RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS
Maduro’s Betrayal
Simon Bolivar was a great man
Leader of the people’s revolution
Father of Latin American democracy
He dreamed of a free continent
Where the poor were poor no more
Where the power served the people
And the people served themselves
After decades of betrayal
By the drivers of western wealth
The rubber, fruit and oil barons
The ones who stole their resources
And left behind a poisoned land
A leader rose in Venezuela
His name was Hugo Chavez
He held forth a dream and a promise
A revival of the Bolivarian revolution
A return of power to the people
An end to soul-crushing poverty
An embrace of true democracy
In Venezuela and beyond
He delivered on that dream
In some measure for a while
He delivered food and health care
He gave rise to people’s hopes
But the power of the privileged class
Forced him to compromise
He lost hold of the dream
He lost hold of his principles
He lost hold of his pride
The nation he handed to his successor
Was a shadow of what it was
No longer a vibrant growing country
No longer one of promise or of hope
Nicolas Maduro took the reins and
Drove the nation off a cliff
He chose the way of power
He chose the way of wealth
Now the people of Venezuela suffer
In hunger and desperation
Poverty of spirit and of wealth
They flee in masses to the north
Where life can be no harder than it is
Nicolas Maduro: Let go of your power
Let go of your wealth
Retain some semblance of your pride
Until democracy is restored
There is no hope
And the Bolivarian revolution
Is but a dream
