Protesters burn US and Israeli flags in Caracas, July 24, 2026. Photo: Maxwell Briceño/AFP.
By Luigino Bracci Roa – Jul 30, 2026
A person close to me lived for a few years in a place in the Tuy Valleys, which was dominated by a thug… a guy who had several murders under his belt, sold drugs, and all that. My friend is a super decent person, he did not want to have anything to do with the thug, but he absolutely had to get along with him when he ran into him (greet him, etc.), like anyone in a neighborhood dominated by a thug.
My friend plays the Cuban tres. The thug sometimes started playing music with his buddies, and he would call my friend to spend the afternoon playing with them. And my friend would have no choice but to go play the Cuban tres with him, smile at him, and pretend that he was having a good time, because rejecting a person like that… well, just imagine what would happen to him and his family.
I know that some of you, idealists, would say: “Well, what your friend had to do was get a gun and shoot the thug three times,” but in the real world, no one does that. That is cool for movies, and in the real world, every now and then a Fidel, a Che Guevara, a Chávez appears who decides one day to change history. But 99.99% of people are not like that. Everyone resigns themselves to living with the thug, hoping that one day circumstances will change, that the thug will die or be arrested, that one can move away, whatever.
How do we deal with this thug we have in Washington violating all the norms of international law and killing people left and right, trying to become the false savior of the world? I do not agree with what the Venezuelan government is doing by letting itself be robbed by this thug, but what else can we do? Do we start shooting with a power that has an annual military budget of one trillion dollars?
And even more now, when we have thousands of buildings destroyed and tens of thousands of victims and survivors after the damn earthquake?
I am sorry, people, I am really pissed off with everything: with the $13 billion that the Americans have stolen from us, with the supposed “debt restructuring” of $200 billion, with the hydrocarbon and mining laws (among others), with seeing journalist friends whom I used to admire doing “somersaults” in the public media to say that everything is fine, that we are sovereign, that the United States is a great partner, that the new Hydrocarbons Law is the best thing that could have happened to us, that “this new political moment” is wonderful, that the Israelis and the Americans help us selflessly.
I am extremely angry and hurt by the blockade and censorship imposed on people like Luis Britto García, Mario Silva, La Tabla, CEDES, the PCV, and so many other comrades who are our references, for trying to analyze the situation in which we are living.
I am extremely angry with the horrible treatment we are giving to former allies like Iran, with seeing that we no longer even mention Palestine but welcome their murderers with open arms and big smiles; with seeing Trump mocking us; with seeing that our political leaders can no longer say they are anti-imperialists, socialists, communists, chavistas, or leftists. That sometimes they say one thing in the morning, and in the afternoon they have to say another because the US forces them… all of that makes me very angry, and I suppose it makes them a thousand times angrier.
But the question remains the same as the one we have been asking ourselves since the afternoon of January 3: what do we do?
And no one answers me.
The only thing I ask of the government: I do not want any position, I do not want to be famous or be interviewed. I just want to keep saying what I think, without anyone saying that I am creating a mess because I said on my personal social media what I think about the United States, Israel, Trump, and imperialism. That if one day we gather with some friends in a square to say that we are against the United States and Israel, the government would not send the police or people in disguise to attack us. Let them understand our anger.
I try to understand and comprehend the extremely difficult role Delcy Rodríguez has at this moment, and I try to console myself by thinking that this is preferable to having María Corina in power, persecuting us and killing us all, closing ministries and universities, banning books and songs, “burying socialism” (with all the socialists) as she herself promised.
My friend ended up leaving the neighborhood, and he has a better life now. I do not know what happened to the thug. We cannot leave the planet in which we live… “our dear, polluted, and unique spaceship,” as Walter Martínez used to say.
I try to think that at any moment there could be a change, that the Orange-Wigged Scoundrel could be removed, or whatever.
And I hope it to be so. And we can recover at least part of what we were, and more importantly: we can create well-being and prosperity for our suffering people, who deserve it so much, and that is what socialism promises.
But also try to understand us, to realize that we walk the same path, and that you cannot expect us to remain silent while facing this difficult situation.
Featured image: already there
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/SC/CD
