Sexual abuse and pedophilia, the complaints that shake Chavismo in Venezuela

Ludmila Vinogradoff

06/21/2021 6:00 AM

• Clarín.com

• World

Updated 06/21/2021 6:00 AM

Lisa

was raped at age 15 by her music teacher

.

“He did it one night when my parents were not at home - he used to travel seasonally to Barquisimeto (capital of Lara state, central Venezuela) to resume the chair.

I was scared, it was uncomfortable and painful, not only because I had lost my virginity, but because my body was not prepared ”.

Lisa is a pseudonym that her author uses to describe in her 13-page WordPress blog under the category of “VozEnAlto” ​​on twitter

the systematic sexual harassment and abuse of which she was a victim

by her music instructor for the space of six years since He joined the National System of Youth and Children's Orchestras and Choirs when he was 10 years old.

Also known as "El Sistema" is a massive music education program in Venezuela founded by José Antonio Abreu in 1975 (now deceased),

which the Chavista regime has used as its banner

of social and cultural action to make propaganda and gain international popularity.

Between 200,000 and 300,000 students have passed through its classrooms

in its 46 years of foundation, which has projected young Venezuelan musicians on the best stages in the world.

Being so wonderful and ideal in its conception, the program has inspired 60 countries to apply the Venezuelan musical model.

Those who have come forward are women, the first to be affected, who have dared to report their cases.

Photo: Shutterstock

The movement of "Me too" (complaints of sexual abuse) began late in the country with the slogan

"I believe you Venezuela",

a year after the coronavirus pandemic with complaints about rock music bands and extended until the ensemble of symphony orchestras. And those who have come forward are the women, the first to be affected, who have dared to report their cases.

One of the first to raise her voice was Angie Cantero through her Facebook account.

On April 29 he wrote: “Regarding the number of cases of sexual harassment and abuse in Venezuela that have recently come to light, I think it is very important to say that the System of Orchestras and Choirs was /

is plagued by pedophiles, pedophiles

and an incalculable number of people who committed the crime of rape ”.

Angie Cantero points out that "under that facade of teachers, of musicians with an impeccable career,

there are a lot of disgusting beings

who love to dupe girls and adolescents, taking advantage of their position of power and their renown within the System."

Being a youth member of the System, he affirms that in his case “since I was 13 years old these disgusting began to appear in my messages on Facebook, Instagram and other social networks. Thanks to God and the continuous warnings that I received from my parents about this type of people,

I did not fall into the clutches of these beings

, I ignored most of them and with others I only managed to establish some conversations ”.

And she adds: “Sadly it was not the case for many of my friends, who were also minors at the time, and

ended up involved in relationships

(which included sex, of course) with these little guys who were much older than them (sometimes were twice his age or older), and that they had a girlfriend for years or were even married.

Obviously, they took advantage of the age difference and their inexperience to manipulate them at will, although they did not perceive it that way at the time ”.

The system

Behind its institutional facade, El Sistema hides within it a

whole web of pain, suffering and repression

that has affected students due to the psychological, moral, economic and sexual abuses to which they are subjected by their teachers and directors responsible for directing the orchestras in complicity with the Chavista regime, says Geoff Baker to Clarín.

Researcher Geoff Baker published the book entitled

'El Sistema: Orquestrating Venezuela's Youth

' (OUP 2014) where he tells the details of the institutional musical fabric, the financial support of the State and

the relationships between students and teachers

and its vertical and pyramidal structure.

Sexual abuse is only one facet of

an abusive institution in many aspects such

as the abuse of power that is vertical because power is concentrated at the top.

“The heads of professorships and directors have a lot of power and resources, not so much now due to the crisis of the pandemic.

It was a very unequal and discriminatory system.

For example, the Simón Bolívar Orchestra had all the resources while the nuclei or classrooms in the interior had nothing and lacked everything ”.

Geoff Baker spent three years in Venezuela, from 2010 to 2013, investigating the System in all its dimensions.

“I was amazed at the program, it seemed positive to me.

In my interviews

, the cases of sexual harassment and abuse

that all the children and teachers considered as normal appeared ”.

Behind its institutional facade, El Sistema hides within it a whole web of pain, suffering and repression.

Photo: Shutterstock

The students of the orchestras were always afraid because they were extorted and pressured.

“

They did not want to denounce

or complain because it was a betrayal of their teachers, who threatened them with losing positions in the orchestra if they did not follow their wishes.

For example, if there were 25 contestants only for two places on the oboe then the teacher was the one who decided and the blackmail and courtship began, 'how about we go out tonight? ”, Adds the English researcher.

When his controversial book was published, the System's board of directors issued a statement claiming that everything Geoff Baker denounced was false.

Seven years later, his Chavista leadership continues to praise

the orchestra system as the best youth social program instead of correcting the evils it may have.

When Lisa, -now 22 years old-, published her testimony in April on her blog, she uncovered a scandal that

was an “open secret”

.

She was followed by Angie Cantero who had up to 1,500 supportive followers and testimonies from her former colleagues in the orchestra.

Churdy Toledo writes his comment on Angie's Facebook: “The irregularities in 'El Sistema' are long-standing, personally

I have had to see it closely and explicitly

, no matter how much they want to hide it, that type of failure is never corrected and with the passage of time it was exacerbated to the point that it went from being an open secret to the common and normal, if the current situation in Venezuela is added to that, the result is sad and almost catastrophic to the point that it is cancer of that institution.

To close, I can only say that admitting the failure would be the beginning of the solution ”.

Teachers told students that they should feel music with the same passion and pleasure as sex.

Photo Shutterstock

Another comment on Angie's page is that of Victoria López Ninoff.

“They also tend to say things like: to play music with" wave "well,

I'm going to teach you

(obviously relating sex to musical performance) pure manipulation, sex has nothing to do with how one plays an instrument, don't let them cheat".

Another way of manipulating sex with music is for teachers to tell students that they should feel music with the same passion and pleasure as sex.

"

This confused children and adolescents

, but they were also punished if they did not give in to the teacher's demands."

Retaliation

A former member of the System who asked

Clarín

for anonymity under a pseudonym called Martha, "the young people who did not want sexual relations with their teachers

were penalized

by not letting them participate in international tours or rise in the ranks in the orchestras."

"The students are

afraid of reprisals

and ending their musical career," says Martha, a famous international concert performer who still fears that the regime will act against her.

Martha says she resisted the flattery.

One day the president of the System, José Antonio Abreu, told him to join the leadership of the System together with Gustavo Dudamel, speaking well of the symphony orchestras to be the flag of the Chavista regime,

so he would get to be the star

, the luxuries, trips, all the privileges and applause in the world.

“The System

was run by a corrupt mafia

.

There is no type of control or respect on the part of the directive of the System that has received hundreds of millions of dollars of budget and the teachers have nothing to eat, they live in misery with the economic crisis of the pandemic ”, says Martha who He did not suffer from sexual abuse but he did suffer from professional abuse and extortion.

Chavista leaders such as the late Hugo Chávez and later Nicolás Maduro, his son Nicolasito, Vice President Delcy Rodríguez and the regime's elite usually take their

portraits with the youth

of the orchestra uniformed with their tricolor jacket or sports tracksuit with the Venezuelan flag.

The System is the trademark of the regime.

“What worries me is that after the complaints the authorities have not opened any investigation for the amount of crimes committed, such as rape, and

now they turn a blind eye as

time goes by.

The worst is impunity.

You have to rethink the model and correct it, ”adds Geoff Baker.

Of the 60 countries that have applied the Venezuelan model, only in Colombia and Guatemala

have there been cases of pedophilia

and sexual abuse with students, adds Baker.

Lisa couldn't bear the trauma of the abuse

.

As soon as he abandoned the oboe and his musical career in the System, he studied psychology and graduated with honors, but the damage caused that only with time and patience will he be able to overcome is still treated with a psychologist.

Lisa regrets that her attackers continue to live off her prestige.

“I have a responsibility to myself and to those who are still at risk from these predators to do so.

This is not just a private experience,

it is also a public, collective matter.

It is necessary to continue raising our voices until these aggressors are left without the possibility of using the power they have to abuse and violate others.

This is not the time to be silent, we have already tolerated many years of shadow and silence ”.

PB

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