14ymedio, Pedro Corzo, Miami, 5 March 2023 — I have no doubt that those who participate in elections in the countries where castrochavismo prevails are wrong, regardless of the good faith they contribute to the effort. The oppressors do not allow elections where they do not have the victory assured. It is true that in 2015 they lost the Legislative Assembly in Venezuela by respecting the popular will, but, how many times before and after have they mocked it?
Venezuela, Bolivia and Nicaragua have resorted to electoral despotism as an ideal political formula to preserve power, dressing in the legitimacy that the vote confers, so that their allies inside and out continue to proclaim that democracy reigns in Caracas, La Paz and Managua, and so that alleged defenders of democracy have arguments to continue supplying police cars to the repressors.
It is valid to note that, although Cuba is the parent company of these despotisms, its electoral practice is more crude, since it simply exercises absolute control over the elections and leaves no space to dream. However, in the land of Martí, as in the three countries mentioned, there has been no shortage of bona fide people who have believed in the electoral proposals of these autocrats.
In Cuba there is no electoral campaign or farce of opposition candidates, as in its metastasis, although according to Juan José Estrada, the activities carried out by Miguel Díaz Canel, the dictator handpicked by the Castros in the province of Villa Clara, is the closest thing to a candidate’s campaign, which is perhaps a first step in a kind of facelift of the regime in search of international recognition and support, which for its continued failures is more than necessary.
On the other hand, if some appreciate that the Nicaraguan duo of Ortega-Murillo are flirting with real Castro socialism by increasing their insane cruelties against the population, perhaps Don Miguel considers that, to survive among the Castros and their henchmen, it is vital to approach the farce of 21st Century Socialism, the story that Hugo Chávez, Lula da Silva and Fidel Castro promoted with relative success.
These three regimes, although inspired by Cuban totalitarianism, have pretended to respect the division of powers of modern states. However, in their first administration, as happened in Cuba in 1959, they placed all the organs of justice under their control to be able to delegitimize any direction contrary to their interests.
We must not forget that the Supreme Court of Justice of Cuba, in the early morning of January 1 of the year in question, proclaimed that “the Revolution is the source of law,” conferring on the process a license that initiated the most aberrant impunity.
Unfortunately, the majority of citizens do not give the judiciary the importance it deserves, when in fact it is the balance of all public management. All public powers are relevant, but the control of Justice and its magistrates gives the despot the ability to act at will in an alleged legal framework, including the always diminished electoral authority, which we only remember when the elections are approaching.
In the twentieth century, when information technology was still in its infancy, the practice to pretend that the head of government was a democrat respectful of the laws went through the purchase of votes, the theft of ballot boxes or simply a fraudulent count that favored the candidate who protected the Government. At present, although the formula has not been completely eradicated, other more sophisticated methods have been added that allow a more efficient cover-up of the true ends of those who, while seeking absolute power, intend to perpetuate themselves in it.
Perhaps Hugo Chávez’s greatest contribution, parallel to the delivery of Venezuela’s vast resources to Castro, has been the control he had over the electoral authority once he assumed power — in fact he practically hijacked it — because most of the magistrates faithfully served his interests, although possibly none with the vileness of Jorge Rodríguez Gómez, who has occupied practically all government positions. A true faithful servant, with no fear of making mistakes.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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