Carlos Sanchez Berzain Abogado | Estadista | Político | Politólogo
Carlos Sánchez Berzaín
March 19, 2020
(Interamerican Institute for Democracy) The first two decades of the 21st century in the Americas has been a period for the installation and expansion of dictatorships that, although are now weakened, cannot be removed because there is no unity in the fight to regain freedom and democracy in Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Bolivia, Ecuador, and nations where Castrochavism established itself as a transnational organized crime’s system that wields political power.
The systematic supplanting of democracy’s essential components with “despicable laws” that violate human rights and individual basic freedoms was able to create, in each controlled State, a dictatorial system with; an institutionalized violation of human rights, “functional opposition members”, total control of power, the disappearance of the rule of law, and with the simulation of democracy under the cloak of “vote-catching dictatorships” in which the citizenry votes but do not elect.
To stay in power, some of Castrochavism’s control and sustainment ingredients are; corruption and narcotics’ trafficking as producers of unlimited resources, the “judicialized political persecution” and the use of force to subjugate, along with massacres and torture, political prisoners and exiled, fear and the institutional breakdown, the setting up of de-facto regimes with a uniform methodology and the manipulation of information.
The preceding conditions and others related, prevent, delay, hinder and can lead to failure, all courageous and persistent “civil resistance” movements that since many years back fight for Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua’s freedom. These conditions are also sustaining a threatened transition process towards democracy in Ecuador, and have enabled the ousting of the dictator -but not the dictatorship- from Bolivia.
Castrochavism wields total power in Cuba with Castro/Diaz-Canel, it has de-facto control of power in Venezuela with Maduro/Cabello, wields absolute power in Nicaragua with Ortega/Murillo, and although it has lost the governments of Ecuador and Bolivia, it continues to retain power with which it maneuvers to retake the government in both countries. In Ecuador, the dictator was removed but the polls for next year’s elections show the dictatorial apparatus as the politically strongest of the country. Similarly, in Bolivia, the dictator -but not the dictatorship- was ousted and it remains functioning and enjoying impunity, controlling the legislative, judicial, electoral, and constitutional institutions, along with its intact narco-state on the eve of winning in the next upcoming elections.
Under these circumstances what is desirable is the unity of all leaders opposing the dictatorship in each country, but that does not happen and by contrast the visible split and confrontation between members of the opposition is a characteristic feature that enables the Castrochavist dictatorial system to remain in power. Unity is hard to achieve and people pretend to explain and justify it by citing ideological, programmatic, strategic, or personal (ambitions), and partisan differences that only create greater bewilderment of the people.
Facts reveal that the unity needed to defeat Castrochavist dictatorships is constantly sabotaged by “functional opposition members” who respond to the regime’s interests -which turn out to be their own interests as well- helping to maintain the dictatorial status quo. From personal freedoms and family safety to important dealings, political perks, or positions of power, these all seem to be “compelling reasons” for fake opposition members to permanently weaken the possibility of stopping the usurpation of power, remove the dictator and/or end the dictatorship.
Moreover, the absence of unity of command and strategy weakens democracy’s options and portrays the dictators’ false image of strength. Dictatorships operate with a single command, a transnational strategy to retain power at any cost and with the region’s destabilization, but they are very fragile, have burnt-out and coward leaderships as was shown by Evo Morales’ resignation and fleeing from Bolivia.
The dictatorships real weakness is huge due to the popular rejection, the failings of its concentrator, statist, criminal system, and the evidence of its crimes. They have no chance of surviving but seek ways of prolonging their usurpation of power with persistent damage to the nations they oppress. Now is the time to show that the unity needed, to remove dictators and end dictatorships, is possible to achieve.
Published in Spanish by Infobae.com Sunday, March 15, 2020
Translated from Spanish by; Edgar L. Terrazas, member of the American Translators’ Association, ATA