“When you face up to those in power you always do it from the periphery, whether you are in a neighborhood in Maracaibo, a housing estate in Valencia, a university in Caracas, or in any other part of the world.” Venezuelan writer Israel Centeno on exile and the ongoing struggle with having left.
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“My exile began long ago, before I left Venezuela.” Author Israel Centeno – former City of Asylum Pittsburgh exiled writer-in-residence – on how the extreme political polarization and violence that swept through the country in recent years has torn apart relationships and his beloved Caracas.
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In this week’s column, Israel Centeno takes a look at the political myth-making behind “Chavismo”, which he describes as “a religious movement,” fifteen years in the making, used by the government to veil the country’s deepening economic and social crisis.
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Fiction and reality blur on a crumbling internet. “S was lost in his fury. He realized that his old friends, with whom he had shared revolutionary ambitions and hopes in these online communities, had passed into exile, outside the realm of Java, Twitter, and Facebook.”
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Political analyst or disruptive propagandist? A disturbing trend in newspaper editorials in Venezuela. “Analysts interpret. They don’t rebuke, punish, exclude, or explain; that is the job of a propagandist.”
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Passivity, gangsterism, and a lack of unity in Venezuelan politics. “When attempting to describe the government’s regime and its characteristics, the search for unity of purpose within the opposition ends up muddled,” writes Israel Centeno.
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Now that Hugo Chávez is gone, who really has the power and exercises control in Venezuela? Israel discusses Chávez’s lasting effects on the country.
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