So this is what the Pendejo Sin Frontera defense of the revolution has come to: sure, things in Venezuela are bad, but it’s not cataclysmic. That’s what passes for regime propaganda abroad these days.
For a moment, it looked like Venezuela’s beleaguered opposition had a powerful new ally in Buenos Aires. But it didn’t take long for principles to give way to big politics.
The new leader of the Organization of American States (OAS) has openly rebuked the country’s ‘Petty Dictator,’ but it may be too late to avert disaster in Venezuela.
One thing in Venezuela is definitely not in short supply: presidential rhetoric. In fact, while the economy veers toward 700 percent currency inflation, Maduro’s never-ending daily national television speeches, if anything, have created hyperinflation of presidential verbiage.
Venezuela’s descent into chaos is making headlines, not least because no one knows what will come next. The only other country to go through such an economic meltdown in recent history is Zimbabwe.
On June 23, the Permanent Council of the OAS will meet to discuss Venezuela, a country in the throes of an economic, political and humanitarian crisis. It now appears that it’s only a matter of time before Venezuela implodes and becomes a failed state.
The international community is trying to encourage the Venezuelan government and the opposition to sit down to a dialogue. But democratic dialogue requires commitment to principles, and the government has never shown—nor is showing now—any willingness to commit to those values.
On May 30th, OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro invoked the Inter-American Democratic Charter in the case of Venezuela, political “red card”. The question now is, will the Permanent Council uphold the red card or denounce the ref?
Secretary General Luis Almagro has invoked the Democratic Charter of the OAS, calling for a meeting of the body’s Permanent Council to discuss the situation in Venezuela. How the hemispheric body responds will be a test of its role and future in a divided hemisphere.
With the Venezuelan economy in a free fall, massive shortages and President Nicolás Maduro renewing a state of emergency and calling for military exercises, the question of political upheaval and state collapse in Venezuela is no longer a matter of if, but when. And when it does happen, Venezuela’s neighbors will have themselves to blame for letting it get this far and this bad.
