The Price of Survival is Loneliness
Two months ago, a good friend had his first baby. We’re very close. I haven’t been able to visit. I know little Samuel only through his Facebook photos. It has been months since the last time I invited...
View ArticleMercedes Pulido: 1938 – 2016
Mercedes Pulido, who passed this Tuesday, was a peculiar kind of intellectual: a thinker, activist, politician, teacher, mother and also a great cook, whose hallacas were famous and eagerly awaited...
View ArticleMax Weber in Villa Rosa
The president walks around the streets after dark, after inaugurating some newly refurbished houses on cadena nacional. But instead of waving at him, people openly show their contempt; an impromptu...
View ArticleThe New Black Pope
When I heard that father Arturo Sosa has been elected to lead the Society of Jesus — the worldwide jesuit order — my mind shot back to April 11th, 2002. I remembered the anxiety, alone at home in...
View ArticlePueblo chiquito, infierno grande
For the hermit I have become the last couple of years, a typical caraqueño might seem too invasive. This is a city where neighbors are constantly up in your business, asking all kinds of questions...
View ArticleGoodbye, social rights
It was Thursday evening a few weeks ago as I rushed home from work. Suddenly, the music on the radio stopped, giving way to the beginning of a Cadena Nacional — a mandatory government broadcast carried...
View ArticleWhat Class Rules Venezuela?
Thursday April, 27th. I rush into the office after several days off due to protests and Metro closures. The National Assembly calls an open session in Parque Miranda (not a march) and I suppose that...
View Article#HowToHelp: Donate to Those who’ve been doing it the Longest
During my time working at Universidad Católica Andrés Bello since 1994, I’ve been involved in many social services managed by the Catholic Church. These initiatives have been here way before this...
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Calculating Our Diaspora
Like many caraqueños, I’ve had to say goodbye to friends and relatives many times. Truth is I am the only one among my neighborhood, high school and college friends still living in Caracas. Even my...
View ArticleOn Politics and Morals
When new negotiations between Maduro’s government and the opposition parties were announced, the internet went mad: talking was treason, negotiating with a dictatorship is unethical, double-crossers...
View ArticleThe Voice of a Victim
Six years ago, on March 12th, my father, Rodolfo González, died. He committed suicide at El Helicoide prison ten months after his house in Macaracuay, Caracas, was raided following his unlawful arrest,...
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