My Memories of the Macuto Sheraton

I never thought the television report I saw about the Macuto Sheraton would affect me so much. I try not to let the news get to me, and I struggle every day to keep hope very much alive, because I believe that is the only way to face the thousands of problems we Venezuelans who live here are suffering, trying to move our families forward and helping to build a better Venezuela for EVERYONE.

But that report touched me to the bottom of my heart. I went back in time (about 30 years) and saw myself running with my brothers and sisters up and down the lobby stairs, when my family used to visit relatives from abroad who stayed at the Macuto Sheraton, then one of the best hotels in the country.

When I saw the state of that staircase, the rooms, the pool, the beach (where my mother, my five siblings and I went every day in August, there and back, and swam happily among the crowds), I couldn’t hold back, and I began to cry like a little girl of ten, the same little girl who also ran through the hotel’s beautiful restaurant (which now looks as if a bomb had fallen on it) when our relatives invited us to eat there and found the food very cheap!

I also remembered the day I went down to La Guaira shortly after the tragedy, and felt immense pain when I saw in person how everything had been left. At that moment I thanked God because the government had promised to rescue Vargas and had said that in a short time it would build a state with urban development like the best in the world (because there was money to spare). I imagined thousands of well-planned homes for so many people of Vargas who had lost EVERYTHING in a moment. I dreamed that very soon we would once again have that playground of our childhood, with the famous Rey del Pescado restaurant, the Tomaselli, my beloved Macuto Sheraton beach… I dreamed of an impeccable Vargas state, where tourism experts would make the most of its unmatched natural beauty and the warmth of its people. Thousands of tourists would come to enjoy that wonder!

That was more than ten years ago, and my dream has still not come true. In that report I also saw the remains of the supposed Tourism University, where thousands of young people could have studied, and the Hotel Meliá Caracas, which has been left in complete ruin.

I ask the people of Vargas: what do you feel when you see that reality? Do you think the government kept its promise to build a planned, developed, tourist-friendly state? Have you ever thought about how many jobs could have been created if just those two hotels I mentioned had been restored and put back into operation? Have you ever thought how wonderful it would have been to have a university for your children close to where you live?

All I know is that those of us who truly love Venezuela, and ALL our Venezuelan brothers and sisters, want promises to be kept and not to be left dreaming of a better country for our children and grandchildren. That country can begin to be built NOW! with the immense economic and human resources we have. But that will only be achieved with the participation and unity of competent, honest people “of every color” who are very clear that their mission is to SERVE ALL Venezuelans, not to serve themselves. Because in the end we ALL want to “Live by Living” happily, and nobody wants to live suffering and waiting.