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Free press, international organizations, and specialized organizations show that, in Cuba, Venezuela, Bolivia and Nicaragua, there are hundreds of political prisoners, torture, state terrorism as a form of government, institutionalized human rights violations, and manipulation of so-called justice systems and that the peoples in peaceful civil resistance for their freedom are in a situation of defenselessness.
Entire nations are being prevented from exercising their rights by force and violence, and their rights are being unduly limited, while governments and democratic leaders remain silent.
Defenselessness is “the lack of defense”, the “condition in which a person lacks defense”, in which “he has no shelter, protection or relief”. Legally, it is “the situation in which a person is placed when the defense of his right is prevented or unduly limited.” This critical position may end up in the so-called “learned helplessness” or assumed helplessness that describes “the condition of the human being who has learned to behave passively with the subjective feeling of not having the capacity to do anything and who does not respond despite the existence of real opportunities to change the situation”.
That is what the management of the social psychology of tyrannies and dictatorships is all about, to lead people to the condition of “submission to avoid unpleasant consequences or to obtain positive rewards.” The mechanism is fear with the implementation of “State terrorism” which is “the commission of crimes from the government, aimed at producing fear and terror in the civilian population to achieve its objectives or to encourage behaviors that otherwise would not occur.”
State terrorism is based on the unlimited and brutal violation of human rights and fundamental freedoms, which puts an end to the first essential element of democracy. I
n order for the crimes of the dictator and his operators to go unpunished, dictatorial regimes also put an end to the “separation and independence of the organs of public power”, thus putting an end to the rule of law. Thus, they can hold power indefinitely under the modality of “electoral dictatorships” with forged elections that are another sum of crimes in which the people vote but do not elect and sustain their narrative of “one-party democracies.”
There are many international laws in force – mandatory – to make effective the protection of freedom, maintain international peace and security, prevent the establishment of dictatorships and tyrannies, punish criminals and avoid impunity: The Charter of the United Nations, the Charter of the Organization of American States, the Inter-American Democratic Charter, the United Nations Convention Against International Organized Crime or Palermo Convention, and more.
Prisoners Defenders certifies that in Cuba there are 1027 political prisoners and that “it is evident that the general population is fleeing massively from the repression.” Regarding Venezuela, Foro Penal certifies 240 political prisoners, “calculated repression, stigmatization, and arbitrary detentions”, and the United Nations reports that “6.11 million Venezuelans have left their country”. Mecanismo de Nicaragua certifies 219 political prisoners and Datos Macro 682,865 emigrants, of which “more than 103,000 left the country between January and May 2022″. Global Human Rights League certifies 164 political prisoners in Bolivia and there are more than 8,000 Bolivians requesting asylum or refuge.
Faced with this objective reality that has broken the international legal system and rendered it inoperative, the silence and inaction of leaders, politicians, presidents, heads of government, heads of churches, in short, democratic silence, is thunderous.
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.