Freedom on our continent has a historic date in Venezuela. Yes next January 10 Nicolas Maduro comes to take possession of the presidency, usurping the mandate that the people gave at the polls to the opposition candidate on July 28 Edmundo González Urrutia (and her political companion, the heroic Maria Corina Machado), from then on every step, every act, every word, every minute of his administration will be marked by the indelible stigma of illegitimacy.
90% of the Venezuelans He wants his execrable government to end. Ripe completed the economic and institutional demolition work started by Hugo Chavez. He has been tyrannical because of the misery and helplessness in which he has plunged the people, because of the exile into which his inept “management” has forced eight million of his compatriots, because of the suffocation of all freedoms (except his own and that of his satrapy) and – above all – for the barbarity of their persecutions, torture and murders. If he imposes his illegal re-election, not only will the overwhelming majority of the people repudiate him even more (if possible). All democracies will turn their backs on him, in particular Europe, USA, Canada and most countries Latin Americaincluding those governed by left-wing leaders, such as Gabriel Boric, maybe Lula da Silva and, less likely, Gustavo Petro. There will, of course, be no shortage of authoritarian, totalitarian or theocratic states that lend themselves to farce. Of course China, Russia, Iran and its satellites; also Nicaragua and Cuba that not only are they not democratic, but they display their tyrannical character. And in that parade of ignominy, shamefully, the government of Mexico will include a representative.
But another act could occur from that day on. Without it being possible to know how – that is how uncertain the figure of history is – Gonzalez Urrutia could be sworn in as president of Venezuela. Perhaps international, political and financial pressure will force change, which should be peaceful and negotiated, as was the case in the Eastern countries kidnapped by the USSR until 1989. Or maybe there is still a soldier Venezuelan that is recognized in the lyrics of the national anthem and, given the illegitimate nature of the regime, decides to honor, gloriously, the “brave people that the yoke cast down.” Surely the people will march again towards the Miraflores bunker. And chance, as always, will play its cards, which do not always favor evil.
It would be the greatest triumph of democracy in the history of Latin America. I do not hesitate to affirm it. The return of the democratic order has only occurred with right-wing dictators. In Argentina it was achieved in 1983 with the withdrawal of the criminal military, the same as in the Peru, Uruguay, Brazil and even in Chiliwhere Pinochet, with all his despair, had no choice but to accept the result of the plebiscite that separated him from power in 1988.
Nothing similar has been seen with left-wing dictatorships. In 1990 it occurred in Nicaragua the fleeting transition from a revolutionary regime to a democratic one, but it did not take long for the top leader of Sandinismo, Daniel Ortega declared himself a leader for life, and restored practices that the man himself would applaud. Anastasio Somoza. As to CubaHas anyone ever dreamed that Fidel Castro Would it open the way to a republican order? He died in his bed – like so many tyrants – still hailed by the myth of a revolution that promised to be Martí’s and ended up Stalinist. But that myth no longer supports the Cuban military, owners of that island of sadness that is dying of hunger and loneliness before our eyes. For all this, the return to democracy in Venezuela would set a fundamental precedent: it would prove that left-wing dictators are also leaving power.
The day will come. It is not difficult to imagine the Venezuela free. The children and grandchildren who migrated will return, the farmers, workers, businessmen, professionals and technicians scattered around the world will return, diplomatic ties and commercial ties will return, capital will return, it will be reconstituted. PDVSA as the exemplary state company that it once was and so many expropriated or ruined companies will be reborn. Peace will return on the roads, squares and consciences.
And the horrors? And the horrible prisons and torture rooms? And justice? In their indeterminate exile, the despots will spend their millions, their billions. Venezuelans will heal their wounds, they will honor their martyrs, but they will not have time to look back. They will rebuild their republic, they will breathe the air of freedom.
