Tragedy should not be a campaign or a sideboard for the ego: The Petty Show by María Corina Machado

Published at: 03/07/2026 11:16 AM

There is something profoundly repugnant in the attempt to turn the pain of others into a personal pedestal. And that, neither more nor less, is what we are witnessing from certain political trenches who, in the face of the double earthquake that shook Venezuela, have decided that the focus should not be on the victims, but on the absence or presence of a leader who stands up as the only savior of the Fatherland.

Are they really trying to make us swallow the story that the spiritual stability of millions of Venezuelans depends on whether María Corina Machado (MCM) steps on national soil or not? That attention to a humanitarian catastrophe should revolve around its figure, its narrative and its convenient electoral calendar? That is not solidarity. That is political pathology. It's the syndrome of the empty messiah: narcissism turned into strategy.

And it's even more outrageous when media figures, such as Erika de la Vega, lend themselves to being speakers of that theatricality, normalizing that the suffering of entire families becomes the backdrop for an egomaniacal monologue. While there are parents searching for their children in the rubble, communities that lost their remaining roof, shocked children and rescue teams exhausting their last strength, certain characters seem more concerned about shooting the next “resistance” video than answering an elementary question: Where is the tangible help they have channeled? Because we've had enough of bombastic speeches, dramatic poses and empty calls for “unity”.

What we don't see are collection centers with their signature, tons of water, food or medicine channeled through their structures, organized volunteers, mobilized doctors or rescue workers financed by that political machinery.

Posting tweets, taking selfies with an epic tone and feeding the narrative of “I am hope” is not attending. It's not accompanying. It's not solving. It is nourishing one's own story at the expense of hunger, fear and the anguish of others.

But indignation grows even more when, even from opposition sectors and among communicators who claim to have access to intelligence sources, complaints have circulated about digital operations (coordinated and funded by MCM) aimed at sowing chaos, amplifying rumors and manufacturing false content on social networks taking advantage of collective disgrace.

Coincidence? For many, no. Rather, it responds to a strategy. Because in the manual of political opportunism, collective pain becomes fertile ground for disinformation. And disinformation serves to fuel the messianic narrative: the more uncertainty, anguish and despair there is, the more necessary they try to make the figure of the supposed “savior” appear.

That really can't be done, it shouldn't be done, no matter what you look at it, it's not ethical. You cannot use every tear as political ammunition or turn every affected family into a companion for a communication staging. The ego, when it becomes more important than the mourning of a People, ceases to be a simple vanity: it becomes obscenity.

This sick need to make people believe that Venezuela depends on a navel, a voice or a personalistic presence of someone who has truly never contributed anything to the country, is a direct offense against the intelligence and dignity of a citizen who, in the midst of the tragedy, has demonstrated organization, solidarity, courage and resistance.

Let's be clear, real aid doesn't seek reflectors, it doesn't make prop heroes, it doesn't impose saviors, or turn misfortune into a campaign. Real help needs resources, logistics, coordination, respect and honesty. In a catastrophe there is no room for merchants of distress.

In cases like these, the Venezuelan people deserve facts, not fiction; solidarity, not spectacle; truth, not lies; help, not egomanization. And for those who confuse leadership with the cult of personality, we can only remind them of one thing: pain is not negotiable.

The story, sooner or later, ends up putting everyone in their place: those who help and those who use tragedy to try to shine.

Mazo News Team