By Fernando Buen Abad on January 4, 2025
Nicolás has been there. He has proof, in his way and his means of obedience to his people Photo: VTV
In the years that Nicolás Maduro has been obeying the mandate given to him by his people through the direct, universal and secret vote, through the dialectic of all conflicts or through the legacy of Hugo Chávez, a long lost friend of the soul, he has matured in his own way, a side of struggle that radiates clarity and clears paths from the very interior of Bolivarian socialism and Chavista humanism.
In the thicket of the thousands of daily challenges that surround the daily battles of Nicolás and his people, there is one that catches me and impresses me in a special way; it is his un renounceable struggle in defense of humanity.
I learn, as I can, of the intense days of study, debate, synthesis and corrections with which Nicolás forges his critical and self-critical perspective. I ask questions, I read, I analyze the methods and serendipities that influence observations, balances and decisions. I can’t see much, I don’t have that much strength, but in what I see shines that magnificent vein that surprises me and engages me: and that is his daily praxis in defense of humanity.
Nicolás has been there. He has proof, he has pictures, he has footprints and he has enough gray hair to root, in his way and his means of obedience to his people, all the vicissitudes, the anecdotes and the strokes of luck with which history and life have endowed him so that he remains firm in the obedience due to the will of the sons and daughters of Simon Bolivar. Each event carries an extraordinary semantic weight of warrior tradition. The old people say that it is well-born to be grateful. Maduro is one of those.
Nothing that happens in the revolutionary creation of Nicolás Maduro is something only for his people because his people is the entire humanity, with all its historical, geographical, poetic and philosophical load. And it is not that much observation is required, he is in charge of making it visible, but the deep plot of the methodological springs where the master chess is played, on 100 simultaneous boards, where the data comes and goes galloping hypothetical fields for the defense, for the intelligence and for the attack, Nicolás tends an accurate synthesis that always manages to assert itself in defense of humanity.
I don’t know where he learned to deploy such virtues, perhaps they come from his cradle, perhaps a lot is Hugo’s school, certainly not little from his teams, but there is a ray of exact syllogism with which the pearls of the revolutionary logic are strung, which finds resonance boxes in its historical maturation, in its times and in its rhythms. In the melody of the plan of struggle that weighs on his shoulders and in the concrete phase of the living legacy that Nicolás wants for his time and for the time to come. I know this because I have listened to him when I have been able to accompany him.
Putting humanity at the center of centers, in the hours of the most diverse simultaneous battles, calls for a special strength of principles and convictions. I do not know where he gets them from, but I sense it, because at a certain point in a thousand battles, while shaking off the dust of the road or the dust of the stars, a leader with that moral and ethical scope, fighting with his people, for his people and from his people, manages to harmonize the slopes and derivatives in defense of humanity. As Hugo did. Nicolás is of that lineage.
This is not a compliment. I am one of those who think that friendship is of little use if criticism is abandoned. I have mine for Nicolás and I never hide it from him, nor do I begrudge it. It would be a lack of respect. But I am a critic aware of his limitations and impediments and I am a critic who always includes the contexts and pre-texts of every action, in every action and towards every praxis. It is not perfect. And in that of criticism, more than one injustice has been committed against Nicolás, his decisions and his circumstances. Especially the injustice of trying to supplant, with abstract opinionology, the only criticism that really counts, which is that of his people. And yet, no criticism has eclipsed in any way the relevant praxis of Nicolas in defense of humanity. Neighborhood by neighborhood, sector by sector, guild by guild. Year after year. To recognize is not to renounce.
It implies to go up into the concrete battles in the muds and in the hells, against imperialist invasions, aggressions to the currency, regimentation of terrorists, betrayals and corruptness. It implies having dealt with the bourgeois media beasts, with the businessmen who lost their compass and homeland, with the petulant politicians of the “left” and the right, with the intellectuals of the “pitucos”, with the whole bestiary, in short, that hates the people, that hates the revolution, that hates Bolivar, that hates Chávez and that hates Nicolás… that hates Venezuela. And that is why he shines as his work and his dedication shines, without pause, without haste and without fear, in defense of humanity. It is a privilege to see him.
Source: telesur, translation Resumen Latinoamericano – English