The escualido pretended to be listening to his chavista neighbor attentively. They both had had a long day. They were both tired, but for different reasons. Their houses, their children and their own countenance revealed their struggle. But each one attributed their condition to different culprits.
The chavista strongly believed in democracy, especially the one created by his Supreme Commander and eternized in the constitution. “In the fourth republic we did not choose freely,” he insisted. “Now we really have a participatory and protagonist democracy, where even Juan Bimba can become an active leader and aspire to any popular election position. We are not like the gringos,” he went on, “who do not elect their leaders directly. We have primaries and recall referendums, in case the man or woman elected does not do it well. That’s true democracy.”
The escualido neighbor just looked at his own shoes and said “aha, ok.”
“You have to vote, vecino. That’s what democracy is all about. Then, you have to actively participate so that the elected officials do their job. That’s why our Supreme Commander included the figure of the popular comptroller. We are all comptrollers. More power for the people.”
"Whatever," the ecualido mumbled and got inside his house.
The chavistas had their primaries and the escualido’s neighbor had been actively campaigning in favor of a young community leader who felt he had the right to aspire to be the next mayor. He was competing against the incumbent mayor, a protégé of the Party’s Vice-President. To his surprise, the young community leader won the primaries; only he did it by a narrow margin. The Party subjected the result to a further evaluation because the leader had to be elected by a solid margin.
Thus, they solomonically decided to overturned the results and allow the incumbent mayor to be their candidate.
“What’s up neighbor?” the escualido asked the chavista. “You look upset”.
“How not to be caliente, neighbor?” he responded. “It’s bad enough that we have to be disciplined and patient. We defend the party from internal and external enemies. We give them the benefit of the doubt and wait for the results of the economic transformation that will turn us into a World Super Power, but this is too much. My candidate had won, fair and square. The party leaders are making a big mistake. They are betraying the legacy of our Eternal Commander.”
The escualido turned around slowly and walked back home. “If they do that to their own people, imagine what they do to those who oppose them, vecino.”
The chavista was about to say, aha; but you can’t let an escualido be right and question the participatory and protagonist democracy bequeathed to them by their Supreme Leader.
“But we have to vote, anyways, vecino. Losing we all win too when we keep our democracy working.”
“There goes your aha moment,” the neighbor said and shot the door.
Notes:
Escualido (squalid, emaciated) was the term coined by Hugo Chavez to refer to his opponents. He used it to make fun the the alleged weakness of his political enemies and their street demonstrations. Ironically, the term in all its meanings, can be now applied to the people's physical decay, regardless of idelogy, and the whole economy.
Chavista. A follower of Hugo Chavez, his party and his ideology. Used with pride by the simpathizers and with disgust by those who oppose them.
Vecino (neighbor)
Juan Bimba. a term attributed to Juan Vicente González, a Venezuelan 19th-century-journalist to depict the average Venezuelan (an average Joe). The term was eventually used by populists of all political parties to gain support from the poor. Hugo Chavez was probably the one who abused it the most, selling himself as the personification of the poor self-made Venezuelan.
Solomonically: from King Solomon; a wise decision.
Caliente (mad, vexed, hot-headed).
Thanks for stopping by and reading
This was my entry to @mariannewest’s 5 Minute Freewrite: Wednesday - Prompt: an aha moment. Details here.
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