Who is the Venezuelan commander of Ukraine

José David Chaparro was born 55 years ago in San Cristobal, capital of the state of Táchira (Venezuela), but settled in Ukraine since independence in the early 1990s. Life led him to become the Venezuelan chargé d'affaires in Moscow and, now, he is the “commander” of a small volunteer division that distributes humanitarian aid to those most affected by the Russian invasion.

Every morning he wears his military uniform, his cap and his rifle. He meets with his fellow divisions, all of whom are Ukrainians, and they load their cars with dozens of boxes of food, water, basic goods and even gasoline to power the electricity generators of the villages that were devastated by the Russian bombings.

Although he is fluent in Ukrainian and Russian, his comrades address him as “commander”, in Spanish, something that puts a smile on the face of this Venezuelan married to a Ukrainian woman for 30 years who, during these times of war, is in charge of a small group of volunteers.

It all started on the second day of the invasion, when Joseph enlisted as a volunteer in the Territorial Defence of Ukraine, an Army reserve agency also made up of civilians receiving military training, with the aim of participating in combat or humanitarian aid tasks.

A PATRIOTIC CALL

“When this started, I felt a patriotic call (...) I felt that this was my second homeland and that I had to give everything I could for it,” says José in an interview with Efe, while taking a break after distributing humanitarian aid in the small town of Rozhivka, some 40 kilometers northeast of Kiev.

For him, that call was “stronger” than what he felt in Venezuela in 2014, during the protests against the Nicolás Maduro regime, in which he participated.

“In Venezuela we didn't achieve the goal of restoring democracy and here I wasn't going to lose that chance. Here now I am giving my life again,” says San Cristóbal, one of the cities most severely repressed during the protests.

“I in Venezuela did not carry a weapon, nor a uniform, nor was I available for combat. I am now. Porto arma, I wear uniform, I am under a civilian and military line. And that's a pretty substantive difference,” Jose argues.

For him, the Russian invasion made his life turn 180 degrees, as it gave him “a different soul”, learned about the spirit of collaboration, to “understand human pain” and, above all, to share.

AN ENTERTAINING LIFE

But Joseph's life has always taken many turns. He settled in Kiev in the early 1990s to study international law, driven by “the desire to understand the Soviet system”.

“It's like someone who wants to go to North Korea now to study their economic and political system,” says this bearded, kind-looking Caribbean laughing.

In Ukraine, José opened a legal services company because “private property did not exist” and returned to Venezuela to work in the Office of Strategic Planning, where, among other things, he coordinated Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's first visit to Russia.

From there, he was appointed Chargé d'affaires of Venezuela in Moscow, where he worked for “a considerable time”, from 2001 to 2005, to develop political and economic ties between the two countries, he says.

However, despite being a great connoisseur of Russia and having moved to the highest echelons of that country, he claims that he does not understand the “real reason” of this invasion that has led to the deaths of thousands of civilians, something “barbaric” and “unspeakable”, in his opinion.

“If you tell me that this happened a hundred or 150 years ago (...) it was more feasible. But right now? Now when we are already reaching Mars, sending satellites, sending people to other planets... are we now cutting our throats and killing ourselves in cold blood? ”, he wonders.

After circling all over Ukraine distributing all kinds of humanitarian aid, observing the devastation and desperation that the war has sown, only one thing is clear to him: “I hope it ends now”.

(By Carles Grau Sivera - EFE)

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