Carlos Sanchez Berzain Abogado | Estadista | Político | Politólogo
Carlos Sánchez Berzaín
May 21, 2020
(Interamerican Institute for Democracy) The Castrochavist dictatorship that holds power by force in Venezuela has been unable to be removed neither through successive and heroic massive citizen protests, nor by political actions or international pressure. Everything suggests that the usurpation can only be ended through a credible threat of the use of force, and for this to happen is the purview of President Juan Guaido who has the constitutional duty to request, organize and lead a multinational force to liberate Venezuela.
The dictator Nicolas Maduro, along with his criminal inner circle, are convicts internationally wanted, the country is identified as a central narco-state, there is an increase in the number of political prisoners, the humanitarian crisis is getting worse. Venezuela is a country occupied by Cuba who shows its effectiveness in retaining power by applying its 61-year-old methodology.
President Juan Guaido, recognized by nearly 60 countries, is suffering the consequences of not having established a government and not taking strategic initiatives against the dictatorship. Guaido is now a prisoner of those groups that constitute a majority within the National Assembly whom the people -seeing the results coming out of it that allow the dictatorship to stay- increasingly and more powerfully point to as having the role of “functional opposition” members.
The Coronavirus pandemic is being used to strengthen the dictatorships and Venezuela is living proof of it. The recent and obscure incident dubbed as “Gedeon” has all the features of being “a classic Cuban G-2” event, but is weakening and discredits President Juan Guaido. The use of force is the only thing keeping the usurpation going and could perpetuate it. Everything suggests that it will not be long when we will see greater violence to impose an agenda through which the dictator will be legitimized and the dictatorship remain, guaranteeing impunity through their recognition as something political, retaining their despicable laws and institutions.
Castrochavism’s counteroffensive started last year to destabilize and topple democratic governments in the Americas continues unabated and relentless, taking advantage of the crisis, unrest and uncertainty caused by the pandemic. The governments of Ecuador, Colombia, Brazil, Chile, Bolivia, Paraguay and elsewhere are under constant sedition and conspiracy orchestrated by the “forum of Sao Paolo” admitted by Maduro and Cabello as a “light Bolivarian breeze”. The narcotics’ trafficking assault against all States is so severe that the United States and other countries conduct containment and interdiction naval operations in the Caribbean. The sponsorship and protection of terrorism in, and from, Venezuela has been amply proven.
No one believes that Venezuela’s usurpation can be ended with elections or negotiations. Sanctions are important, but organized crime resists by force. The criminal prosecution, applying the Palermo Convention against transnational organized crime is a great step forward, albeit becoming ineffective by the use of force from the helm of power in Venezuela with which convicts are protected.
Voices of the oppressed contemplate and call for a foreign military action to liberate them, citing as an example “Operation Just Cause” against Panama’s narco-dictator Noriega. Besides the questioning, national and international repercussions, and the differences of the strategic reality, that is exactly the sort of thing that Castrochavism wants for it to happen, to be seen as victims of interventionism and remain in power by force. This type of action, therefore, is currently unviable.
The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela’s constitution, in its Article 236, Subparagraphs 4 and 5, empowers the President with the authority “to direct the Republic’s foreign affairs. . .” and recognizes him/her as the “Commander-In-Chief”. Venezuela’s President is Juan Guaido but he has no control over the Armed Forces who are subjected and manipulated by the occupation and the terror system, circumstances that turn such forces as usurper and criminal.
If Venezuela’s legitimate president contemplates -as the facts show- there is one other means -other than the use of force- to end the usurpation, he has the duty and constitutional power to request, organize and lead a multinational force within the framework of the United Nations, the Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance (TIAR in Spanish), or multilateral agreements. To publicly and openly constitute a force comprised by the States who have recognized him, to present a “credible threat” that can remove the usurpation and if recalcitrant end the usurpation with legitimate actions. It would not be an intervention or an invasion, but only an enforcement of the law and to restore national sovereignty under the authority of Venezuela’s president.
*Attorney & Political Scientist. Director of the Interamerican Institute for Democracy.
Published in Spanish by Infobae.com Sunday, May 17th, 2020
Translated from Spanish by; Edgar L. Terrazas, member of the American Translators’ Association (ATA) # 234680.