Castroist Chavist dictatorships will only leave the government by force

Carlos Sánchez Berzaín
July 24, 2018

(Interamerican Institute for Democracy) The regimes from Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Bolivia are structured to remain indefinitely in the government, against the will of their people and ignoring international condemnation.  Defeated by their people’s will, cornered by widespread protests, with crises they have created, buried in corruption and narcotics’ trafficking, their daily running of government is a daily chain of crimes they commit and cover up using their political power.  Castroist Chavist dictators send, since long time ago, the unmistakable message that they will only leave the government they same way they run it, by force.

No political or democratic act, whether internal or international, has accomplished any change in any of the Castroist Chavist regimes’ decision to hold on to the government in perpetuity.  In Cuba, the Castro’s and their inner circle are the head of a transnational system set up since Hugo Chavez gave away Venezuela’s oil and wealth they have used to empower themselves, setting up the dictatorships of Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela, Daniel Ortega/Murillo in Nicaragua, and Evo Morales in Bolivia. In Ecuador they have lost their influence and are suffering their return to democracy.

Cuba’s dictatorship is the most remarkable and tragic case with its almost sixty years of shamefulness that is now seeking to strengthen itself with a “constitutional reform” farce, without the people’s participation.  Among other fallacious ideas they sustain by force, the holders of power in Cuba are deeming convenient to their objective of indefinitely holding on to power, to acknowledge some sort of private property and remove the word “communism” from its text.

Venezuela’s dictatorship takes it, as a done deal, its schemed “Constituent Assembly” and “reelection of the dictator” conducted without the people’s participation. It endures a growing massive citizens’ pressure, Maduro holds on to de-facto power, in spite of his destitution ordered by the National Assembly.  The number of political prisoners increases with the arrest of military men and the dictator now plays the old Cuban show of the sixties “to prepare the people for an imperialist invasion”.  The regime’s paramilitary groups spread terror and conduct extrajudicial executions.

Nicaragua’s dictatorship, just in these past three months, has assassinated over 350 people, injured over 1,200, imprisoned and exiled political opponents by the hundreds. In order to hold on to power it uses the worn-out resource of “dialogue” that it manipulates to its convenience while conducting “purge operations” with hooded paramilitary thugs that torture, kill, and spread terror against defenders of freedom and all of this while Ortega/Murillo declare themselves to be victims of a “coup d’état” when the entire country is asking them to leave.

Bolivia’s dictatorship was just recognized to have turned the country into “the biggest informal economy of the world”.  It is facing growing massive protests for it to abide by the 21 February of 2016 (21F) referendum through which Evo Morales lost his presumptuousness to be indefinitely reelected, and whose outcome he continues to disavow through a ruling from his judges who have ruled as the dictator’s “human right” to be a candidate and commit fraud in perpetuity.   In Bolivia, groups of hooded thugs have now appeared claiming to be defenders of Evo Morales and his “process of change” threatening the people who defend the “21F NO means NO” protests.  Dictator Morales has asked to “kick to hell” and remove defenders of the 21F and has ordered his paramilitary and coca growers to be on standby alert.

Ecuador’s exit from the dictatorial group is attributed to Correa’s “mistake” not to be indefinitely reelected and to have instead placed Lenin Moreno as his “controlled candidate” but who, after his election, turned out to be leading his country’s return to democracy currently underway.  President Moreno called for a referendum and a popular consult that did away with indefinite reelections and is now doing away with “the judicialized political repression” system.  He has accused Nicaragua’s dictatorship for its criminal acts, has recalled his Ambassador in Bolivia for consultation, and has indicated he will not send an Ambassador to Venezuela.

The acts and strategy of the dictators from Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Bolivia to remain forever in power are all the same, the facts reveal this to be a “plan of force” in which crime is the basic instrument and terror and violence are its tools.  Castro, Maduro, Ortega/Murillo, and Morales have power by force and are telling the world that the only way they will leave it, is by force.

Published in Spanish by Infobae on Sunday July 22nd, 2018