"I know that my grave will be littered with a mountain of reproach. They will want to characterize me as the sole guilty party in the tragedy of Cuba. I do not deny my errors or my guilt in any way. What I do emphatically deny is that I am the sole guilty party. We were all guilty to a lesser or greater degree of responsibility.
We were all guilty. The journalists who covered my desk with damning articles and exposs about the politicians. These very journalists who were nothing more than seekers of fame and adulation and gladly satisfied the masses insatiable and brutal desire for revenge. They wore that badge with honor. It didn't matter who the president was; nor did it matter that these very leaders had implemented good laws and reforms in Cuba. They had to be attacked and, if necessary, destroyed. The same masses that elected them now asked for their heads in the public square.
The people were guilty. The people who wanted Guiteras, and Chibs, and who lauded Pardo Llada. The very people who bought Bohemia, the voice of the people. The people who followed Fidel from Oriente province all the way to the Columbia Camp.
Fidel is nothing more than the result of the clash between demagoguery and stupidity. All of us contributed to his creation. And all of us, because we were resentful, demagogues, stupid, or evil, were guilty of helping place him in power. The journalists, who knew Fidels playbook, who knew of his participation in the Communist-inspired Bogotazo, who knew of the assassination of Manolo Castro, who knew of his gangster activities at the University of Havana, demanded an amnesty for him and his accomplices for the assault on the Moncada Barracks when he was in prison.
The Congress was guilty in approving that very amnesty law. The radio and television commentators who regaled the congressmen with praise for passing the law and the trash applauding that same Congress from the bleachers were guilty.
Bohemia was the echo of the street -- the street that applauded Bohemia when it invented the lie of the twenty thousand dead. A diabolical lie, invented by the alcoholic Enriquito de la Osa who knew that although Bohemia was the echo of the street, the street also echoed what was published in Bohemia.
Guilty were the millionaire businessmen who gave Fidel more and more money to topple the regime. The thousands of traitors who sold out to this bearded criminal and who cared more for profits from contraband and theft than about Fidels actions in the Sierra Maestra. Guilty were the priests in red robes who sent young people to serve Castro and his guerillas in the Sierra, and the Church itself, officially backing the Communist revolution with fiery sermons, exhorting the Government to hand in the reins of power.
The United States of America, embargoing arms, destined for the Batista regime and intended for use in its war against the guerillas, was guilty.
The U.S. State Department, supporting the international cabal, directed by Communists, which took possession of the island of Cuba, was guilty.
The Batista government, and its opposition, were guilty. Because of false pride and not wanting to give in, they failed to reach a proper, peaceful and patriotic agreement. Guilty, too, were those that Fidel secretly sent to sabotage the negotiations and ensure their failure.
The abstentionist politicians, who closed all doors to all electoral solutions, and the press, like Bohemia, who played their game and refused to publish anything related to those elections, were guilty.
All of us were guilty. All of us. By sins of omission and sins of commission. The old and young, the rich and poor, black and white, the honest and the dishonest, sinners and saints. Of course we had to learn the bitter lesson that the poor were the most honest and most virtuous of us all.
(...)
We were a people blinded by hate. And we are all now victims of that blindness.
Our sins and vices were greater than our virtues. We forgot the words of Nez de Arce: When a people forsake their virtues, tyranny will rise from their vices.
Miguel Angel Quevedo (*)
Caracas, Venezuela"
I have been a reader of CC since a long time ago... more than two years since I remember reading Quico a lot at the time of the RR (I still remember the Avenida Carter comment). I must say many times I do agree with Quico in his views, many times don't, specially when he takes the ni-ni stand and open his arms to chavistas. In any case, I like CC, I think I can say I am friend of Quico, even though we haven't meet in real life, maybe one day. And I like his analysis, specially when he explains economic data in "normal" words.
Now Quico and team, in the name of fairness and balance, have taken the ni-ni stand once again, this time to make the anti-campaign to Manuel Rosales. A guy who doesn't deserve this treatment in my opinion from any Venezuela who loves democracy.
What good is this ni-ni stand doing to the country RIGHT NOW?
Everybody is entitled to say whatever they want, and me too. So today post has to do with how harmful is for a country who is facing a complete take over by a military lunatic, when their citizens take the ni-ni stand.
Maybe I am wrong, maybe Quico and team are right to be ni-ni's in the name of fairness and balance and help chavismo take over Venezuela. Quico's editorial line of ni-ni is giving the chavismo a lot of good ammo. He is giving them the desperately democratic coat of respect that they are looking for when he takes on the opposition like this. They try to be fair, but in doing so they become very unfair, since Venezuela's institutions have been taken by chavismo and the military. What's the private media to do? What's anyone to do inside the country when they see this? And you know, I am not saying that the opposition is perfect by any mean, or that they are some elements that are really disgusting inside the opposition world. But to me this is all about pick the best option a) democracy, b) autocracy by a military lunatic.
I am picking a) so anybody can write and say and whatever they want, belong to any political party they want, have the ideological tendency they want and have the right to do it.
I think this elections will be taken over by Chavez, with or without Quico's help though, and due to the FACT that the electoral council is a branch of Hugo Chavez party, we won't ever gonna know the reality of the numbers. It's very easy and almost impossible to detect an electronic elections without a proper audit, a proper audit of the paper ballots. I think the chavismo will do something about this in particular. Since chavistas are controlling the electoral process, they can easily handle those paper ballot boxes, that can even have some boxes already cooked on a warehouse. Who is going to tell me that they won't do it? CHAVISMO IS CONTROLLING THE ELECTORAL PROCESS, they can do whatever they want.
We all have a responsibility to take.
"I know your works; I know that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either cold or hot. So, because you are lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth."
Revelation 3:15-16
Thanks to babalú blog for the link of Miguel Angel's Quevedo political testament letter that he wrote before committing suicide.
(*) English translation Copyright 2003 George L. Moneo-All Rights Reserved.
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