“The supreme recourse of rebellion against tyranny and oppression”

Carlos Sánchez Berzaín
november 18, 2017 

In the face of the objective reality that shows how Castroist-Chavist dictatorial regimes in the Americas govern illegally and illegitimately indefinite terms of government, committing all types of crimes to have impunity, it is good to remember that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights establishes as “essential that human rights be protected by a regime of Rule of Law, in order to assure that man not be compelled to the supreme means of rebellion as a recourse against tyranny and oppression” , this is to mean that rebelling against tyranny and oppression is a right and is neither shameful nor a crime.

It is in the preamble of the Universal Declaration where it is acknowledged as a “supreme means” the “rebellion against tyranny and oppression”. The introduction states this to be the guiding “origin and the principle” and this is why the Universal Declaration of Human Rights affirms that “freedom and peace in the world have as a foundation the acknowledgement that dignity is intrinsic to equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family” and that “ignoring and underestimating human rights have resulted in barbaric acts shocking the conscience of humanity…” and afterwards it states “the protection of human rights to be essential by a regime of Rule of Law so that man will not be compelled to the supreme recourse of rebellion against tyranny and oppression.”

The existence of a regime of Rule of Law is instituted as “essential” and when this is replaced or substituted or no longer exists, with it disappears “the nature, the most important” feature for the protection of human rights, and since crime, tyranny and dishonor can neither be accepted nor condoned, human rights open up and acknowledge the path of the “supreme recourse of rebellion”.

Supreme is that which “has no match”, it is the “ultimate and extreme means to protect human rights” and this is how “rebellion against tyranny and oppression” is presented as a “supreme recourse” by the Universal Declaration. Rebellion means “to oppose, to resist, to rise up, to revolt, to be hostile against tyranny, defined as a regime of extreme degree of abuse and imposition, and against oppression, defined as a regime that subjects a person, a nation or people, degrading, humiliating, or tyrannizing them.”

The tyrannical and oppressive regimes of the Castro in Cuba and of Chavez and Maduro in Venezuela provide each and every day public evidence of those conditions, and Bolivia with Evo Morales, Nicaragua with Daniel Ortega, and Ecuador with Rafael Correa’s structured government, are on this same track. The Americas’ dictatorships are on parade, they do not respect any of the essential components of democracy as outlined by the Interamerican Democratic Charter, and violate human rights as a matter of state policy. Cuba and Venezuela are tyrannical, oppressive, and recalcitrant dictatorships that have been exposed; Bolivia and Nicaragua try very hard to simulate and appear democratic but are absolutely oppressive and tyrannical; Ecuador, with Lenin Moreno, has the opportunity to break off from the regime implanted by Correa and although there have not been concrete changes, there are indications which in the collective imagination lead to hope.

Remembering that mankind has as an inalienable right “the supreme recourse of rebellion against tyranny and oppression” does not pretend to incite rebellion but to point out that there is still time to prevent them. To prevent the already seen people’s legitimate public uprisings, which will soon be repeated, tyrants and oppressors from the regimes of Cuba, Venezuela, Bolivia, Nicaragua, must leave the government, because they are illegal and illegitimate because they are sustained solely by force and an organized crime system. The unevenly-matched struggle of the people to recover their freedom and democracy is supported by the world in compliance with international standards of law and universal civilization.

To keep the people oppressed by the Castroist-Chavist dictatorships from resorting to “the supreme recourse of rebellion” these regimes have conducted an arms race and have developed monstrous security and repression services; they control all branches of the government; legislate despicable laws that instead of protecting violate human rights, such as the sarcastic “law against hatred” of Maduro’s dictatorship in Venezuela; they have political prisoners, persecuted, and exiled to whom they have physically and morally tortured as dissuasive examples; they have the total control of the armed forces with corruption and narcotics trafficking at the top as a shameful support of the government; they have eliminated the freedom of the press using fear and direct bribery; they have squandered their national resources and have eliminated productive enterprises to plunge their nation into a misery that makes it easier for men to be subjugated, and so much more that any and every one can point out.

Cuba in a new special period aggravated by the change of dictator that must be done very soon, is not precisely stable; Venezuela brags to have almost ended 2017 with Maduro in power and to have broken up the opposition, but sill has more crises, if its narco-state designation is proved, growing international sanctions and bankruptcy are looming and the leadership fears this. Evo Morales in Bolivia attempts new fraud to name judges and is drafting another “despicable sentence” to indefinitely extend his tenure in government against the will of the people who defeated a similar proposal on 21 February of 2016 (21F), but he is already a famous builder of a narco-state; the Ortega’s in Nicaragua have just finished perpetrating another fraud in the municipal elections and are trying very hard to cover up their corruption, but all of them know they are compelling people to, sooner than later, pursue “the supreme recourse of rebellion against tyranny and oppression.”

Published in Spanish by Diario las Americas on Sunday November 12th, 2017

Translated from Spanish by Edgar L. Terrazas, Member of the American Translators Association, ATA # 234680.