Similarities / Rebeca Monzo

They say that comparisons are never good. This can be very true, because the comparison almost always ignores the notion of time and space. Each phenomenon should be seen in the context within which it manifests itself. But there are similarities, it can’t be denied.

Again listening to the shortwave, I hear the sad news: After three months on a hunger strike, defending his land and his rights, the 49-year-old farmer Franklin Brito has died in a military hospital in Caracas.

Immediately, without any intention on my part, it calls to mind Orlando Zapata Tamayo, who died in similar circumstances.

How can the government of a country that considers itself democratic, prosperous and just, be so awestruck by the politics of my planet, that it would try to imitate it in every way, despite the visible results? Now, going even further, it has let the father of a family die of hunger simply for asking that justice be done.

If these are not similarities, please, tell me about it.

August 31, 2010