It has been a year since the fraudulent election of Nicolás Maduro to continue ruling. The unconstitutional National Constituent Assembly convened a flawed electoral process that had the sole purpose of keeping Maduro and its leadership in power.

The dictatorship aimed to preserve power despite being an electoral minority. For this purpose they designed a strategy to consolidate authoritarianism and discard the Constitution through their actions. By weaving a legal framework that allows them to govern without controls, manage public resources at will and institutionalize arbitrariness as normal behavior of the State.

It was already known that Maduro maintaining the de facto Power would deepen the political, economic and social crisis. The only certain thing with Maduro is that the destruction of the country advances and forces more Venezuelans to cross borders with the hope of achieving better living conditions.

The current crossroads is to achieve a change of government or to continue to allow the living conditions and what survives of institutionality to deteriorate even more.

The change is necessary and urgent. But the path chosen to achieve it should not increase the suffering of the people.

Therefore, it is essential that it be peaceful and within the framework of the mechanisms established in the Constitution. In this sense, a negotiated solution that calls for presidential elections is one of the best alternatives. Thus, it is granted to the people, in the exercise of their sovereignty, to decide the political future of the country.

But that exit can’t be an agreement left to a select group of political leaders. This government will not yield without street pressure. For this reason, it is essential to continue having widespread street mobilizations. The dictatorship wants to perpetuate itself in power and will do everything necessary to achieve it, however, the pressure of the people in the street can force them to seek a negotiated solution.

Those who are part of the armed forces must support a solution to the crisis that does not involve the use of violence and contribute to the successful completion of the negotiation process, guaranteeing a transparent, inclusive and equal opportunity electoral process for all politicians who aspire to compete.

Let’s advance in civil rebellion with the optimism that we can soon achieve a better Venezuela.

@marinoalvarado