The oppressive socialist regime governing Venezuela has gone through painstaking means to replace the nation’s storied Christian tradition with blind worship of deceased dictator Hugo Chávez, from filling the streets of Caracas with murals to teaching in children’s books that worshiping Chávez would bring “supreme happiness.”
Now, a socialist activist speaking at a socialist party rally this week, comrade María Estrella Uribe, has debuted a reworked version of the Lord’s Prayer that omits the Christian God and replaces Him with Hugo Chávez. Uribe, calling it the “Delegate’s Prayer” and a “spiritual duty,” presents her prayer to the party, who listen in silence. The prayer begs Chávez to “lead us not into the temptation of capitalism” and “deliver us from … oligarchy.”
The cultish chant was received with the requisite ebullient applause and has been making the rounds on social media:
The full text of the “prayer” states:
Our Chavez, who art in heaven, in the earth, in the sea, and in we the delegates
Hallowed be thy Name.
Thy legacy come, for us to bring to the peoples of near and far
Give us this day your light to guide us daily
And lead us not into the temptation of capitalism
But deliver us from the malice of oligarchy
For ours is the nation,
The peace, and the life,
For ever and ever.
Amen.
Chávez’s ascent into full-blown deity in Venezuelan socialism began shortly after his death, when President Nicolás Maduro announced Chávez’s body would be placed on permanent display in Venezuela. Maduro also told the press he had seen Chávez in the form of a bird appear to him give him guidance on running the nation.
In addition to his slavish dedication to the dictator, Maduro has been extraordinarily lenient with Chávez’s progeny, his daughters María Gabriela and Rosa Virginia, who continue to live in the presidential palace at Miraflores and have refused to move out, leaving Maduro to live in his personal home. In addition to palace privileges, María Gabriela was recently appointed as UN Ambassador for the nation.
Under Chavista socialism, Venezuela has one of the highest murder rates in the world, suffers astronomical inflation rates, and has been deemed the nation with the highest misery index in the world. A wave of protests against Maduro began this February as police arrested opposition party leader Leopoldo López on vague charges of inciting violence. López remains in prison, along with hundreds who have passed through Venezuela’s jails for protesting peacefully and have been the victims of torture, beatings, and rape.