The Country of Maduros

Fellow citizens, that's too much.

Three days ago typical, faceless and eyeless people in plain clothes appeared in the courtyard. The house manager whispered: "Technical floors and all service areas in the house are sealed. They asked about you, whether you live here. On Thursday, they say, this dude from Venezuela arrives, there will be a monument to open."

Oh, yes, for some reason the square in front of the house bears the name of Simon Bolivar. In 2008 we already learned the lesson: then Hugo Chavez arrived in Minsk and together with Lukashenka opened a memorial stone where everything about Simon Bolivar was written. At that time, not just attics were walled up; they also pasted up ads in the house that residents were forbidden to go out onto the balconies and open windows. KGB officers rushed into apartments with open windows, and warned that they would shoot to kill, if someone leaned out of the window. Now, however, there were no ads and snipers: this time other Venezuelan cunning rascal and vice-premier Semashka performed. And he is not the first person in the country, so extra viligance was not needed. But a usual state stinking dirt is mandatory.

This tiny square in a quiet center of Minsk has a memorable stone of Simon Bolivar, now there is a Simon Bolivar monument. Its installment has begun in the summer. The center of the public garden was fenced and the passport of the object was pasted. The customer was the one worth paying interest to, not the passport itself or even the contractor - Belzarubezhstroj. What if Chyzh decided to make an order not to stay at large for other couple of year? But the Department for Capital Construction of the Minsk City Executive Committee was the customer. That is, this trivial monument was built on our money: taxes of citizens are the main source of replenishment for the city budget. Not only we support the army of spongers-security officials, and we also finance the installment of Bolivar monument. Fellow citizens, that's too much...

As for spongers-security officials, they flooded the neighborhood from the early morning. Combat engineers were working, military men put soldiers with flags in the line, others dispersed women with wheels. All the yard was flooded with people with radio sets, military men. And it would be good if it was a military coup, but it was only Maduro. My inner diligent mistress woke up and I decided to calculated how much money in the form of taxes and deductions we contributed to these "flies". The figures are astronomical. Unfortunately, our cities belong not only to Maduros, Bolivars, flies and Dazhynkis. Our work is also the source of their power. Our lives are just an excuse for their idleness.

I do not care at all about details of the Lukashenka-Maduro meeting. Is the talk of two rulers trying to deceive into parting with money interesting? But I do not get where all these faceless and eyeless come from. Did they study in the same schools, read the same books, play outdoors laughing loudly with happiness? I don't believe it. They are bred up in special nurseries, they are not adapted to life and work, so we have to support them. They believe that Maduro with a monument and blocked streets in the center of Minsk is normal.

I saw from the window how they stopped buses which had to turn from Pershamajskaja to the left to Zakharova Street, and drive along Maduro. Buses full of passengers were sent further along the Pershamajskaja Street, and perplexed people were moving completely in the opposite direction. It was also forbidden to stop and let them out at least at crossroads. And people hurried to home, to work, to a polyclinic, to a section with a child, to a second job, to tutoring, to a third job ...

Oh, yes, the most important thing - taxpayers were on buses. Those whose money was spent on this damn monument.

Iryna Khalip for Charter97.org