I have read and heard no questioning of the anti-popular measures that two South American leaders (Lenín Moreno and Sebastián Piñera) imposed. Pressure from the people forced repeal of unpopular measures in both Chile and Ecuador.

Recent protests in Ecuador and Chile have caused some hard questioning by some leaders of the Venezuelan opposition. Although having different positions does not worry me or make me question, I strongly condemn the reasons given and the tone used in their pronouncements.

If one were to literally transcribe the pronounced words and instead of writing the name of the opposition leaders who are the authors, write that of Nicolás Maduro, anyone would give authenticity to the statements by evaluating the words vis-à-vis the just protests in Venezuela. The difference would not be noticed.

The questionable violence used by some protesters in the streets of Quito and Santiago, led these opposition leaders to casually classify the demonstrations as violent. Several of them described the protests as “vandalism” when the majority were actually peaceful.

This is comparable to the time when Maduro and his circle of leaders described the protests of the Popular Rebellion of 2017 and those of 2019 in Venezuela as “vandalism” and “terrorist actions.”

These opposition leaders dare to say that the Maduro government is behind the protests in Chile and Ecuador.  The same logic is being used by Maduro who claims that the protests in Venezuela are promoted by the empire (United States).  They use the same simplistic logic and endeavor to criminalize the protests because they are unable to recognize the causes of social unrest. Some opponents in the background are acting just like Maduro supporters before the claims and protests of the population in Chile and Ecuador.

I have not heard from those opposition leaders any questioning of repression. They have made no call on Ecuadorian presidents Lenin Moreno or Chilean president Sebastián Piñera to avoid using the armed forces to respond to social unrest. Some of them have been applauding the curfew in Chile and greeting the state of emergency in Ecuador warmly.

Nor have I heard or read any questioning of the repressive measures that the two leaders imposed and had to repeal after much pressure from the people.

This position regarding social protest is worrying. These positions are bad news regarding the behavior that they could display in the future, if they were in governmental leadership and had to respond to claims of the people. Will they also order the authorities to launch something called “good gas” (tear gas with a better name) as Chávez did? Would they applaud the murderous Bolivarian National Guard and the National Police like Maduro does?

There is no bad repression or good repression. An authentic democrat must condemn repression of social protest no matter the government. There are no good and bad human rights violations. You can’t condemn serious human rights violations in Venezuela while serious human rights violations are applauded in other countries.

It is very inconsistent to convene protests in Venezuela and reject repression against those demonstrations while encouraging other governments to repress their people.

Those opposition leaders will now convene a nationwide day of protests for November 16.  Unfortunately, it is possible that the dictatorship will repress it. Perhaps those opposition leaders will be the first to rightly condemn that repression while supporting protesters in other countries.

More consistency please. That double standard reduces your credibility and seriousness.