A Transition to What?
Government leader Delcy Rodriguez is using Donald Trump’s Iran entanglement to turn the political and institutional transition into an indecipherable scribble.
Neither Trump nor Secretary of State Marco Rubio nor Secretary of War Pete Hegseth can devote to Venezuela all the attention required for transition to a new phase. Those characters' attention appears to be focused on the Middle East. One has the impression that they’re trying to figure out how to untangle the mess resulting from the attack by the U.S. and Israel on the mullah regime.
Trump is now immersed in the conflict into which Benjamin Netanyahu dragged him, with no solution on the horizon that would allow the U.S. president to claim a categorical victory.
Apart from the conflict with Iran, the U.S. government is deepening tensions with Cuba, threatening to take it over and entertaining the possibility of an invasion. The strangulation of the island is in service to a tyranny whose leaders, awash in heroism, may emerge — characters like Silvio Rodriguez. And without the slightest sense of shame, they will step forward to support the inept and corrupt caste which plunged that suffering country into the worst of its miseries.
The different fronts opened by Trump's administration have detracted from the international relevance of Venezuela's case; the attention of senior U.S. officials has shifted to other fronts. That lack of attention seems to have been detected by Delcy Rodríguez and her supporters. Now, along with submissive language and obedient behavior toward the U.S., we hear imperious words and witness-challenging behaviors. Some of the negative past is resurfacing.
On Monday, Mar. 23, in the face of the justified demand of numerous workers and pensioners for a living wage, Delcy Rodriguez and her followers called out their paramilitary groups — euphemistically known as collectives — and Diosdado Cabello ordered them to congregate in the same place where the workers' march was to wind up. That trade union abuse occurred after four years without an increase in the minimum wage or a general increase in wages and after years without workers’ protests.
The amnesty law has been applied with discriminatory criteria. More than 500 people are still imprisoned for alleged political crimes. The government has been angry with the military and metropolitan police, detained now for 23 years. The media — newspapers, magazines, radio and regional television stations — were confiscated and have not been returned to their legitimate owners. Numerous information portals remain blocked. The government plans to impose codes and registrations on internet portals. National television stations have been threatened repeatedly for transmitting information unpopular with the regime. They have arrested people who had taken self-protective measures.
The electoral issue is not even mentioned, despite the fact that we are very close to completing the first 90 days without Nicolás Maduro and with Delcy Rodríguez as interim. The issue has been not addressed; however, it is already clear that Delcy Rodríguez is not an interim president, but a permanent one. The High Command swore loyalty to her and recognized her as commander-in-chief of the Bolivarian National Armed Forces. Her decisions are not adopted on behalf of the leader — purportedly Maduro — but on her own behalf.
In addition to the fact that they do not appear to be delegated or mandated by Maduro, changes made by the president show no intention of introducing a significant turn in his management, a break with the past or opening up to include new actors. Her actions have been aimed at ending the shadow of Madurism (she removed Vladimir Padrino López, Álex Saab and Tarek William Saab), underlining her own profile as president and leader, and establishing a new balance within the ruling party. The appointment of Gustavo González López as minister of defense seems to point toward an understanding with the status quo, commanded by Cabello.
Against this bleak panorama, I have not included the economic situation, which is far from improving. Inflation is wreaking havoc on Venezuelans' pockets. The devaluation of the bolivar represents a steady deterioration in people's purchasing power. I will deal with this topic in a future installment. It's too important to cover in a few lines.
For the transition to be carried out “Venezuelan-style,” as proposed by María Corina Machado, it is essential that a new protagonist enter the stage: the citizens and their organizations. The parties, unions, guilds, student federations, peasant leagues and all the other groups that form the social fabric have to become actors in this story. Without a mobilized populace, the transition will be eternal, even if those who govern are a very small minority. Organized citizens will be the ones who make sense of a transition.
Neither Trump nor Secretary of State Marco Rubio nor Secretary of War Pete Hegseth can devote to Venezuela all the attention required for transition to a new phase. Those characters' attention appears to be focused on the Middle East. One has the impression that they’re trying to figure out how to untangle the mess resulting from the attack by the U.S. and Israel on the mullah regime.
Trump is now immersed in the conflict into which Benjamin Netanyahu dragged him, with no solution on the horizon that would allow the U.S. president to claim a categorical victory.
Apart from the conflict with Iran, the U.S. government is deepening tensions with Cuba, threatening to take it over and entertaining the possibility of an invasion. The strangulation of the island is in service to a tyranny whose leaders, awash in heroism, may emerge — characters like Silvio Rodriguez. And without the slightest sense of shame, they will step forward to support the inept and corrupt caste which plunged that suffering country into the worst of its miseries.
The different fronts opened by Trump's administration have detracted from the international relevance of Venezuela's case; the attention of senior U.S. officials has shifted to other fronts. That lack of attention seems to have been detected by Delcy Rodríguez and her supporters. Now, along with submissive language and obedient behavior toward the U.S., we hear imperious words and witness-challenging behaviors. Some of the negative past is resurfacing.
On Monday, Mar. 23, in the face of the justified demand of numerous workers and pensioners for a living wage, Delcy Rodriguez and her followers called out their paramilitary groups — euphemistically known as collectives — and Diosdado Cabello ordered them to congregate in the same place where the workers' march was to wind up. That trade union abuse occurred after four years without an increase in the minimum wage or a general increase in wages and after years without workers’ protests.
The amnesty law has been applied with discriminatory criteria. More than 500 people are still imprisoned for alleged political crimes. The government has been angry with the military and metropolitan police, detained now for 23 years. The media — newspapers, magazines, radio and regional television stations — were confiscated and have not been returned to their legitimate owners. Numerous information portals remain blocked. The government plans to impose codes and registrations on internet portals. National television stations have been threatened repeatedly for transmitting information unpopular with the regime. They have arrested people who had taken self-protective measures.
The electoral issue is not even mentioned, despite the fact that we are very close to completing the first 90 days without Nicolás Maduro and with Delcy Rodríguez as interim. The issue has been not addressed; however, it is already clear that Delcy Rodríguez is not an interim president, but a permanent one. The High Command swore loyalty to her and recognized her as commander-in-chief of the Bolivarian National Armed Forces. Her decisions are not adopted on behalf of the leader — purportedly Maduro — but on her own behalf.
In addition to the fact that they do not appear to be delegated or mandated by Maduro, changes made by the president show no intention of introducing a significant turn in his management, a break with the past or opening up to include new actors. Her actions have been aimed at ending the shadow of Madurism (she removed Vladimir Padrino López, Álex Saab and Tarek William Saab), underlining her own profile as president and leader, and establishing a new balance within the ruling party. The appointment of Gustavo González López as minister of defense seems to point toward an understanding with the status quo, commanded by Cabello.
Against this bleak panorama, I have not included the economic situation, which is far from improving. Inflation is wreaking havoc on Venezuelans' pockets. The devaluation of the bolivar represents a steady deterioration in people's purchasing power. I will deal with this topic in a future installment. It's too important to cover in a few lines.
For the transition to be carried out “Venezuelan-style,” as proposed by María Corina Machado, it is essential that a new protagonist enter the stage: the citizens and their organizations. The parties, unions, guilds, student federations, peasant leagues and all the other groups that form the social fabric have to become actors in this story. Without a mobilized populace, the transition will be eternal, even if those who govern are a very small minority. Organized citizens will be the ones who make sense of a transition.
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