Donde Vas, Venezuela?

February 21, 2014 — imperialism, petroleum, revolution, students, Venezuela

I lived in Venezuela in the early 1960s.  My father was manager of operations for Mene Grande Oil Company, aka Gulf Oil.  I lived in San Tomé in a remote petroleum camp in the llanos.  I lived as a petroleum princess and listened to Radio Havana because it was the only station that came in clearly.  We lived an opulent life surrounded by fences and guards.  Trinidadians usually worked as servants in our homes because they were bilingual.  We had one very high lifestyle in every respect.

John Kennedy was shot before I moved to South America, which was unsettling.  Race riots were taking place in the states, but we were isolated from that reality hanging out at our private social club in the tropics.  We lived in extreme segregation, but thought nothing of it.  The seeds of revolution are planted many years before they mature.  The wealth discrepancy in South America was shocking, but since it was all to our advantage we were told it was inevitable.  These experiences all became part of my knowledge of the world and later part of  my politics.  I distrust all imperialists and their motives.

With a simplistic agenda to end unbearable insecurity the students began to march last week in all the cities in Venezuela. The outcome of this battle will be significant and was long in the making.

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