The image could not be more symbolic: A statue of the late Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez falling to the ground, torn down by an angry mob of Venezuelans protesting last week’s electoral fraud.
For anyone watching abroad, the message clearly spoke to the country’s thirst for change and the boiling public frustration with the latest tricks of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s socialist regime. Venezuelans had had enough; and for outsiders, the government’s outright fabrication of the election’s results should amount to conclusive proof of its authoritarian behavior. However, not even such overwhelming manifestations can persuade some of those playing for Maduro’s ideological team that enough is enough. From Brazil’s ruling Workers’ Party to Spain’s Podemos, much of the region’s mainstream left has remained unshaken in its support for the Venezuelan regime during its latest perversion.
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador spoke about how Venezuela should be left alone (words quickly echoed by his successor-in-waiting Claudia Sheinbaum) and said the Organization of American States had “bias.”
The election was an unobjectionable triumph” for Maduro, Honduran President Xiomara Castro said, while former Ecuadorian president Rafael Correa shouted glories to the Venezuelan people, as if it was not the victim of a government conspiracy. More predictably, the Nicaraguan and Cuban dictatorships quickly congratulated Maduro’s “historic” win, as did Russia, China and Iran.
High up in the ideological cynicism tables is Argentina’s Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, an organization that led the fight against human rights abuses during the fierce 1970s dictatorship, but now pledges to stand by Maduro “as many times as necessary.”
While cynical ideologues have long been with us, these political outbursts deserve attention, because Venezuela is a generational catastrophe that cannot be reversed without a full understanding of its tragedy and dramatic consequences. Its corrupt regime has survived all these years, partly because of the whataboutism and sympathies of its ideological allies who, in complicity, turned their eyes away when it mattered. Some supporting Chavismo were pursuing pure financial or geopolitical gain, of course. Others, hewing to the childish view that the world is a zero-sum game where all is fair in the fight against US “imperialism,” have condoned the most criminal political acts, from embezzlement of public funds to the incarceration of opponents, torture and extrajudicial executions.
However, not condemning Maduro’s actions is a mistake of historic proportions — a stunning own goal with long-lasting consequences in Latin America. The cause of a democratic, stable and prosperous Venezuela should be a unifying factor in the region, not a source of division across ideological lines. We should all agree that disregarding the popular vote and faking election results is a red line that nobody can cross without consequences. That is what the countries signed onto when they adopted the Inter-American Democratic Charter — which is supposed to be binding. With what moral compass can the leaders of the Workers’ Party denounce former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro’s undemocratic practices if they now run to recognize Maduro as the winner? This also applies to those right-wingers who present themselves as freedom fighters, but quickly succumb to the magnetic power of like-minded tough guys (hello, Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele!).
That is why Chilean President Gabriel Boric’s courageous and timely words on election night were so important: By saying that Maduro’s numbers are “difficult to believe” and demanding the full and transparent release of detailed voting results, Boric — a man of the left — exposed the key inconsistency of this election right away. Other more reasonable representatives of that political spectrum, notably the Socialist International, joined Boric in his outcry.
The reluctance of Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Colombian President Gustavo Petro to explicitly condemn the recent events is part of a strategy to retain some influence over the regime in the hopes of mediation, some said. Perhaps, but their track record is one of complicity with Caracas rather than support for democratic change.
On the bright side, at least they called for the release of full results and refrained from any congratulation, as did the White House. That should be the rallying cry of anyone interested in exposing the truth of what happened during the vote. The regime has not presented a single ballot receipt to prove they won the election, as they claim. They have not done that simply because they cannot: They did not win the election.
Maduro and his henchmen are accelerating down an imaginary highway to Cuba, detaining members of the opposition, repressing protests and inventing the most absurd conspiracies to try to regain control of the situation. Venezuela’s top army general saying that the country is suffering a coup confirms the solidity of the military leadership’s alliance with Maduro. However, Latin America should do everything at hand to prevent Venezuela from becoming another autocracy. That outcome would only swell migration outflows, increase the great-power infighting within the region and lead to more democratic backsliding. Most importantly, it would condemn millions of Venezuelans to penury, tyranny and ostracism for decades to come.
Maduro has pledged to hunt those who brought down Chavez statues. He sees their actions as deeply offensive to his movement. However, if he ever takes a moment to reflect on Venezuelan history, he might see the irony of where things now stand.
JP Spinetto is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering Latin American business, economic affairs and politics. He was previously Bloomberg News’ managing editor for economics and government in the region.
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