Ode to Venezuela
By: Cristiana Guevara-Mena
The brotherhood
between Nicaragua and Venezuela unfolds from the heat of the tropics, to the natural
beauties in their Margarita and Corn Islands. In the mountains of the Andes and
fire line of our volcanoes. As well as the wonders of Salto Ángel and Ometepe.
We share the warmth of our people and the same heritage of the Spanish colony.
We live the same culture, language, and even the use of “vos” spoken in
Maracaibo of the Zulia State as well as throughout Nicaragua. We are warm,
friendly, and naturally welcoming people. With these features, among many
others, it is impossible for us not to come together.
Our fraternity, goes far beyond geographical differences. We have been associated for a very long time. There was a time when our indigenous people reached lands to what is now Venezuela, which is possibly the reason we share the same way of talking in certain Venezuelan regions, most likely caused by that indigenous Central American influence that managed to mix in the south.
Let us remember the not so old political relations from the late nineties to this day. The recently deceased Venezuelan President, Hugo Chavez, kept very close political relations with the de facto president of Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega Saavedra. What happens today, Venezuelan brothers, is not pleasant for the democratic Nicaraguans. It should be mentioned that this gentleman's interference in our country was disrespectful and arrogant. The misfortune that we had from the last spurious national election, opened the doors so widely to this Venezuelan sir that he became to feel even mightier than in his own home. He gave speeches to the Nicaraguan population as if he were in Miraflores, as if Nicaragua were an extension of Venezuela. The bad taste that this Venezuelan sir left us cannot be cleansed in this generation.
Dear fellow Venezuelans, there are so many things that unite us that it is impossible for us not to sympathize with your struggle for freedom. We, like you, also suffer a dictatorship. We live with the same fear and the same repression, poverty, violence, delay, false propaganda bombing, lack of opportunities for the youth, unemployment, media censorship, stealing the people's money, and a long list of et cetera’s. The model is the same, except that Venezuelan oil generates so much currency that it calls the attention of the international community, and also represents a bargaining chip for the complacent and complicit silence of almost all states of the Americas.
The things that bring us together and empathize us with your struggle for peace go beyond sympathy or belief in democracy. It is rather about a shared deep wound. We also feel your pain. To us Nicaraguans, the homeland hurts as much as it hurts you. We feel robbed, insulted, and abused by a lying, oppressive dictatorship. In Nicaragua, we know now very well the taste of repression, theft of opportunities, and submission to the will of the dictator. It is true that this process of freedom involves a lot of bloodshed, wounded, killed, prisoners, weeping, and mourning. We already lived it once, and we still haven’t finished recovering from that fracture. However, we are confident that by the end of so much suffering you will see the light and be free. When this is over, the dictatorship and abuse of Chavez will be nothing but a nightmare from which you woke up, and will no longer have significance in your lives but in the history books.
From our little country we send you strength, faith and hope. We accompany you in your fight even at a distance. Although we cannot be present in your land, you can count on our prayers, moral support, and especially the spreading of social awareness of your situation to the world. Venezuelan brothers, your people represent for us an example to follow and a promise to perform. Your strength teaches us that these dictatorships of poverty and human misery have an end. You show us that the organization, firmness and vigor of a people can end the oppressive authoritarianism. You have become the spark that would ignite the fire of a Latin American spring that will free the peoples of similar dictatorships.
It’s imperative that your struggle for freedom and peace continues. Push on, don’t give up. Daylight is soon to come and the storm will be nothing but a bad memory. The voice of the Venezuelan people will overcome. Today and tomorrow we'll sing with you "Glory to the brave people which shook off the yoke, the law respecting the virtue and honor...” with the hope that tomorrow you will join us with "Hail to thee Nicaragua in your soil, the voice of the cannon no longer roars..."
Our fraternity, goes far beyond geographical differences. We have been associated for a very long time. There was a time when our indigenous people reached lands to what is now Venezuela, which is possibly the reason we share the same way of talking in certain Venezuelan regions, most likely caused by that indigenous Central American influence that managed to mix in the south.
Let us remember the not so old political relations from the late nineties to this day. The recently deceased Venezuelan President, Hugo Chavez, kept very close political relations with the de facto president of Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega Saavedra. What happens today, Venezuelan brothers, is not pleasant for the democratic Nicaraguans. It should be mentioned that this gentleman's interference in our country was disrespectful and arrogant. The misfortune that we had from the last spurious national election, opened the doors so widely to this Venezuelan sir that he became to feel even mightier than in his own home. He gave speeches to the Nicaraguan population as if he were in Miraflores, as if Nicaragua were an extension of Venezuela. The bad taste that this Venezuelan sir left us cannot be cleansed in this generation.
Dear fellow Venezuelans, there are so many things that unite us that it is impossible for us not to sympathize with your struggle for freedom. We, like you, also suffer a dictatorship. We live with the same fear and the same repression, poverty, violence, delay, false propaganda bombing, lack of opportunities for the youth, unemployment, media censorship, stealing the people's money, and a long list of et cetera’s. The model is the same, except that Venezuelan oil generates so much currency that it calls the attention of the international community, and also represents a bargaining chip for the complacent and complicit silence of almost all states of the Americas.
The things that bring us together and empathize us with your struggle for peace go beyond sympathy or belief in democracy. It is rather about a shared deep wound. We also feel your pain. To us Nicaraguans, the homeland hurts as much as it hurts you. We feel robbed, insulted, and abused by a lying, oppressive dictatorship. In Nicaragua, we know now very well the taste of repression, theft of opportunities, and submission to the will of the dictator. It is true that this process of freedom involves a lot of bloodshed, wounded, killed, prisoners, weeping, and mourning. We already lived it once, and we still haven’t finished recovering from that fracture. However, we are confident that by the end of so much suffering you will see the light and be free. When this is over, the dictatorship and abuse of Chavez will be nothing but a nightmare from which you woke up, and will no longer have significance in your lives but in the history books.
From our little country we send you strength, faith and hope. We accompany you in your fight even at a distance. Although we cannot be present in your land, you can count on our prayers, moral support, and especially the spreading of social awareness of your situation to the world. Venezuelan brothers, your people represent for us an example to follow and a promise to perform. Your strength teaches us that these dictatorships of poverty and human misery have an end. You show us that the organization, firmness and vigor of a people can end the oppressive authoritarianism. You have become the spark that would ignite the fire of a Latin American spring that will free the peoples of similar dictatorships.
It’s imperative that your struggle for freedom and peace continues. Push on, don’t give up. Daylight is soon to come and the storm will be nothing but a bad memory. The voice of the Venezuelan people will overcome. Today and tomorrow we'll sing with you "Glory to the brave people which shook off the yoke, the law respecting the virtue and honor...” with the hope that tomorrow you will join us with "Hail to thee Nicaragua in your soil, the voice of the cannon no longer roars..."
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