The December 6, 2015 elections brought positive change for Venezuela, but this is only the beginning in a long process that is likely to be complicated and in which a positive outcome is far from guaranteed.
Thirty years after the Jean-Claude Duvalier fled Haiti, the Caribbean island country has been plagued by political upheaval, autocracy, and corruption. Now, though, after yet another electoral debacle, the international community has a rare opportunity to support the Haitian people, rather than an imperfect, temporary way out of a crisis.
La democracia tiene un solo camino: el compromiso con los derechos garantizados a todos los ciudadanos del país. Su esencia es proteger los derechos y las decisiones del pueblo respecto a un gobierno que podría abusar de su poder, ignorando o rechazando los resultados de la elección. Esto es de extrema seriedad porque constituiría la violación de principios fundamentales.
Any numerical representation of people has institutional and moral consequences. This is especially so in Venezuela where Chavistas consistently had a monopoly on being the majority and used it to discount opposition as los escualidos (the few, rotten elites), a characterization that is now less credible with the recent elections.
The real threat from the December 3 constitutional amendments in Ecuador isn’t the possibility of indefinite re-election for President Correa, it’s the way they were approved and their implications for freedom of expression.
Mis héroes del 6 de diciembre son los 43 venezolanos que votaron a favor de la MUD en la zona popular de Chirgua venciendo el miedo y la coerción para ejercer su derecho a votar libremente.
On December 6th, election laws originally designed by the chavista government to favor it in the allocation of congressional seats worked to the opposition’s advantage.
The full interview of Chris Sabatini, by Rick Rockwell of Latin Pulse, discussing the importance of Argentine President Macri’s inauguration on December 10th and the probable changes the will result.
Chances are that the opposition Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD) will win a majority of votes in Sunday’s legislative elections in Venezuela. But, an opposition victory is no guarantee of a political shift. Here are some areas to watch beyond the typical and tired storylines on the elections.
In the past three weeks Latin American leaders have spoken out expressing their concerns over electoral conditions in Venezuela. While welcome, these individual voices don’t equal a larger institutional voice that can threaten sanctions if things should go awry in Venezuela.
