The Monk's Memoirs

Rafael Trujillo, Dominican Republic's dictator until 1961, shaped the mind of Giordani, who then influenced Venezuela for so long

Jorge Giordani, a communist born in the Dominican Republic who became one of the closest allies of Hugo Chávez, was finally sacked yesterday. He wrote a long letter in Aporrea. There he tries to tell the story of his life, the struggles he had, his relationship with Chávez and how his downfall went during Maduro's term.

Several things become more clear than ever:

1) the guy was a real believer, a fanatic

2) the guy confirms a bit of the struggles going on within the regime

3) the guy was strongly moved by his childhood traumas with the cruel dictatorship of Rafael Trujillo in the Dominican Republic.

It is kind of scary to think Venezuela wasted billions of dollars and corruption, always present, blossomed to ever higher levels precisely because of the power such a real fanatic - not a cold profiteer like Diosdado Cabello - could have for so many years. The ignorance Giordani had about economic and historical issues was just staggering and yet he was the key person to design Chávez's wrecked economic policies, policies that were completely unsustainable and that only fostered more corruption.

It is ironic that Giordani would be so traumatized by his childhood - the dictatorship of Trujillo and the stance his parents had - that he would end up destroying so much of Venezuela, a country that so openly opposed Trujillo.

Stay tuned. Different boligarchs will try to defend themselves after this. Corruption will go on, although the regime might become more pragmatic, which could make some adjustments for its own survival - at least for a bit-.

Ps. if you want to learn a bit about dictator Trujillo, you can read Vargas Llosa's masterpiece, The Feast of the Goat.