Leer en Español
2023 has arrived and in the Americas, Cuba’s dictatorship is 64 years old, Venezuela’s is 24 years old, Bolivia’s is 17 years old and Nicaragua’s is 16 years old. All of them are narco-states, under the leadership of Cuba, repeating its state terrorism system, with political prisoners and exiles, misery, institutionalized violation of human rights and impunity. They are a threat to all countries in the region where they expand as 21st-century socialism with ill-gotten money, coups d’état, electoral fraud, terrorism, forced migrations, and drug trafficking. Ending dictatorships must be the fundamental objective of democracy in 2023.
The Castro-Chavez dictatorships must end, as demanded by the people who are fighting for freedom through civil resistance. Putting an end to the dictatorships in Cuba, Venezuela, Bolivia, and Nicaragua is not only possible, necessary, and urgent, but it is also an obligation of the states, governments, and democratic leaders of the world in compliance with the Charter of the UN, the Charter of the OAS, the Inter-American Democratic Charter, the Inter-American Convention on Human Rights or Pact of San José, the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime or Palermo Convention, the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and more.
This internal control exercised by dictatorships in order to hold power indefinitely can be summarized as follows:
- “State terrorism”, which consists of “the commission of crimes by the government to create fear in the population so that it assumes behaviors that would not be possible otherwise;”
- The creation and support of collaborationist groups that benefit economically to simulate opposition, giving rise to the “functional opposition” that simulates democracy and makes the “electoral dictatorship”;
- A narrative that falsifies reality presenting organized crime as a political project of “anti-imperialist” struggle;
- Unlimited enrichment of regime members through the management of the “narco-state,” corruption and crimes;
- Guaranteed “impunity” provided by the above four elements.
State terrorism is implemented with the total control of the powers of the State that continue to nominally exist, but are manipulated at will. The so-called legislature makes “infamous laws” that violate human rights instead of protecting them, dictates amnesties for impunity and criminalizes fundamental rights. The so-called judiciary is the main means of repression and persecution, with falsification of accusations, violation of the principles of “impartial judge”, “due process”, “presumption of innocence”, “legal equality” and more; castrochavismo calls executioners judges and processes the lynching of innocents.
The functional opposition is the one that seeks to give legitimacy and legality to the dictatorships of transnational organized crime of 21st-century socialism. They are individuals and/or groups that assume the identity of social movements or political parties to falsify reality. The opposition is a basic element of democracy as a “factor of control and limitation of the governments in power and alternative of being a government”, that is why the functional opposition is false opposition because it is part of the dictatorial narrative, of the guarantee of impunity and that it will never take power because of the “electoral dictatorship” in which the people vote but do not elect.
The anti-imperialist discourse continues to work in a surprising way despite the fact that the dictatorships’ hierarchs, their relatives and beneficiaries enjoy the economic results of their crimes against humanity in the United States, as evidenced by the case of the daughter of the dictator Hugo Chávez, the relatives of the Castro dictators, the relatives and associates of the dictatorships of Cuba, Venezuela, Bolivia and Nicaragua.
These internal elements also apply in the international arena. Fear, economic interests, lucrative private businesses under the shadow of public power, relations of impunity, financing of electoral campaigns, effects of the transnationalization of organized crime and its influence on democratic systems, parliaments, NGOs, international organizations and governments, are the main international pillars of dictatorial support.
The world’s democratic leaders can no longer fail to fulfill their “international legal obligations” to:
- expose Cuba, Venezuela, Bolivia and Nicaragua’s dictatorships as a transnational organized crime system and the greatest threat to international peace and security;
- support civil resistance by applying the current laws that prevent treating as subjects of international law or representatives and the holders of power, operators of “transnational crime” who today cloak themselves in “sovereign immunity”;
- establish collective disqualifying sanctions;
- prosecute and capture organized crime dictators by applying the Palermo Convention and executing existing arrest warrants.
This article is part of an agreement between El American and the Interamerican Institute for Democracy.
Carlos Sánchez Berzain es abogado, politólogo, máster en ciencia política y sociología. Catedrático. Estadista perseguido y exiliado político. Director del Interamerican Institute for Democracy // Carlos Sánchez Berzain is a lawyer, political scientist, with a master's degree in political science and sociology. Professor. Persecuted statesman and political exile. Director of the Interamerican Institute for Democracy.