We know culture shapes our
personality and beliefs – we may accept, it may orient or disorient us in
certain ways. But how does politics, political system and regime shape our
lives, disrupt it, and intrude on our personal relations? Most of us feel victimized
by our governments – we hate it, bear it, and change it for good or worst
outcomes. But imagine, when you can no longer separate your personal and family
life from the fate of your country; when your nation's political and economic
scene no longer holds assurance to your dreams, but rather seeps into your
relation, unsettles it and makes your everyday life difficult. Paula Ramón's memoir
Motherland brings us face to face
with the tragedies born out of a political system, and fueled by its crisis.
Venezuela, its
political and economic turmoil, has formed the background for this memoir. However,
this story is relatable to many of us in Latin America, South Asia and Africa, and
elsewhere, where we have experienced how politics and people in power shaped
our childhood memories, our lives now and the kind of future that our country
holds for us. Venezuelan politics and economics have been ruthless to Paula,
her family, her relations and many like her. But this memoir is not an
acceptance of defeat of an individual against her country. This is a memoir has
been written as a relief and to heal her memories associated with her mother,
her family and her country Venezuela.
Paula takes us
to 1970s Maracaibo, when the Venezuelan oil reserves promised prosperity to
everyone. Intertwining her family roots, beliefs and political changes in the country,
Paula provides enough evidence on how a once prosperous country with even
richer history slowly met its downfall. Old political leadership plunged the
economy into crisis, while those promising a new future, didn't prove as good
their nationalist virtues and propagandas. Result – repressed citizens,
citizens dazzled with nationalism, few privileged and many underprivileged
citizens, and citizens feeling rootless in their own nation.
Born in 1981, Paula
first became a witness and then a victim of the changes in Venezuelan political
system; she could never cast off the shadow of the one or other form of political
crisis from her personal life, as if her generation were born to accept it – crisis,
one that never resolves. Paula recounts how her parents managed to at least
provide their children a secured life amidst the deteriorating economic
difficulties in the country. But, things were to change soon. Chavismo and
Bolivarian Revolution would soon change the color of the nation – supporters
saw it in rainbow colors of their savior and his power. However, the social
color described by Paula is rather dark, and so became her personal life, torn
between a country that no longer holds any promise to her future, and her love
and responsibility towards her mother, who didn't want to leave her house.
Just like Paula
has been open about her family relations and its inner chemistry, she hasn't
failed to give her views and take stand on her fierce and satirical criticism
of Chavez led Bolivarian revolution and its futile promises. There may be difference of opinions, but the impact
on the social, economic and personal sphere, breaking families and causing large
migration from the country cannot be ignored. Those of us, who know little
about social consequences of political development in Venezuela before and
after Chavez, this memoir will be an eye-opener, as if we lived through it,
experienced it firsthand – to see through deteriorating democracy giving rise
to populists and saviors, who turn into dictators.
'True, Chávez was extremely popular, but winning elections with the help of a biased National Electoral Council, discretional use of state resources, and the Congress and Supreme Court of Justice in his pocket was not exactly democratic.'
Here we find the
portrayals of Paula's father and mother, who found each other and settled in
Maracaibo, trying their luck to establish a prosperous life, driven in part by
dreams and aspirations, and in part believing richness and future of the land. We
see their lives marked by political upheavals, events, and beliefs, as if they
were surrounded and possessed by a political drama, which imposed its rules on
them, on their happy life. Like Paula has written in the book, she was raised
just like a postwar child, driven by beliefs of her parents who had values –
gift of their memories and experience of poverty and war.
When the economy
of Venezuela took a tumultuous path, its oil income and economy didn't make for
the public debt and deficits. While the government was hitting hard to show a
polished image of a successful nation, economic indicators and the market were
all in havoc. And while people's belief guided and blinded by the authority, state
media and power left the country divided and led to fractured and weak voices and
backups, corruption, depreciation, violence, inflation, food and power shortage
led to everyday struggle to manage resources. Paula's family, like many other
families were caught in this trap. What we see is a lonely mother sinking in
this crisis, and a daughter trying to save her from the shore.
'Political Instability frightened my parents, and economic instability suffocated them.'
Further, what we see is politicians driving the country through patriotic sentiments and nationalist agendas, without able to manage its resources nor able to improve its declining economy. Like said earlier, people were divided, people had grown frustrated with politicians and had longed and saved their enthusiasm for saviors. With the rise of Hugo Chávez (with a military background), we see how he used power and support to orient the whole judicial and electoral system to his favor to further his power and tighten the regime (which is what his successor Nicolás Maduro is doing now), crumbling the old political parties, and thus creating a "political polarization." Amidst all this, Paula and her family, show sign of disintegration, especially after the death of her father.
'Every personal or professional moment of my life during that time
was in some way marked by the political crisis.'
Demonstrations
were everyday part of their social life when Paula tried to make a living as a
journalist in Caracas, and country was torn between pro-Chávez and oppositions,
state hated the private media and even toppled many of them. Meanwhile, Chávez
took control over PDVSA, the national oil company, a foundation to Venezuelan's
economy, killed protests, defied the oppositions, used state resources to fund
popular social reform programs and cashed in votes that helped him stay in
power, through "illegal maneuverings." Paula was trying to find
stability, tried to be independent, and support herself and her mother. Chávez
was taking control over the private businesses and was ruining them,
nationalizing revenue entities but failing to curb the inflation. Market demand
was barely fulfilled by the supply, leading to increased price of commodities
and formation of parallel black market. This memoir shows unfolding of power-politics,
unveils the layer after layer of a state in ruins and a failing fate of a
family reflecting that of the country.
'When you live far from home, the nostalgia comes and goes. You
romanticize memories and wallow in the absences. You survive on stories, and
the adage that the past is always better becomes truer by the day. Reminiscing
becomes your favorite pastime. I insisted on reliving things that were dead.'
Paula's complex
relationship with her brothers and mother, shaped because of individual
personalities and choices but also because of country's crisis, led them each
on their separate ways. Paula was torn between her own personal life, her
career and her responsibility towards her mother who had been left alone. Paula
had to live outside Venezuela for one or another reason. Her mother, who once
took charge of the family after the death of her husband, and who tried to keep
her honor until the end of her life, was sick and lonely. Paula took the
responsibility of making her mother's life easier at home, taking care of both
her basic needs and emotional needs. We see, how Paula's realizations, that
further strengthened her love for her mother though she had a complex relation
with her, she tried her best to understand her, provide care for her – as if
her mother had become her only link to the country.
'It became obvious that we didn't have what it took to survive the collapse of Venezuela as a family.'
Failing system
of basic necessities to the citizens, banking crisis, plundered national
currency, surging poverty due to skyrocketed inflation, massive corruption, high
homicide rate, high migration rate, dissent voices silenced by oppression, all
this were leading Venezuela to a path to becoming a failed petrostate. Over the
years people's saviors have turned into someone they hate, for making their
lives so miserable, uncomfortable and disgusting, with their authoritarian
dictatorship. Despite thousands of demonstrations, Venezuelan democracy and its
people continue to suffer. This is not a narrative of some regional powers –
Paula's memoir is as true as a daughter can be to her motherly love.
This memoir may
be burned, banned, or dismissed by cynics and those in Venezuelan power, but
its truth will stand out, it has stood out – the cause and cost of humanitarian
crisis in Venezuela. Paula's memoir is against all those in power! Paula's memoir
is for all the daughters and mothers! The book is not only about motherland,
but also about motherhood, love, sacrifice, responsibility and resilience.
A must read book!
Original Text: Portuguese
Translator: Julia Sanches and Jennifer Shyue
Publisher: Amazon Publishing
