It was yet another dark day for Venezuelans in and out of the country as we learned that Edmundo Gonzalez, president-elect, fled to Madrid after dictator Nicolas Maduro demanded his imprisonment.
This was great! Love your work as always- and it’s terrifying how stuck it seems. It definitely is an impossible feeling fight and seems like democracy defenders fleeing is the only option- those who have been imprisoned get the torture complications and resentful people. Anne Applebaum wrote about the campaign against Leopoldo Lopez as a unique Venezuelan repression tactic other autocracies copied, it got stronger after Leopoldo said “autocrats work in a network- and democracies have no tools to fight back” It breaks my heart to see how people like Leopoldo Lopez and Juan Guaido are still fighting (and the torture Lopez endured was horrific, and very documented publically) and it feels so hopeless- like the dictator has a way of making people resentful against those on the frontlines and turning people against them after a year- when this is a fight that can take decades and they need many people involved. It almost seems like “why be imprisoned for your beliefs? Maduro will turn the people against you in a few years” and that he still holds hope. I wish I had hope like that, they are all heroes to me- each one. I believe it was Lopez revealed how Iran, Russia, China, Cuba all work together to keep autocrats in power forever— because of this all the regimes want him silenced (and I’m like “if he is irrelevant, why are you trying to silence him?”) I was always taught that hardwork will pay off, and I hope someday dissidents globally can unify (and people will appreciate sacrifices of all Venezuelan freedom fighters)
Especially those who faced the dungeons like Leopoldo and anybody who confronted the regime- the dictators want them to just quit and sacrifice not to mean anything, why take a stand if people will hate you?
Thanks so much for this excellent commentary. I guess I disagree with the idea that pushing toward an “open” (as much as it could have been) election was obviously a bad decision ahead of time. And if it was, then what was the alternative? Continued “maximum pressure” of sanctions that hadn’t done anything up to this point? Another Guaidó? Holding the 28 July elections made abundantly clear to everyone (including a ton of current and former Chavistas) around the globe what the state of play is, and that Maduro can no longer claim any semblance of democratic legitimacy, even with leftist allies like Chile, Brazil, and Colombia. Like you articulate extremely well, the deck is stacked against a change in government based on the result of the election. Unfortunately at this point only bad options exist. I would just like to hear more alternatives from folks who lampoon the strategy of the US / international community as naive.
This was great! Love your work as always- and it’s terrifying how stuck it seems. It definitely is an impossible feeling fight and seems like democracy defenders fleeing is the only option- those who have been imprisoned get the torture complications and resentful people. Anne Applebaum wrote about the campaign against Leopoldo Lopez as a unique Venezuelan repression tactic other autocracies copied, it got stronger after Leopoldo said “autocrats work in a network- and democracies have no tools to fight back” It breaks my heart to see how people like Leopoldo Lopez and Juan Guaido are still fighting (and the torture Lopez endured was horrific, and very documented publically) and it feels so hopeless- like the dictator has a way of making people resentful against those on the frontlines and turning people against them after a year- when this is a fight that can take decades and they need many people involved. It almost seems like “why be imprisoned for your beliefs? Maduro will turn the people against you in a few years” and that he still holds hope. I wish I had hope like that, they are all heroes to me- each one. I believe it was Lopez revealed how Iran, Russia, China, Cuba all work together to keep autocrats in power forever— because of this all the regimes want him silenced (and I’m like “if he is irrelevant, why are you trying to silence him?”) I was always taught that hardwork will pay off, and I hope someday dissidents globally can unify (and people will appreciate sacrifices of all Venezuelan freedom fighters)
Especially those who faced the dungeons like Leopoldo and anybody who confronted the regime- the dictators want them to just quit and sacrifice not to mean anything, why take a stand if people will hate you?
Thanks so much for this excellent commentary. I guess I disagree with the idea that pushing toward an “open” (as much as it could have been) election was obviously a bad decision ahead of time. And if it was, then what was the alternative? Continued “maximum pressure” of sanctions that hadn’t done anything up to this point? Another Guaidó? Holding the 28 July elections made abundantly clear to everyone (including a ton of current and former Chavistas) around the globe what the state of play is, and that Maduro can no longer claim any semblance of democratic legitimacy, even with leftist allies like Chile, Brazil, and Colombia. Like you articulate extremely well, the deck is stacked against a change in government based on the result of the election. Unfortunately at this point only bad options exist. I would just like to hear more alternatives from folks who lampoon the strategy of the US / international community as naive.