Parrots screeched in the trees, ripening mangoes hung from the branches, and the South American diplomat was creased up in a wicker chair in his garden, laughing at my attempts to explain Venezuela in a clear, analytical fashion. I was in louche, lush Caracas again – for the first time since I lived there when Hugo Chávez first swept to power in the 1998 presidential election. But I was being “too logical,” the ambassador told me. “The first thing about Venezuela is that it doesn't make sense. The second is it doesn't work, and never did.”
鹦鹉在树上尖声叫着，枝条上挂着尚未熟透的芒果，一位南美外交官坐在自家花园里的一把藤椅上，被我逗得放声大笑——我在尝试用一种清晰的解析方式来诠释委内瑞拉。我又一次来到了委内瑞拉声名狼藉、绿树成荫的首都加拉加斯——上一次我在这里还是1998年，当时乌戈•查韦斯(Hugo Chavez)第一次赢得总统大选上台。但这位大使告诉我，我“过于逻辑化了”。“要想搞懂委内瑞拉，首先要明白，它是不可理喻的。其次是，它运转失灵，且从未运转正常过。”