Sunday, May 31, 2015

Farewell to my good friend Manuel Kohn


After a long battle with several illnesses, our good friend Manuel Kohn died in Manhattan this past Saturday.  For those of us who knew him, we remember a man who loved Venezuela, his Country of origin and who, for the past 15 years, fought for its freedom and justice.

I met Manuel five years ago at the exhibit of one of my documentaries about the late Hugo Chavez of Venezuela. Since then we became very good friends. He inspired me to do a documentary about Cuban Political Prisoners. He believed that the Cuban tragedy has become the new Venezuelan tragedy. He called it the Cuban Holocaust.

Manuel was a brilliant man who took New York by storm. He lived in the Big Apple with the love of his life, his wife Beatriz whom he met in high school back in Venezuela.
Manuel was a thinker but above he was funny. He made light of everything and whenever you were with him; you had to laugh. His big line was “don’t worry, be happy.”

Manuel Kohn not only inspired me but also kicked me in the butt when he felt I doubted myself.
I will miss You, my friend because you made me laugh when I just wanted to cry. Thank you for being there for me and your honest friendship.  You didn’t have the chance to see a free Venezuela, but I have no doubt that your wishes will always follow us.

Monday, May 25, 2015

In Venezuelan being an Entrepreneur is a Dangerous thing.

Last week, Trino Marquez wrote an interesting article in El Republicano Liberal entitled “Businessmen to the Firing Squad.”
He claims that in today’s Venezuelan political climate, being an entrepreneur is a bad and even a dangerous thing. 

When I was growing up, my father was a successful entrepreneur. He established several businesses in Venezuela and later after he retired and became bored out of his mind, he decided to buy land on the Southern part of Venezuela. He bought several books on agriculture and, voilà, he started his own vegetable farm. Soon, he was selling fruit and vegetables to the locals. He didn’t even need city water; my dad irrigated his crops from the ground water he had dug out.

The late Hugo Chavez closed and illegally appropriated hundreds of businesses in Venezuela. Chavez’s destructive legacy lingers today under the Maduro regime.
The government, instead of stimulating the production of products, has waged a war against private industry, accusing it of engaging in an economic war. This is a way for the regime to cover up high inflation, crime, corruption, and the unprecedented lack of products in the country. Venezuela is falling rapidly into an abysm and the only way to break free is to topple this criminal regime and convict the negative elements in order to stop this madness.

Monday, May 18, 2015

Pope Francis and Raul Castro

I was disturbed by the welcoming treatment from Pope Francis to Raul Castro.  The Cuban regime has been in power for more than half century and has killed and jailed thousands, and is still in control of Cuba.  Opening the doors to a murder is insulting to the Cuban people that has suffered and continue suffering the brutality of this dictatorship.

The world is trying to forget that the Cuban regime under Fidel Castro and now under his brother has caused a lot of damages not only to Cuba but their neighboring countries as well.

I had the opportunity to meet a group of Cuban former political prisoners from the 60's, for my recent documentary entitled Celebrating Life in Union.  Their stories of abuses tortures, imprisonment, and death are heartbreaking. Somebody like the Pope should be more sensitive toward the Cuban people. They are the real heroes of this tragic Cuban story.

Monday, May 11, 2015

Msduro's blames

Nicolás Maduro describes the news outlets Reuters, AP, AFP, and Agency EFE as psychological war machines operating against Venezuela. He doesn’t seem to understand that reporting facts is the media’s job.  The appropriation of most of Venezuela’s media outlets has given Maduro control over most of the news reported in the country. 

 In a nation where there is no freedom of the press, the only reporting from the regime consists of lies and deception. Maduro expects the world’s media to base their reporting on those lies and deceptions coming from the government-controlled media. 
Maduro’s accusation calling those news outlets psychological war machines that impose their views and control minds is what the Venezuela’s regime has done for the past 15 years and continues doing today.

The truth is that the Bolivarian Revolution started by the late Hugo Chávez waged a war against the free media in Venezuela, starting with the closing of Radio Caracas TV. On May 2007,  
the Government of Venezuela decided not to renew RCTV's  broadcast concession for what it said was the station's role in the 2002 coup which briefly overthrew Venezuela's president Hugo Chavez. Since the closing of Radio Caracas,  the regime has  committed arbitrary closing of hundreds of adio stations and newspapers in Venezuela

Today all of the TV stations operating in Venezuela are controlled by this government. Only a few newspapers remain independent from the regime’s control. El Nacional is one of them. 
The Venezuelan free press and independent journalists have done a remarkable and commendable job to keep the Venezuelan people and the people of the world informed about the tragedy that Venezuela endures today under Nicolás Maduro. 




Wednesday, May 6, 2015

People live in feat in Venezuela under the Maduro Regime

The President of the Venezuela Chamber of Commerce, Jorge Roig fears for his life due to the constant threats he receives from the Maduro regime.  Like many Venezuelans, he is afraid to be imprisoned for expressing his disagreement with Maduro.According to Roig, a business closes every day because the government controls the businesses' purchasing and manufacturing funds.  Maduro consistently states that the Venezuelan private sector is waging an economic war against the government. In Roig’s view, the only thing happening in Venezuela is corruption and scandals that involve high-level government officials, such as the recent case with the Andorra Bank.

In addition to its hyper corruption and impunity, the government violates Venezuelans rights to protest and speak freely. The incarceration of the Caracas Mayor, Antonio Ledezma, and the constant threats and harassment former Assembly Woman Maria Corina Machado receives from this regime are the most recent cases of Maduro’s arbitrary and undemocratic actions. In addition, after a year, political leader Leopoldo Lopez and Mayor Ceballos are still in prison and victims of this dictatorial government Finally, our Venezuelan heroes, our students, are paying very high price, living in subhuman conditions in jails, for protesting.

The Venezuelan people feel the same fear and frustration that Mr. Roig expresses. Venezuela's judicial system is controlled by a regime that lacks respect for the Democratic process, the Law, and the Citizens of Venezuela. These feelings have created chaos and economic instability in the country and the Venezuelan people are drowning in despair.

Tuesday, May 5, 2015

Venezuela in Crisis



Venezuela is the country of the unthinkable. A mother is told by a hospital in Caracas, after her baby had heart surgery, to find pain medicine on her own because the hospital has no more medical supply left.  People are desperate to find food and medicines, white the regime continues mismanaging the country;s resources.