This engrossing and disquieting memoir threads together the disruptions caused by the experimental socialism imposed on Venezuela by Hugo Chávez, who ruled the country from 1999 until his death in 2013, and the interminable tribulations of the author’s disintegrating Venezuelan family. A journalist now residing in California, Ramón vividly portrays the frightening chaos that engulfs daily life in a collapsing country. As social systems crumble, interpersonal trust evaporates, giving rise to a crude, competitive Darwinism. Contrary to the state’s official egalitarian ideology, Venezuela is deeply unequal now, favoring those with access to U.S. currency or to government distribution networks. Many disillusioned Venezuelans have emigrated, but some retain their blind devotion to Chavismo. Venezuela offers a lesson to the world: beware of divisive populist demagogues who prey on deep-seated social resentments and misdirected patriotism and who peddle magical solutions. Also, excessively generous welfare states grounded in the exploitation of natural resources are economically unsustainable and politically explosive. Venezuela’s ordeal reverberates in the author’s argumentative family: its members’ painful dependencies, moral shortcomings, and monetary mismanagement reflect their country’s breakdowns.
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Publish date : 2024-02-20 03:00:00
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