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Where Intolerance Reigns:
Leftist Outrage In Venezuela
Sacrilegious attacks against statues of
Our Lady by the followers of President Chávez make
patent the link between the radical left and a Satanic hatred.
by Valdis Grinsteins
The acts mentioned in this article are
so shocking that if they were not so well documented, one
would doubt their authenticity.
Normally acts of this nature are done by small groups in
secret. Rarely do the perpetrators allow themselves to be
filmed and, above all in Venezuela where they are still
punished by law.
How is it possible, then, that in one of
the main squares of Caracas, the very capital of Venezuela,
hundreds of vandals carried out a veritable demonic festival,
while allowing themselves to be photographed and filmed?
One well-known journalist commented: “Normally,
profaners act under cover of darkness, ashamed of what they
are doing. These acts were done in a public square, in the
light of day, with witnesses. The obscene demonstrators
proudly posed for the cameras.”1
What occurred is so monstrous that all
who read this must vehemently repudiate these abhorrent
acts.
The Followers of Hugo Chávez
On Saturday, December 6, 2003, President
Hugo Chávez’s supporters held a march in Caracas
to commemorate the five year anniversary of the administration.
Among them were the motorized brigades of armed men, known
in Venezuela as the motorizados de muerte (motorized
death brigades). They are all members of the Círculos
Bolivarianos (Bolivarian Circles), a national version
of the Cuban Committees in Defense of the Revolution. Such
groups are often accused of intimidating political opposition
by force.
Arriving close to Altamira Square, a bastion
of President Chávez’s opposition, some 250
of these armed men advanced and gained control of the square.
A little afterwards, the rest of the demonstrators arrived
who were then supposed to continue en route to another section
of the capital.
It should be explained that Altamira
Square became famous during the general strike against President
Chávez. People who disagreed with the communist policies
of the president met in the square. The protests have had
a marked religious note. Perhaps to bolster his image, President
Chavez often appears in public with crucifixes and bibles
and even quoting passages of Our Lord. Such tactics, it
should be remembered, were also used by Fidel Castro who
appeared in public flaunting religious medals and rosaries
before he took power.
To oppose the president’s
deceptive use of religious symbols, and to galvanize Venezuelans
who truly believe in God, opponents began placing statues
of Our Lady in public places for veneration. They organized
processions with statues and prayed the rosary together
in several neighborhoods in Caracas.
Concretely, they had placed several statues
of the Holy Virgin in Altamira Square. Most of the statues
were those under the invocation of Our Lady of Graces. However,
there were also statues of Our Lady of Fatima, Our Lady
of Coromoto, Mystical Rose and Cuba’s patroness, Our
Lady of Charity of Cobre.
Dreadful Desecrations
Having taken control of the square, the pro-Chávez
demonstrators began to desecrate the statues. Amidst shouts,
dances and laughs, they sprayed most of the statues with
red graffiti and “feigned immoral acts with and even
went so far as to relieve themselves upon one of the statues.”2
One statue was “thrown on the ground,
while protesters relieve themselves and spit upon it.”3
Even worse sacrilegious abominations were carried out as
well, but the spirit of veneration and respect prevents
a full description of them here.
One statue of the Mystical Rose “was cast on the ground
and, in a ritual amidst dancing, macabre laughter and violence,
one protester decapitated the Virgin with one blow from
a stick.”4 “The tension in
the square continued for half an hour.”5
When all was said and done, the vandals stole “one
statue of the Virgin of Coromoto, one of the Charity of
Cobre, a Child Jesus and a painted replica of the Mystical
Rose.”6
The protesters did not even try to hide their ideological
sympathies. “Graffiti saying Viva Chávez
was painted on the ground and walls of the square and all
along the Francisco de Miranda Avenue.”7
The Government
and Media: Stifling the News
These acts were condemned in a communiqué by the
nation’s Catholic Bishop’s Conference,8
which also contained a prayer to be said in reparation for
the desecrations.
Incredibly, the Chávez Administration
did not deny the desecrations took place, but even tried
to justify them in the most cynical way possible. Thus,
Vice-President José Vicente Rangel affirmed: “What
happened in Altamira Square…was neither a provocation
nor an act of disrespect toward religion.”9
Since what happened at the Altamira Square was condemned,
everyone in Venezuela knew and commented on what happened.
However, what was presented on television was lamentably
almost as distorted and appeasing as the description of
Vice-President Rangel.
According to the one observer, the
cynical vision presented by CNN was as if “the protesters
symbolically took the square for an hour and damaged some
Christmas decorations.”10
The fact that the leftist media would hide
that which is problematic for them is really nothing new…
Faithful Make
Reparation
Anti-religious plundering continues. On December 9, 2003,
a bomb was detonated in front of a church in Los Teques,
destroying several statues inside. On December 11, three
statues of Our Lady were destroyed in the city of Cardón
where two more statues of the Virgin were demolished on
the next day. On December 15, anti-Catholic agitators attacked
the bombed Church in Los Teques once again.
These facts and others like it
lead one to ask: Does Venezuela face an explosion of anti-Catholic
violence like those which took place in Communist Russia
or later during the Spanish Civil War of 1936-1939?
In face of such sacrilegious outrages
against the greatest and most holy of mothers – The
Mother of God – Catholics should manifest their indignation
and make reparation. They also need to ask: What is the
future of religion in Venezuela when the God and His mother
are so mistreated? What can be expected from the Chavez
government in light of such hateful and intolerant attacks?
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