El Blog de Montaner

By Carlos Alberto Montaner

I met the Gessens, a married couple who are both psychologists, as liberals – in the European sense of the term – and I saw them again as ambassadors of Venezuela in Canada, during the second government of Carlos Andrés Pérez. I remember that Vladimir Gessen never ceased to be useful to the Cubans who were fighting to be free. Once, when many thought that Gessen could be president of Venezuela, we crossed our fingers. More than 20 years ago, Hugo Chávez messed everything up and moved the country back to the 19th century.

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Por Carlos Alberto Montaner

Conocí al matrimonio de psicólogos Gessen como liberales -en el sentido europeo del término- y los volví a ver como embajadores de Venezuela en Canadá, durante el segundo gobierno de CAP. Recuerdo que Vladimir no cesaba de ser útil a los cubanos que luchaban por ser libres, junto al diputado Germán Febres Ch., expresidente del partido Nueva Generación Democrática. Cuando alguna vez se pensó que Gessen podía ser presidente de Venezuela, los cubanos cruzamos los dedos. Pero Chávez, hace más de 20 años, lo estropeó todo y devolvió el país al siglo XIX.

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By Carlos Alberto Montaner

The question everyone is asking is whether Donald Trump will be prosecuted or not. Supporters of the former president believe that “Democrats are so vile and heartless that they are willing to put a former Republican president in jail after falsely blaming him for some crime.” The adversaries assume that, after the testimony of Cassidy Hutchinson, they have no other choice but to act ex officio.

Cassidy Hutchinson was a prominent employee of Mark Meadows. She was in the middle of the turmoil on January 6, 2021, when the assault on the Capitol took place. Meadows was the last chief of staff for Donald Trump and, judging by the criteria of one of the experts summoned by NPR (The Gateekepers: How the White House Chiefs of Staff Define Every Presidency), he has been the worst of all. He was a yes man when it took someone with enough nerve to tell the president that he was wrong. (And almost no one would dare say “no” to President Trump, according to those who know him firsthand.)

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Por Carlos Alberto Montaner

La pregunta que todos se hacen es si Donald Trump será enjuiciado o no. Los partidarios del expresidente creen que “los demócratas son tan viles y desalmados que están dispuestos a meter en la cárcel a un expresidente republicano tras inventarle algún delito”. Los adversarios suponen que, después del testimonio de Cassidy Hutchinson, no les queda otro remedio que actuar de oficio.

Cassidy Hutchinson era una destacada empleada de Mark Meadows. Estaba en medio del trasiego humano del 6 de enero de 2021 cuando se produjo el asalto al Capitolio. Meadows era el último jefe del gabinete de Donald Trump y, a juzgar por el criterio de uno de los expertos convocados por NPR (The Gateekepers: How the White House Chiefs of Staff Define Every Presidency), ha sido el peor de todos. Era un yes man cuando se necesitaba alguien con entereza suficiente para decirle al presidente que estaba equivocado. (Cualquiera le dice “no” al presidente Trump, afirman los que lo conocen de primera mano).

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By Carlos Alberto Montaner

Everything was very civilized. Very Colombian. Very polite. President Iván Duque, whom history will acquit because he has not put a peso in his pocket, called him, congratulated him and offered to meet with him. Álvaro Uribe said something that honors him. It was his first reaction to Petro’s victory on Sunday, June 19, “To defend democracy, it is necessary to abide by it. Gustavo Petro is the president.”

Gustavo Petro, on the other hand, thanked the “young people” and “the oppressed minorities.” Regarding the first ones, he is right. His victory cannot be explained without the young people who gave him their first vote at 18, 19, 20 or 21 years of age, helped by the lack of historical memory, considering that the assault of the Palace of Justice occurred in ancient, almost biblical, times, in 1985. As for the “oppressed minorities,” it is not known exactly to whom he refers. He will have to explain it.

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Por Carlos Alberto Montaner

Todo fue muy civilizado. Muy colombiano. Muy educado. El presidente Iván Duque, a quien la historia lo absolverá porque no se ha echado un peso al bolsillo, lo llamó, lo felicitó y le ofreció reunirse con él. Álvaro Uribe dijo algo que lo honra. Fue su primera reacción ante el triunfo de Petro el domingo 19 de junio: “Para defender la democracia es menester acatarla. Gustavo Petro es el presidente”.

Gustavo Petro, en cambio, les dio las gracias a los “jóvenes” y a “las minorías oprimidas”. Con los primeros tiene razón. Su triunfo no se explica sin la juventud que le dio su primer voto a los 18 años, a los 19, 20 o 21, ayudado por la falta de memoria histórica, dado que la Toma del Palacio de Justicia ocurrió en los tiempos remotos, casi bíblicos, de 1985. En cuanto a las “minorías oprimidas”, no se sabe exactamente a quiénes se refiere. Tiene que explicarse.

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By Carlos Alberto Montaner

Donald Trump has tried to sell me golf balls signed by himself, books, hats, photos and countless other things. I have never answered him. It must be an extraordinary business. They multiply the costs by 10 or 15. Some joker included me among his supporters months ago, and since then, they send me that junk from Trump’s office, and the former president invites me to some public events, as if I were important to his group, with the assurance that he will make some genuinely momentous remarks.

Republican Senator Marco Rubio was not wrong when, during the 2016 campaign, he said that Trump was a con artist or a con man. It was an accurate depiction. Trump is a man who makes you feel important to sell you things that border on the scam – a degree from a ghost university, an overpriced apartment in Manhattan, or a humble book of which he appears as the author but that was actually written by a ghost writer, and that Trump has not had time to read. His niece, psychologist Mary L. Trump, affirms that her uncle has the nine characteristics of psychopaths suffering from narcissism, to the extent that she wrote a book on Trump, Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man.

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Por Carlos Alberto Montaner

Donald Trump me ha intentado vender bolas de golf firmadas por él mismo, libros, gorras, fotos y el ‘mundo colorao’. Jamás le he contestado. Debe ser un negocio extraordinario. Multiplican por 10 o 15 los costos. Algún gracioso me incluyó entre sus partidarios, y desde entonces, hace meses, de la oficina de Trump, me envían esa ‘pacotilla’, y el expresidente me invita a unos actos públicos, como si yo fuera importante para su grupo, con la advertencia de que hará unos señalamientos genuinamente trascendentes.

El senador republicano Marco Rubio no se equivocó cuando, durante la campaña del 2016, dijo que era un con artist o un con man. Lo retrató. Trump es un señor que te hace sentir importante para venderte cosas que bordean la estafa: un título de una universidad fantasma, un piso sobrevaluado en Manhattan, o un humilde libro de su autoría que fue escrito por un ghost writer que él no ha tenido tiempo-de-leer. Su sobrina, la psicóloga Mary L. Trump, afirma que su tío tiene las nueve características de los psicópatas enfermos de narcisismo, al extremo de que escribió un libro sobre el sujeto Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World´s  Most Dangerous Man.

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