Nicolás Maduro has made good on his threat. He announced that if Chavismo did not win the elections on July 28, there would be a bloodbath. And that is what there is. There is a bloodbath that runs through the streets and towns, the houses and neighborhoods of Venezuela, destroying lives and demolishing hopes.
It is a bloodbath whose godfathers are the presidents of Mexico, Colombia and Brazil, who are determined to keep Maduro in power, passing him towels and soaps so that he can dry his hands and clean his face. The Vatican has joined in, so quick to criticize artistic performances in Paris, while hypocritically abstaining from denouncing the mass murders committed by its Venezuelan godson. Although Venezuelan law grants up to 30 days for the electoral authority to provide copies of the minutes, the political deadline has already expired. The hypothesis that Maduro is buying time to falsify said minutes is very doubtful. The risk of detecting his falsification is too high. The most probable thing is that the Supreme Court of the dictatorship, where Maduro has already appeared, will decide to declare him the winner or decide to annul the elections, with the tale of hacking. In short, he will do whatever the tyrant asks.
Brazil’s moment
Never again another Venezuela
A negotiated solution is possible, but with each passing day it becomes more remote. Maduro must accept his electoral defeat, and the opposition, in turn, must guarantee that there will be no persecution against him or his associates, that their actions will be judged by independent courts of justice, without ever offering them immunity. The opposition cannot ignore that, after all, Chavismo has achieved around 30 percent of popular support, a result that in any democratic system makes it an important force.
But that presupposes not only a credible international mediation for both sides, but also a willingness on the part of Maduro to accept his defeat without delay. Unlike the dictators of the 1970s, Maduro was never prepared not only for a crushing defeat, but for irrefutable evidence of it. His henchmen convinced him that Chavismo was going to “sweep” and that the polls that said otherwise were fabricated. On more than one occasion, María Corina Machado has affirmed the opposition’s commitment to ensuring a democratic transition, respecting the rights of those in power, especially the military. The combination of a massive and permanent citizen mobilization and sustained international pressure could open a solution. Something similar has already happened in other transitions in the region, without denying that there are differences.
We must not forget that Chavismo came to power with the slogan that Venezuela was only saved by an outsider, someone “new,” with no political background, and who was also young. They gave him all the powers, so that he could supposedly re-establish the country. And there we have the result. Correaism has always said that Venezuela is its model, so much so that it has boasted of having copied its constitution. Neither he nor his secret allies should return to power.
Every day that Maduro remains in power is another meter that he digs for the grave of the Latin American left, which now does not know how to emerge unscathed. It does not understand that the history of tyrannies is also the history of freedom. (O)
