The opinion page of El Caribe carries three pieces on the strike and the President today, with the main perspective justifying the need for the strike and enforcing the hope that at the end of the 48 hours the government will have received a vote of censure that takes effect. What is unwanted are violence and deaths. The economist Pedro Silverio asks for the President to talk to the people and instill some confidence in the nation. Silverio says the President must stop talking through his lower-level officials and via soft-soap TV programs. Tranquility and confidence cannot be instilled through insulting commentaries, either, according to the Cenantillas chief economist. Yet the most cutting commentary, the most deftly-wielded stiletto, comes from Manuel Maza, the Jesuit historian. Reaching back to Saint Thomas of Aquinas (1225-1274) and in tracing his writings, Maza reveals that in one small work called “the Monarchy,” Aquinas revealed his theory on political ethics. He quotes the great theologian: “The intention of any governor should be towards how he can govern to secure salvation because it is the competence of the captain that conducts the ship to a safe harbor, keeping it intact against the dangers of the sea. Therefore, the welfare and the salvation of the society is wrought by conserving its unity, in what we call peace, which, if it disappears, also reduces the usefulness of society, and even converts the majority of those who dissent into a heavy burden. This is what must be put before all leaders of society, to procure unity through peace. Just as he cannot deliberate with honesty, if he does not obtain peace in a society that is subject to him, so is the doctor who does not act correctly by not curing the patient charged to him.” Although written in 1265, apparently Maza sees some modern applications.