How is politician and former inner-party adversary Eduardo Fernándezs solidarity with Oswaldo taken by you?
(O) Eduardo is Santiago’s godfather and, in difficult circumstances such as those of the failed coup d’etat of February 4, 1992, he has always been by our side. (S) On that occasion, prior to addressing the nation through TV-channel Venevisión to condemn the coup d’etat attempt, he first stopped here, our home in Caracas, where we were following closely my father’s situation. (O) At the time, I was in Maracaibo with my father (Oswaldo was the governor of Zulia at the time) and, at midnight, Francisco Arias Cárdenas (insurrection leader in Zulia state, who took over the then governor’s residence) approached me and said: “Son, there is no need to worry because the Armed Forces have great respect for your father.” I even witnessed when my father was asked to join the subversive movement and refused. Such are life’s paradoxes. Nowadays, Arias Cárdenas is on the government’s payroll while my father, accused of conspiracy, lies in a dungeon at the intelligence-service headquarters. (S) From
