-Are not the interim and the White House responsible for phrases like: “All options are on the table” and “we have them fenced in”? Have they created false hopes for Venezuelans?
-Of course. The lie that has two sides: the Venezuelan community and Trump. At this point in history, you have an obligation to reason. One thing is obvious: Mr. Trump is not trustworthy. He prompts mistrust. He lies every day. Trump’s changing ego is the only thing that dominates politics in the White House. How can I trust a man that has dismissed 7 ministers and 16 other officials? He discards them little by little. You could see it, but you do not because there is already an imposition from a sector of Venezuelan politics and the exiles in the United States. That creates a very serious problem for us, more serious than you can imagine: confusing our own means with the foreign. Some believe a victory from democratic candidate Joe Biden will be the end of the world. But why should it be if you live in Guanare, Cumaná, or Boconó? Your life will not change because Biden is not a socialist, communist monster as they have claimed. That is insane. You do not live in Nebraska, you live in Margarita!
– Is not the wish for an invasion a consequence of not seeing in any leader a reliable figure? Last week sociologist Tulio Hernández published “Liderofagia” (Leaderophagy, the “suppression” of leaders), an article where he stated that Venezuelans are used to “devouring” their leaders. If they do not deliver, they are quickly repudiated and people start looking for new ones. Why does this happen?
-This leaderophagy does not belong exclusively to public opinion, but the leaders. Do we want to suppress the current leaders? Not me, but they are setting the conditions for that to happen. If Juan Guaidó – whom I admire, respect, and have helped – makes the unfortunate move of April 30 in La Carlota, he is giving me reasons to repudiate him. By Juan Guaidó’s involvement in these absurd invasions of Macuto and Chuao, he is giving out reasons to be rejected. This leaderophagy is not the sole responsibility of Venezuelan society, but of the leaders who have committed this nonsense. The events of Chuao, Macuto, and La Carlota are inexcusable. Those were unfortunate ventures. All this is the product of an abstracted elite. Guaidó forgets that the political parties trusted him with the position, but now these organizations are being excluded from the decision making process. I am sure, and I have information on the matter, that incidents such as La Carlota, Macuto, and Chuao were the result of decisions taken by individual leaders within the elite where political parties Acción Democrática and Primero Justicia did not participate. How could these parties be unaware of the plan for La Carlota! The fault lies not only with Guaidó but with the personalistic elite surrounding him. Political parties have also failed to stop him: “One moment, Mr. Guaidó. This cannot continue, because you depend on us ”. That has not happened. The attack on the parties has increased. The Government wants to erase them, and the only way to avoid it is for that intimate and personalistic circle of Guaido to be broken and replaced by an advisory service from parties like Primero Justicia, Un Nuevo Tiempo, and Acción Democrática. I exclude Voluntad Popular from the equation because it has been the controller of this private club. We have to end that private club.
Now that you mention the destruction of the political parties. Some people say that the December elections called by Maduro will make an interim government in exile inevitable in 2021. Is that feasible?
– No, and there is proof of that. Before the civil war in Spain ended, the republicans established a government in exile in Mexico. That was a fiction that never worked, even though the brightest minds were involved. Francisco Franco’s dictatorship consolidated. There is no favorable outlook on that possibility.