Buy my book: How to Destroy a Country – Case I: Venezuela

The Context

After living the first nine years of my life in Michigan, USA, in which I learned how to crawl, walk, talk, read, write and learn the values and morals any member of a functional society should follow, one day without prior warning I landed in a country named Venezuela. It was a drastic and radical change, hard to digest and accept: one day I was a member of a society in which I could leave my watch and toys unsupervised, go to the restroom and by the time I’d return, they would still be there; and the next day, I was in a place where I couldn’t even leave a nice looking pen inside my sealed and locked backpack during school recess, because by the time I’d return to the classroom the pen wouldn’t be there, my backpack would have been lying there opened and the lock would also be missing. This was something that I couldn’t understand at my young nine years of age: Why did this happen? In time, I faced more situations in which I kept trying to find answers to determine why Venezuela was so different from Michigan.

The answers to these questions will be found in the instruction manual I wrote, named How to Destroy a Country.

What is How to Destroy a Country about?

How to Destroy a Country is a book where I describe the experiences I went through during the years I lived in Venezuela, along with everything I learned by interacting with Venezuelans, and how I figured out very early on, that Venezuela was destined to collapse.

My narrative proceeds from my interactions with the Venezuelan people in every possible given environment, from school, through work, to my own neighborhood, in very different backgrounds and with different social status. Not least important, I also share my experience as a witness and participant of the failed protests of 2016 and April-July 2017 that attempted to overthrow the current dictator Nicolas Maduro. I think those experiences I lived for almost twenty years provide me with more than enough resume and insight to write a book in which I will explain to the reader, what exactly are the steps a society must follow in order to destroy a business, a neighborhood, an entire society, and of course… an entire country. The experiences are shared from the point of view of someone who is a keen observer, very analytical, who reasons in a very logical and perfectionist way, who does not like excuses and who likes to do things the only way I know how to do them: the right way.

Is this an armchair critic negative biased book that only complains, criticizes and sheds no light?

I have always believed that there is a difference between being positive perception and being realistic, just like there is a difference between being negative perception and being realistic. There is nothing wrong with being positive or negative, just like there is nothing wrong with being realistic, and sometimes these three instances go hand in hand.

I’m not a handsome man. Brad Pitt is. Tom Cruise was. I would rate myself as a below average looking guy, bordering in ugly. I’m being realistic. Being negative or pessimistic would be waking up every day and thinking to myself: “My God, I’m so ugly! I’ll never be able to date a woman! God, why? Why did you have to do this to me? Why did you make me ugly!?“… and I am not like that at all. Being realistic on the fact that I’m ugly helped me realize at a very early age that I had to develop and use other strengths when courting women, such as: being smart -which I am-, being a gentlemen -which I am- and being respectful- which I am-. Thanks to this, I have been able to date plenty of women who at first glance seemed way out of my league for me being ugly. The fact that sometimes in life, negative perceptions that are a reality can actually make you become a better person.

How to Destroy a Country is a collection of anecdotes and stories that tell the story of why things went wrong in Venezuela because of the wrongdoings of Venezuelans. It is a negative side that unfortunately is as real as me not being a not good looking man.

How to Destroy a Country is a collection of lessons of how things should have NOT been done and what consequences resulted from acting and behaving the way Venezuelans did: the wrong way. Reading my book should be a reality check to see if you are part of the problem or part of the solution. In essence, it will challenge you to ask yourself: “Am I doing things right, or wrong?”

Sometimes history is sad, but that does not mean we cannot learn from it:

  • The French Revolution.
  • World War II.
  • The Colonization of America

are all historic episodes contained with negative situations in them (the reign of terror, the holocaust, massacre of Indians), but that does not mean we can’t learn from their mistakes, right?

What can you learn after reading How to Destroy a Country?

How to Destroy a Country is about learning from the mistakes the Venezuelans made, if you are one who wants to see your country develop and flourish; or about following their mistakes, if you don’t care about your country or the place you live or work, and you plan to destroy.

As stated in my bio, I’m the kind of person who to any problem I will find a solution. So not only I will list and analyze what was wrong with Venezuela and Venezuelans and the implications of doing things wrong had, I will also list and analyze what should have been done instead and what was the right thing to do in every case.

If you are a manager, a president or business owner, and you think you are effectively managing your company, and that you are placing proper value in them and handling resources in an adequate way, I kindly extend you the invitation to read the chapter Short Term Vision vs. Long Term Vision.

If you are friends with a Venezuelan living abroad, who today holds the Venezuelan flag in whichever country he’s living on, I kindly extend you the invitation to read the chapter The Identity that Never Existed.

If you think punctuality has no importance and that small things in life don’t matter, I invite you to read the chapter Education and Democracy vs. Dictatorship.

If you want to learn the truth about the protests that occur in a regular basis and attempt to overthrow president Nicolas Maduro, I invite you to read the chapter Summer on Ice.

If you are a someone who have never read about Venezuela’s history, I invite you to read the chapter, A Brief History of the Venezuelan Ranch.

If you would like to learn why do the opposition leaders have been failing for almost twenty years in their attempts to regain power in Venezuela, I invite you to read the chapter Republic of Bubble Venezuela.

If you wish to know if indeed were there any real ways to remove Hugo Chavez from the presidency, I invite you to read the chapter On how was Chavez able to win every reelection.

If you learn to know how did I know the collapse and current crisis Venezuela is suffering was inevitable and imminent, I invite you to read the chapter (Insert any noun)“________ reflects what this country is like.”

And if you want to learn what was the detonator the initiated the absolute debacle, I invite you to read the chapter CLAP.

…and of course, if you want to know if your company, your home, your country club, or your country is headed towards an imminent self-destruction, I kindly extend you the invitation to read the full book.