CARACAS.- On July 5, 2020 during the traditional military parade to commemorate the Venezuela Independence Dayhe Minister of Defense, Vladimir Padrino Lópezassured that As long as the National Armed Forces exist, “the opposition will not come to power” in the Caribbean nation, governed for 24 years by Chavismo and subjected by an authoritarian regime that violates human rights that does not want to let go of power.
Padrino López’s expressions caused widespread rejection in Venezuela, since they came from the head of Defense and maximum leader of the armed institution. Leaders close to the regime, radical and moderate opponents, opposition parties and deputies condemned Padrino’s expressions and called for the Venezuelan Armed Forces to exercise their apolitical role in accordance with the Constitution of the Republic.
What Padrino López said at the celebration event on July 5, 2020 was the following: “As long as there is an Armed Force like the one we have today, anti-imperialist, revolutionary, Bolivarian, they will never be able to exercise political power in Venezuela. I think it’s good that they understand it. This faction of thugs, politicians, who have dared to put in a statement there, an eyesore of a statement, to demand greater commitment from us.”
And he added: “when the Bolivarian National Armed Forces have given concrete demonstrations, in the sight of all the people of Venezuela, of their patriotic interest, of defending the integrity of our geographical space, which is not an option for us. It is a constitutional mandate.”
“How dare you, shameless?”
Given these words, political scientist Céfora Contreras, general secretary of the Foundation for Latin American Women’s Rights (Fundemul), responded with a letter titled “Ignorance can be cured but stupidity is eternal.”
“How dare you, shameless? Who are you to commit the National Armed Forces to violating the National Constitution and turning Democracy into a bastion of communism, by declaring: “that in Venezuela the political opposition will never be able to exercise power:” “They will not pass, they will never be political power in life as long as there is an Armed Force like the one we have today, anti-imperialist, revolutionary and Bolivarian.”…”I think it is good that they understand it,”” Contreras rebuked.
“How dare you, shameless? Do you think that the members of the Armed Forces share your opinion? Well, know that this is not the case!!! That more than 90% of its members reject your criteria. Only the high command and its close friends, holders of the multimillion-dollar contracts that have enriched them, at the cost of the destruction of the Country, accept this aberration and remain silent in fear.”
He continued: “You are so ignorant and your desire for wealth and power is so great that you ignore the sacred Constitutional precepts that establish that ‘we are a Social State of Law and Justice, whose Legal System respects Freedom, Equality, Solidarity. , and in general the preeminence of Human Rights, ethics and political pluralism'”. “How dare you, shameless? Isn’t everything they have enough?” he asked.
“Listening to him, the cries of Franco’s General Millán Astray echo in my memory: ‘Death to intelligence, long live death!!!’ To which Unamuno responded: ‘you will win because you have plenty of brute force, but you will not convince.'”
Contreras stated: “You, Chávez and Maduro are all equal, which reminds me of that graffiti that emerged from Orwell’s pen: ‘All animals are equal, but there are some more equal than others.'” He added that: “You have turned Venezuela into an Armageddon, an Apocalypse: the war between good and evil. You have made legality a question of power, not of justice: slavery was legal, colonialism was legal, Nazism was legal, apartheid was legal.
He continued: “You remind us of the Hitlerite SS, of Mussolini’s fascist brown shirts in Italy, of Duvalier’s fools in Haiti, of Juan Vicente Gómez’s Gomecista chacharos, of Chapita Trujillo’s paleros in Santo Domingo, to the Cuban cdr of Fidel Castro, to the battalions of dignity, of Noriega, in Panama, and you here in Venezuela, dictators who with their irregular groups repress and subjugate the People.”
And he concluded the letter: “but this brave country and its people are willing to fight until we achieve victory, because we are prepared and capable of governing. Your failure reminds us of the old saying from the University of Salamanca: ‘What Nature does not give, Salamanca does not lend it.’ Mr. General: ignorance can be cured but stupidity is eternal. That cannot be cured.”
Source: EDITORIAL / With information from Infobae
