Dictator Maduro Is Gone, but the Power-Sharing Remains

Maduro Is Gone, but the Spoils-Sharing Remains

Attention: Secretary of State Marco Rubio

Ana Julia Jatar
For Tiempo Latino

Four months have now passed since Nicolás Maduro and Cilia Flores left Venezuela’s political stage, and today the question echoing in every Venezuelan household is unavoidable: what has really changed? To me, the answer is as clear as it is frustrating: very little. The distribution of wealth continues, and the cast of actors on the country’s political and repressive stage remains intact.

It is true that there have been releases from prison — and let me be clear, not true liberations of political prisoners who should never have lost their freedom in the first place. They have come slowly, reluctantly, and in small numbers. But it is also true that, four months later, more than 500 prisoners of conscience remain behind bars.

So the question is unavoidable: who governs Venezuela today?

And who is responsible for those prisoners?

Because if the answer is no longer Chavismo/Madurismo, then we must have the honesty to consider another possibility: that this responsibility now also falls on those who claim to be facilitating the transition...

It is also true that an Amnesty Law was approved. But rather than serving as an instrument of justice, it appears designed to shield those who may eventually need to pardon themselves.

Consider the case of Judge María Lourdes Afiuni, an iconic victim of Chávez’s wrath, who was publicly condemned by him on national television and has now been denied amnesty. There is also the distinguished jurist Perkin Rocha, who has not only been denied amnesty but continues to wear an electronic ankle monitor as though he were a highly dangerous criminal. This is unacceptable, as are so many other cases that I do not have the space to mention.

We therefore ask the United States government, which is supposedly overseeing Venezuela’s transition: Have you forgotten what your own Declaration of Independence says?

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

Do you apply those principles only within your own borders?

Or do Venezuelans not deserve the same standards that you demand for yourselves?

A few days ago, a friend with close ties to the U.S. government told me something that still resonates with me: “Ana Julia, what a shame that your country is viewed as spoils.”

Spoils.

That is how the Castros and the corrupt Latin American left allied with Chávez and Maduro viewed us for nearly three decades. We cannot allow others to begin viewing us the same way now.

Venezuela is no one’s prize to divide. It is our homeland. And we want to reclaim it with a government that truly represents us.

Because today there is a very uncomfortable truth for those inside and outside the country who seek to govern us: no one exercising power in Venezuela today was elected in free and fair elections. No one has the legitimacy that can only be granted by the vote of a sovereign people. No one.

And this is where we must be clear: Venezuelans do know how to be grateful. We know how to recognize the role the United States played in Maduro’s departure. But gratitude does not mean silence, especially when the future of our country is at stake.

The Venezuelan people did not endure decades of persecution, hunger, torture, and exile only to accept a transition without democracy.

Venezuela needs elections.

Free, transparent, and competitive elections.

Elections in which all leaders of the democratic opposition are allowed to participate, including María Corina Machado, who is currently being arbitrarily excluded.

Because without the vote, there is no legitimacy. And without legitimacy, there is no hope for a viable country.

I want to conclude with a very special message addressed directly to Secretary of State Marco Antonio Rubio.

I am a Venezuelan American, born in Havana, Cuba: you remain a source of hope for all of us, and we are deeply puzzled by your silence.

You know that your political future depends on our vote in the United States, and that vote, in turn, depends on whether you truly help us restore democracy to my Venezuela and our Cuba.

We are counting on you.