When we are shocked by human behavior, we must let the waters flow under the bridge and focus our attention and efforts to try to understand the unthinkable. More than two months have elapsed since the moment the Venezuelan people and the world became aware of the illness of President Chavez. Now, the time has come to assimilate and face reality.

 

The sharks chase the herd of dolphins; stalk the newborn or the weakest dolphin separated from the rest and easy prey. The wolves surround the flock of stags to corner the weakest one left behind. In our Amazonian rivers, the piranhas smell the blood and frantically devour the wounded victim while in the sky the vultures hover in a deadly dance.

 

With some exceptions, these behaviors are aggressive actions typical of the animal realm. .. they are aggressive but not stemmed from viciousness or cruelty but instead, as survival actions which guarantee the balance of natural selection within the species.

 

Only the “thinking” human beings are capable of cruelty as an emotional response or the attainment of pleasure through the suffering of others. And the definition of cruelty includes a clinical component of anti-social and behavioral disorders. When somebody kills a tiger, he is practicing sports or hunting…when a tiger kills a man, it is called ferocity.

 

Certain attitudes of the Venezuelan opposition to the news that their president had been diagnosed with cancer have been inconceivable. Some of them expressed joy; some others celebrated with pyrotechnic gadgets while others cheered. But please, don’t clean your eyeglasses: you are reading correctly: in the face of cancer…joy, celebrations and cheers. A sort of hysteria was unleashed by the opposition through Twitter, Facebook, e-mails and interviews. We won’t mention their names in respect for their descendants who shouldn’t be burdened with such a shameful legacy.

 

Of course we are not talking about sensible and honorable members of the opposition. An opposition worthy of this definition is an indispensable factor in a democracy because it generates constructive criticism which makes those in power detect and rectify mistakes. We convey our respect to all those sensible and honorable people who are entitled to think differently.

 

In fact, Bolivarians shouldn’t feel surprised; they had already experienced the opportunity to assess the level of compassion of the opposition. Recently, the Bolivarian Revolution was saddened and mourned the loss of several of its emblematic leaders. A General Attorney assassinated; a Governor dying in an accident, a General, a People’s Representative, a Social Activist, and a General Comptroller who lost their lives to different illnesses while members of the opposition celebrated and bellowed a message which needs no further description: “Another one gone!”

 

In the case of President Chavez we will only mention one of the opponents for his irrationality and because he should not have progeny. A “man of God”, priest Jose Palmar, who published by Twitter several messages which included “Long live the President’s cancer!”. Of course, this priest is only Christian in name but not in soul and heart.

 

Since prehistoric times men gathered in tribes until they became nations and established borders. Men are capable of waging wars, invasions, and occupation of territories. They kill among themselves remorselessly. To justify wars they have subscribed international covenants and agreed to respect the wounded enemy or prisoner and the defenseless communities with a minimum of humanism…though in current times certain powers seem to apply a more macabre philosophy.

 

When humans coexist within their family or ethnic group, they generally observe a humanist behavior. In almost every language and in daily life, men and women express their wishes for the good health of others: “hope you recover soon”. When a member of their kin becomes ill, men and women utter numerous phrases of empathy and concern. Searching and researching it is difficult, not to say impossible, to find in any language, expressions such as: “Die!” or “May your illness worsen”.

 

In Venezuela the revolutionary people conceived an expression which reveals their feelings: “We pay love with love”. Facing the illness of their president, this was the reaction of all Bolivarians in contrast to the hideous wishes of their opponents. Soon after recovering from the impact of such news, the popular response came: in a massive demonstration the people conveyed their feelings to defeat the ominous minds and wizened hearts.

 

The disenfranchised, the poor, those who don’t have a microphone or camera to broadcast by the mainstream international media were the ones who marched while their president faced this terrible sickness…they poured to the streets singing and holding placards saying: “Love is paid with love”, “Pa’lante Comandante” (Go Ahead, Commandant) which were the rallying cries of the day among thousands of vows for his recovery.

 

It is hard for the wizened heart to open itself to humanism. To gloomy minds it is near to impossible to view the sun blocked by the darkness and blindness becomes permanent. Weren’t the opponents aware that when their loved ones died, Hugo Chavez did not utter a single word of disrespect but quite the opposite? 

 

Didn’t they become aware that when they were celebrating a horrible sickness such as cancer, they were conveying this same message to all cancer patients?

 

When, as a natural result of chemotherapy, Chavez experienced loss of hair, he had his head shaved and, as a typical Creole, he joked and called himself “Yul –Chavez” referring to the baldness of the famous actor Yul Brynner. Didn’t the opponents become aware that when they laugh at the loss of hair resulting from chemotherapy, they are actually making fun of all cancer patients enduring such treatment?

 

Is it possible that the Venezuelan opposition have no loved ones or friends who suffer from cancer?

 

Aren’t all these opponents aware that when Chavez expresses his desire of overcoming this illness and continuing to live, he becomes an example, an inspiration for hope to all those cancer victims?

 

Is it possible that the Venezuelan opposition wish that cancer defeats all its victims?

 

So, in the face of astonishing human behaviors we better let them pass and stop our attempts to understand the incomprehensible. Furthermore, we know that should Chavez one day invent the vaccine against AIDS, the Venezuelan opposition would accuse him of “puncturing people”.

 

But the essential things always transcend the inexplicable.

 

Venezuelans state they don’t believe in witches, but declare “Indeed they fly!”. The opposition don’t accept the Revolution but Bolivarians know that “It goes forward”.

 

Notes in earnest:

 

Going back to humane and sensible matters, we must answer the questions of friends from other countries who wonder about the truth on the state of health of President Chavez behind the media barrage which appears to be losing credibility by the hour.

 

To all these friends, we will make a summary of what occurred, how it came to pass and the actual situation.

 

-         Chavez underwent a medical check-up which detected an illness

 

-         Ipso facto a barrage of news and reactions emerged, from the natural concern to twisted and ill-conceived information broadcasted even by the international media. From the always-present Miami we received rumors about “medical reports” of doubtful sources: a critical medical condition and severe deterioration and even death, accompanied by an enthusiastic analysis about his replacement.

 

-         Such rumors faded after an official communiqué by Venezuelan Minister of Foreign Relations informed that President Chavez was being checked up for a new health problem. With the invaluable support of Fidel (Castro) and Raul (Castro) along with the excellent medical system in Cuba, Chavez underwent medical tests which revealed the existence of a lump in the pelvic area which had to be surgically removed. Nothing more, nothing less.

 

 

 

He was heard to say: "I am recovering from an illness I had". "Our Bolivarian Revolution goes forward!" he stated while he gets ready for the upcoming presidential election in 2012.

 

The gloomy minds and wizened hearts keep on suffering from other chronic diseases which are clearly incurable...they dream in secret with medical fables.

 

In the meantime, we all must wish good health to everyone...yes, everyone. To the Bolivarians and those who are not; to Bush, Aznar, and Blair, so they enjoy their retirement pensions; to Obama, Gadhafi, Sarkozy and all chiefs of state in this planet; to Christians, Buddhists, Moslems, Jews, Atheists, and people of all faiths; to all men and their families and friends we wish "good health" because a worthy human being cannot and should not ever, wish for a serious illness to anybody.

 

We are human beings, not animals with the savage instinct to take advantage of the weakness of others...let's leave this to sharks, wolves, and vultures.

 

- Jean Araud is a radio commentator and producer.

 

Translation courtesy Patricia Barba. Radio La Nueva República. Mexico

Published September 20 2011