Our pledge: a letter from G. Daniel Duffaud, RFCS list

RASSEMBLEMENT DES FRANÇAIS DES CARAÏBES SUD

Our pledge

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Dear fellow citizens

The reform of the representation for French citizens abroad has led to several changes in functionality: the previous delegate functions have been split between two new elected officials, and new districts have been created. This coincided with the desire to retire of Gabriel Lafaverge, delegate the most voted in the constituency of the Andes, after 17 years of loyal service to the community.

I thought a lot before agreeing to accept the challenge to try to replace him. Not only there was the honor to have been asked to, and the great responsibility that follows, but there is also the novelty of a system of Conseillers Consulaires (Consular Councilmen) which we do not yet know exactly how it will work, especially in a complicated riding like Venezuela, Trinidad and St. Lucia where there are not even reliable air links with Caracas. To accept the responsibility I decided to trust a family tradition of service to the French community in Venezuela and my own experience as a volunteer for several years in several healthcare organizations in the U.S.

Fortunately, Helene Lafaverge comes in second position of the candidates list. Her 17-year social partnership alongside Gabriel Lafaverge, her management of around 800 dossiers with records on all matters, from health insurance and pensions to charities, will allow me to quickly make myself useful to our community. My first commitment is thus to show that I am up to the trust that was given to me and to allow Helene and Gabriel go quietly enjoy their years of rest and grandchildren.

The second commitment stems from the reform, the creation of Conseillers Consulaires, a wish to bring closer officials to the community to better serve it. There will be 3 of them now for our district or riding, creating a sort of “town council” chaired by the Ambassador of France. To make sense of this reform we should therefore start serving our community beyond the scheduled visiting-hours office that stood in Caracas. This is why I lead a list that includes Frenchwomen and Frenchmen established in Venezuela but who do not all reside in Caracas, starting with myself, who resides in San Felipe, Yaracuy state, an hour away from Barquisimeto. There is also François Bare Maracaibo and in Valencia Odile Fraysse. Our commitment is, as soon as possible, to begin providing consulting and administrative hours in Valencia, Barquisimeto and Maracaibo and anywhere France has honorary consuls or Alliance Française. This, in addition of the visiting hours already offered in Caracas.

Our third commitment, of course, is to promote collaboration between the three Conseillers Consulaires not only in extending the services throughout Venezuela, but to work with the three embassies of France of the riding so as to be able to join as soon as possible with our fellow citizens in Trinidad and St. Lucia (and the other Islands bound to these embassies). I personally regret that because of the too recent reform and the difficulties of communication with the islands we have failed to include a candidate on our list to represent the Islands. We apologize to our fellow citizens from Trinidad and St. Lucia, reassuring them that this wanting forced upon us by an unforgiving timeline will not prevent us to quickly establish contacts and the necessary system to be useful to them.

Finally, the fourth commitment of our list is to maintain the values ​​of the republic, a representation worthy of France and its culture, the respect of our traditions as well as those of the country where we have chosen to reside. This is why, given the particularities of Venezuela we wanted to establish a fully bilingual list, of people established for many years, with even three of us being born in Venezuela. This is important because it is quite common to have to help compatriots who lost the use of current French, either because of their isolation or because they were born away from cultural centers like the French Colegio Francia in Caracas. This can cause problems with the paperwork needed to maintain a link with France and its services; but they are our countrymen and we are all equal. To serve them better the knowledge of cultural differences between France and Venezuela is essential. I add that four of us also are fluent in English and this will help us if we have the honor of serving the islands of our riding where we will probably find similar problems.

I end this letter with a comment on the non political nature of our list. We are not supported by any political party, nor have we sought such support. Between us we represent many democratic political sensitivities of France but that does not matter when it is time to serve our community. This is, in our opinion, particularly important in Venezuela where we suffer every day the intense political polarization. While our problems here may get worse every day, we must insist on our solidarity and even dare to blame somewhat the consular reform for promoting a little bit the politicization of French citizens abroad. Yet, those metropolitan political differences often make no sense for French folks living permanently far from France.

Thank you for your attention and I invite you cordially to visit our blog where we will gradually give more details about our proposal presented here, and where we would appreciate receiving your comments and suggestions.

Whatever your decision, we invite you to vote on May 24 as the ability to work, to help our compatriots irrespectively of the elected party depends on your participation in what is the privilege to choose elected officials that will be much closer to you than those of the métropole. Our voice will be only as strong as the votes cast.

Guy Daniel Duffaud