The disqualification of María Corina Machado generated widespread rejection both inside and outside Venezuela. At the recent Mercosur meeting, the presidents of Paraguay, Abdo Benítez, and of Uruguay, Luis Lacalle Pou, were categorical in denouncing the outrage and demanding that democratic freedoms be restored in Venezuela. We must “raise our voice” against the government of Nicolás Maduro, said the leaders. Luiz Inácio Lula, from Brazil, and Alberto Fernández, from Argentina, were –as always- more elusive. You have to “dialogue” with Maduro, said Lula, after admitting that he did not know the details of the decision; He also does not seem to know that the talks in Mexico foundered due to the persistent refusal of the Venezuelan ruler.
The European Union, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Chile have also spoken. Even the High Commissioner of the UN Office for Human Rights, Volker Türk, called on the Venezuelan government to guarantee due process in the political disqualifications issued by the Comptroller’s Office.
The regime counterattacks by accusing governments and organizations that have spoken out against arbitrariness as “interference.” The only interference that Maduro likes is that of the Cubans, Russians and Iranians. The Cuban tyranny, which has depleted Venezuela, constitutes one of the most solid supports of the regime in the area of security. He also gave him the management of the Notaries and the Registries. Anything!
María Corina joins the illegal disqualification of Henrique Capriles, a victim of the fierce hatred that Diosdado Cabello has for him since he defeated him in the elections for governor of Miranda, when Cabello tried to repeat as president of that state. María Corina and Capriles could be followed by other primary candidates. The government would be able to use its obedient comptroller to remove Andrés Velásquez, Delsa Solórzano, César Pérez Vivas, Andrés Caleca or any other candidate who stands out in the polls and is considered by Maduro and his people as a danger to its continuity.
That was the scheme used by Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua, when he disabled Cristiana Chamorro, who was leading the polls. He then continued with the rest of the applicants who were taking the baton. Ortega gave his adversaries no respite. He managed the machinery of the state to crush his opponents. Later he followed the raid with journalists, writers and priests of the Catholic Church. All those who appeared as critics became declared enemies and were demolished. Nicaragua represents a tyranny similar to the one the Castro brothers imposed on Cuba more than six decades ago. That is the model that the red caste intends to establish in Venezuela.
Given this panorama, how to confront the regime with some possibilities of preventing Venezuela from ending up being a copy of Cuba and Nicaragua. The disqualification of María Corina and Capriles constitutes a provocation aimed at removing the main opponents –those grouped around the Unitary Platform and the National Primary Commission- from the electoral route. The government seeks to create frustration and skepticism regarding the possibilities of achieving democratic changes through the vote. Why organize the primary and go vote if the regime will not accept the winner of the referendum and, to cover the legal formalities, will impose a puppet candidate managed by Maduro and his group? This is the reaction that the ruling elite expects.
That being the purpose of the government, the most sensible thing to do is not to please it. The Unitary Platform, the National Primary Commission and all sectors that want to adhere to this position should reaffirm their conviction in the electoral strategy. The applicants registered in the primary –of course, including María Corina and Capriles- would have to continue touring the country with the conviction that the enormous existing discontent in Venezuela against Maduro will find in this campaign the possibilities of expressing itself and empowering itself. It will not be easy for the government to repress or suffocate the support that the applicants receive in each state, municipality or town they visit. The primary can become that spark plug that citizens await to express their discouragement and anger at the misery into which the regime plunged them.
The campaign for a successful primary, attracting millions of voters, should be accompanied by more action at the global level. The Unitary Platform would have to create an International Secretariat that regularly addresses the democratic presidents of Latin America, the Parliaments of the continent, the democratic parties of the world and various international institutions and organizations engaged in following the march of democracy on the planet. , in order to inform them in detail about what is happening in Venezuela, urging them to speak out in favor of respect for freedom, the rule of law, popular sovereignty and the Constitution, which, incidentally, points to citizen voting as one of the fundamental rights of participatory and protagonist democracy.
The opposition leadership must act in several scenarios at the same time. The enemy ahead has no scruples and its allies are the bloodiest dictatorships on the continent and the world. The electoral path is not reduced to inviting people to vote, first in the primary and then in the national elections. The electoral route is much more complex and global than the proselytizing campaign and the act of voting. So it should be accepted.
@trinomarquezc
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