FACT: on February 18, 2014, after a week of intense anti-government demonstrations all across the country, President Maduro attended a rally with oil-sector workers. In his speech he said “in Venezuela there are full democratic freedoms. We just had elections 8 weeks ago, or am I lying?” Minutes later he added “I ask the whole world, where in the world have there been 19 elections in the last 15 years?”
This has been a central message of the revolutionary government, gaining particular strength in the last few months. But, how truthful is it?
CONTEXT: Article 2 of the Venezuelan Constitution defines the country as a democratic state. Article 63 establishes that “voting is a right,” and article 66 establishes that voters “have the right to have their representatives offer transparent and regular public accounts about their management efforts, according to the program submitted.” These articles are the basis of the idea that Venezuela is a democracy.
Since February 12, 2014, the country has been living under intense political tension marked by protests, violence and repression. Participants and promoters of these protests have upheld various motives and objectives -generally lacking clarity- but with a common denominator: they oppose Nicolas Maduro’s government because of the country’s serious inflation, shortages and criminal violence.
After almost two weeks of protests, there are complaints about violations of Constitutional and other Human Rights, media censorship and blockages to social networks, and the excessive use of force by the Central Government, including arbitrary detentions and alleged torture.
DEBUNKING THE ARGUMENT: equating multiple elections with the existence of a democratic state has been a key message of the Central Government for the past 15 years. In fact, elections –an average of 1.3 per year since 1999- have been used to justify all of the Central Government’s acts, and to answer to criticism about its political model. But, are elections the only element of a democracy?
