Carlos Alberto Montaner
By: Isabel Pereira Pizani - 10/07/2023
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In moments of sadness I always turn to the images of human beings who have left indelible marks on our lives, such is the case of Carlos Alberto Montaner. I found in his last letter a phrase that reflects his thought: "Democracy and freedom are within the reach of any people who want it." This affirmation becomes more compelling when we verify or live what separates us from democracy and freedom, the subjectivities, the ideologies, what we profess, the lies that have invaded us and make us believe in great falsehoods. I was able to talk with Carlos Alberto Montaner in Quito, he was very interested in the electoral episode derived from the first disqualification issued against María Corina Machado, a political operation of the regime that prevented her from participating in the electoral process at the time, Faced with such an obstacle, the possibility of taking his place arose, an operation that in the end could not be carried out. An episode that according to Montaner should have been carried out, he was of the opinion that no space should be lost.
These images come to the case when we hear Nicolas Maduros angrily claiming that he is the victim of a media conspiracy that prevents his "multitudinous" rallies from being disseminated by the few media that still exist in Venezuela. He tries to make the Venezuelans' rejection of his dictatorial exercise appear as a manipulation of the media that has almost disappeared in the country, a product of his exterminating policies, Fidel-style against the Cuban media. Today only newspapers and a TV station exist on the island as captive media, totally controlled by the communist regime.
This denunciation by Maduro deserves to be seriously analyzed, it is the technique of turning the tables, circulating a lie that contradicts reality. Maduro has been the man in power with the most repressive power against the media and perhaps the character who has circulated the biggest falsehoods in the media. He charges in his file that he has closed more than 284 radio stations, closed 80 radio programs, removed more than 60 print media from circulation during his government and liquidated 7 TV channels. Its communication repression is strongly documented, the data from the Spanish telephone company is enough, "the telephone company revealed that 1,584,547 telephone lines of Venezuelan clients were intercepted, which translates into more than 20 percent of the total number of subscribers that add up to 7,928,000. The interventions were given by orders of State entities, although not through judicial bodies, but rather by investigative bodies of the police, military, intelligence and the Experimental Security University (Unes). Added to the "tapped" phones, monitoring of text messages, tracking and location of people, and review of internet searches is the blocking of information and news sites by order of the National Telecommunications Commission (Conatel)."
This is a fact that must be taken into account since it refers to the center of the field of the current political battle, it is not a conventional war, with bombs and tanks, it is a great combat at the level of values, of those things in which what we believe or are led to believe.
If we follow the clues of official propaganda, we will see that Maduro is currently trying to transmit a false communication, based on peace, conciliation, defense of freedom, ideas that he launches without any shame, in stark contrast to his repressive actions since the presidency of the country.
Within this strategic framework, on July 5, Maduro dared to launch this message: “Venezuela wants peace, it has always fought for its right to peace. Our people have the right to democracy, freedom, calm, tranquility and that is what we defend on a daily basis and it is what I call the Bolivarian National Armed Forces: defending the right of our people to peace, to development” A message that goes straight to the conscience of many Venezuelans who cannot understand why surviving in Venezuela has become an almost impossible task, to the point that 25% of the country's inhabitants have decided to flee, a diaspora without historical precedents in our country. and in Latin America, they seek outlets in other territories, loaded with insecurities, hungry and afraid of the injustice that leads them to risk their lives in desperate escapes. "The Venezuelan exodus is the largest that Latin America has seen in modern times," according to the United Nations Agency for Migration (Acnur). This is one of the biggest migration crises in the world, along with those in Ukraine and Syria. Of the more than five million that are now spread across Latin America, 1.7 are in Colombia. A large part of these migrants cross, many of them on foot, through the Eastern Cordillera of the Colombian Andes, whose passes reach heights of more than 3,500 meters above sea level. along with those of Ukraine and Syria. Of the more than five million that are now spread across Latin America, 1.7 are in Colombia. A large part of these migrants cross, many of them on foot, through the Eastern Cordillera of the Colombian Andes, whose passes reach heights of more than 3,500 meters above sea level. along with those of Ukraine and Syria. Of the more than five million that are now spread across Latin America, 1.7 are in Colombia. A large part of these migrants cross, many of them on foot, through the Eastern Cordillera of the Colombian Andes, whose passes reach heights of more than 3,500 meters above sea level.
A terrible situation that Carlos Alberto Montaner tenaciously tried to show, demonstrate, before the world and before the leaders of the Cuban dictatorship, as expressed in his last letter to the current president of Cuba "Mr. Díaz-Canel, Marxism, as the substance of communist system, has always failed, with every kind of communism and leader who has tried. Because? It has been carried out among Germans and has already seen the results. It was discussed among the Koreans and you have already seen the consequences: on the same peninsula there is a part, to the north, that does not even have electricity at night. And in the south, on the other hand, it is the developed Korea that exports vehicles, televisions and computers, and the population has a standard of living similar to that of the first world”. One more attempt at the multiple interventions, statements, texts that he pronounced wherever he was in the world, in his tireless struggle for the freedom of his island and other countries in conflict. He tirelessly insisted “Confiscating large and medium-sized companies was a serious mistake that was committed between June and December 1960 in Cuba. Taxing them was enough. And confiscating the small ones was a stupidity that occurred in 1968, when tens of thousands of companies passed to the State, during the so-called "Revolutionary Offensive", some of them formed by only one person, such as taxis and certain barbershops and hairdressers, and, very Despite himself, Cuban society became the most communist on the planet. I haven't come this far to tell you what you already knew. That Marx was wrong was obvious. That communism was based on the appropriation of the productive apparatus was a disaster. That on our island it had caused a tremendous catastrophe, with the cities and roads destroyed, as if they had suffered a bombardment from an inclement power. My time has already passed. The time for Castroism has already run out. In reality, he was born doomed from the start. It is the moment for young people like Rosa María Payá inside and outside the island, who eagerly seek what she summarizes as "the defense of freedom, democracy and human rights." Learn from them. You can still do it. When Raúl dies they will do it to you”. The time for Castroism has already run out. In reality, he was born doomed from the start. It is the moment for young people like Rosa María Payá inside and outside the island, who eagerly seek what she summarizes as "the defense of freedom, democracy and human rights." She learns from them. She can still do it. When Raúl dies they will do it to you”. The time for Castroism has already run out. In reality, he was born doomed from the start. It is the moment for young people like Rosa María Payá inside and outside the island, who eagerly seek what she summarizes as "the defense of freedom, democracy and human rights." She learns from them. She can still do it. When Raúl dies they will do it to you”.
The greatness of Carlos Alberto Montaner shines through in the almost paternal tone that presides over this last communication, where he repeats and lashes out with truths that he supposes the Cuban dictator should know, that he permanently violates, but for that reason he does not relent in his insistence, in his effort to to bring this blind man that is Diaz Canel closer to seeing the history of the world and the reality of his country more objectively: “In Cuba you do not choose between different options, but rather ratify, reiterate, waiting for once the spark ignite the prairie. The technicians of the Communist Party are experts in finding excuses for the crises that the system inflicts on them, but they are not magicians imagining solutions. In an unwavering attempt to touch the stone spirit of Diaz Canel, he reminds him: "Human nature is contrary to Marxism-Leninism, As Alexander Yakovlev, the "father" of "glasnost" admitted to me, one unforgettable afternoon, very close to the Kremlin, in the enormous office of Mikhail Suslov, ideologist and watchman of Marxist essences, already dead at that time (1982). what do we know? Because it has been tried in a hundred different ways under a hundred different leaders, with all the gradations of the elusive charisma, and under various ethnic groups - Germanic, Slavic, Latin, etc. - and behind different religious backgrounds - Catholics, Lutherans, Buddhists, etc. .- and in absolutely all of them it has failed”.
And in one of his final articles he reminds us: “There were enough elements in the 1950s to dismiss Marxism. The two Germanys were beginning to take shape. The two Chinas (Taipei and Beijing) began in the competition. Even a deep look at Cuba itself could reflect how the proximity of the island to the centers of greatest development was reflected. The real Cuba lived yoked to the United States, to its great size, to its capital, to its creative centers. More than six decades later, it has been seen that it was folly to throw it all away."
Montaner does not lose hope, he analyzes the regimes in power and remembers: “Cuba and Venezuela know that they have to make a move in the direction of democratic change, but there is not the slightest symptom in that sense. Cuba has just approved a Penal Code infinitely more restrictive than the one that existed, increasing the "reasons" why the State can shoot you, while keeping hundreds of protesters in jail who went out to protest peacefully on July 11, at rhythm of the song "Patria y vida". He knows that in Venezuela the jails are full of political prisoners and that freedom of information is closed by Maduro who complains about a communication boycott against his poor public demonstrations, trying to cover the sun with a finger, unaware that he is present. the popular rejection of his government is undeniable. Montaner reminds him “Today Venezuela should be producing five million barrels per day. It barely produces 600,000. It has to import gasoline from Iran to supply Venezuelans. The humorous prediction of Milton Friedman has been fulfilled: if the Sahara is handed over to the socialists, they end up importing sand”.
Hopefully the opportunity offered by the long-awaited holding of primary elections in Venezuela can bring us closer to the prediction of Carlos Alberto Montaner: "Democracy and freedom are within the reach of any people who propose it." Thank you Carlos Alberto for having written like a Venezuelan at heart, telling the truth and highlighting the destructive lies of Maduro and socialism. We will continue to hear you: Yes, we intend to rescue freedom.
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