The helplessness of the nations of Cuba, Venezuela, Bolivia and Nicaragua and the shameful democratic silence

(Interamerican Institute for Democracy)The free press, international, as well as specialized organizations, prove that in Cuba, Venezuela, Bolivia, and Nicaragua there are hundreds of political prisoners, there is torture and State-terrorism as a form of government with the institutionalized violation of human rights, manipulation of so-called justice systems and that these nations in defiant yet peaceful civil resistance advocating for their freedom are now in a situation of helplessness. We are talking about entire nations who -either through force or violence- are being unduly restrained from exercising their rights right before and in plain sight of democratic leaders and governments who remain shamefully silent.

Helplessness is the “lack of defense,” the condition in which an individual does not have defense, a condition in which that individual “does not have the necessary (sic) protection, aid, or assistance.” From a legal perspective, this is “that situation in which someone is placed to unduly prevent or limit the right to defend his rights.” This critical situation can then become the so-called “learned helplessness” or assumed powerlessness that describes “that condition that a human being learns to behave passively with the subjective sensation of not having the capacity to do anything about his situation, a condition the individual is not willing to respond to, in spite of there being real opportunities to change the situation…”

This is about the dictatorships and tyrannies’ handling of social psychology that take people to the condition of “subjection in order to avoid undesirable consequences, or obtain favorable rewards”. The mechanism is fear that is instilled with the implementation of “State-terrorism” that is “the commission of crimes by the government, aimed at generating fear and terror amongst the civilian population in order to reach its objectives or to promote behaviors that otherwise would not occur.”

State-terrorism is based on the unlimited and brutal violation of human rights and basic individual freedoms, something that in essence does away with the first essential component of democracy. For crimes committed by dictators or their accomplices to remain unpunished, dictatorial regimes do away with “the separation and independence of the branches of government” something that also ends the “rule of law.” This way, they can remain indefinitely in power, under the modality of being “vote-catching dictatorships” who use fraudulent elections in which people vote but do not elect and to sustain their narrative of being “democracies with only one party” that when all is said and done is no more than another crime to add to their record.

There are several very important international -binding- instruments to protect life, the physical well-being, freedom, and the rights of the human being that include; to be able to live in his/her place of birth, the right to own private property, and the right to work. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the American Convention on Human Rights or the Treaty of San Jose, the Interamerican Convention to Prevent and Punish Torture, the Interamerican Convention on the Forced Disappearance of People, the International Treaty of Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, the International Treaty of Civil and Political Rights, and dozens more.

There are many more international -mandatory- laws to ensure the protection of freedom, to maintain international peace and security, to prevent the establishment of dictatorships and tyrannies, punish criminals and prevent impunity: The United Nations Charter, the Charter of the Organization of American States, the Interamerican Democratic Charter, the United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime or Palermo Convention, the Convention for the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide, the Convention Against Torture and Other Practices or Cruel, Inhuman, and Degrading Punishments, the International Penal Court’s Statute of Rome, and more.

Regarding the violation of international laws in Cuba, the organization Prisoner Defenders certifies there are 1027 political prisoners in Cuba that in the past 12 months this number increased to 1129, and that “…is obvious that the general population is massively fleeing from the repression.” Regarding Venezuela, Penal Forum certifies there are 240 political prisoners and that “there are on-going, calculated repressions, stigmatizations, and arbitrary detentions…” and the United Nations reports that “6,11 million Venezuelans have abandoned their country.” Mecanismo Para Nicaragua, a coalition of 21 international, regional, and Nicaraguan human rights’ organizations, reports there are 219 political prisoners there. Datos Macro reports there were 682,865 people who left the country of which “over 103,000 left the country between January and May of 2022”. Global Human Rights League certifies there are 164 political prisoners in Bolivia and over 8,000 Bolivians seeking asylum or haven elsewhere.

Faced with this objective reality that has broken the International Legal System and has made it inoperable, the silence and the inaction of political leaders, Heads of State, Church Leaders, in sum the democratic silence is resoundingly shameful.

*Attorney & Political Scientist. Director of the Interamerican Institute for Democracy.

Translation from Spanish by Edgar L. Terrazas