MARTÍN MUCHA
@ Mart1nMucha
Sunday, February 2, 2020 - 5:56 PM
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Freedom, ”shouted the Venezuelan diaspora in Madrid. And Juan Guaidó ended like this - apparently - an exhausting and vibrant day in the heart of the city. Thousands gathered behind their backs. So many, that some unbelievers talked about photoshop. Three hours of sleep in 24 hours. And he would still not sleep a few more. For that someone who was looking forward to it and at a certain distance, who was chasing him with his eyes in every act, who had slept even less than Juan himself.
For the president in charge of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and the National Assembly of his country, the stop in the capital of Spain was not just a mass bath. That it was. Nor is the scenario of the government's displacement of Pedro Sánchez and Pablo Iglesias. Guaidó had to come to Madrid, take advantage of his arrival in Europe for a transcendental reunion for him. And it took place late at night. I had to see someone I didn't see long ago. To someone who, for a few hours, would cease to be an image on the high resolution screen of his mobile.
The man who every night gives him the blessings by videoconference - who migrated to the Canary Islands while he became a student leader, then a deputy and today the greatest enemy of Nicolás Maduro - was finally able to meet his Juan at 10:35 p.m. . "I've been waiting for you for a little while to hug you," says Wilmer, his father. "It's been almost five years without seeing you."
Together with Wilmer, now a taxi driver in the Canary Islands and formerly an air pilot in Venezuela, we rebuilt the visit to Spain of the Venezuelan politician. It's nice because he doesn't shut up what Juan, diplomatically, can't say. It's dad's opinion, not a politician ...
His son Juan on Sunday, January 19, had managed to circumvent the tight control of Nicolás Maduro and crossed the border. He arrived in Colombia to meet with President Iván Duque. Also with the US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, in the middle of the Hemispheric Summit against Terrorism. Then he would start his European tour. In London, Boris Johnson received him on Downing Street on the 22. Last-minute guest at the Davos Forum, the next day he was able to meet there with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. On Friday 23, Emmanuel Macron received him at the Elysee Palace ... La crème de la crème Europea supporting him. The next stop was Madrid and the big question. With Pedro Sánchez, the first European president who had the courage to recognize him as "president in charge of Venezuela", would he have an official meeting? Even the trip from the Canary Islands - where Wilmer lives - depended on this.
"THERE IS NO EXCUSE"
Now that Sanchez co-governs with Pablo Iglesias, who has openly supported Nicolás Maduro, the answer was clear. A resounding: no. Still the Guaidó were attentive to a last minute change of mind. He finally did not. And Wilmer is diaphanous: «Pedro Sánchez will have had his motives. But I think it has been bad for everyone. What he has done is very ugly. My son has received the top leaders of the United Kingdom, Germany, France ... And that he did not ... There is no excuse. Father's Word
In spite of everything, the visit to Spain was already cannot be postponed. There are 105 Venezuelans seeking asylum every day. In 2019 alone, 39,776 residence permits were granted to citizens of this country for humanitarian reasons. Venezuelan immigrants - including those with a European passport - now exceed 300,000. Like Wilmer, who arrived here in the first blows of the Chavista government. It arrived in 2003 as an escape. Hugo Chavez had been in power for four years now.
Juan Guaidó and his team prepared the visit to Madrid as a challenge. With the support of the president of the Community of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, and the mayor of Madrid, José Luis Martínez-Almeida, she was able to organize a demonstration in the middle of Puerta del Sol. It became a pulse between opposition and government, between him and mature. Juan Guaidó confirmed his visit to Madrid on Saturday, January 25.
And that's how Wilmer finally returned to see his son. His flight from Tenerife arrived on the same 25 at 11 in the morning. Juan Guaidó landed in Madrid that day about 2:30 p.m. Wilmer, not to be a hindrance, without greater desire for prominence, went straight to the center of Madrid. He knew his son's agenda was reloaded. Only an hour later, Guaidó had an encounter with the leader of the Popular Party, Pablo Casado, in Casa de América. Lilian Tintori, the wife of Leopoldo López, his friend from the university, accompanied him. Afterwards, Foreign Minister Arancha González Laya chatted with the president in charge of Venezuela in the same place, not at the headquarters of his portfolio. At 17:50, he received the golden key of the capital. The Deputy Mayor Begoña Villacís, of Citizens, touched the Guaidó with her words: «I do not welcome him to the house of Madrid but to the largest house in Europe of Venezuelans».
"THE WHISTLE OF A BULLET"
For father and son, the deal in Madrid has been a boost after Juan suffered a real persecution in Venezuela. Maduro-related media releases fake news about him and his daily. They have even been accused of running over a child. The president of the Constituent Assembly of Venezuela, Diosdado Cabello has set the target for him: «Look Mr. Guaidó, you have not heard the whistle of a bullet nearby. He doesn't know what it feels like when a bullet hits three centimeters or a quarter of where you are and you hear it when he does it ... He doesn't have the slightest idea of what that means.
Juan Guaidó compares in his speeches in Madrid the situation of Venezuela with that of Syria. It speaks of a "humanitarian tragedy." A country that, in 10 years, has lost two thirds of its GDP, when it is the country with the largest oil reserves on the planet ... «That I came to Madrid is very important. So they could hear him. In Venezuela there is no possible communication, the media are kidnapped. It was good that they saw him and heard the truth from his mouth. There is a lot of Venezuelans in Madrid and a lot of Spaniards who sympathize with Venezuela, which is against repression. My son fights for his country, for his freedom, ”Wilmer tells Chronicle.
The incident at the Barajas airport between the Vice President of Venezuela, Delcy Rodríguez, and the almighty Minister of Transportation and Secretary of Organization of the PSOE, José Luis Ábalos, also sneaks into the hall talks. She spent seven hours in the terminal, when the sanctions received by the European Union could not even step on Schengen territory. Wilmer also thinks about what happened: «It is very ugly also what is happening with the vice president of Venezuela. Let her cross European heaven and soil when she was forbidden ... She is not loved in Venezuela. He doesn't even want his country. It is part of the evil in Venezuela ... Maduro's entire team are terrorists, because they rule using terror, hunger, lack of medicines ... The brothers Rodríguez [Delcy and Jorge Antonio] and Maduro. For me that is a Terrorist dictatorship.
Still kicking the encounter with Sánchez. «And I think he should have attended to him because he was the first to recognize him as president in charge of Venezuela. It is not understood ... Sanchez was very clear then. I believed in him. One is guided by the word he gives. I believe in the word, that you have to keep it. And he hasn't done it ... Maybe it was because of the support he has and needs from Podemos. I don't like that man ... They will see his policy how it goes ».
IN THE DOOR OF THE SUN
The 190-centimeter silhouette of Juan Guaidó looks out over the balconies of the Royal Post Office. Shortly before 20 hours he had received the International Medal of the Community of Madrid. Outside, a crowd. "The Puerta del Sol only gets like this at the end of the year," says Wilmer, at a safe distance. "We are not going to give up," shouts Guaidó already in the square. Everything ends. The last meetings remain.
And at 22:30, the hug with dad. It is one with high symbolic load. There are five million Venezuelans who have left their family away. Even the president in charge and his father live it that way. «I am half shy for these things. That's why we look for a moment alone. I don't get used to it ... ». He wants to clear up any controversy by his words. «I think like ordinary people and I want my opinions to be taken. They are those of a father ». Juan looks at his sisters whom he had left with 13 and 14 years and today they are 22 and 23.
"I am his older brother, in case they have forgotten," he tells them with an accomplice humor. With them it is a reunion that has taken nine years. To see his son again was Wilmer's wish for Christmas: "I didn't know I was going to start the European tour ... I jokingly told him on New Year's Eve: I see you this year." And it happened. From the hotel they pass to a house on the outskirts. They have time for a paella. «It's Juan's favorite dish. In Venezuela we call it seafood rice ». His son escapes a kiss on the cheek, incredulous to see him, that he is next to him. Already as president, as predicted by his grandmother Rosita when she was still a baby.
They talk about theirs. From Tenerife, from Caracas. To come back. That does not happen five years until seeing each other again. «Every day I talk to him. When you love each other, you continue like when you last saw him. This is how it happened ».
At 3:30 they said goodbye. Juan went to Barajas. Wilmer to his hotel to try to get some sleep. The father says goodbye like this: «God bless you. It protects you. A kiss. I love you Soon we will see each other. Pa'lante ».
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
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