Despite the regime’s efforts to disguise the state of affairs in Venezuela and position the thesis that a beneficial change has begun, the truth is that the foundations of the narco dictatorship remain unchanged.
It is enough to refer to the response that the government gave to the march of different labor sectors on Thursday, April 9, to show, not that things continue as they were before January 3, but that, From the political-institutional perspective, they have worsened.
I say that they have worsened because the continuity of the regime enjoys an inhabited and unjustifiable field of silence between sectors of the opposition, which result in these circumstances, operations of indisputable complicity.
The fierce and coordinated attack by the Bolivarian National Police on defenseless citizens, who took to the streets to protest against salaries and working conditions that cannot be described with any other word than miserable, cleared up all doubt about the until now immovable permanence of repressive strategies and planned violation of Human Rights, as the only instrument of subjugation of the democratic will and of the leaders of civil society.
That during the aforementioned march 10 reporters have been attackedbeaten, punished with pepper spray and, even more, robbed by police officers, is revealing that things remain the same: the same disproportionate, ominous and humiliating war of the State against society; the same impunity of criminal officials who violate the law with the guarantee that nothing will happen to them; the same procedures to prevent the exercise of rights that are unequivocally established in the Constitution.
If active hatred against people and families continues intact in Venezuela, this is possible, among other reasons, because the entire so-called Judiciary of Venezuela has not changed one bit. It remains the same mafia structure dedicated to protecting the narco-dictatorship.
The most categorical proof has been given with the most scandalous and serious of their recent tricks, that of inventing a sinister phrase, “forced absence”to qualify the output of Nicolas Maduro from the scene and, therefore, avoid the calling of elections, to which they are obliged.
The illegal, illegitimate and fraudulent TSJ has begun its operation to prevent the elections that society unanimously demands, and to maintain in government a power that is also illegitimate, illegal and the product of fraud.
Of course: the Supreme Electoral Councilthe entire structure specialized in the theft of the popular will, remains as if nothing had happened. The body that starred in the documented fraud of July 28, 2024 it follows and resists any revision and change. That its main beneficiary, Nicolas Madurohas been arrested and facing trial accused of despicable crimes, It doesn’t matter to them or affect them. They do not move, with the purpose of taking charge of a possible electoral process, if political reality imposes it.
While nothing changes, more than 500 political prisoners continue to be subjected to an inhumane prison systemto corrupt courts, to judges who refuse to process amnesties, to powerful members of the regime, such as Diosdado Hairwho has his own political prisoners and refuses to release them, to keep alive the perverse exercise of authority, as he understands it: as a recurring subduing and causing suffering to the society that rejects the narco dictatorship and its members.
And what can we say about the paramilitary groups and the so-called collectives under the command of Cabello? Is it true that they are demanding a piece of the dollar pie that the United States government has given to the government of Venezuela? The real thing is that the statute of impunity is still in force.
The criminal operations and intimidation of democratic citizens have not been reduced or much eliminated. No authority makes a statement about these groups, which, on the contrary, appear as escorts of Hair or launching open verbal attacks against the United States and Donald Trump.
And the state of the economy? What can we say about the living conditions of millions of families? Does employment increase? Do salaries grow even in minimal proportion with respect to inflation? Are the rules of the economy cleared to stimulate the creation of small and medium-sized businesses? Does the regime return the companies and properties it has stolen for 28 years? Has the discourse that blames sanctions for the economic debacle caused by corruption, corruption and nothing more than corruption ceased?
Something that I cannot fail to mention: the total absence of guarantees to freely exercise political activity in the country. Maria Corina Machadothreatened by Cabello if she decided to use her right to return to Venezuela. Political parties, disqualified or kidnapped or persecuted. Political leaders, prisoners or exiles. Venezuelans in exile or in the diaspora, without having the possibility of returning to their families and their lives, thousands of them threatened by judicial files, by false accusations, by delirious accusations.
After the tight relationship, after the reminders that I have made in this article, is it possible to passively accept that things have changed in Venezuela since January 3?
*This article was originally published in The Debate.
