same PDVSA Venezuelan Oil Company. And it is Chavez who spent this Mind Boggling billions of dollars figure – not on food for the poor, but on guns and revolution. Is that okay with you Mr. Comissiong?
Mr.Comissiong, you said you hoped that the opposition forces in Venezuela would open their eyes and see the problems that their actions were causing and work together with the government like any other democratic government with a two party political system. I would like to ask you another simple question. “Is it possible to work peacefully with a government whose motto is ‘Socialismo o Muerte!’? translated; ‘Socialism or Death’!
Do you know that more than twenty-four thousand (24,000) people were murdered in Venezuela last year? And more than two hundred thousand(200,000) murders have taken place in Venezuela during the years that Chavez and Maduro have been in power; 24,000 people is a capacity crowd at Kensington Cricket Oval and 200,000 persons is just shy of the population of Barbados. Does this give you some idea of the tragedy taking place in Venezuela? Not to mentioned the hundreds of kidnappings that have taken place and those still taking place every day there. Would you be happy to live in a country and support a government that allowed this criminal environment? Not to forget to mention here that the representative of the Venezuelan Embassy stated in her discussion that everything in Venezuela was now under control!
Do you know that the Television Stations and Daily News Papers are now under censorship? Did this not happen in the Soviet Union and Cuba under Communist Regimes? Why was the reporter from CNN Espanol booted out of the country by Maduro? What about the Colombian Cable News Station that was blocked from transmitting the news of what was happening on the streets of Venezuela?
I am sure you know, Mr. Commissiong, that there are thousands of Cubans working and directing the policy of many government institutions in Venezuela. All of these Cubans, invited by Chavez to Venezuela are being paid by the Venezuelan Government while many Venezuelan Citizens are without work and their children go hungry.
Mr. Comissiong, if you wish to discuss the present situation in Venezuela I would be very happy to do so with you at anytime . It would appear to me that your opinion is rather politically biased. Only you would know why? My qualifications for discussing this matter are that I am a Barbadian who lived and worked in Venezuela from 1982 to 2008 (26 years) During this period the Presidents were- Herrera Campins, Luchinci, Carlos Andres Perez, Caldera and Chavez,( Maduro), being external affairs minister to Chavez . I have a pretty good and unbiased knowledge as well as firsthand experience of what went on during those years and what is going on now. I am still in contact practically every day with Venezuela. I too have marched in the Streets of Caracas, Venezuela, and I did not see only the ‘Very Rich’ as you stated, marching. I saw Venezuelans, Rich, Middle Class, Poor, disgruntled and dissatisfied all protesting against a dictatorial bullying regime ruling under the guise of Democracy. These protests are going to continue and one day when the people in the Barrios finally lose their fear of being ruled by the gun under which they have been subjected under the Chavez and Maduro regimes, they will come down from the hills of Caracas and put an end to the terrible nightmare Venezuela has experienced during the last fifteen years.
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