I don’t care about Maduro, as far as I’m concerned, they can shoot him if they want. What matters to me is walking through the streets of my city and seeing the faces of fear on my neighbors. The military patrolling to prevent looting due to panic. It’s a collective hangover, a horrible one.
It’s 2016 all over again. It’s seeing despair entering the circulatory system of all Venezuelans, only now it’s more sudden, and we are painfully aware of it.
This is far from improving, and we know it.


Bit harsh IMHO.
It’s being human. Not everyone is prepared to throw away the future they planned for and have been working towards their whole life on principle, especially if the end result of that action is bugger all.
I might not agree, but I get it.
These high level guys have the wealth to sue for their pensions. Courts will restore them if the orders they refused were illegal.
Will they though? Pre-Trump, probably. Today? I wouldn’t bet my future and retirement on it.
SCOTUS, no, but I’m pretty sure this would be a civil lawsuit.
Well there’s plenty of us who never got a single second of the “future we planned for”. Sure its a bummer to have something you thought was nice and have it turn into something awful, but that doesn’t mean you should turn a blind eye towards your morals. Doubly so if you happen to be in the military.
So then you might understand that if you’re in the lucky group who is on track to get it, it might be hard to give up?
No I’m saying that is a selfish and greedy viewpoint. It only holds up if you only think about yourself and your own family. If you are in the military, you should be concerned about more than those in your immediate circle. Joining the military for selfish reasons is absurd already.
I’m sure there are as many reasons as there are people for joining the military. I’m not saying you’re wrong, I’m just saying that I understand their rationale. If I had to choose between ideological purity and comfort for my family I’m not 100% sure what I’d choose. I’m human after all, and looking after your loved ones absolutely comes first.
I currently have limited the comfort of my family due to the inability to make a large salary without betraying my morals and values. I’m not even in the military and I can realize that its better to show my children what is right rather than make excuses so they can have the easiest life possible.
Edit: apologies if it seems Im attacking you directly.
Right, but you can see the difference, can’t you? They quit because they couldn’t continue because that would put them in the position where they had to betray their values or their future for no gain.
I wish every single serviceman would have said “No, we’re not going to murder civilians”, but that didn’t happen either. I respect those who stepped away more.
I’d argue the no gain part but it is true nothing is guaranteed. Its still an abandonment of duty either way in my opinion, but it is definitely worse to stay and just go along with things so there’s that.