A Plea to Diosdado

Diosdado, today I am writing to you because one of the first things you said on taking up that important post (where God has given you the opportunity to be) was: “With me there will be no conciliation.” You, more than anyone, know how hard all these years have been in our beloved Homeland. I don’t understand how, with everything we have been through, everything you have lived and everything you have seen, it is not crystal clear to you that what our country needs most is urgent conciliation (which your predecessor, Soto Rojas, had been practicing with that “monk’s patience,” as you put it).

You also know, Diosdado, that beginning 2012 in such an important post is a great challenge for you, a golden opportunity to do a great many good things for our beloved homeland and for all our fellow Venezuelans, whom you love so much. But above all it is a great opportunity to set an example for everyone, including ALL the members of the Assembly. You are being given a golden opportunity to set an example of respect, coexistence, dialogue, conciliation, Unity and Peace. Will you need a lot of patience? Of course. Will it be hard, given your temperament? Perhaps. But what is one more challenge for you? Can your emotions really control your will and your intelligence? If you set your mind to it, you can achieve that and much more, and it would be one of the greatest victories of your life. If you win that battle, you would do immense good not only to yourself but to your loved ones and to all your fellow Venezuelans (whatever they think or say).

Because, as you well know, what Venezuela needs most is Peace and Unity, so that we can face the thousands of problems and needs we have and all work together (regardless of political, social, religious or cultural condition) to solve the many problems that affect us all. Working that way, Diosdado, is what true social justice means, true Christian justice, the only kind that can lead us along a path of full development to build a truly Great country for our children and grandchildren, who watch us every day and notice everything we do.

Fostering division, hatred and disrespect only harms ourselves and our loved ones. And I want ALL the members of Congress, ALL those who hold public office, ALL who live in our Land of Grace, which has given us so much and urgently needs our commitment to work, unity and Peace, to read that last sentence very clearly.

That is why today, Diosdado, I beg you with all my soul and all my heart to reflect and to turn your radical ideas of confrontation into a radical commitment to peace, conciliation and magnanimity, so that you can use that post for the good of all our fellow Venezuelans. Can you imagine what an example that would be for EVERYONE? Come on, Diosdado, you can do it! You will have my prayers, which I have never stopped offering, that God may bless you and fill you with grace and wisdom so that you act in the best way in this country you love so much. This country that so many of us love madly, and that belongs to EVERYONE.

Do not allow hatred, my fellow Venezuelan, to take root in this corner of the world. Don’t allow it! You know very well the pain it causes our loved ones. And remember that there are many of us (despite our differences) who love Venezuela madly and are squeezing out every last drop of ourselves to make it a Great Country. And in that word Great there is no room for hatred, rancor or anything evil.

So I say goodbye, wishing you and your lovely family all the best in 2012. Don’t let us down, Diosdado! Remember that with God’s help ALL things are possible. You hold in your hands a great opportunity to show that ALL Venezuelans are capable of forgiving, forgetting and moving forward with the good of all in mind, and above all with the country we want to leave our children and grandchildren in mind. I hope that from that post, with great humility, you manage to bring out and give the best of yourself to our beloved Venezuela, so that the power of the people rests on true Justice and full Peace that make Venezuela the best country on earth.