Pessimism from Exile

Now that Chavez is, again, moving forward his dictatorial agenda with the recent set of measures regarding the University, freedom of speech through the internet and more measures to reduce private property to nothing more than a concession of his goodwill, I need to express some things.

He is waging the same strategy he uses every single year since the students fully enrolled in the struggle against his tyrannical rule; he is advancing his plans during holidays, where most of the people is interested in having a good time with their families than risking their lives participating in politics. However, today, the 23rd of December a group of students gathered at our Alma Mater (I recently graduated from this University, the main University in our country) to make a protests against Chavez's law of universities that would practically end its existence as such.

The truth is, I'm writing from outside my homeland. I no longer share the danger of fighting for Venezuelan freedom, and I ask my people to continue the fighting whilst I'm comfortably sitting on a couch in North Miami. Why do I keep insisting in Venezuelan freedom if I have already deserted it? It's so easy that I actually feel it's shameful.

However I have my reasons. First, my ties to my country remain strong, even though I have been trying to remain away. But most importantly, I have given enough and taken enough risks in fighting for Venezuelan freedom. As an average person, I grew tired. Call me a coward, but I also have other goals in life that I'm no willing to sacrifice.

Freedom is the most important good for a free spirit and mind. We Westerns lean toward the free spirit. I am no exception. Back home I participated in the common struggle against Chavez tyrannical regime. We all faced the police, the national guard, the regime's gangs, even the military. We faced them, and many times it turned violent; and many times, even though fear sprang strongly in our hearts, we kept on going. As with faith, freedom might be among the only goods worth dying for. We tried to trigger the revolution that would topple the government. We conspired, we tried to organize. We, those that do not believe in the hypocritical and mediocrity of political parties and opposition leaders tried our own way. We failed. We tried to create a third way to oppose the tyranny. The parties and their imbecility poisoned our leadership and excluded those that dissented from them.

We were faced with a dilemma; continuing the struggle led by the most short-sighted mediocre leadership, or give up, which means two things: join the regime or fly out. I chose the latter.

Today I see these students that adamantly keep on fighting the tyranny on a 23rd of December. Somehow I envy them, but I also feel pity for them. On the one hand, having hopes to make freedom prevail by turning martyrs is something praiseworthy. On the other, it seems nothing more than a silly insistence to save a people that does not worth the effort. Nonetheless, my hopes are to see the rising dictatorship of Chavez overthrown by whoever have the strength to do so. One of the few things that I have learned from both books and our personal experience is that revolution for freedom is never achieved without violence, blood and death. Only an extraordinarily civil unrest would trigger any of both a capitulation of the regime, or its final triumph over liberty. No one can deny it, we gave it a try. But life goes on, and people have other goals, other wishes for the future. As most of my friends I am exhausted of trying to trigger Chavez's overthrow. Venezuelan people doesn't seem to be prepared for freedom. Those that do want it and do appreciate it might have to go look somewhere else.