Venezuelan novel “It Would Be Night in Caracas”

  
 
                   Venezuelan novel “It Would Be Night in Caracas”
 
This is the first novel by a new Venezuelan author Karina Sainz Borgo, who has escaped from the misery of Venezuela and has settled in Madrid for the last several years. While the Latin American writers who were in exile from their countries during the sixties wrote Magical Realism novels, Karina Sainz has written a realistic account of the difficult life of Venezuelans under the Chavista regime.

 
The author has given a graphic account of the ongoing political, economic and social crisis in Venezuela. She has narrated the struggle of ordinary people amidst the shortage of food, medicines and other necessities. The Chavista gangs do a roaring business of selling goods in the black-market. The militias control the streets and unleash violence at will. The author calls the gangs as " Sons of the Revolution". The security forces and intelligence services harass, detain and torture the opponents of the regime. 
 
The protagonist Adelaida Falcon has no other option but to go to the black market to buy medicines at exorbitant prices for her mother undergoing cancer treatment in a clinic. Since the Clinic has perpetual shortage of essential items, she has to buy from the black market everything from syringes and saline bags to gases and cotton buds. Her apartment is taken over by a Chavista female gang, who throw  her out brutally. They beat her up and threaten to kill her if she returns to her apartment. Her friend’s brother is kidnapped during an anti-government protest march, detained, tortured and eventually killed by the Intelligence Services.
 
After losing her apartment, Adelco moves into another apartment which becomes vacant after its owner dies unexpectedly. She takes over the Spanish identity of  the owner and escapes from Venezuela to Spain. 
 
The author brings out an important part of the Venezuelan character which attaches too much importance to appearances. She says, “Nobody wants to grow old or appear poor. It is important to conceal, to make over. Those are the national pastimes: keeping up appearances. It does not matter if there is no money, or if the country is falling to pieces: the important thing is to be beautiful, to aspire to a crown, to be the queen of something … of Carnaval, of the town, of the country. To be the tallest, the prettiest”
 
Venezuela, which has the potential to be one of the richest countries in the world, is in a deep political and economic crisis in the last two decades. The crisis has got aggravated by the US sanctions and attempts for regime change. More than four million Venezuelans have gone out of the countries as refugees. Although the economy seems to be turning a corner, it will take some time for the country to return to democracy and normality. Till then, there will be a boom in the novels of Venezuelan exiles like Karina Sainz.