Venezuela Alone in the Fight
Months after the February protests, Venezuela’s streets are now clear of tear gas canisters and masks, but the fact that innocent opposition politicians and student demonstrators are still held in prison is no less disturbing. More recently, students and others divulging news through Twitter against the government have been detained as well. Last month, a Chavista congressman was killed, and Socialist President Maduro, the successor to late president Chávez, responded with strong declarations against the “members of the ultra-right.” The economic, social, and political situation in Venezuela, albeit hidden behind an eerie domestic calm that hardly brings the country to headlines anymore, is currently more precarious than during the protests. The February riots were first led by students, who protested against corruption and inflation. The opposition coalition, MUD (Democratic Unity), joined them not long after. Paralyzing the streets of many cities in Venezuela, the protests left dozens killed, hundreds injured, and more than 1000 arrested on the charges of protesting against the government. Student groups, along with the MUD, have largely accomplished the goal of maintaining the protests peaceful: the injuries were a result of the clashes with a
more violent national guard. All the while, Maduro justifies the police-led attacks on these protesters and the arrests of innocent students, politicians, and “tweeters”, as defense against a US-backed attempt to topple his government.
Leopoldo Lopez, Harvard graduate and current coordinator of the more confrontational wing of MUD, was arrested as one of the major instigators of the protests in February. Through his twitter account he gives regular updates about his fellow inmates, especially other political prisoners like Daniel Ceballos, Salvatore Lucchese, and Enzo Scarano, whom Lopez claims is having his rights to health violated in prison. His most recent updates have to do with his long-drawn-out trial and the United Nations’ October 8th declaration:
“The UN declared our arrests as arbitrary and demanded our immediate liberation…I have decided not to attend my trial until the court deliberates and forms a response towards the UN’s resolutions,” he tweets.
His encouraging words, directed mostly to Venezuela’s youth and opposition, never cease to show up on his page, and his news are linked to other “tweeters” that have been detained unfairly, represented in the Twitter movement #LiberenALosTuiteros.
All the while, president Maduro is seeing ruptures inside his own government. Last July, elections for delegates to the Socialist Party congress occurred, and while Maduro reinforced his position as party chairman, the scarce turnout demonstrated dissatisfaction among his cabinet. Maduro is also being criticized by extreme leftists in the party as being “too moderate,” but the president has dismissed these criticisms and even fired the former economic advisor to Chávez. Last month, a Chavista congressman was killed, and the government went to great lengths to investigate the culprits, their search ending by Maduro declaring that the “ultra-right” was involved. He went on to call the right wing as “evil” and of having ties with Colombian criminals, while he claims the real authors of the assassination are the Colombian ex-president Álvaro Uribe and others supported by the US.
Venezuela’s economic situation is perhaps the most precarious of all. The hyperinflation and shortage of products that instigated the student protests in February have only gotten worse. While president Maduro declared last month that Venezuela has enough bolivars and foreign currency to meet its debts, it is a reality that the country is hosting the world’s fastest inflation rate and shortening of foreign reserves. The consumer price index has risen 63% in the last year, while last year, Venezuela faced a budget deficit of 16.9% GDP. Venezuelan oil, which accounts for 95% of the country’s exports, is seeing its price plummeting to a four-year low, and this in turn is part of the cause of the decrease in export dollars.
With the economy shrinking even further, students transferring to universities abroad, and no signs of government compliance with the liberation of political prisoners, Venezuelans everywhere are wondering whether things are ever going to change. The MUD’s attempt for dialogue with the government last April was held up indefinitely due to the demands that the government release innocent prisoners. All around the world, the #SOSVenezuela movement began by Venezuelans abroad continues to call for help from many countries; with one of its most notable demonstrations occurring in front of the OAS headquarters and the White House in Washington, DC last spring. Meanwhile, as Maduro accuses the opposition of being supported by the US, many Venezuelans are frantically trying to spread news and reach out to democratic countries to aid in dialogues with the government and in the reinforcement of UN declarations, before the situation in Venezuela is drawn out to resemble that of Cuba.