We have to admit it: in politics, Hugo Chavez is a lucky guy. I’m not going to talk about high oil prices, the dismissal of charges, or how he came to power riding the wave of unpopularity toward traditional parties. No. I’m going to discuss the quality—or rather, the lack of it—of the opposing political establishment. I will refer to people like Ramos Allup, Barboza, and the pseudo-intellectuals who worship Petkoff. And we must also acknowledge Borges, Lopez, Perez, Goicoechea, etc. This has been a blessing for Chavez. In fact, in my opinion, even more so than the billions of dollars at his disposal from Venezuela’s public treasury.
“They lack a brothel,” has been heard from old guard politicians referring to the new generation of opposition leaders. These figures, who presumably know every dive where they’ve likely left behind ill-gotten gains, sweat, bad breath, and skin with women or men of ill repute, boast of a supposed extensive political experience. After 12 years being hit more than a common thief, behaving like clueless oxen, it’s impossible to believe such claims. Even less acceptable is the notion that the old guard is better equipped to efficiently oppose the Castro-Chavista regime. The reality, evident to all, is that the Venezuelan opposition collective, with few exceptions, has no bloody idea how to oppose effectively. Immediate gratification and the hunger for power are the parents of the problem.
Venezuela has 1 presidency, 1 federal district, 23 governorships, 165 congressional seats, 335 municipalities, 2,389 vacancies in municipal councils, and 3,207 in parish boards, give or take a few. Any of the candidates for any position doesn’t start their political career thinking, “someday, I want to become a councilor, mayor, deputy, parish board member, or governor…” No. In the land of the caudillo, everyone longs for just one thing: to be president. Therein lies the root of the problem. Since not everyone can achieve this goal, envy, rivalries, lack of commitment, and an unwillingness to collaborate emerge, all undermining the common good. In fact, the term “common good” is mere rhetoric among politicians, for those involved are not there to establish the common good but rather to fulfill personal ambitions. The irony? None of the aspiring presidents plans their political career with 2, 5, 10, 15, or even 20-year timelines. Except for Hugo Chavez. While the thousands of people seeking public power in Venezuela are busy with the annual electoral carousel set up by the caudillo, none of them is thinking in the medium or long term. Furthermore, I challenge anyone reading this page, if you know any of the mentioned characters up close, to send me a plan, a project, with timelines similar to those described. It’s all about immediacy—wanting to be a governor while still serving as mayor, wanting to be a deputy without having earned the votes as a councilor; in short, the desire for immediate power at all costs as an end in itself. Sadly, acquiring and executing power rarely accompanies an understanding of the magnitude of the problems to face at the next level. Thus, the mayor of Chacao, Baruta, or Maracaibo thinks they have what it takes to be president. A party leader or deputy believes they are qualified for that goal, and so it goes at every level. There’s a belief that a man or woman can fix Venezuela. That’s a gross misunderstanding.
The way political debate is framed is another significant deficiency of the opposition. This debate should not take place on TV screens or in the press. By its very nature, these debates belong in one place only: the National Assembly. It is there that the opposition must keep the pressure on Chavez and those who accompany him in his treacherous, unpatriotic project. Recent months have given us unprecedented events in contemporary Venezuelan history. However, we rarely see opposition deputies subjecting the ignorance of Chavismo to public scorn. A few examples here and there when it should be relentless daily work across all fronts. Take a fresh example: the media announces that, thanks to Deputy Diosdado Cabello, the armed conflict the “pranes” from Rodeo had with the National Guard for almost a month is over. Who has heard any opposition deputy interrogate Cabello in the assembly? Who has heard a question like, “Please, Deputy Cabello, explain, with help from El Alsaimi and the military officer in charge of the GN, how is it possible that a pran, along with over 30 highly dangerous inmates, escapes from a prison surrounded by hundreds of GN officials, loaded with money and weapons, without anyone seeing anything…?” The pran didn’t escape; he was let go, just like they did with Carlos Ortega. So, what kind of democratic official worthy of a republic where the rule of law prevails allows criminals to walk free like this? Only one kind: officials who were criminals before they became officials. That is the type of opposition the opposition must engage in. And there are hundreds of topics, thousands of issues, across every town, city, and neighborhood in Venezuela. No one escapes the problems created by Chavismo in the last 12 years, whether by action or omission.
But instead of doing what they should be doing, where they should be doing it, the opposition plays dead, wishing for the caudillo’s swift recovery and moving pieces on an electoral board over which they have minimal control, thinking about fanciful dreams while allowing Chavez to continue his crazed megalomania under the influence of Cuban dictators. Only Maria Corina has stood out, armed with statistical data and concrete facts, behaving in the assembly as an opposition deputy should. She dismantles the chavista collective, whose only response is empty ideological rhetoric as they lack evidence to effectively counter reality. In previous congresses, I recall seeing Liliana Hernandez do similar things. Yet even Maria Corina, now enamored with the idea of becoming Venezuela’s first female president, and who should, after her time with Súmate, know better, fails to demand, for instance, that the CNE deliver the REP to a congressional commission to investigate if the millions of new voters actually exist.
And what about the brothel kings? What about the PhDs from Oxford and Master’s degrees from Harvard? What about the politicians skimming off the top under the table? All good, thanks…
The caudillo heads to Cuba for the second time for medical treatment. The amount of millions spent on the chavista alternative health system is unknown but is presumed to be substantial. Another little nugget: “Can Minister Eugenia Sader please come to this assembly to be questioned about the exact amount spent on the Barrio Adentro missions I, II, III, IV, etc., and other funds dispensed for the construction, provision, and operation of comprehensive diagnostic centers and other health institutions since 1998?” Or even better: “The audit committee demands that President Hugo Chavez submit a detailed report on his health status within the next 5 days or be questioned for violations of Article 232 of the constitution, among others.” There are many more.
Sadly, we don’t see any of this; there’s no initiative. Experienced with prostitutes or not, opposition members appear more like a collective of eunuchs, in both physical and intellectual senses, zoo tigers unable to defend themselves against the rats of the real world. The scandal of the day replaces the one from the previous day. There’s no follow-up. There’s no future plan. Issues aren’t adequately discussed. There are no demands. There is a profound ignorance of the notion that all appointed or elected officials are merely public employees susceptible to being questioned, challenged, and dismissed.
It’s hard to believe that the necessary talent doesn’t exist. The one from Maracaibo believes he can and has what it takes. Like him, the rest, from yesterday and today. Hundreds, thousands, pulling in their own direction. Without defined trajectories or goals. Hundreds, thousands, firm believers and practitioners of the Eudomariana doctrine, perfectly adapted by Chavismo, of “as it comes, we’ll see.” This is not how you build a country; this is not how you shape the future. Venezuela needs a better opposition, not light versions of chavista populism.