In Venezuela, at least four processes of dialogue have taken place between the dictatorship of Nicolás Maduro and the representatives of the Venezuelan official opposition in the last four years. All in vain. Unfruitful. Small victories for the regime. Achieving nothing for the society that had to witness the ‘negotiations’.
The dialoguing bought Maduro time and won him support. The ostensible opposition leadership deviated, delayed relevant strategies and deluded a society. In the end, they were only terrible disappointments for a legitimate cause.
At the time the dialogues were promoted by leading actors of the international community. In 2014, the Vatican and Unasur. Then, some regional Chavista allies: Nicaragua, the Dominican Republic, Bolivia, and the former Spanish president, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero.
But although many did not participate directly in the attempt to sponsor dialogue, there was the usual pantheon of cheerleaders of the world in support of the meetings. The Obama administration through its emissary Thomas Shannon; the European Union voiced support. The countries of the world considered, until last year – when good sense returned to Western nations and important regime changes occurred in the region – that dialogue was the most sensible alternative to solve the crisis in Venezuela.
Now the citizens of Nicaragua must confront a similar situation: faced with the criminal repression of the regime of Daniel Ortega – which has exposed his clear authoritarian style and his eagerness for young blood -, the nations of the world have chosen to suggest an inept strategy of dialogue that would only favor the Sandinistas.
Ortega is pleading for a dialogue with the opposition.
He needs it.
“We are confirming our willingness to resume this open dialogue,” said the vice president and first lady of Nicaragua, Rosario Murillo. Spain has joined the chorus of the United States, Germany, Canada and, of course, Pope Bergoglio.
“We expect from the government of Nicaragua a prompt and total clarification of the circumstances in which these deaths have taken place,” reads a statement from the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Then, they state that Ortega’s decision to withdraw social reforms “is a step towards the dialogue in which all social sectors must participate.”
“We demand that all parties involved resolve the situation with an inclusive peaceful dialogue to protect the rights and security of the Nicaraguan people,” Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland said in a statement.
The United States, for its part, reiterated its position through its Undersecretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, Francisco Palmieri, who condemns the violence in Nicaragua, but continues to “urge respect for human rights and the need for a broad dialogue to resolve the conflict.”
We reiterate our condemnation of excessive police violence in #Nicaragua, given last night’s events. We continue to urge respect for human rights, and the need for broad-based dialogue to resolve the conflict.
— Francisco Palmieri (@WHAAsstSecty) April 23, 2018
The Pope‘s remarks were the icing on the cake. He asked that “the differences be resolved peacefully and with a sense of responsibility”. Ah, yes. Peace and an “end to violence.” Just like that! And “differences” as if it were a lovers’ quarrel.
Mónica Corrales, an active Venezuelan on social networks, and allegedly a member of the resistance against Maduro, wrote about it: “Differences? It seems that the person who has not learned the differences between the tyrants and the oppressed, is him. He also is unwilling to take responsibility for any of this.”
It is useless for Pope Francis to continue to speak on the need for peace in South America. His agenda definitely does not promote the cause of freedom in the region. But the other countries, which have now taken a much more rational approach to the Chavista dictatorship, should not make the mistakes of the past with the Nicaraguans, who deserve support today like never before.
Perhaps the Venezuelan experience generates an inconvenient animus towards the word dialogue; but that same experience also helps to clarify the true nature of the socialist swindlers.
In Nicaragua, a few days of protests have resulted in 25 deaths.* The criminals of Nicaragua have a greater appetite for death than those of Venezuela. Faced with protests in the streets of Managua, the regime responds like criminals: with barbarism and killing. That’s how they are. They learned from Cuba.
The international community should learn from the Venezuelan drama to distinguish between tyrants willing to kill in exchange for power, and those despots who can claim a spot at the table if a good whiskey is served. It would not be a question of discarding diplomacy – as a Russian official suggests, who is now cited all the time – but of accommodating it to respond to these murderers who represent 21st century socialism and fidelismo; and who insist on not abandoning this terrible geopolitical project.
*In over a week of protests the unofficial death toll is 34, according to social organization. Official numbers from the government are not available.
Article originally appeared on Panampost.com
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