. After explaining what I was doing and that this was a university project, she allowed me to ask her various questions. The answers she provided gave an up to date and real world perspective on current issues and what life is really like in Caracas today. The following has been created with information provided by her, but I have also elaborated throughout with further facts and opinion.
Life in Caracas can be difficult. Julia_1984 mentioned that it can be depressing for anti-Chavez Venezuelans to stay informed of current events by watching the only remaining opposition TV channel. She says, “[a]fter 15 minutes watching that channel you will end up with the idea that Chavez might take away the kids and put the rest of us in labor camps. And you will have strong basis to support that idea.” The sensationalist demeanor of the sole remaining opposition channel has the ability to make unimaginable circumstances seem possible, but at the same time takes away from its credibility. Instead, Julia_1894 suggests that to get a real understanding of what is going on in Caracas, one must turn to the internet. The internet, with its hundreds of varied sources and biases, provides a medium which one can more thoroughly explore the entire picture for a better understanding of an event. Mass media tends to take a side and be sensationalist all over the world, but the extreme polarization of its mass media makes Venezuela a special case; both sides act over the top in vehement opposition and there are rarely reasonably expressed points of view. However, as of late January this year, there is only one point of view on TV. Chavez took RCTV—an opposition TV channel—off the air because it said it would not comply with the governments new law to host Chavez’s Alo Presidante TV program. The representatives for RCTV stated that “[t]he government is inappropriately pressuring [RCTV] to make decisions beyond their responsibilities.” To show Chavez’s programming was probably not part of the initial contract, more likely, it was one of Chavez’s whims—like when, in the middle of one of his shows, he decided right then to send the military to the Columbian border, purely out out anger. Whatever it was, Chavez has silenced the opposition's one medium that can reach the illiterate--TV. Limiting the television to only pro-revolution media was a smart move and probably Chavez's intent because the poor and illiterate are where he finds most of his support.
In March this year, Chavez arrested the owner of Venezuela’s only remaining opposition TV channel. “Attorney General Luisa Ortega said a warrant was issued for the arrest of Guillermo Zuloaga, owner of the TV channel Globovision, for remarks that were deemed 'offensive' to the president.” The remarks that were made on the program were simply “Venezuela has turned into a haven for drug traffickers” and “Venezuela's government has cooperated with the Basque separatist group ETA and Colombian rebels.” First, surely Chavez does not want to hear these remarks, but he has no right to restrict them from the public debate. If he does, then the popular democracy cannot properly function because the peoples vote needs to be informed by all perspectives, not just by Chavez’s. This is a very serious move one step closer to an authoritarian dictatorship.
Julia_1984 says that the middle class families in Caracas are afraid of the loss of democracy and that Chavez strains them to the point that even though an entire family has agreed to oppose Chavez, they still get in fights over when their troubles will be over and what are they going to do until then. At the micro level, the political policies and decisions greatly affect the family and individual lives of the residents of Caracas. This is a good reminder for us Canadians; although we may think we do not feel the effects of politics in our everyday lives, the effects are there. In Canada the effects just go unnoticed for the most part because Canada has a plentitude of resources and wealth. In Caracas, the allocation of wealth and resources is very poorly handled and the resources to be allocated are less abundant than here in Canada. Moreover, Canadian leaders run a style of democracy where minorities have rights. In contrast, Chavez’s policies disregard minority rights, in this case, the minority is the middle and upper-classes. The enemy in Caracas today is not the criminal, but the wealthy capitalist. Yet it is such a paradox because it is capitalism that fills Venezuela's coffers. The many decisions made by the government over the past ten years has led to a culmination of electricity shortages, massive inflation, crime and violence, and these factors all have direct and indirect effects on the lives of the people living in Caracas. Now their democracy and ability to decide for themselves how to solve these issues or to freedom elect someone who will is being taken away.
Although, Julia_1984 was able to deal with the constant onslaught of Chavez speeches, new policy announcements and bad news coming from the television (most of Chavez’s ideas and policies would be bad from her perspective because she is middle class), she said her “limit” or breaking point, was when the announcement was made that all shopping malls can only use electricity from 11:00am to 9:00pm. To a foreign reader, this seems like a snobby middle-class kid from Caracas getting upset because she can no longer spend all hours of the day shopping at the mall. But Julia_1984 substantiates her reason for why the short hours of mall operation is her “limit”.
For Venezuelans (her peers at least) “the mall is the center of the social life”. In Canada, we have public spaces such as boardwalks, squares, parks, and the streets to hang out at, even with all of these spaces, one can still find groups of youth “hanging around” the our malls. In Caracas, it is too dangerous to be in many of the traditional public spaces like squares or parks plus a mall is air conditioned and shelters one from the rain or sun. Thus, at the basic level, the security and shelter offered by a shopping mall has made it a place of social interaction for many middle-class residents of Caracas. From a deeper perspective, the malls become little cultural centers, offering art exhibits, movie theatres, discos and restaurants; almost like a city within a city. In Julia_1984’s own words:
The mall is the place where we make a business deal in the middle of an informal lunch, then meet our soul mate after work and walk hand in hand throughout the halls till we find a cozy bench to sit, a nice table to have dinner, a good movie to watch, a play we shouldn’t miss; and then meet our friends for a few drinks or a dance.
This sounds like a wonderful place to be, maybe a little romanticized, but with all of those amenities and safety from the 130 murders per 100,000 people crime rate, this is where I would socialize too. The shopping mall in Caracas is something like a utopian space built inside of a dystopian city. When the government ordered the shortened operating hours of the mall, it was not just conserving electricity. From an monetary oriented point of view, the shorter operating hours decreased opportunity for businesses to sell their goods and services, hurting the economy. From the point of view of the thousands that use the mall for more than just shopping, the government was chipping away at their quality of life, their social life—a most important topic for youth. It is understandable why from Julia_1984’s perspective, this was her limit. She mentions: why wasn’t food or water shortages her limit? Because she could always go and forget about all the problems and shortages when she was at the mall socializing; it was her refuge. With all of the the shortages of food, water, electricity and the murders and protests the mall is a release for people like Julia_1984. To take away their pleasure is not a stabilizing factor and does not help gain their support, instead it invokes protest and discontent within the already unstable city. However, Chavez does not care. The people who enjoy their time at shopping centers are likely middle-class and probably do not vote for Chavez anyway so to take away from them only gains him support from the lower classes. In the same way Robin Hood was loved by the poor for what he did, Chavez does the same, in addition to violating human rights and banning free speech.
A LETTER FROM Julia_1984
One of the questions I asked Julia_1984 was what she and her peer group thinks about the fact the Chavez intends to arm any Caracas civilians that are willing to defend the Bolivarian revolution. This was her this was her longest answer to any of my questions; she feels passionate about the subject and rightly so. To give arms to a population that already has a very high violence and murder rate is wrong. Here are her thoughts on the subject and they reveal just how unstable Caracas really is:
"Well about Chavez' arming community groups, I'm preparing an entry on the subject actually but let me tell you a few things in advance. I'm not scared, and I have no objective reason to tell you why. When this government was just starting in 2000, it formed the Bolivarian Circles which were communitary asociations and some of them were armed. No one speaks of those circles now, it seem like in a great extent they do not exist anymore. So maybe this milicias will have the same destiny. But, of course I'm concerned. I'm convinced that military are military and civilians are civilians. It might sound obvious for many, it should be obvious for all. It is not so for Chavez, since he thinks that civilians should be military. But soldiers and civilians are different kind of people, with different ways of thoughts. Were a civilian sees a neighbor and maybe an opponent, that he is forced to negociate with; a soldiers simply sees an enemy that it must be eliminated. So thats why people, civilians, shouldn't be armed, shouldn't have tasks such as "the defense of the territory". Chavez wants a civil war, no other reason you would arm civilians. And that desire alone is a true tragedy. I don't think it will ever come true. We are not that kind of people, we are a highly polarized society but from there to really establishing a civil war, I see that way too far and I hope I'm right. On other hand, if you have read the blog you know it, we have a very complicated situation in terms of security, loads of murders and kidnappings. Logics tell me that governments should solve those troubles by disarming people, not by giving them arms; right? So as usual with this one and many other radical moves I'm not scared, I just have many contradictory feelings and thoughts.
You asked not only about my thoughts but also my friend's. Well, they think the same. One commented that Chavez' new armed group looked like one of those World War II movies, one you wouldn't like to experience in real life. Everyone I know its pretty exhausted of all the crazyness around here. And the war against the empire? I mean what empire and what war? Since when we are enemies of the US? It just riddiculous. Chavez lives in his own world. A world that doesn't fit with the real country he should rule but he doesn't.
And yes, Chavez it's out of control. But you know why? According to some pools he's just holding a narrow 40%, even 30% in some others... so he's desperate. Wathever that means, it must be something good in the long term."
