I have seen him!

But alló to ya

One week has past of my stay here in Venezuela. And I am more confused than ever, who is this Cavez-guy, and what does he really want??

Sunday I visited the famous Plaza Bolívar and went to a few museums. It was quite pleasant, we walked around and I got a better feeling of the city center. It is big though, as much as I like to walk to where ever I am going, Caracas is home to over 5 million people... The areas around Plaza Bolívar are known to be pro-Chavez, this gave me some hope of maybe getting a more positive picture of him, compared to what I have met so far. And immediately as I saw the famous square open up infront of me I could almost feel his presence. How strange... There is a huge statue of Simón Bolívar himself in the middle of the plaza and as it was sunday, it was filled with old people, kids and birds! Oh yes, there it is ---->

Well, walking around the square I passed something I couldn't really figure out what it's exact purpose was. Clearly it was a government thing, and I believe it was some kind of info-booth.

Maybe an efficient way of making it easy for the people to be more participatory... but then again, maybe it serves a totally different purpose. My newest co-habitee, a young girl from Venezuela, didn't know either.
Although, their looks didn't really remind me of a "service minded, come-join-the-revolution-it-is-great-and-if-you-
have-any-questions-we-are-here-to-help-you" kind of a look. No, more like "Chesuss-I-am-bored-and-it-is-hot-in-these-dark-long-sleeved-uniforms-and-
who-are-you-strange-foreign-person-who-stares-at-us, what-don't-you-sympathize-with-the-revolution?-oh-you-can-fuck-off"-
type of a laid back glare.

Once we had rounded the square we entered the Caracas museum, a little hidden museum, forgotten and bypassed by most tourists (according to the Insight Guides guide book). Knowing this I strolled in through the doors with an almost ignorant appearence. And what catches my eye?... who would have thought... I mean, in this little museum (ok it was a nice old house and historically very important politically, but still)... no one less than C-man himself.
It is true! Tamtadam!
Hello! Nice to meet you at last! We got eye contact and I could see he was thinking:
"Oh, hello Lina. I've heard nothing about you. Welcome to my country! Believe every word I say!"
It was a fine moment indeed!

Because of Chavez' newly suggested reform of the prevailing constitution, which among other things will enable a president to be re-elected more than two mandates, it is a big discussion going on here in Venezuela. Have been listening two hours on the radio today and scanned numerous homepages to try to get an idea of what it is really about. Haven't been easy, especially due to the fact that I don't know which channels and which newspapers that are for or against.

I was then overdosed with anti-Chavez-propaganda. I had a long discussion with a middle-aged person, very engaged and energetic, and with an endless storage of arguments to why the revolution and Chavez have ruined the country. It was very interesting and also quite frustrating not to have enough knowledge myself to know if there were some obvious lies or just misunderstandings being told.
A few of the arguments:

• During the times before Chavez you never saw any kids begging on the streets, now there are heeps of them.

• The police and the military are loyal to Chavez but they are completely corrupted. Compared to before, there are now no security at all and more than 180 people a month die in Venezuela due to acts of violence and assaults on the streets.
  

• The last election should not have been in favour of Chavez, it was an obvious fraud. The authority, CNE (Consejo Nacional Electoral), who is responsible for the elections, is a governmental body and therefore not trustworthy as a objective party. Also there was cheating in the actual voting system. During the day of the election everyone in the voting queue was going to vote against Chavez, and still he won, how did that happen?!

• The governance of the country is really bad. Economically it is being mis-treated. Before there were investments in Venezuela, but now, no private entrepreneur or big company dare to open anything. Instead companies close down, Hilton for example. They think their property and land will be public. McDonald's, Burger King and all those came before the Chavez-era. So, from where will the money come?

• Chavez has changed definition of himself during his rule. In the early days when he was asked if he was a socialist or communist, he denied it. Today he claims to be both and that is not trustworthy!

• The new reform is only a way to asure himself lifelong power!
  

Well, there were more arguments than these, but I don't even remember them all. I was just quite shocked by the rage behind the words. I suddenly felt like I am in the middle of a historical, politically decisive, timeperiod but without the sufficient means to grasp all its aspects. I had to read some pro-Chavez articles at www.venezuelanalysis.com when I got home, to regain some balance and realise that there actually exist people in this country who are in favour of C-man.

At the radio there was a really interesting discussion where they were comparing the US-backed chilean opposition against Allende during the 1970's and the opposition against Chavez today. I believe it is important to keep in mind the huge amount of resources that the opposition in Venezuela possess...

Monday was my first day at the university. I now know which courses I will be taking during this first trimestre, starting next monday. Ecology II, Introduction to Marine ecology and last but not least... Fish biology, or Biology of the fish... there is no way to say it to make it sound better. Ok, fish, I like fish, I mean I don't eat fish. But, you know, fish are important animals...they live in water, and I really like water. Well, maybe I don't really like the ocean, to swim in that is, or to drink either for that matter, but when I think about it I don't like to drink water at all, no matter what kind it is. So, I will learn a lot about fish, good! If you need to know something about fish, you come to me! Maybe I can become the leading fish expert in Sweden, expert on fish living out of the coast of Venezuela that is... I am sure I will be extremely wanted, work wise. I mean not that I don't think I won't get a job anyways, no no, I will, I am sure. Well, at least there will be vacant positions that I can apply for, or, one can hope so. And that will feel good, to know that I can apply for a job. I have lowered my expectations lately. ok.

so long.