Ars poetica

Let each word carry what it says.

Let it be like the tremor that sustains it.

Let it maintain itself like a heartbeat.

I may not put forward ornate lies not apply doubtful ink nor add shine to what is.

This obliges me to hear myself. But we’re here to tell the truth.

Let’s be real.

I want terrifying exactitudes.

I tremble when I think I’m falsifying myself. I have to bear the weight of my words. They possess me as much as I possess them.

You who know me, if I can’t see, tell me my lie, point out my imposture, rub in my fraud. I’ll be grateful to you, seriously. I want madly to correspond to myself.

Be my eye, wait for me at night and spy on me, examine me, shake me.

Rafael Cadenas.

In April, a document with 14 recommendations, promoted by citizens, organizations, and social movements that impulse social dialogue went public. An open and inclusive process to add as possible many voices to guarantee the participation of the range of political and social actors in the restoration of democracy in Venezuela.

Those who promote this initiative have considered making an urgent call to all the political, military, economic, and social sectors of the country. The objective is to call for awareness, for the inexcusable duty of all sectors of the country, primarily those with responsibility on decision-making. The proposal is to be able to reach for agreements that will allow the development of the capacities required by the nation to protect the fundamental rights of the Venezuelans, which have been seriously threatened by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The document and campaign “time for urgent actions for Venezuela” #AcuerdosXLaGente has generated a public debate: this already constitutes a great achievement in an environment like the Venezuelan one. Points of view and readings on the document have been raised on social networks, community debates, editorial articles and other media. This text is addressed to them, to those who have expressed their ideas and achieved the proposed social dialogue. Thank you for listening and nurturing public debate around the initiative.

I am going to request Maestro Rafael Cadenas to allow us to be accompanied by his poem. We want to hold our words, as the poet says, and that they stay like that, like a heartbeat. Hold them as we tremble in fear for not saying them. All this, summed up to the commitment of its proponents, the denounces, documentation and dissemination of the deteriorating living conditions and the complete guarantee of human rights in the country.

What lead us?

The document was not intended to review the performance of political actors and therefore w are not pointing out anyone. The text was limited to make a call to the political actors who currently have the responsibility to lead the State, as well as to the National Assembly. It was also a call to social sectors that have the historical responsibility to lead the way that allows to adopt the measures to preserve the lives of the vulnerable majority.

This proposal should not be assessed isolated or out of context from all the work carried out by the diverse expressions of the Venezuelan civil society, which has emphatically pointed out to the current rulers of Venezuela their responsibilities regarding the country’s institutional and patrimonial dismantling, that caused the humanitarian emergency that the Venezuelan people is suffering nowadays.

It is the Venezuelan society, which via its various civic and democratic organizations has contributed with the international protection organs of Human Rights and helped them keep an active mandate on the follow-up of their serious and generalized violations, and that have made the global community aware of the complex humanitarian crisis, that in recent years has been suffered by the majority of the peoples and communities of the country,

Nor is it a question of quarantining the political debate, nor of postponing the recovery of democracy. It is about building urgent strategies for conflict management. For this, it is necessary to assume that, in order to provide an adequate response of assistance and protection against the pandemic, those who control the institutions, as well as those who have the support and legitimacy before the international community, must place their capacities at the disposal of the urgent care of the emergency that is aggravated by the pandemic. That is why we urge political actors and different social sectors to assume the responsibility that the situation demands of us.

And if the call includes us all, it does not mean that it carries us with equal responsibilities, neither about the past nor about the future. The moment requires making every effort to respond effectively to the pandemic.

We cannot be afraid to demand an understanding to reach agreements for people and for life. Moving forward requires that we become aware that there is no single truth. There are many elements that come from historical and political roots on which there is no consensus and probably there will never be. So the task of understanding and establishing peace is a complex process of listening and understanding.

An opportunity for the Venezuelan society

On June 1st, we received the hopeful news that both actors have heard the clamor of society and have built a first cooperation agreement with the Pan American Health Organization, with attention to the following priority areas:

  • Detection of active cases of COVID-19 through laboratory diagnosis.
  • Timely and adequate treatment of confirmed cases.
  • Supervised isolation of symptomatic cases and quarantine of contacts.
  • Protection of health personnel.
  • Epidemiological surveillance, information analysis and situation reports.
  • Risk communication for the adoption of measures by the population.
  • We congratulate both actors for their willingness to build agreements and we urge them to continue working to build an inclusive National Agreement and, therefore, a comprehensive solution to the political conflict.

Venezuela and our people, especially the most vulnerable, demand generous, above words, emotions, and the reasons that they possess. We must face the conflict as soon as possible, assume shared responsibility for the future, stop the multiplication of victims and direct the country, without further delay, towards a society of justice, guarantees and rights for all equally.

Translated by: Sofia Spaziani