Better late than never:
the President took a step forward
enezuela's President, Rafael Caldera, finally took
a wise step forward in the road towards grounds for new economic order. Without the
President's words on April 15, it would have been most difficult þnot to say impossibleþ
to overcome the most serious crisis suffered by the country for the past years.
Rather than specifically appraising his words, one must stress on the more than
ever compelling need to accept with courage the challenge of facing the inevitable
consequences resulting from the measures to be taken by government to implement the
President's word.
If such action is to serve as a good spell on Venezuelans against the diversity of
ills suffered during the most recent years, there is no doubt that we must all learn how
to bury our grudges. There is no need for another review of the causes that led to the
current situation and much less to blame them on the politically most convenient
scapegoat.
The present is difficult and so will be the near future. The road that we now
choose is full of hurdles and only the union of all Venezuelans around the ideas that
were sketched in President Caldera's address will be able to prevent the reality of what
Toqueville said on the fact that revolutions do often topple corrupt systems precisely
when these assume the reforms that are needed in order to save them.
This first step towards a modern world is a radical change in the way wow we have
been understanding government action in Venezuela, but economic reform by itself
shall not suffice. Venezuela's political reform þas a Stateþ must be dealt with
simultaneously. Economic freedom without political freedom is nonsense; economic
freedom without an honest judicial system is an aberration; economic freedom without
reforms in education does not warrant success and, last, freedom without responsibility
is a dive into anarchy.
Let us hope that we have finally reached the necessary level of conviction to
follow bravely the road to a modern Venezuela. If our forefathers did not walk away
from challenges that under our present perception seemed insurmountable, why is it
that to day, with greater resources available, the Venezuelan citizen should not be able
to overrun the difficulties burdening him. If those men were not afraid of the future
and left us a country that is open to a wide range of possibilities, why shouldn't we build
a future today free from all myths and defeat inertia, our worst enemy.
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