Leopoldo López: belief

Transcript context

…Am I wrong to think there’s an especially strong rivalry, or sometimes even dislike, between Colombia and Venezuela? Where does that come from? There are some people that try to promote that conflict and try to use it. Chávez, especially, was very keen on doing this, to use historical references of the differences between Bolívar and Santander. Santander was one of the leaders of the independence of La Gran Colombia. He was Colombian and he became president of Colombia. Chávez had a narrative trying, basically, to say that the history of Venezuela can be reduced to three episodes: when the Spanish came and they conquered and they killed the Indians; when we got independence and then Bolívar suffered prison by Santander; and then his own period. They tried to simplify that narrative, and this is something very characteristic of populism. Perón, who you mentioned before, was also very keen in doing this. There is this sentiment that has been politically manipulated. However, we have seen the way in which the people from Colombia migrated to Venezuela by the millions during the last part of the 20th century, and now the tide has changed, and millions of Venezuelans are migrating to Colombia. And there is a very natural integration. Venezuela and Colombia, in a way, are very close culturally, historically, and family way. There are millions of Venezuelans that have married Colombians, and now their children are Colombian Venezuelans. I think that that creates a very tight bond between the two countries. Will Chile go the route of Venezuela? Or will it keep its political stability? There seems to be much more turmoil there now than there had been.…

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