We Are Not Going to “Throw in the Towel”

That the political, economic and social situation in Venezuela is complicated: it’s true!

That we have to keep candles ready and water jugs filled in case we lose electricity and water: it’s true!

That we may not be able to find basic goods today, or the money to feed ourselves: it’s true!

That we might die waiting to be seen at a hospital: it’s true!

That we don’t know whether we or our children will come home alive: it’s true! A terrible truth!

But it is also true, a Truth with a capital T (and a V for Venezuela), that if all of us Venezuelans who dream of a better country for our children and grandchildren “throw in the towel” and abandon the fight and our work, we will be doing some people a great favor and letting them do whatever they please, to the very end, in this Land of Grace where God willed us to be born, and which belongs to all Venezuelans. We love this country with all our soul, because here are our roots, our memories, our grandparents, our parents, our aunts and uncles, children, cousins, nieces and nephews, and also our fellow Venezuelans.

Another giant Truth, with a V for Venezuela, one that gives us great hope and encouragement to keep going, is that there are many people here giving everything down to the marrow, contributing anything from a grain of sand to a truckload of sand, so that this country may set out on the road of Justice, Truth and Peace. How could we “throw in the towel” and leave them here? We can’t, because we are a team!: the winning team!

When you know, live and work with so many people on that team, you know we cannot “throw in the towel,” just as Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi and Lech Wałęsa, among many others, did not throw it in. Just as Yoani Sánchez has not thrown it in: she was living comfortably in Switzerland and went back to Cuba because her father fell ill, and there she is, fighting for her country’s freedom. And like them, so many others who have become the great figures of history for changing the course of a nation at the cost of their own lives, lives of total self-giving to others.

As the German playwright and poet Bertolt Brecht said: “There are men who fight for a day, and they are good. There are others who fight for a year, and they are better. There are those who fight for many years, and they are very good. But there are those who fight all their lives: those are the indispensable ones.”

It is with these men and women (thousands upon thousands!), some known and others unknown, who are working silently and tirelessly in this country, that a great and Dignified history is built, the one that will end up in the history books as the example to follow. It will be the story of the triumph of perseverance, of work, of honesty, of study, of preparation, of excellence, of fortitude, of patience, of unity in the tireless fight for justice, truth and peace for all Venezuelans!!!

And for those who have had to leave our country but still hold it in their prayers and in their hearts, here is a quotation from the Russian composer Igor Stravinsky: “The smell of Russian earth is different, and it is impossible to forget something like that… A man has one birthplace, one homeland, one country; he can have only one, and his birthplace is the most important factor in his life. I regret that circumstances separated me from my homeland, that I did not bring forth my works here and, above all, that I was not here to help the Soviet Union create its new music. I did not leave Russia of my own free will, even though there was much in my Russia that I disliked. But I have the right to criticize Russia, because Russia is mine and I love it, and I do not grant that right to any foreigner.”

So here we will stay, with the towel firmly tied on, even if it’s dirty, caked with mud and even stained with blood because of the crime! A towel we cannot yet wash, but the time will come when we will, and we will leave it shining like the sun!!!

We are not going to “throw in the towel,” because we are convinced that those who fight for the values of their Homeland will never have anything to lose, even if they lose their lives along the way. Because if we leave this earthly life along the way, because of crime, we will reach eternal life in our final Homeland: Heaven, since we owe nothing to anyone.

That is what makes us totally and completely free, because, as Jacques Philippe says: “No one and nothing can take our inner freedom from us.”

That is why we are not afraid, and we will keep going, without rest, with God’s help and for as long as He wills, for as long as life allows us here in our beloved Venezuela! Virgin of Coromoto, our mother, protect all our families!