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Things That Matter
I took this photo a week ago, as I was walking through the Catia barrio in central Caracas. The man sitting in the trash had put thin rolls of paper up his nose as not to smell the rotten food that he was eating, and those around him are so used to this image that they simply walk on by.
The photo was taken on an iPhone, and not only because it’s far too dangerous to be revealed as a journalist in a neighborhood like Catia, completely run by Colectivos, but also because I had been held at gunpoint and robbed by that very same paramilitary group just a few days prior. I had lost everything but my life and now, using a phone I had been given by a friendly twitter-follower, I was snapping pictures and trying to continue my reporting in a makeshift guerrilla-style way.
As some of you know, I was born and raised in Sweden and was blessed by having some long and loving summers in Texas that shaped me into this strange amalgam of a person; a Jewish woman with middle eastern eyebrows, a Swedish passport and an all-American heart. Perhaps it’s because nothing about me makes sense that I have spent most of my adult life making sense of things – searching for clues about the world and its inhabitant – or maybe I just have wanderlust caused by an upbringing in the Northern woodlands, far from all the places I know call my home.
Two things have influenced me more than all other. One is (as I described here on Ricochet in a previous post) my time in Texas as a young child and another my first visit to Poland in 1993, when I as a precocious 11-year-old was allowed to accompany my father on a work trip. My father didin’t exactly suffer from helicopter parenting so while he was in meetings I walked around Gdansk on my own, talking to strangers and taking pictures with my ancient instamax. I won’t spend this entire post detailing what I saw but I will say that the meeting between a recently liberated East, reaching for the West, moved me deeply. I never got to see the depths of despair under Communism but I got a whiff of it there, seeing a country seemingly rebuilding after an extended war, and even though I was far too young to understand what I had seen or to analyze what I experienced it stuck with me to the point where I can still conjure up those images – of empty shelves next to neon Levis signs – and revisit the visceral feeling of being a visitor from the future carrying a message from a faraway world.
When my father and I had dinner that night I told him about my day and he relayed his experiences from having worked in Eastern Europe in the 80’s, having friends and colleagues be arrested and spied upon and fighting for every inch of freedom under an iron Communist rule. To me, it sounded like the dark part of a fairy tale – when the witch puts a spell on the Kingdom and makes everything turn gray – but later in life I would learn about the realities of what he had told me, and (as Ricochet readers may know) take many turns on my road to fully understand it.
Sweden has long been known as a socialist paradise (a faulty rep as it’s actually a mixed economy/liberal welfare state with high taxes and a socialist veneer) and as such its political and intellectual elite have turned Chavez’ Venezuela to a cause celebre and an example of ideology done right. Sweden isn’t alone in this. Much of the Western world has, after Cuba became too distasteful for even the most hardened ideologists, hailed Venezuela as the last outpost, a plucky rebel state in a capitalist world. Despite ample proof of the Venezuelan people’s suffering, progressive Westerners insisted that the vision of Chavez was sound and upon his death, nearly 6 years ago to the day, there were plenty of tear-filled eulogies over a man who sent his own people into the deepest depths of despair.
So a few weeks ago, when I saw what I thought were signs of real change in this totalitarian state, I decided I had to go and see it for myself and report in whatever way I could from the last outpost of Socialism. I was supposed to stay in Venezuela for six days, and now I am coming up on five weeks, and everything I know has changed in the interim. I knew how bad it was here, but I didn’t know, I had a sense of human suffering but I had no idea what it actually looked like.
In the past five weeks I have seen children dying in the street from starvation and curable diseases, a society lacking even the most basic necessities and a people who has lost all hope. I have been targeted, hunted and harmed for being a journalist, hid under the pulpet as armed Chavistas broke down the door to the National Assembly and seen people line up for over 48 hours to be given a government-issued car battery. I have seen this failed state up close and with every passing day I have more questions and more reasons to stay, because and despite it all.
I have been blessed to be on the excellent Ricochet Podcast a few times since starting my reports from and on Venezuela and in the last one we discussed a possible American intervention, something that my Twitter DMs tell me stirred up a lot of emotions, and before I throw myself into more Venezuelan adventure I thought I would address the issue here, on the best feed I know.
To understand why I am in favor of limited American intervention in Venezuela, one has to consider my background, which is why I bored you with this lengthy prelude. In my mind, America has always been a savior, despite being raised in a country that sat on its high horse an hissed about imperialism and “world policing”. America put things right, using its considerable toolbox to oust despots and set people free and not unlike the superheroes of my childhood, always shows up just in the nick of time.
I get that it’s a hard sell. Venezuela has, long before Chavez, favored strong-arm leadership and nurtured an almost messianic cult of personality in its political life and the same people who elected Chavez as a savior 21 years ago are now looking to be saved by the US and bailed out by a foreign entity. After Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan (to name a few recent examples) my argument for saving America from a Hezbollah stronghold on its border may not win many hearts and minds and, furthermore, a possible (probable) extended war between US troops and Cuban, Venezuelan, Lebanese, Iranian and Colombian paramilitary entities may result in a non-negliable cost of American life and treasure. I get it. To most, and ask like that would simply sounds like chutzpah.
And still, here I am, trying to figure the world out and asking myself and you if maybe, it could be done?
I may be naive, I will grant you all that; Thinking that a limited intervention can be the beginning of a profitable alliance in a highly strategic place, and that this could be a new version of PLAN Columbia that includes a few drones, a Petroleum pact and a long overdue slap in Iran’s face. I may also be emotional, or schmaltzy, as we say, in the face of all this suffering and the people coming up to me, begging for me to get the words and images out there so that the world will finally care about this despot’s slow murder of his own people.
I don’t know how or if this crisis will end or how long I will stay in Venezuela, but I know that every journalist at some point in their career has a feeling that there’s something they need to see through. A week ago I was face down on the ground with a gun to the back of my head, the weight of the Maduro government over me and the legacy of Chavez all around. Two days after that, i sat down with one of the senior leaders of the colectivos, the very paramilitary group that held and robbed me, sharing a plastic cup of coffee and discussing strategies for a possible civil war. This country makes no sense, and so I try to make sense of it. This crisis is underreported, and so I came. This is what I think journalism is and should be – going to the heart of the story and reporting what you see. It isn’t fancy and most often, it doesn’t make you famous. But these are things that matter, and the only way to find some sense.
Apart from my cameras and equipment, I packed very few things for this trip, but I did bring three items for my own enjoyment. Cigars (obviously), a copy of Krauthammer’s “Things that matter” and an old iPod filled with podcasts for those bumpy Caracas flights. I have now spent considerable hours listening to Rob, James and Peter, going back to the very beginning, and few things are as comforting as listening to them duke it out over elections long passed and stepping on segways like a Norwegian entering a Sauna (it’s funny if you know Norwegians). All three things are now in the hands of a colectivo gang in San Antonio Del Tachira and as upsetting as it was to lose everything I have worked so hard for I can’t help but giggle at the thought of a Maduro henchman lighting up a Cuban to the sound of Conservative banter while cracking the spine of Krauthammer’s book.
And to those of you in the comments who said that no matter how much I’m getting paid for this, it’s not worth it, I must disappoint – twice! Not only am I freelancing (and thereby being paid in pennies and booze) but given my recent run-in with the “law” I may end up paying to be here, in more ways than one. It’s not about the money (sorry, Rob, I know this hurts your soul!), I’m afraid. I need to understand this, and make sense of it all before I go and bring a little bit of truth out there among all the disinformation, to help a people I quite honestly have come to love.
We may disagree on a lot, the Venezuelans and I, but we share one common goal and central passion; the yearning for freedom and the fight against accepted truths. It may not be much, but to me, these are the things that matter.
Sincerely,
your (lovable?) fool in Caracas
Published in Foreign Policy, General, Journalism
Technically, I didn’t say what you are doing isn’t worthwhile, just that the recompensation is nowhere near enough. And it’s not.
Be safe.
My heart bleeds for Venezuela, and worries about you, Annika. But I can’t agree to your plea for intervention. Venezuela is not and has not been an American ally. While saving them may be worth spilling blood, I don’t think it should be American blood. The Venezuelan people chose Chavez, quite deliberately, knowing that it meant stealing from the rich to give to the poor. Only after socialism broke the economy did public opinion in Venezuela begin to turn against Chavez. The consequences, in justice, really and truly belong to them. They need to spend their own lives to correct their error and earn their freedom. Our intervening, however admirable it may sound, will simply give rhetorical fuel to the anti-American, anti-Capitalist demagogues, and the socialist scourge will be back in power in a generation or less.
I’d be perfectly fine sending weapons for them to use. Even free of charge. But they need their own anti-socialist revolutionary heroes to put in their history books. And their suffering children need to see their parents fight for freedom. Heartless it may be, but nothing less will suffice.
I think you’re correct in your assessment. The native population must have the most skin in the game. When we’ve attempted to impose The American Way on other nations, with the native population mostly standing around and watching or even resisting, it hasn’t turned out well. The only notable exceptions are Germany and Japan. But that took brutally bombing them back to the Stone Age. South Korea is the only other notable exception, but North Korea is a constant reminder that it was only a partial victory. Ever since our victory in WWII, we’ve suffered under the delusion that we can turn every country into a flourishing democracy. We can’t.
First you have to reduce them to rubble…
The US could strike from a distance. Some well placed cruise missiles directed against Cuban barracks in Venezuela, and military airfields wouldn’t be a bad thing. A warning from the Trump administration that all oil tankers, regardless of the flag they fly will be turned away by the US Navy, and sunk if necessary. Declare a no fly zone over Venezuela. Don’t need to put boots on the ground. We have a canal to protect, don’t need no Russians, Cubans, and Iranians in our backyard.
I don’t think you’re being too heartless.
I don’t think that smuggling in weapons is a good idea, because I don’t really get the impression that any side contains “good guys.” It looks like one batch of Leftist/Socialist kleptocrats fighting another.
It’s not just that the Venezuelans brought this upon themselves by choosing Chavez and then Maduro. I don’t get the impression that the opposition is much better. If they had a Reagan or a Thatcher, or even a Kemp or a Cruz, with significant public support, I’d have more sympathy. They must have people of this ideological persuasion, but it appears that they have virtually no electoral support.
So sorry, Venezuelans. You get to sleep in the bed you made. Next time, think about making your bed somewhere other than a locked cage without any food.
Yes, it has. However, it explodes the myth of how socialism is great for people, so I doubt she’ll ever get it.
But someone should nominate her . . .
Annika:
I have some serious questions about the political situation. I think that your reporting has been focused more on the humanitarian issues. I have no way to know whether you’ll have either the inclination, or the opportunity, to respond.
(1) What is the nature of the Guaido coalition?
(2) Are there any “good guys”?
(3) How could we install a “good guy”?
Sorry to be pessimistic. I’d really like to be wrong about this.
We don’t have to fight a war there. The Colombian’s and Peruvians with some help from Brazil will have to move forward, with the US. demonstrating air support. The Venezuelan military are just crooks, the senior officers will immediately go to Cuba or any country that will have them and let them take their foreign holdings, the junior officers will join the invading forces. In contrast, the Colombian military are real, but the Venezuelan military need to see US air support to collapse quickly. There is no rush however. It has to cook a while, as there is always some chance that the regime will collapse and if not folks everywhere else have to see that as a fact.
It’s Friday 7:30 AM Central and Drudge is reporting that Venezuela has been plunged into darkness – no power – and only one week of food? How is Annika charging the phone? It may be time to get out (if you can) and return after power is restored – this is very very scary and you want to be able to come back whole and healthy.
As I first read through the early paragraphs of this yesterday a few old references came to mind that I wanted to offer up but by the time I got to the end they just didn’t seem fit as well into the true meat of your story. Well, since I have the day off and we seem to have passed the initial (and most important) wave of member commentary, I figured I might as well drop a few in for related interests and perspective.
The first couple came to mind during your first paragraph in discussing the picture and related experience. Such observations passed to the rest of the civilized world are so important…and, unfortunately, nothing new. Here, from five score and seventeen years ago in The People of the Abyss, is Jack London in London:
[cont’d…]
[…cont’d]
Lastly, with respect to your reference to the empty store shelves, there is this from the Victor Serge novel (is it fiction?) The Case of Comrade Tulayev:
It seems the hardest lessons must be learned over and over again. I’m just glad there are people willing to go witness the worst of it an bring the truth back to the rest of us.
One could say Americans “chose” Obama and nearly Hillary Clinton as well. Fully half of Americans support socialists over Republicans. Does that mean we all deserve the consequences of socialism?
But there is a valid concern that whoever could replace Chavez would echo his mistakes. Annika’s plea might benefit from introducing people in the US to Venezuela’s alternative leaders. Or can a people even focus on policies for freedom before restoring basic infrastructure and limiting violence?
If we vote socialism in, everyone, whether they voted for it or not, and even those that did not vote, deserves the consequences of socialism. That is the outcome of belonging to a representative government. You earn the consequences of every election, whether it went the way you wanted it to go or not. That is the deal.
The consequence may involve rebelling against a tyrannical government – which is the inevitable outcome of socialism unless it is voted out again – but we should not do that until our enumerated rights are violated by that government. The first violation will likely be the suspension of our right to bear arms and self-defense, at which point we push back hard. But becoming “the Resistance” before the government suspends rights is a step on the path to tyranny itself.
That strikes me as an impoverished use of the word “deserves,” one that robs it of the normal meaning we associate with it.
Nevertheless, in a participative electoral system, the pledge to uphold the results of an election – whether we agree with it or not – is part of the deal. If our fellow citizens choose poorly, at least part of the fault is ours because we did not convince them of the folly of their choice. So, yes, deserves it the right word.
Snort.
Nonsense. Deserves is completely the wrong word. “Deserve” means to merit, to receive as a natural consequence of choices made. If someone works to his utmost ability to convince his fellow citizens that socialism is insane and will destroy us all, and is nonetheless unsuccessful in persuading them, it is nonsense to suggest that his choices lead naturally to the consequence, or that his actions earned that outcome.
Yea, but deals are made to be broken. Just ask any Democrat or Progressive Methodist. But, I digress.
Getting what you don’t deserve because enough of your fellow citizens support a regime that oppresses you is the source of civil war. So maybe the real observation is not that you “deserve” oppression but that you “deserve” civil war? Throughout millennia oppression by one group over another has fueled migration as an alternative to civil war. But when migration is not an option then civil war is what you get. It literally is “pick your poison”.
This might be the best Ricochet post ever. And more or less shames those who just talk, vs. those who do.
Like you, Annika. Be safe. You can’t fully tell the story you’ve seen in Venezuela if you don’t eventually come home.
This reminds me of something I read recently, in 2 Samuel. King David is under threat by Absalom, who is aiming to take over the kingdom. A lot of folks went along with it. David seemed to get his own house in order, and fled Jerusalem. Later, after Absalom was killed, and David returns, the people are all “Ah yeah, our King is back!”
The “people” are fickle, and don’t seem to have the foggiest idea what they want.
Welcome back to Ricochet!
Many prayers for your safety, the Venezuelan people, and for the work that you continue to do.
Maduro didn’t start as a tyrant right out of the gate. He had to become ever more tyrannical to hold onto power, as he lost popular support as a result of the country falling apart. It isn’t falling apart because of his tyranny, those two things are the effects; the cause is socialist policies. As near as I can tell Juan Guaidó is a socialist. So if we kill a whole mess of Venezuelans and some number of American troops to overthrow Maduro and install Juan Guaidó, what would be the difference? Would we still not see starvation in Venezuela? It would be like staging a coup against President Bernie Sanders so we could install President Cortez.
Here’s another thing to consider. Even if it all went well and Guaidó turned out to be an undercover capitalist who restored Venzuela’s lost prosperity, the U.S. would be blamed for every bad thing that happens in Venezuela for the next 60+ years, the same way that we are still blamed for present-day Iran because we helped overthrow their president in the 1950’s.
So grateful you are safe! Thank you for your sacrifices.
Annika’s latest is at The Daily Beast:
https://www.thedailybeast.com/venezuela-simmers-with-violence-as-putin-sends-in-russian-troops-the-wise-are-running-for-their-lives
Annika is still in danger, along with her new friends.
You’ve made your point, Annika. Now get the heck out of there! Come to Israel where you will find 1001 topics to cover and be embraced by your family of fellow Jews. We even have an extra room in our apartment where you could stay.