Be thankful you aren't Virginia Gomez,
living in rural Venezuela;
In this town [Valle de la Pascua], and many others like it, armed confrontations between
criminal gangs right outside your front door are considered normal. The
rule is to be home by six in the afternoon and don’t venture out until
the next day. Here, being the victim of a crime at night is considered
“your fault,” simply for having been outside when it happened.
In the country as in the capital, the Venezuelan state has absolved
itself of responsibilities such as ensuring citizens’ safety. However,
it has proven very effective in other pursuits, such as generating fear
and mistrust of the government itself.
Not that the people of Venezuela are going to do anything about it anytime soon.
Unfortunately, there is little chance of change around the corner.
Paradoxically, it is precisely these remote and marginalized areas of
the country that provide a key power base for Venezuela’s governmental
elite. The forcible closure of private educational establishments means
that many are forced to go through public schools, where students are
often exposed to Chavista indoctrination.
The state has also secured its hold over the provinces by
expropriating herds, farms and private companies, such as agricultural
vendor Agroisleña,
now renamed Agropatria. When nothing remains of the agriculture
industry and private employment, citizens living in the countryside are
left with no option other than government jobs, which demand political loyalty to the Maduro regime.
Citizens thus fall for the false paternalism of the Venezuelan state,
and consider the government the good guy in the daily horror story of
their lives. They don’t realize that the government is responsible for
scarcity, the failure of public services and rampant crime.
Sounds like a lot of Americans, to us.
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