Often what we think we know, in reality is nothingness itself... As Arthur Shoppenhauer said ‘what we know is a drop, what we ignore is an ocean’. I would like to say that as a Venezuelan, adult and resentful citizen in the country, I was aware of the scope of this news before watching this documentary made by PBS, which is the public television of the United States of America, through its investigative journalism programme ‘Fronline’.... However, to look further than a ‘drop’, sometimes you have to look elsewhere...
Interestingly, I found what I was looking for on a site that I have been using for decades, and which is mostly my ally for everyday entertainment... And yes, I mean that this masterpiece of meticulous investigation of the corrupt in political power in Venezuela, is free on YouTube, with Spanish subtitles available and in 4K quality. But beyond the technical aspects, I have decided to make this post to explain in a few words why we are where we have been for the last 25 years.
To no one's surprise, Venezuela is just catching its breath after years of being on the margins of any kind of integrity and life. By no means does this ‘improvement’ mean that our lives are a model for anyone or that we can say loudly that ‘we are fine’. By the same token, part of that scar that has marked the lives of all of us who live in this part of the world is linked to how we had to survive the worst humanitarian crisis in our entire history and our more than 200 years as an Independent Republic....
And yes, it was not only the widespread famine that took the lives of hundreds of thousands of people during approximately 4 uninterrupted years of chronic shortages, falling GDP per capita, capital flight, hyperinflation and price controls on basic necessities on the shelves of all supermarkets? In short, hunger was the currency. I could tell you about my own experience standing in line for days (yes, I am not lying or exaggerating) to be able to buy basic products such as milk, flour, rice, pasta, meat, shampoo or feminine sanitary towels? But in this documentary we see those who made possible that situation that marked us all Venezuelans so much and that didn't happen so long ago...
It started in 2015 and ended around 2019-2020... Between 4 and 5 years of terror, uncertainty, rotten food and poor nutritional quality, which ‘oh surprise’, were touted as ‘salvation’ by those who today direct the political destinies of our stricken, lonely but resilient nation. In ‘A Dangerous Assignment’, all the webs of corruption that led already filthy rich subjects to become even more corrupt in playing with the audience and the will of more than 30 million Venezuelans for almost five years.
And if that wasn't enough... The brave journalists who carried out this investigation, who had to flee the country and seek asylum in both Colombia and the United States, was that the PBS network, and more specifically the investigative journalism program ‘Frontline’ was interested in producing and broadcasting this documentary that shows step by step how the current leaders of Venezuela, businessmen and a social and economic context (manufactured by themselves to measure) created the conditions to carry out one of the acts of corruption and diversion of multimillionaire resource, largest in the history of America and the world ...
This documentary also shows the scale of putrefaction, disinterest and pure evil that exists in those who swear to be by the side of the neediest, while they lure their already bulging pockets with money that in theory belongs to all of us, those who by grace or misfortune, were born, lived through those moments of terror and pain, and are still in this same place... I am not going to spoil the documentary, because the idea is that if you are interested, go to YouTube, and pay attention to all the details that make this journalistic investigation unique, made by Venezuelans for Venezuelans but which, in no way, would have been possible to see or produce on Venezuelan soil...
And I do believe this is crucial... Part of the problem that some people see with the migration of Venezuelans is that they don't fully understand it... Maybe a little on the superficial aspects but they don't know how desperate those years were.... Not to mention the aftermath and what happened socially, morally and educationally.... The language used in this documentary is simple, direct but extremely attractive both for those who are familiar with the drama of Venezuela and for those who do not have the slightest idea of what happened. A look at the past of those politicians who, far from solving the problems, have managed to deepen them? All of it, driven by the same old thing: money, dangerous but traditional money...
