An open letter from Martina Mussolini to Nicolas Maduro

My name is Martina and my grandfather Vittorio Mussolini was the son of Benito Mussolini, founder of fascism, a term that you refer to constantly as of late. I understand perfectly, by your behavior, that you do not really know what fascism is, but neither do you know what communism is; your politically rootless populist oratory, solely opportunistic and desirous of power, has carried Venezuela to total chaos.

I write from Italy, where I have lived for more than twenty years, but above all else I write as Venezuelan by adoption because although I was not born in Venezuela but in Forlì (Italy), I had good fortune enough to spend my adolescence in that wonderful country; at this difficult time, my heart and my feelings are towards my Venezuelan brothers. I had to leave that country because no future lay there, and I am sorry to have to repeat to my children, "I will not take you to know the places of my youth, as it is too dangerous a nation, where there is no longer any respect for life, and where those which should ensure justice very often are the first to betray it."

The statesman who was my great-grandfather, Benito Mussolini, fought, loved, and suffered for his people and at the time of his death, when he was hung by his feet in Piazzale Loreto, not a single coin fell out of his pockets! You improperly label as 'fascist' the students and citizens who demonstrate peacefully for a free, secure, Venezuela with a future.
Mr President, although you apply a policy of dictatorial repression that increasingly brands you as a coauthor to its crimes, what is fascism? Removing the sole tragic stain of its racial laws, fascism made an Italy in every corner of the nation, created a national identity and founded culture and schools; it built factories and cities, even with the few natural resources of Italy; it united a people. It crossed the Mediterranean, carrying our civilization and our culture to Libya, Eritrea and Somalia, and also built roads in those countries and schools—contrary to the colonial policies of the other countries that were essentially limited to exploitation. It was understood that a war was to be harmful and, being denied when seeking help from democratic nations such as France and England, we were thrown into the arms of the Germans: we had to accept, for our defense; listen to the speeches of my great grandfather, often naming the Germans and doing so with contempt .. "A people who ignored writing…in a time when Rome had Caesar, Virgil and Augustus."

Mr. President, tell me what is this fascism which you name in every speech? Fascism is a revolutionary political movement which proposes overcoming the liberal-democratic state and the communist state with a "third way", indicating that the construction of an ethical-hierarchical state founded on the corporative alternative, that eliminating the capitalist exploitation which is class struggle, creates a nation and thus a people conscious of its own mission.

Fascism was born in 1919, near the figure of Benito Mussolini and derived from what was left of the "interventionist left" after the battles of the Great War, won in Italy by escuadrismo that annihilated the power of the socialist party and thanks to an act of insurrection, the March on Rome, October 27 to 31, 1922, allowed its founder to be appointed Prime Minister. Fascism, once in power, had to give up its republican and revolutionary aspiration, building a "dualistic system" where monarchical prerogatives long coexisted with the institutions of fascist proletarian inspiration. After the fall of Mussolini (25 July 1943) and the subsequent unconditional surrender of the Kingdom of Italy, fascism returned to power for a short time during the brief period of the Italian Social Republic where it could reacquire its Republican approach to start the social revolution that was forever among its founding lore.

Mr President, right or wrong, these people have left a mark in history, pages of glory cited with pride, and pages of tears that one or the other front cites fiercely, evoking us not to forget. Mr President, did you know that fascism and its performance is still spoken of today, and justly so, in the European Community by eminent economists, due to the progress and development that such a movement can generate? If the fundamental principles of the Verona manifest were to be implemented, Europe would be out of its economic crisis; let us consider that the English economist M. Shanks, director of the European Commission, in his book "What is wrong with the modern world?" justly indicates Mussolini's Corporate State, in the face of the persistent crises of liberalism and Marxism, as the only model to overcome the existing contrasts in Parliamentary Democracy, concluding with: "there is no alternative, either the Corporate State or state collapse," this inspires deep reflection given that is affirmed by a world-renowned economist in the current context of a global crisis!

Let me say that, those students which you unjustly pursue, those mothers, those women, those merchants, those workers, that entire wonderful people who freely express their wish to live as a united, committed Venezuelan people, are not interested ideologies of left, right or center! They are hungry! They are tired of endless queues for a piece of bread; they want to be able to heal in their country, where there are now no medicines; they are terrified by a steady increase in crime which remains unhampered by security forces. Most cannot understand their own condition of extreme poverty whilst living in a country with huge natural resources and unlimited economic potential, neither of which Italy has or will possess.

The oceanic masses that take to the Venezuelan street are simply those brought to exasperation by an undemocratic, corrupt regime that promotes an unprecedented social hatred and does not respect human rights; it is a crime, I repeat, it is a crime to follow the guidance of a directionless country solely out of the lust for power.

I thank God when I hear the opponents refer to Chavistas as "brothers," when I see kids deliver flowers to policemen lined up in front of them and when I see the many messages of solidarity of ordinary people around the world. It is at this point that I ask myself, "Where is the international community to intervene, to alleviate the sufferings of the people? Where are the international organizations that guarantee peace, and progress? Where are they?!" The one which tires, loses. ["El que se cansa pierde," a slogan cemented by Leopoldo Lopez as the opposition protests' rallying cry.] I shall never tire of giving my support for a free, united Venezuela at peace.
Martina Mussolini