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January 16, 2005
The Bolivarian Revolution in Zugzwang
By DANIEL CHAVARRIA
Progreso Weekly
In
chess, when a player is threatened by a deplorable situation it is said that he is in Zugzwang. Such is the case, for example,
when a knight threatens both rooks. Due to the unpleasant certainty of losing one of them, Zugzwang forces the player to decide
which of the two he is willing to lose and is more bearable.
On Friday, December 17, 2004, Bogotá newspaper El
Tiempo published that according to Voz –the Colombian Communist Party weekly – Rodrigo Granda had been arrested
in Caracas by the DISIP (Venezuelan security agency), in a joint operation with DAS (Colombian political police). Granda is
an important member of the Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces’ (FARC) diplomatic team, with more than 20 years as
a guerrilla.
Taken to the border in the trunk of an automobile, the Colombian police announced that he had been
captured at Cúcuta, Colombia.
Since the case caused a ruckus and for several days Venezuelan authorities had
no say in the matter, a score of high caliber progressive intellectuals (Noam Chomsky, James Petras, Calvo Ospina, Martín
Almada, Aram Aharonian, Pablo Kilberg, among others) in a respectful manner addressed an open letter to the President of Venezuela
asking him to clarify the issue. Several days later, in his regular program Hello, Mr. President, Hugo Chávez declared that
the Colombian police had lied to the people and to President Uribe of Colombia. Then Jesse Chacón, Minister of the Interior
and Justice, confirmed the participation of Venezuelan military personnel, who received a bribe of one and a half million
dollars. In the last few days, there has been more news: Granda was using false documents in order to live in Venezuela; he
was invited to the meeting “In Defense of Humanity”; he was not invited, but he was seen at the Hilton mingling
with the guests; he was captured this or that other way … Details are not essential; and it’s better not to wander
around the trees so as to see where the trail leads through the forest.
It seems that those in charge of fostering
the Pentagon’s Plan Colombia have decided to use the Zugzwang: either the Bolivarian revolution sides with the guerrilla,
thus forcing a deterioration of official Colombian-Venezuelan relations, with the subsequent conflicting escalation designed
to favor an invasion, or increases its legalist policy and acts against the guerrilla adopting a position favorable to the
Colombian government, thus losing face before the world’s movement of the left.
Undoubtedly a difficult
situation, but nihil sub sole novum. Those of us who trust President Chávez’s augural insight, his bravery and loyalty
to just causes, are persuaded that the Bolivarian revolution will come out unscathed before any Zugzwang. It surely will find
the move that preserves its present prestige among the peoples and progressive intellectuals. And if it momentarily affects
the integrationist process that it is leading at present in Latin America, well, tough luck – the future is brighter.
As an example and precedent, we can look up to the Cuban revolution: since the time in which some wanted to manipulate the
sugar quota, or similarly with oil, or in the face of the humiliating alternative that the gringos would inspect its territory
in search of missiles, Cubans always responded with bravery; and in the face of great threats and imperial prepotency, Fatherland
or Death was and will always be its supreme watchword.
And on the Bolivarian Venezuela and its followers all
over the world, we have no doubt that in the present Zugzwang, President Chávez will play the Truth Defense and, if necessary,
the Hormonal Variant.
________________________
Uruguayan
born Daniel Chavarría, a resident of Cuba, has been hailed by critics as one of the top Spanish-speaking writer of detective
novels. He is the only non-English speaking writer to win an Edgar award in the U.S. His books have been translated into Italian,
French, German and English.
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