Mister Sean Penn,

I really wish this letter will find a way to reach you. Not only do I hope that you read it, but I also trust that in some way your soul and mind will be awakened with my letter.

I am just a Venezuelan like millions of other Venezuelans who is trying to begin again after many years of hard work that has been destroyed by the present government. Every day I cry when I see how they take my country and its people into a complete state of ignorance. The government takes away our freedom of expression and action by the threat of guns. They play with the souls and minds of those that are less privileged than you and I, leading them down a path of hate and resentment against each other and the world.

That is why I am really appalled when I see someone like you who is intelligent, successful and rich, and with all the privileges that most of the world can only dream of having, stoop so low as to associate with a dictator of a country who treats his people as he does. Privileges I may add, that are yours today thanks to the benevolence of your country, United States, and the freedom of speech, thought and expression. Yet you bend to flirting and socializing with a man like Hugo Chavez, and you even believe what he says by dancing to the music that he plays for you.

I was appalled even more when I learned that your parents are Jewish. Even if you do not conform to this religion, you must know by your upbringing and through your parents’ teachings the meaning of persecution, deprivation of liberty, militarization of a country, and repression of peoples’ rights. You must know the consequences for humanity when leaders that breed feelings of hate, segregation, and destruction into their people control a nation. You must recognize that sooner or later the consequences of this type of leadership and action against the people will reach everyone, including you. After all, is not this the way Hitler ruled? And was it not a nation that was united through resentment and anger which made possible the Holocaust?

Mr. Peen, I do not know if you are selling your soul to the devil for those millions that he gave you, which must be only some” small change” for you. Or if you think that you are not selling your soul, but the souls of twenty eight million people; people that you do not know or obviously have any concern about.

However, today I have to appeal to your consciousness, humanity, and compassion when I ask you in the name of all Venezuelans to stop being the point of publicity of Chavez; to stop being the instrument with which he manipulates ignorance and poverty; and, do not succumb to his promises of a better country. Why? Because this man, Chavez, does not know the meaning of principles or morality, and he does not care about any human being except (temporarily) those he can use to fulfill his political agenda.

Let me plead to you patriotism to the United States, because it is well known in the world that Chavez despises North America. It is no secret that Chavez supports communism and some of the worst organizations in the Arab world; and, in doing this; he is planting seeds against your country all over the world.

If you cannot find any of these principles and moral fiber within you, I ask that you reach for whatever pride, self-esteem, and dignity you have left in yourself to not support the dictator of my Country. Just remember, all those buffoons who dance for the devil in exchange of his favors are, and always will be, nothing more, nothing less, nothing better than one of the devil’s clowns.

Maria Matilde Hoffmann