Karina Sainz Borgo sees Venezuela without change, “in ruins”

“Ri understand that the initial printing or the first image of the country remains the same, it remains a ruined place. In fact, it is even worse because, let’s say, with the intrusion of the United States and Donald Trump in political reality, a new window opens that represents another predator”, said the writer in an interview with the Lusa agency, about the launch of the new novel, “Nazarena”, edited by Alfaguara.

For Karina Sainz Borgo, “the original predator – which is an authoritarian regime that does not respect human life – now joins another authoritarian regime”, led by Donald Trump, whom the writer describes as “a man who acts as an entrepreneur” moved mainly economic interests.

Therefore, the author of “Nightfall in Caracas” and “The Third Country” establishes a historical parallel with the influence exerted by the United Fruit Company in Latin America during the coup in Guatemala in 1954.

“The nightmare of the United Fruit Company has spread to the oil sector and not even the change to democracy has prevented it. I mean, we don't even look like a protectorate, we look like a colony. We have an almost colonial relationship and this is very worrying ", he considered.

The writer also expressed concern about the consequences that a possible US military intervention in Venezuela could have for other countries in the region, creating a “precedent”.

In spite of this, Karina Sainz Borgo does not spare Nicolás Maduro, who classifies him as “clearly a murderer and a criminal,” but defends that he be tried on charges that fall on him and in conditions that allow him to ascertain responsibilities.

“ Let us judge him under different conditions, judge him by the accusations he is charged with, and not by the fact that he is a drug dealer”, he argued, adding he has doubts that this trial will ever happen.

The writer also mentioned the two earthquakes that hit Venezuela in June, causing thousands of dead and missing, as another event to join a country that describes as “devasted”.

Karina Sainz Borgo, who has lived in Spain since 2006, has made Venezuela the central territory of its fiction, more directly or indirectly, exploring topics such as expulsion from the country, border, uprooting, loss, memory and relationship with the country of origin.

In “Night falls in Caracas”, his first novel, published in 2019, portrayed a country in disaggregation that expels its inhabitants, while in “The third country” (2023) moved the narrative to a border region marked by migration, death and the search for a place where to bury the dead.

In “Nazarena”, which arrives at Portuguese bookstores on the 21st, Venezuela is no longer explicitly named, but, according to the author, remains reflected in a family history, in which the house also functions as a metaphor of a country and a society.