With just 24 hours to go before the start of the period of nominations for the upcoming presidential elections, Nicolás Maduro is imploding the possibility of holding elections in Venezuela.
The announcement of the detention of part of the political team of María Corina Machado, the national leader who has been traveling the country and holding massive rallies, reveals the weakness of a regime that is only sustained by force, repression, lies and guns.
Not only did the regime ban without any due process the winner of the opposition primaries from running for public office but it also sought to root out all democratic efforts of Venezuelan society. In the last few hours, it has banned parties, disqualified more political leaders and imprisoned activists and leaders. Under these conditions, the legal mandate of holding elections is starting to take place.
In the last two weeks alone, the Venezuelan authorities have arrested 3 members of Machado’s campaign: the party’s coordinator in the state of Barinas, Emil Brandt; the national coordinator, Henry Alviárez, and former Member of Parliament Dignora Hernández. On March 20, prosecutor Tarek William Saab announced 7 new arrest warrants against people close to Machado, including her chief of campaign, Magalli Meda, who was seen as a possible replacement for a disqualified Machado in the electoral race.
The international democratic community cannot be deceived: Nicolás Maduro remains the only actor uncommitted to the electoral path in the country. The Venezuelan ruler is committed to bowing to the orders of Havana, which sees a lifeline in the plundering of our national resources to sustain a dictatorship of six decades and a half. The Cuban people, much like the people in Venezuela, demand the same basic needs of food, electricity and freedom.
Just a couple of days ago, Maduro called Vladimir Putin his “older brother” and celebrated the spurious elections held in Russia, where only candidates akin to the regime were able to compete and whoever tried to oppose it was denied the right to run. The scheme is very similar to the tactics perfected by the Cuban intelligence services, founded with the birth of the Castro revolution, to crush every sign of protest, rebellion, and dissent with the result of misery, exile and profound disenchantment.
The so-called Bolivarian revolution is not heir to anything. Neither Simon Bolívar’s declaration of sovereignty and independence nor the dream of young crowds across Latin America who once embraced the cause of justice and equality and the creation of a new world where respect for human beings was at the center of public action.
The viciousness of the Maduro regime is reminiscent of the sad and painful hours of the military dictatorships that devastated the region in the seventies and eighties, and which we believed were gone forever. Maduro is the leader of a gang specialized in forced disappearances, rigged trials, and the imprisonment of hundreds of Venezuelans who fight for democracy and are subjected to torture and degrading treatment. He is a disgrace to the country and decency.
Desperation is a bad counselor. A cornered Maduro is well aware that he is the loser of the July 28 presidential elections. All opinion polls show the rejection of an administration that has destroyed the country, subjected its citizens to the highest inflation in the world and given away the exploitation of the nation’s natural resources to whoever shares their looting, oblivious to human life or the life of rivers, mountains and forests. This misgovernment is a hindrance with no reason or basis that attacks the democratic forces that promote political change through free and fair elections.
In a message to the country on March 17, María Corina Machado correctly defined what Venezuelans are going through. “These are critical hours,” she said, not only for the woman who saw her candidacy disqualified through evil and trickery but also for the right of people to live in peace, keep their family at home and provide themselves with the necessary resources to live. The hours are critical to save Venezuela from perishing in the face of so much indolence and disdain.
The intention of the regime is evident: removing the democratic forces from the electoral path and triggering a social uprising to justify its brutal repression and accuse of being violent anyone daring to protest or defend themselves. Not this time. The country is fed up with violence, shortages of all kinds and a government that needs to leave power.
Indeed, it is time for “serenity and determination”, just like María Corina Machado has said, because it was “serenity and determination” that allowed the celebration of the opposition primaries from which a leadership legitimized by the votes of the people emerged with a message that reached the hearts of good-hearted Venezuelans, those of work hard and love their family. It has been “serenity and determination” and the connection with people’s sentiment that has strengthened and spread the desire for change across the country, from Barinas to Machiques and Guayana to Caracas.
If there is a glimmer of common sense, the Maduro regime should rectify and negotiate the conditions for holding free and fair elections that pave the way for a democratic transition. Only democracy can ensure guarantees for all, winners and losers.
The path of brutality, manipulation and lies no longer scares us. Venezuelans want to vote and Maduro only responds with violence and repression. The democratic world must raise its voice with clarity and determination. The only conspiracy is being hatched at Miraflores Palace. The opposition must persist on the winning path, which is the electoral path for all who aspire to the democratic transition.
Translated by José Rafael Medina
