In Caracas, Getting to the Heart of a Nation's Bitter Divide
Pacific News Service, News Feature, Vinod Sreeharsha, Posted: Dec 22, 2003
Editor's Note: Friends at work, a cardiologist and a medical technician come from opposite sides of Venezuelan society, and not surprisingly, one supports President Hugo Chavez and one does not. Yet neither fits the stereotypes of the pro- or anti-Chavez forces clashing in the country.
CARACAS, Venezuela--Dr. Jose Antonio Condado supported the recent signature campaign to force a recall vote of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. Robert Dominguez did not. During two years of massive street demonstrations, Condado and Dominguez have supported opposing sides in the struggle over who would lead the South American country, the fourth largest supplier of crude oil to the United States.
Venezuelans remain bitterly divided over Chavez, but Dr. Condado and Mr. Dominguez, against all odds, have grown even closer over time. They perform angioplasty together at the Centro Medico San Bernardino hospital in Caracas. Dr. Condado, a cardiologist, recently threaded a catheter toward a blockage in a patient's coronary artery. Mr. Dominguez, a technician, managed the angiography, an arterial x-ray system needed to visualize the blockage. Due to their teamwork, the patient's chest pain was relieved.
Outside the hospital in the larger society, however, a bitter divide between the bourgeois and the downtrodden remains. The two groups inhabit opposite worlds, rarely crossing paths.
Dr. Condado and Mr. Dominguez are from such worlds. Throughout the crisis, however, their relationship has not only survived but has grown. Their patients come before their politics.
Dr. Condado, 51, is white. President of the Venezuelan Society of Cardiology, he lives in the clean, tree-lined Sebucan district. Its intersections have stop signs though there is little traffic. Houses have gated driveways.
Mr. Dominguez, 25, is black. Abandoned by his father, he lives in a crime-ridden, drug-infested neighborhood in central Caracas. The streets are filthy, the congestion insufferable. The informal economy thrives on the sidewalks, which, as a result, have little space for pedestrians.
On the surface, a relationship between Dr. Condado and Mr. Dominguez seems unlikely. "Chavez is a fraud, only interested in power," Condado says. Dominguez contends that the twice democratically elected President "cares more about the barrios, the slums, than has any past president."
While the deep division in Venezuela over Chavez looks often like a war between the comfortable middle class and the poor, these two men view each other as trusted colleagues with a common objective rather than symbols of their respective classes.
Condado hired Dominguez because, "He had great interest in professional growth ... a very honest and responsible young guy." In addition to managing the angiography, Dominguez administers electrocardiograms and takes patients' vital signs.
Dominguez in turn admires his boss. "I have great access to him. He is open to anything I say." He cites Dr. Condado's decision to open up membership in the Venezuelan Society of Cardiology to technicians and to offer them symposia at its yearly congress as important in his professional development. Both attend the annual Latin American medical conference for the society.
Each man's thinking appears more nuanced than the way in which Chavez's critics or supporters are typically portrayed.
President Chavez's strict currency controls, something many "Chavistas" have cheered, have had a tough impact on Dominguez when he must attend the professional conference because its expenses are typically charged and transacted in dollars. He has had to resort to the black market. Though the restrictions were reported to be eased in late October, Condado in turn could not use his credit card in November at the American Heart Association's annual congress.
Dr. Condado is not a stereotypical Chavez critic. Though Centro Medico is a private hospital, he has also worked at a public hospital for the past 20 years. His criticism of another favorite Chavez program, Barrio Adentro, which employs doctors from Cuba to provide much-needed service in poor barrios, is guarded. Many Chavez critics argue that the Cuban doctors are in Caracas to preach communism to the barrios. Condado demurs from that line, and contends that the barrios' problems are social, cultural and economic. "A few doctors are not the solution, whether they are Cuban, Vietnamese or American," he says.
When not working at Centro Medico, Dominguez moonlights for the Barrio Adentro program, where he implements mobile electrocardiogram and blood pressure testing.
The stereotypical Chavista criticizes capitalism. But Centro Medico, where Mr. Dominguez has refined his skills in administering electrocardiograms, is not only private but works with several U.S.-based cardiovascular technology companies, which produce breakthroughs every few months. Mr. Dominguez then has likely kept his job throughout the crisis because of both wealthy Venezuelans and multinationals. And he becomes an asset to Barrio Adentro with the experience.
As Venezuela heads towards a likely tense referendum vote early next year, Dr. Condado and Mr. Dominguez's relationship demonstrates the inter-relatedness of the two sides. Barrio Adentro is not turning Venezuela into a communist country. Nor will running private industry out of Venezuela likely help the barrios. The two men cannot afford to think otherwise. Both say politics is less important than their patients.
PNS contributor Vinod Sreeharsha is a freelance writer currently based in Buenos Aires.
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