I had always wondered how come the CIA hadn’t had Chavez killed while he was in jail!

VHeadline editor & publisher Roy S. Carson writes: Perceptions! It is a well-known fact that if you ask a group of people who have witnessed some event to tell you what actually happened, they will each present a different point of view, colored by their own particular bias, vision of the truth ... perception. Where these perceptions coincide is generally accepted, at least to an outside observer, as being the closest to what actually happened in the absence of one's own personal experience. A consensus on the truth!

It is therefore disconcerting to this reporter to witness the recent volume of communications in which previously diehard supporters of the Chavez government seem to be revising their perception of what is actually happening in Venezuela and, alarmingly, it is hallmarked by an increased feeling of dejection, dreams unfulfilled and horizons clouded by despondence.

A many-years Venezuelan friend has recently returned to the land of her birth after several years in the United States. Far from being a devotee of George W. Bush, she is one of those who put her faith in Chavez when he came to power in February 1999 and she was solidly behind him through all the problems associated with the April 2002 coup d'etat which saw Dictator-for-a-Day Pedro Carmona Estanga seize power, abolish Venezuela's Constitution, Legislature and Supreme Court in one fell swoop at the behest of Washington D.C. She was one of those who clamored for the President's return from captivity on the Caribbean island of La Orchila and she supported his every move through the paralyzing economic blockade of December 2002-January 2003.

Therefore my surprise when she had made her pilgrimage home again to Venezuela to hear of her dangerous exploits of being shot at in Panama (an armed hold-up) and her progression overland through equally dangerous Colombia, finally arriving in Venezuela in just two months ago.

For obvious reasons I will not reveal her identity but she says "throughout the whole trip I have been sticking my neck out for Chavez, including in Colombia where he is hated by most people and where almost everyone I spoke to (rich and poor) said they would vote for Uribe again if he ran because they are fed up of so many years of war and Uribe has given them some peace."

"Of course I defended Chavez (at the risk of retaliation) all through Central America ... I was even warned in Mexico, Panama and Colombia that I should be careful about what I said because people have been killed. My answer was: Well, let them kill me. I already am an old woman and I have lived my life; but one thing you can be sure of and that is no one is going to keep me from speaking out.

Well ... am I sorry now!

My first experience with the Chavez government was at the border. I took a ‘por puesto’ (local mini-bus) ... the driver said to me that he was going to offer the National Guard on the Venezuelan side some money so they wouldn’t open our luggage. I answered that I wasn’t going to pay because I had nothing to hide ... but the driver didn’t want the delay so he offered the guard BsF.10 (about $4.50) ... the guard said: “Give me 20” ... the driver already knew I wasn’t going to chip in ... so they opened up all our luggage.

One of my brothers (who along with his two sons and myself are the only other members of my family who are Chavistas) had an accident ... he was run over in Caracas and had both legs fractured ... one of them really bad ... they had to operate and put in some pins. The ambulance took him to the Perez Carreno Hospital where he had to spend 5 days in the hallway on a stretcher because there were no beds available. He then had to spend another two weeks waiting to be operated on because they didn’t have the pins. My family had to call our cousin (who is a doctor) to intervene ... otherwise my brother would probably still be there or dead. He says the hospital doctors and nurses are not well-paid and the hospitals have no supplies.

So what good are these clinics and hospitals that Chavez is making if they are understaffed and lacking supplies? No better than what we had during the previous governments.

Well, being a Chavista, I was still trying to convince myself that these were isolated incidents and that Chavez probably didn’t know these things were going on.

I finally arrived to the Peninsula de Paria (eastern Venezuela) and started looking for work. I also started to face the stark reality. Minimum wage is BsF.800 ($372.50) per month and that is what they want to pay in most places (if you can find work) ... and that is also what cops and national guards earn.

The truth is that most people here make about BsF.22 ($10) per day. If you want to buy an arepa (cornmeal burger) on the street you have to pay BsF.8 ($3.70). If you want to take a ‘por puesto’ mini-bus for a 10-minute ride it’s at least BsF.1 (47 cents). If you want to go from El Pilar to Carupano it’s BsF.4 ($1.86). So, the people who live an hour away from Carupano cannot afford to even take their children on a ‘por puesto’ or a bus to the beach in Carupano on a Sunday ... they can barely afford to feed their families ... period.

Food is more expensive than in the States. Shoes and clothing are outrageous ... BsF.30 ($14) for the cheapest pair of beach flip-flops you can find.

A thirty-year-old wreck of a car is worth BsF. 30,000 ($13,970)! I could not believe it! In the States or in Europe you would have to pay someone to take that junk off your property and here they are charging BsF. 30,000 ... this is unbelievable. I have never seen my country in such bad shape ... and I thought the Adecos/Copeyanos were bad...

The Adecos/Copeyanos raped Venezuela ... and Chavez is giving us the final ****-over!

The corruption at government levels is as open and blatant as it was during the previous governments ... the Chavistas are now the ones driving luxury cars ... while the Venezuelan people are barely surviving. The crooks pay off the Mayors and Governors ... openly! Everyone in town knows about the pay-offs. No secrets. Same as it was during the Adecos.

There’s no way that Chavez doesn’t know what is going on. He knows and he is allowing it. Just as he is allowing the ridiculous wages and the incredibly high cost of living. Chavez is creating an environment where normal, everyday people have to steal to feed their children.

Why?

I am wondering what his real purpose is. Maybe the same as the Copeyanos and Adecos ... if you have a nation of thieves, the government can continue to steal openly and no one will complain.

I believe in the Bolivarian principles of Union and Education!

One good thing I do have to say and that is that I have not seen a single child begging on the streets ... that is very good. On the other hand what good does it do the child to have an education if, when he gets out of school, he will have to steal to feed himself and family because the wages are so extremely low and the cost of living so extremely high?

And why is Chavez helping everyone else and yet starving his own nation and his own people? Is it that communism, anti-imperialism ... and is his party more important and therefore all the wealth of the nation should go to them? Why is he starving the Venezuelan people and yet sending all the money to his friends?

That doesn’t make any sense ... you don’t starve your children to feed your neighbor and yet that is precisely what Chavez is doing!

Cuba had the excuse of the embargo and that they had no other wealth other than sugar cane. What’s Chavez’ excuse to have one of the richest nations in the world in such dire misery?

My idea of socialism is that everyone has the right to live well ... not just a chosen few while everyone else lives in poverty. But Chavez' idea of socialism is that everyone (except his government) should be poor ... he is not a socialist, he is a Russian-style communist. The government lives like royalty while everyone else in the country starves.

Now I understand why the Chavez government doesn’t support your publication. You’re an honest and objective man and a true socialist. Roy Carson and VHeadline news would pose a definite threat to their charade ... if Roy Carson ever really found out the truth.

I had always wondered how come the CIA hadn’t had Chavez killed while he was in jail ... I think I now know. Chavez is doing a great job for the Empire bringing the country to its knees!

I have friends and family member who had voted for Chavez and who became 'Ni-Nis' (Neither-Nor) ... many times they had warned me that Chavez and his government were as corrupt as the opposition and that this government was as bad as the previous governments but with different faces. I had refused to believe them. Just as I am sure you will not want to believe me either, because this is something you must verify for yourself.

But when you do ... don’t talk to the few Chavistas that are left, nor to the opposition ... instead talk to the simple folk, the cab drivers, the laborers and the farmers ... as I have. They voted for Chavez and are now fed up with him and his government. This is why he lost the referendum and I can guarantee you that his party will lose the next election (November 23) ... the ‘people’ no longer support him nor his crooked and inept government.

You have no idea how sad, upset and frustrated I am. Not to mention my extreme disappointment.

Things are so bad here that, to tell you the truth, if the North Americans were to colonize us, they would actually be doing us a favor.

This is a personal letter from me to you but if you wish to edit it and publish it, please feel free to do so.

Hugs, my dear warrior friend!"

Perceptions! The closest to reality? A consensus on the truth!

Roy S. Carson
vheadline@gmail.com

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Venezuela is facing the most difficult period of its history with honest reporters crippled by sectarianism on top of rampant corruption within the administration and beyond, aided and abetted by criminal forces in the US and Spanish governments which cannot accept the sovereignty of the Venezuelan people to decide over their own future.

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