Para-dictatorial governments in the Americas

(Interamerican Institute for Democracy) In this 21st century, the Americas endure the Cuban dictatorship’s expansion that has imposed its system in Venezuela, Bolivia, and Nicaragua, but that beyond this, it has expanded its control of democratic countries through the manipulation of candidates who, once they ascend into power, subject the States they represent to the service of dictatorships. These are Castrochavism’s para-dictatorial governments that factually are comprised by Argentina, Mexico, Chile, Colombia, and Brazil.

A para-dictatorial government is one that is led by a duly elected President in a country with democracy that serves dictatorial regimes, to contribute to their sustainment with efforts to legitimize and support it, disregarding legal international obligations and to the detriment of their own national interests.

These are democratically elected governments who ignore the crimes committed by dictatorial regimes who wield power through State-terrorism, crimes against humanity, institutionalized violation of human rights, have political prisoners and exiles, an indefinite control of the government through violence and fear, have judicialized political persecution and the absence of the rule of law. These governments have also institutionalized electoral fraud disguised as vote-catching dictatorial States, and a blaring disregard for the separation and independence of the branches of government and more.

Moreover, para-dictatorial governments incur in actions of overt and open support to dictatorships in matters of foreign policy. Beyond maintaining international relationships, they respond to dictatorial policies with the legitimization of dictators’ criminal actions and the façade of the narrative of “revolution” with an antiimperialist discourse to cover-up the dictatorships’ atrocities and earmark internal resources to help them.

These features and other notorious facts identify as para-dictatorial the governments of; Alberto Fernández and Cristina Kirchner from Argentina, Andrés Manuel López Obrador from México, Gabriel Boric from Chile, Gustavo Petro from Colombia, and Luis Ignacio Lula da Silva from Brazil. Duly elected presidents in democratic countries, all -bar none- lawfully elected to power through elections in which 21st Century Socialism sponsored them, all representing a minority and all implementing a foreign policy to favor Cuba and its satellite dictatorships.

From Argentina, the government of Fernández and Kirchner has granted recognition to Venezuela’s dictatorship, has replaced the dictatorship in Bolivia as Cuba’s base of operations protecting and sustaining Evo Morales, has ignored the crimes of Ortega/Murillo in Nicaragua, has master minded a scheme to use its embassy in Ecuador to help flee a sentenced member of Correa’s regime, has sent “humanitarian aid” to Cuba, has offered its support to Russia and more…

On behalf of Mexico, Lopez Obrador has sustained and legitimized dictator Nicolas Maduro who he has welcomed as a Head of State instead of arresting him with the existing international arrest warrant and a bounty of $15 million dollars against him for his role as the head of the “Cartel de los Soles.” Lopez Obrador has also decorated dictator Diaz-Canel, paid Cuba for slaved physicians to the detriment of Mexican physicians, buys precious stones from the Cuban dictatorship, is the center of the dictatorial narco-States political sustainment, has used its Air Force’s aircraft to rescue dictator Evo Morales and more…

With President Boric, Chile’s foreign policy was used to; condemn the exclusion of the dictatorships from Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela to the Summit of the Americas, accuse the United States of attempting to destroy the Cuban revolution, declaring its alleged blockade as detestable, allow with public tributes the Bolivian dictatorship’s penetration in the failed process to install a Chilean Constituent Assembly. Boric’s foreign policy has contradictory actions because, while favorably dissenting, it has shown solidarity with political prisoners and those politically persecuted in Nicaragua.

In Colombia, ever since Gustavo Petro ascended to power, he has marked the para-dictatorial line with his emphasis to legalize drugs, repeating the Cuban narrative of the failed war on drugs, has normalized his country’s relations with Maduro who he now helps to be legitimized at the expense of sectors of the Venezuelan opposition, seeks to legalize ELN guerrillas protected by Cuba, under the model of peace negotiations, has meddled by intervening in Peru’s crisis defending ousted President Castillo and more.

In Brazil, Lula is solely the unique historical head alive of Castrochavism. Creator, along with Fidel Castro and the Bolivarian populism of Chavez, of the Forum of Sao Paolo. He is the intellectual master-mind of the greatest corruption scheme in history known as LAVA JATO because he, as the president of Brazil, was the one who allowed the resources of the Brazilian people to be used for crimes, still unpunished, to be committed in Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Bolivia. On behalf of Brazil, he has just proclaimed in China a worldwide alliance of dictatorships against democracy with an antiimperialist narrative.

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

Translation from Spanish by Edgar L. Terrazas