My Weekly Comments
I have read with great concern the public opinion matrix being formed based on the informations and opinions expressed by me in the last two editions of Las verdades de Miguel. Believe me, it pains me greatly what is unfairly said about me. However, I remember a phrase by Gabriel García Márquez that fits perfectly: “Although you suffer like a dog, there is no better profession than journalism.” I don’t doubt that I have many detractors and paid individuals who thrive on social media, seizing the opportunity to undermine my nearly impenetrable credibility built over the years, despite the manifest intolerance. Nonetheless, there are readers (the majority) who, acting in good faith, have believed the gossip circulating, claiming that I manipulate information in favor of the Government. Let it be known that my conduct has not been in favor of anyone. For chavistas, I am an opponent, and for the opponents, I am a chavista! There can be no greater balance! Next, I will transcribe literally a message from a reader calling me to reflection: Hello Miguel: I have been reading you for about 7 years; I am a simple reader, 26 years old, and I invite you to reflect. I have followed your column week by week; I believe you are a great journalist, and although I am an opponent, I think truth is worth more than political nuances. Over time, I have noticed that you speak the truth; however, I have seen that you have started to tarnish that truth, and as a reader and citizen, I start to see that through your lines, there is a certain rejection towards those who don’t think like you. I notice that words are used for manipulation, and I don’t feel truly comfortable with this fact. I apologize for extending this, but it is an invitation to reflect and not a complaint. Good evening, Miguel. My name is Gabriel Méndez. Response: Dear friend, thank you for your kind words toward me. For me, reflection is ongoing; in my profession, I do not take sides with any political faction, which doesn’t mean I don’t have a personal ideological position that doesn’t necessarily have to reflect sympathy for a government, even if it aligns with my social thought. Precisely because the current government is a specific entity with maximum revolutionary ideals, I have been very tough in questioning its deviations. Just leaf through the editions of Las Verdades de Miguel to verify this. I agree with you that truth is worth more than political nuances. For me, I have made authenticity a temple; I cannot “stain the truth.” If I have expressed rejection of the opposition’s behavior, that does not mean I challenge those who do not think like me. Much less do I manipulate with my writings. If I denounced the violent preparations anticipated for September 1st and nothing happened, it leads me to think that those plotting backed down when discovered; do not forget that there are sectors (government and opposition) where citizens are only useful for marches and mobilizations, with no scruples exposed to dangerous situations. When I later asserted that Nicolás Maduro emerged victorious from the last confrontation of marches, I have my evidence; MUD leaders know that there will be no referendum this year, yet they do not hesitate to present misleading offers. I am sure the government isn’t doing well either, and I have no issue questioning it; that’s why my opponents want to depict me as opportunistic, claiming that I deal a blow to the republic and another to the revolution. Paraphrasing Azorín: Where did you enter? Through the door. Do you know you cannot pass? I have passed. Who are you? A journalist.
IMMINENT. In the media, a “general staff” of editors and journalists has been created tasked with materializing a communicational aggression against the FANB, aiming to achieve a similar effect to that obtained by extremists in Chile when they targeted military personnel to insult and vilify the armed forces. General rice, general milk, etc., and many other epithets and disqualifications.
DISCONTENT. It is unlikely that during his high school years at Esteban Gil Borges in Los Ruices, Carlos Osorio ever thought he would one day be in the eye of the hurricane and be considered one of the wealthiest men in Venezuela. Indeed, in his youth, Carlos Alberto Osorio Zambrano, although dreaming of entering the Military Academy (from which he graduated in 1985 as the 52nd lieutenant in the Lucas Carvajal Brigade), never imagined himself as the czar of food in Venezuela (as he is known in the world of local imports). Today, Osorio Zambrano is also one of the most influential bureaucrats in the current administration; however, both Osorio and his comrade Manuel Antonio Barroso are seriously questioned in the barracks. Whispers in the corridors suggest that both are wealthy military men, products of their time in food and currency exchange.
URGENT. Both Carlos Ocariz and Julio Borges have contacted leaders of important collectives. It is a recruitment policy outside the MUD’s postulates. Furthermore, Carlos Ocariz (accompanied by Freddy Guevara) often meets with the mayor of Caracas to coordinate activities known only to them. These actions have annoyed Henrique Capriles and Jesús alias Chuo Torrealba. COMEBACK? Recently, Rafael Ramírez returned to Venezuela. Among his activities was a visit to PDVSA’s headquarters in La Campiña. There, he did what he never imagined while he was president of the oil company—walking and greeting staff in the offices. He then went to Miraflores, where he met with Maduro for two hours. There, he asked the President to reinstate him as head of PDVSA. Result: An outright refusal.
CENTAURS. $200 million was the cost of Venezuela’s participation in the Rio 2016 Olympics. On paper, an investment without return. 3 medals at approximately 66 million USD each. Meanwhile, many bureaucrats fought within the Ministry of Sports to form the delegation heading to the carioca city; there, they were often seen flaunting their shopping bags in the large malls of Rio de Janeiro. Some also frequented Centauros (the most famous and expensive brothel in Ipanema). SUITE. Is it true that MG Justo Noguera Pietri (former general commander of the GNB) is the person behind the acquisition of two apartments and a penthouse in the California Suite of Las Mercedes? What role does a merchant identified as Nelson Montilla play in the entire plot?
CLOWNS. With a whimper that would make Ibsen Martínez die of envy, a “canned” presentation appears between two connected always-ambitious individuals, both actors in a political farce unparalleled in the stage of a village circus. The kid with the kid. Whether I was or wasn’t. A devalued encounter. A channel fallen from grace with such a mockery. Sentimentalism went and came… my poor rich country.
BAPTISM. On Saturday, August 20, in Barquisimeto, Roberto Enriquez (national president of COPEI) met with the most powerful families of the Lara state (the equivalent of the lords of the valley). In that meeting, names were mentioned: Riera, Zubillaga, Herrera, and Oropeza, committed to the companies Central Azucarero La Pastora, Lácteos La Pastoreña, Tubrica, as well as agricultural estates with landing strips in Venezuela, Colombia, and Costa Rica, and hundreds of cattle. The old landowners (feeling marginalized in the MUD, even though they were very influential during the IV Republic) have decided to sponsor Roberto Enriquez and his party.
REQUESTER. Just as I have been announcing, the MUD has been meeting with the Government. The most recent meeting was last Saturday at eleven in the morning, with a second activity at five in the evening. MUD attendees included Luis Aquiles Moreno (AD); Carlos Ocariz (PJ); Freddy Guevara (VP), and Timoteo Zambrano (UNT). The agenda was as follows: 1) Institutional crisis. 2) Date and conditions for collecting 20% of the signatures for the recall vote. 3) Margarita Summit. 4) Specific cases of Yon Goicoechea, Alejandro Puglia, and the jailed mayors, as well as the Smolansky case. The major requester corresponds with Voluntad Popular, which proposed Leopoldo López’s request to speak personally with the Government; a similar situation occurs with Manuel Rosales. Present from the Executive were Jorge and Delcy Rodríguez, Roy Chaderton, and Elías Jaua.
DRONES. Oliver Blanco, the executor of Henry Ramos Allup in the AN, is also the owner of a digital newspaper called El Cooperante. Currently, affected by Alejandro Puggia’s arrest, he has launched a victimization campaign around the so-called young man with the drone.