Título: APRIL. INSIDE THE COUP, 5th. edition
Autor: VILLEGAS POLJAK, ERNESTO
Año: 2020
Género: POLÍTICA MUNDIAL
Formato: EPUB
The world situation is presented to us in a very convulsive way; despite scientific and technological advances, contradictions between the reality we live in and humanity's most cherished dreams such as: equality, freedom, social justice and peace are accentuated every day. The predominant capitalist system is showing degenerations which widen the gap between rich and poor, consequently multiplying war conflicts that in turn generate multiple and varied threats to the stability of states.
In this context, Venezuela, which has always been a gravity center in the region and the entire American continent's geopolitics, has been facing marked interventionism, the perverse practice of meddling in the internal affairs of other countries which is normally carried out by foreign powers or power groups through political, economic, social and military actions among others. In this regard, in December 1998, with the election of Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías as president and the emergence of the Bolivarian Revolution, the aforementioned interventionism was dramatically accentuated. This was undoubtedly due to the proposed firm determination of the total transformation of the Venezuelan State towards a more humane, just and egalitarian socialist model, in frank opposition to the excesses that the ruling classes of the bi-partisan puntofijista political model carried out, which affected the whole society and especially the always dispossessed and most vulnerable social strata.
Hugo Chávez managed to carry out in record time an unprecedented process of structural changes which took shape in December 1999 with the approval of a new Constitution by the vast majority of the Venezuelan people. Then, in November 2001, protected by the enabling law previously granted by the National Assembly, he enacted a set of laws aimed at the collective benefit but which affected the interests of economic corporations and traditional party leaders. This resulted in the carrying out, based on manipulation and deception, of protests focused in the city of Caracas, whose climax was April 11th, when a coup d'état was carried out against Hugo Chávez, who fortunately for the good of the people, was reinstated in power two days later.
Ernesto Villegas Poljak, renowned journalist, politician, writer and intellectual, with a well-established career in various positions within the national public administration in which he stands out as President Hugo Chávez' last Minister of Communication and Information, presents us a new edition of Abril, golpe adentro (April, inside the coup d'etat), an exceptional historical report -as he puts it-, in which the depth, sharpness and detail can only be offered by a seasoned journalist, who was very active during that fateful day and who reported these shocking events abided strictly to the principle of truthful, timely and uncensored information.
This work accurately relates not only the coup brotherhood's vileness, who allied with the media's acquiescence and its terrible news opacity, wanted to destabilize the country by generating chaos, anarchy and death, but also strikes with sharp sagacity the ignorance of the conspiratorial elites who tried to seize power by violent means without considering the forceful reaction overflowing with dignity and courage that popular masses would have. It is well known that dominant oligarchies always belittle and demonize progressive currents.
During such unfortunate events, I was appointed as commander of the "Liberator Simón Bolívar" Infantry Battalion, a tactical unit stationed at Fort Tiuna, a place where good part of the sedition acts took place. For this reason, with sincere humility, I can consider myself an exceptional witness and responsibly validate the facts embodied in this work, reiterating the highest professionalism with which the author developed it, qualifying it without fear of being mistaken as one of the most complete, precise and objective works written on the subject so far.
To delve into this extraordinary journalistic work not only delights us in its interesting narrative, but also makes easier the analysis of what could perhaps be described as one of the most complex episodes in our contemporary history. Consequently, it allows us to have a better understanding of the national socio-political reality of that time and that of the present. In April 2002, the de facto government headed by Pedro Carmona Estanga, wanted to destroy in a single act, all the institutions which had been approved by the original power (the Venezuelan people) by popular sovereignty, and this made evident the awkwardness and fascism of such pseudo-leaders.
As a soldier, back then as battalion commander and today as minister of the Popular Power for Defense, with great military pride I am pleased to recall the vigorous movement which emerged from within the Bolivarian National Armed Forces itself which joined the people who vehemently demanded the presence of its legitimate president in order to execute the necessary actions to bring him back to power and to reestablish the constitutional continuity. This fact constitutes the first great demonstration of civil-military union, a beautiful concept sown by the Supreme Commander in the nation's collective consciousness and which currently represents the most powerful and solid base for the comprehensive defense of the nation.
Today our beloved homeland suffers an aggression of greater magnitude than the one suffered in 2002, with new methods and actors who seek to apply the classic forced regime change pattern already applied in many other nations by the American empire. It is a hybrid offensive which combines soft and hard power with the support of some countries and multilateral organizations whose superlative goal is to overthrow the current government and establish one prone to its petty interests in order to seize the country's wealth and undermine the social demands conquered under the shelter of the Bolivarian Revolution.
Finally, I must point out that reading Abril, golpe adentro (April, inside the coup d'etat) constitutes a warning for Venezuelans who love this land of grace, in order to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past, strengthening ourselves in moral and spiritual values, thus as in the most pristine libertarian traditions inherited from Bolívar, Zamora and Chávez, to tirelessly continue fighting for the preservation of the nation's dignity, sovereignty and independence.
is resolved to bury itself
entirely in the midst of its ruins
if Spain, Europe, and the World
insist in stooping
it under the Spanish yoke ”.
Simon Bolivar. Government Palace.
Angostura, November 20, 1818.
Commanding General Vladimir Padrino López Minister of Popular Power for Defense
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