Yván Gil, the Foreign Minister of Venezuela was on Al Jazeera on Saturday morning (November 4, 2023) during which time he made some fantastic claims, none of them with any credibility. Gil obviously took a page out of President Nicholás Maduro’s book of contortions. Both Maduro and Foreign Minister Gil must know that their revolution died a long time ago, and that instead of governing a socialist country, they are running a failed state, and an authoritarian state at that. History will not judge Maduro kindly. His rhetoric about the Essequibo will mark him as an imperialist bully.
Venezuela is fundamentally different from Guyana. Guyana has a democratically elected government led by Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali. In Guyana, the rule of law is the basis for all actions of government. The relative autonomy of the state, as for instance in the structure and operation of the judiciary, is guaranteed by the Constitution of Guyana, and faithfully adhered to, thereby guaranteeing the independent administration of the rule of law. Our apex court is the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), located in Trinidad. It is a regional Court that cannot be jeopardized from within.
Venezuela, by contrast is ruled by Nicholás Maduro who came to power under questionable circumstances. After Chavez’s death, there was a special election, but according to numerous sources, Henrique Capriles, the Governor of Miranda, was cheated. One world-class source notes that “[t]he National Election Council [had] ordered an audit of the ballots in the 46 percent of precincts that had not already been automatically audited under Venezuelan election law, but … the Council chose not to examine the signatures and fingerprints of voters on the registers as part of the audit” (Britannica). Capriles, therefore, withdrew due to the rigging.
Unlike Guyana where there is a strong, independent judiciary, in Venezuela the Supreme Court is dominated by the handpicked comrades of President Maduro. It has been credibly reported that “[T]he Supreme Court, dominated by Maduro partisans, [has] marginalized the National Assembly by repeatedly invalidating laws enacted by it. Indeed, when Maduro delivered his annual address on the state of the country in January 2017, it was in the presence of the Supreme Court rather than before the legislature.” This is authoritarian populism, not socialism, as Foreign Minister Gil was making it out to be on Al Jazeera.
In 2019 the International Commission of Jurists concluded that the rule of law in Venezuela had completely collapsed, and this with severe consequences. The Maduro regime has been fingered in human rights abuses, and it is right now being investigated by the International Criminal Court. “In November 2021, International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor Karim Khan announced his decision to open an investigation into possible crimes against humanity committed in Venezuela.” The country that is said to be socialist by President Maduro, Vice President Delcy Rodríguez, president of the National Assembly Jorge Rodríguez, and Foreign Minister Gil, has been accused of massive human rights violations, crimes against humanity, disappearances, torture, military trials of civilians, and violent actions against the millions who protest against the military dictatorship that Venezuela has become.
There are thousands of political prisoners in the country. The United Nations Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela (FFM) also discovered other kinds of abuses. The FFM reported the following – “Attacks on civic and democratic space in Venezuela are intensifying through State policies aimed at silencing opposition and criticism of President Nicolás Maduro’s Government…” (https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2023/09/venezuela)
Further, “the Mission also documented 28 cases of torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment of detainees, including 19 cases of sexual and gender-based violence against men and women over the same period” (Ibid).
Maduro had prevented the World Food Program from entering Venezuela to feed millions of people starving there due to his failed economic policies. It took determined external pressure from the international community to force him to have some mercy. I can tell you that Comrade Maduro is no socialist, and Venezuelans should be careful with him. Tengan cuidado con el compañero Maduro; no es ningún tipo de socialista!
During the interview yesterday, Foreign Minister Gil was told that seven million Venezuelans had voted with their feet and fled the country. Like a typical failed-state representative, he blamed the data saying that number is too high. When told it was UN data, he claimed the UN is biased. When told that Venezuelans have poured into the US to escape political repression and economic disaster, he blamed the economic crisis on the US. When told that interviews with some of the 700,000 Venezuelans who have arrived in the US indicated they were happy to have left the Venezuelan disaster, he opined that the US has orchestrated the mass migration.
Foreign Minister Gil, like President Maduro, must at some point begin to take responsibility for the comprehensive destruction of their country and the revolution that once had promise. What they should not do is dig up hatred for Guyana with the bogus claims about the Essequibo. We know that the Essequibo belongs to Guyana. Again, Maduro is not a socialist. Rather, what we have now is an attempt at Bolivarian Imperialism.
Dr. Randy Persaud is Adviser in the Office of the President, Guyana