Venezuela: “17 minutes” is enough to show the naked regime

The Bolivarian revolution has ruled Venezuela since 1999, with the first phase of its mentor, Hugo Chavez Frías, until his death in 2013 and the continuity until today of his dolphin, Nicolás Maduro. In total 22 years of a process which for many has become a totalitarian regime / dictatorship. The regime’s traumatic relationship with journalism is in the spotlight these days with the publication of the book “17 minutes, interview with the dictator”, by the Mexican journalist Jorge Ramos.

The play recreates the tense interview that the star host of the North American channel Univisión gave Maduro in early 2019 at Miraflores Palace, seat of the Venezuelan government. Perhaps examples like this or the one that Jorge Lanata suffered on another trip to Caracas, serve to graphically represent the authoritarian bias of a regime locked in its labyrinth.

Argentinian, erratic and zigzagging

The erratic and several times zigzag Argentina’s foreign policy has an obvious correlation with the Venezuelan question. Within months, President Alberto Fernández and Foreign Minister Felipe Solá had a very different opinion. Not only declamously, but in fact with state positions. Of course, in the middle, internal creaking in everyone’s forehead force those swings. In short, Cristinist Kirchnerism imposed its historic alliance and its support for the Chavista regime.

In October 2020 (just 7 months ago), Argentina voted at the United Nations Human Rights Council in favor of a resolution signed by the High Commissioner Michelle bachelet who denounced the serious human rights violations in Venezuela. At that time, tough Kirchnerism and Chavismo triumphed against the Argentine president. The dissatisfaction was expressed locally by Alicia Castro, former ambassador to Venezuela under Hugo Chavez, who lodged a complaint against foreign policy and announced that she would not take over as diplomatic representative in Russia.

Bachelet’s report denounced that they were recorded in Venezuela ”at least 66 cases of intimidation, harassment, disqualification and criminalization of journalists, media, human rights defenders, aid workers, union leaders and members or supporters of the opposition, including elected officials the 2015 National Assembly and their relatives”.

In Venezuela, the leaders of the Nicolás Maduro regime accused Alberto Fernández of being functional for US imperialism and the reactionary group in Lima. “Fernández deceived the Argentine people, he deceived Cristina, he deceived Nestor, he deceived the whole world”, bramo Mario Silva, head of the PSVU and communicational reference of Chavismo.

According to Criminal Forum, an NGO that continuously monitors the human rights situation under the regime chavist, to date, there are 306 political prisoners in Venezuela. In addition, according to this institution, “over 9,000 people continue to be arbitrarily subjected to measures restricting their liberty”.

Now the taba has been overthrown and President Fernández has surprisingly declared that the human rights violations in Venezuela are “Disappear”. For his part, a few days ago, the Minister of Foreign Affairs Felipe Solá estimated that “The situation in Venezuela ends up being toxic”, predicting changes in the Caribbean country, albeit “slow”. This strategy, opposed to the Lima group, is that of the Puebla group with the intention of whitewashing the regime of Nicolás Maduro. Of course, in March Argentina left the Lima Group.

// Despite UN reports, Alberto Fernández says Venezuela’s human rights problem is “disappearing”

Opposition leader Juan Guaidó regretted that President Alberto Fernández “downplays” human rights violations in the Caribbean country, saying that they “are disappearing”. “The violation of human rights in Venezuela in the midst of a brutal dictatorship cannot be put into perspective, even fewer crimes against humanity; if anyone knows, it is Argentina, which has lived through a very severe and very painful dictatorship, ”Guaidó said.

Lanata, Ramos and the censorship of the Chavista regime

These tensions of the Venezuelan regime with the press are evident now and before, when Hugo Chávez reigned. By the way, in recent years the situation has worsened with the shutdown of independent media, the persecution of journalists with arrests and armed trials. The lockdown of information is relentless, although embarrassing situations are always present. This happened in 2012 when Jorge Lanata and his entire PPT team were arrested by SEBIN at the Caracas airport. They were detained for several hours, interrogation and pressure erased journalistic material they had recorded to cover the elections.

// Venezuela, us and an incomprehensible decision

More recently, on February 25, 2019, Mexican journalist Jorge Ramos interviewed Nicolás Maduro for the North American network Univisión at Miraflores Palace. It was only 17 minutes and it all ended abruptly with the president’s anger. Censorship was carried out with the confiscation of material, arrest and deportation from the country.

But nothing is perfect. A Chavist government communications team also recorded the interview. Some time later Ramos received an unexpected “gift”: a copy of the note. A betrayal of the palace which exposed what Maduro did not want to show. This was now also reflected in the book “17 minutes, interview with the dictator”. And the first question from the journalist from Univisión got straight to the point: “You are not a legitimate president, you are a dictator, what do I call you?”

“We have to take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence motivates the executioner, not the tormented one. Sometimes we have to intervene, ”Ramos says in his book, moving away from the old tenet that has all but fallen into disuse, which says journalism should always be impartial.

Maduro remains in power supported internally by the Bolivarian armed forces shaped by Hugo Chávez. From abroad, support is embodied in strong alliances with Russia, Iran and China. Not without some problems and emergencies in a country already suffocated by an economic crisis and a relentless pandemic. The opposition led by Juan Guaidó is weakened and losing support after its strategy failed in Venezuela, a country that has not had coherent political leadership for more than three decades. Kirchnerism corrected positions and reaffirmed its empathy with pure Chavismo.