Caracas Chronicles

Ana Teresa,

I write these lines when you are days (or hours) away from being born. Who knows? There’s still a chance this will be the first “Father’s Day” we celebrate together.

Venezuela is experiencing, maybe, the most serious political, economic and social crisis of its history. So when we told our acquaintances and friends that you’re on your way, some (the minority) were surprised. A few months ago, on a radio program where mom was supposed to discuss how to economically deal with a pregnancy in a context of shortages and inflation, several listeners even criticized her for choosing to bring you into the Socialismo del Siglo XXI. (Remind me to explain to you the meaning of “shortages”, “inflation” and “socialism,” hopefully in a near future when they become urban myths)

Honestly, we decided to start a family the day we got married. In fact, you could be born on our first wedding anniversary. Mom recounted here in Caracas Chronicles when we discovered that she was pregnant.

Dad and mom’s whole adult life has been submerged in some form of a national crisis, which has only grown with each passing year. We’ve seen how evil has taken over our political life. We’ve seen several of our relatives and friends emigrate. We’ve seen how all Venezuelans suffer the consequences of the economic crisis. We’ve also had to adjust our lifestyles and expectations because of the crisis.

We are passionate about helping rebuild the country when this nightmare is over. We -like most venezuelans- want to fulfill our legitimate right and desire to recover our country, for you, for your siblings and cousins, for your children, and for the children of your children.

We understand and even celebrate the decision of our relatives and friends to leave (temporarily or not) the country, in the legitimate and responsible search for a better future. And from time to time, while watching how everything seems to be falling apart, we can’t help but to ask ourselves if we are doing the right thing by staying in Venezuela.

For now, we have made the decision to stay.

It is difficult to know if we might stay till the day this evil socialist structure collapses. But we want to keep trying. And we are very proud that you are born in this land that we love so much.

When we talk with each other and with our family and friends, dad and mom usually say that since we have seen almost the whole film, it might be best to see it to the end.

Ya te lo contaremos.