17/02/2014
Guillermo Hirschfeld is the coordinator of Programs for Latin America
The episodes of violence which have occurred in Venezuela and which have claimed the lives of several students these days have highlighted the collapse of a model which is unable to manage any of the essential functions of government, and which besides imposes terror on the streets in order to stop the social protests generated by its impotence.
Chavism-Madurism has proved to generate chaos and misrule in all aspects of public life, namely in economy and security. Criminal gangs, motorized crooks related to the government, have carte blanche to shoot and kill. It is the terror regime which we are used to seeing from those who decide to free the demons of resentment in order to give free rein to crime and violence for political purposes. The country has become one of the most violent in the world and lags well behind in indexes which measure the core elements of democracy: legal certainty, freedom of expression, independent judiciary and separation of powers. Anarchy is the inevitable consequence of chaos, and this is opposite to any viable political project. Venezuela, as a potential republic, is being devastated.
In such a dramatic scenario, it is key that the opposition—which has already risen to the political status of heroic resistance at this stage—sticks together. Its unity strengthens itself, whilst its fragmentation is useful for those who oppress it. And it is key that said unity is achieved on a political project that, quoting Ortega y Gasset, ought to be a project which suggests a common life, starting with the defence of human rights and fundamental freedoms, because being the opposition is more than just standing for election. It means uniting in all fields in order to channel the wish for change expressed by millions of Venezuelans these days.
It is naive to think that Venezuela’s situation can be corrected by those who are responsible for it, those who have blinded the institutional channels through which the change in the country ought to advance. For this reason, the passivity shown by the international community with regard to the developments of the situation in Venezuela is alarming, as is the indifference of both the European Union and the USA with regard to the totalitarian outrage which is being committed in the heart of Latin American, a substantial part of the West. Particularly when it coincides in time with an increasing complacency in relation to the Castro Cuba, a dictatorial regime which encourages its apprentices, especially those which own oil.
Venezuela needs today more than ever the unity of those who fight for democracy, freedom, peace, human rights and justice in their country; as well as an effective and credible international support which investigates and sanctions firmly any oppressive behaviour from the government, and amplifies the voice of those who have suffered under the 21st century socialism.
Free men managed to bring democracies back to more than half of Latin American countries throughout the past forty years. Once again, it is on them that Venezuela depends.