A Poem in Spanish and English by Noris Roberts

Oirás

Oirás que el día es de perlas
y la noche percusión de estrellas,
que la maldad del enemigo juega al infortunio
y te hunde las garras cuando menos lo esperas

Oirás que el arma de la violencia
es del hombre por naturaleza,
que el azul es apenas una línea en la aurora

Oirás que hay voces que chillan de envidia
y el dolor es para siempre

Oirás que el sufrimiento nunca encuentra
el salvoconducto de la justIcia

Oirás que la libertad es una invertida ilusión
que a veces te conduce a la fatalidad

De amables verdes están cubiertas las montañas y
de deslumbrantes colores el crepúsculo en el horizonte

Así cuando la sequía te cubra con su furioso ropaje,
siempre habrán destellos de esperanza
en los reflejos de algún crepúsculo
y en tus pensamientos

Como escribió Goethe: «¡Cuán dichoso aquel en quien el afectuoso deseo de salir del mar del error renueva aún la esperanza! Lo que el hombre no sabe, lo necesita, y lo que sabe, no puede usarlo. Pero que los pensamientos volubles no ensombrezcan la calma belleza de esta hora serena. En el rico atardecer, mira cuán brillante brilla”.

You will Hear

You will hear that the day is of pearls
and the night a percussion of stars,
that the enemy’s evil plays at misfortune
and sinks its claws into you when you least expect it

You will hear that the weapon of violence
is man’s by nature,
that the blue is just a line in the dawn

You will hear that there are voices that shriek with envy
and pain is forever

You will hear that suffering never finds
the safe conduct of justice

You will hear that freedom is an inverted illusion
that sometimes leads you to doom

Of kindly greens are the mountains covered,
and of dazzling colors of the twilight on the horizon

When the drought cloaks you
with its furious garb, there will always be glimmers
of hope in the reflections of some twilight and in your thoughts

As Goethe wrote, «How blessed is he in whom the fond desire to rise from the sea of error still renews hope! What a man does not know, he needs, and what he knows, he cannot use. But let not fickle thoughts cast their shadow O’er the calm beauty of this serene hour! In the rich sunset, see how brightly it shines.»

An Essay by Noris Roberts

I will begin by pointing out that this is not intended to be a partisan political statement, to offend or attack anyone in particular. I write and express what I feel and observe, as a simple citizen. I intend to declare my pain and astonishment seeing that my country is being systematically destroyed and its people humiliated and decimated. In the last 2 years nearly 4 million have emigrated, not because of a war, they’ve emigrated because they foresaw no future, because of hunger and lack of medicine, for not having personal or legal security and basically because they were psychologically affected for living in a permanent state of uncertainty.

The country’s setback is so serious that it has been recognized by most countries in the world. Nobody questions or doubts that Venezuela is going through a huge crisis, although some countries deny it, minimize it or take advantage of it because of economic, strategic, “ideological” or for their own political purposes. Venezuela was considered a “rich” country; today having an 85% scarcity in food and medicine seems implausible, a made up tale, but it’s the reality. It has been impoverished and devastated slowly, not by a war, because it’s a victim of a disease called power.

Our country is immersed in a crisis that was implanted, with cynicism and indolence, by Venezuelans, although it was not created by everyone. The task was implemented by a large number of tiny economic groups and political associates that took advantage of the good faith of the majority of citizens and because a large part of the population, sunk in years of ignorance and overwhelmed by a permanent propaganda campaign, meekly got accustomed to receive crumbs from the State and, conforming to that, got used to not making an effort to achieve anything at all. The destruction was also propelled and propped up by opportunistic groups and individuals who, like the suckerfishes accompanying the shark, aspired to acquire positions of power in order to take advantage and make overnight fortunes. Perhaps one could conclude that the general stance of the population was one of complicity and indifference, only pursuing their own economic welfare regardless the fate of the country. They remained silent, applauded, adapted themselves to the situation and ultimately endorsed what was happening. Those who raised their voices dissenting and not bowing down or openly refusing to accept what was and is now happening, were and are persecuted, censored, exiled or imprisoned. The result of all this is what we unfortunately have today as a country.

An oil country with a small population; an enviable geographical location; an example for other countries during certain periods of its history; that had some cycles of amazing development; that has hydrological resources, fertile lands, forests, jungles and minerals of all kinds; brilliant men of science, letters, music and sports, lost its way and became a regrettable caricature of misfortune, corruption and carelessness. It’s not only food and medicine are scarce; diseases that were eradicated resurface; aggressiveness, distrust and violence flourish; corruption is consented and justice is flagrantly distorted. For a long time now, decades, the country has been subjected to permanent campaigns of destabilization and alarm, caused and promoted premeditatedly by the Venezuelans themselves. The country, adrift, has seen with perplexity how some individuals became immensely rich while the country was gradually dismantled, falling into pieces and cornered in a dark moral, spiritual and economic poverty.

A country in which the State owns production lands; sugar refineries, coffee plantations, food processing facilities, cement factories, banks, hotels, sea and air transportation lines, the main telephone and Internet company; manufacturer of steel, aluminum; electricity, water supplier; radio stations, television channels, commercialization companies; builder of highways, houses and at the end…, ironically, does not produce anything because it is inefficient, but mostly because it is corrupt. In order to cover everything up, since the State is never responsible for anything, it sells the idea to the people, through continuous, grotesque, false and shameless propaganda campaigns, that against the country there is an economic war or a media war or a dollar war or electric war, which is fomented and executed by political opponents or foreign interests… If so, the State has shown itself to be absolutely incapable and inefficient to win these wars. This is clearly seen when, from 2016 to this date, an Economic Emergency was decreed (No.2.184) and renewed 13 times “to assure the population the full enjoyment of their rights, preserve internal order, timely access to goods and services, food, medicines and other products essential to life” and this resulted in one of the greatest hyperinflations in world’s history, public transportation reduced to 10% of its capacity and more scarcity of medicine and food. It is also evident that the State failed when the electrical installations, in 2013, were militarized when the so called Great Electrical Mission was announced: “We are going to militarize, that is the word, all these electrical installations that, in addition, now become security zones to protect and avoid any kind of sabotage action”. In the end, the electrical installations were, according to the State, permanently sabotaged by iguanas, lightning, cyber attacks, electromagnetic pulses, terrorists and snipers; however, there was not or has there been, proof of these supposed attacks. As a consequence of this “State and military protection” we’ve had permanent blackouts that seriously affected the economy, health, education, drinking water supply and the general welfare and mental stability of the population. The only war the State truly won was to stay in power.

Historians will capture this period and will be highlighted as one of the most macabre and nefarious of our history. The pages will not be written in ink, they will be written with tears and blood. They will describe a period in which love and peace were sung to the people, but at the same time State policy subjected them to a ferocious psychological terror, economic and social intimidation and falsehoods. It will A period that was promoted as a “great emancipatory epic”, rhetoric mounted by spiteful and perverse people, but which in fact left aside the basic interests and rights of its citizens. A period when the social pact agreed in the Venezuelan Constitution was violated; in where, with the approval and encouragement of the State, many citizens became high-level predators and others of lower level, called “bachaqueros” (large red ants), whom immorally and unscrupulously took advantage, like cannibals, the needs of others. In this pitiful history there will be a very special chapter highlighting the use of justice as a political weapon and a chapter that will have notorious components, unusual and not previously seen, of those who carried out this process, those who will have a privileged place, those who supported the surrender of the sovereignty of their own country to other countries; of turning the country into a spillway for terrorist groups and for having had close ties with drug trafficking.

It is debatable whether we deserved this or not, or whether it was caused by the naivety of a people who believed in siren calls or by not understanding the true value of freedom and the fragility of democracy. What is clear is that this is a lesson that must not be forgotten and must remain engraved in the DNA of the Venezuelans so that it does not happen again. It must never be forgotten how the ruin and the future of several generations were executed, turning a country into a grotesque caricature caused by a disease called power.