By: Rebecca Theodore
January 10, 2025
Even as Venezuela’s opposition dissident Edmundo González Urrutia contends that we are facing a regime which has seriously undermined human rights, democratic institutions and the system of freedom, until now, Maduro’s populist authoritarian regime continues to dismantle democratic institutions, economy and infrastructure through abuse of state power in Venezuela. Hitherto, Nicolás Maduro illegally stand entitled to the presidency of Venezuela, thus continuing the repression and disdain of the voices of the Venezuelan people in their call for a return to democracy.
While it is true, that Maduro’s forced exile of González traverses the democratic threshold through manipulation of the electoral process, the dilution of the fabric of human rights, and the system of freedom; it is also important to note that within Venezuela’s broader autonomous edifice lies another tragic stance. Venezuela is also bashed by incomparable challenges that span distressing economic dislocation and international crime as well.
First, if a World Food Program report that 59% of households in Venezuela don’t have enough income to buy enough food are correct, then, the distribution of food as a tool for social control also mirror the democratic challenges that Venezuela presently faces. This mean that the economy and basic social services are also spiralling downward in Venezuela.
Hence, it is clear, that the explicit violations of democracy in Venezuela are not only escalating in democratic backslidings, rampant crime, and humanitarian issues. The fight for democracy in Venezuela is also curtained in hyper inflation and public health afflictions that affects the entire western hemisphere.
Indeed, critics argue that it is the responsibility of Venezuelans to continue their movement towards democracy. However, it is evident, that the struggle for the restoration of democracy in Venezuela is not just a national issue — it’s a global issue as well. A global coalition toward a democratic transition is crucial for reestablishing democracy, the rule of law, and respect for human rights in Venezuela.
Accordingly, María Corina Machado’s Unitary Platform eloquent and incisive criticism that European Union observers did not help the democratic struggle of the Venezuelan people in their rights to free and fair elections, but rather in the permanence of the regime rings in clarity. Of course, the milieu for the United States, European Union, and others that voice support for Venezuelan democracy must now back up their words with clear public actions into restoring Gonzalez as the legitimate president of Venezuela.
Further, “the goal of U.S. policy toward Venezuela should not only be nestled in securing global markets as a modicum for crude oil and curtailing emigration from Maduros authoritarian regime.” There must be a policy aimed at political change in the struggle to restore democracy in Venezuela through free and fair elections. Therefore, the United States must stand behind the decision to use the electoral process to advance democracy in Venezuela.
Similarly, the United Nations must address the international support that the Maduro regime receives from authoritarian states including Cuba, Russia, Iran, and China. And for this, the left-leaning democratic countries that place ideological empathy over fundamental rights must also be singled out.
More broadly, there are significant caveats that must also be attached to restoring the democratic process in Venezuela. Tightened US sanctions on Maduro, street protests and fissures in the armed forces to induce political change has failed, proving that it is consequently the nature of the engagement that matters, and not the simple act of doing so. While the Trump – Vance administration are assessing congruent multiple global struggles and the United States’ role within each of them, efforts to support the democratic process in Venezuela must not go unnoticed.
Moreover, the restoration of democracy in Venezuela also engages the US Federal Bureau of Investigation and Drug Enforcement Administration. Their efforts are needed to dislocate transnational criminal networks that exploit Venezuela’s natural resources engaged in financial corruption, that have ties to organized crime.
Despite the endorsement of ‘containment’ to limit Venezuela’s democratic challenges by the Center for Strategic and International Studies -CSIS, systemic repression and political persecution persists. As the democratic dissolution spirals, rising inequality, affordability challenges, and threats to democratic values in Venezuela showcase the fact, that external support is crucial for restoring democracy in Venezuela.
Consequently, true democracy beckons in Venezuela. The democratic impasse of Venezuela awakens the international community on a call for solidarity, and collective action in the face of authoritarianism.
(Rebecca Theodore is an international journalist and syndicated op-ed columnist based in New York. She writes on the platform of national security, politics, human rights and the environment. Email her at rebethd@aol.com )
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