THE MORE THAT CHANGES, THE LESS CHANGES

WEST FROM CARACAS: FRIDAY, DECEMBER 1
I find a small beach hotel with a pool and drink beer and eat fresh fish on the terrace with a young Venezuelan. The Venezuelan runs two open launches for scuba diving and tours of the Marine National Park. He is booked tomorrow by a Venezuelan family. He has had no foreign tourists this season. Either the referendum or the sub prime crisis has kept them away.
He relates his experiences visiting cousins in Australia. Strangers accosted him in bars: he presumed that they were either drug dealers or took him for a drug dealer (Latino). He took a while to realise that Australians were simply friendly. And he needed time to relax and accept that it was unnecessary to ask whether it was safe to walk outside.
"Here nowhere is safe. We Venezuelans need eyes in the back of our heads..."
His dad helped him buy the launches and he is a No voter. He understands the Yes vote.
The poor lived without hope.
Chavez offered change. Many supporters dislike Chavez. However, the alternative is a continuation of the insupportable.
"We are all to blame. Venezuelans think only of themselves. See the way we drive. No one believes in the law or in justice or in politicians..."
Supporters of Chavez are no different. A big wheel in the party has built himself a mansion on the peninsular of the Marine National Park, on National Park land. The politico was penniless before Chavez came to power.
"It is how we are, we Venezuelans. Each for himself..."
I assure him that Cubans are no different. Castro's long term companion, the sainted Celia Sanchez, commandeered Havana mansions for all her family in the first weeks of the Triumph. How do I know? When first living in Cuba, we rented a mansion from Celia Sanchez' niece.