So, after a much stagnant and quarantined 2020 here we are, December, at the eve of another ‘totally free and fair’ election in Venezuela. A parliamentary election that we are supposed to hold as per our Constitution, but one that for all intents and purposes is a rigged charade. We also have a public consultation spearheaded by our other President: The interim but inert Juan Guaido, meant as a standing against the regime’s latest perversion of democracy.
You couldn’t ask me to give less of a damn about these two events, though, but I suppose I should start this month by weighing in, let’s start with the former first.
The 2020 Parliamentary Elections
Naturally, this will be a ‘totally free and fair’ exercise of our unshakable democracy, another proof of our infallible and perfect electoral system that is without flaw. We totally are going to exercise our right to vote with all the absolute guarantees, to think otherwise is to be a stateless counter-revolutionary — so don’t be telling people to abstain, lest you risk getting arrested.
Sure, everyone across the globe has denounced and called these rigged elections for what they are, but that has never stopped the regime from hosting ‘elections’, not before, not now, and unfortunately not in the future.
Literally nobody is going to vote in these upcoming elections, and yet, the Regime’s media apparatus will paint you a different portrait of an ‘electoral fiesta’ worthy of celebration and rejoicement.
A few will vote out of their own volition, I’m sure of that, others will, however, vote because out of coercion and fear of losing their public sector jobs, and quite possibly, their ability to eat.
Diosdado Cabello
— CNW (@ConflictsW) November 30, 2020
“He who does not vote, does not eat. For those who do not vote, there is no food. Whoever does not vote, does not eat”#Venezuela https://t.co/NU087hZ0Q9
I wouldn’t personally hold it against anyone if they do end up participating, it’s their time and their lives, but there are better, more productive ways to invest one’s time, such as staring at the ceiling. Regardless, the outcome of this election was preordained long ago, you don’t have to be a political expert, statistician, or have the ability to see the future to know who is going to win.
The ‘opposition’ consists of hijacked political parties, eternal collaborationists, and people deep in cahoots with the regime, even some parties that are ideologically aligned with the regime have been hijacked as well, after all, dissent is not permitted in the Revolutionary ranks, however slight it might be.
Sure, we’re at a point where even the Communist Party of Venezuela has expressed certain degree of disputes towards the ruling Socialist Party of Venezuela, but they’re just over ideological discrepancies inherent to their leftist ideals that the communist party perceives — aka: they’re not getting a slice of the cake anymore and they want some, so to speak.
In any case, the regime will definitely throw them a bone, a few seats here and there, and that’ll keep them appeased, that’s why they expanded the National Assembly from 167 seats to 277, to have more leeway to accommodate people, not because of the alleged population growth, even though we’ve lost more than 5 million people to the ongoing migrant crisis.
While the country underwent a strict quarantine all year, it would seem like COVID-19 is no longer cause for concern, at least during the regime ‘s political campaigns and rallies for these upcoming elections. I can’t even go to church or visit my mother’s grave this Christmas, but you sure were able to aglomerate and march in support and solidarity for the “Fatherland’s candidates.”
Maduro has stated that once they win these legislative elections then the country will totally recover, for real this time, nevermind the countless times this has been promised, this one will sure be it!
The end goal of this elections is not to show the world that we totally have a democracy for realsies or anything (for which I’m sure they have a narrative prepared already), it’s just the regime’s means to use that which is enshrined in our constitution to get rid of the opposition-led National Assembly and once again have all five powers of the country in its grasp.
That is why they worked so hard all year to hijack and dismantle opposition parties (and even some of their own allies as well), expand the seats, and further pervert the electoral game. They learned their lesson when they lost in 2015, and they’ve taken an extensive amount of steps over the past years to make sure that it doesn’t ever happen again.
Guaido’s Public Consultation
Oh, what’s that, you thought Guaido—who has done nothing this year—was just gonna sit idly? Guess again. The opposition has a countermove to these upcoming sham elections, one that, surprising no one, is symbolic, at best. The faint vestiges of Juan Guaido’s interim presidency have prepared a Public Consultation, which is slated to take place on the 12th of December.
It will consist of three questions, questions that, while valid, are obvious, like asking someone if water is wet. The first one will ask if you demand that Maduro ceases his usurpation of power — this needs no asking, this was the first thing that Guaido promised the country back in early 2019, you don’t need to ask people for permission to do something that you already said you would accomplish.
The second one will ask if you reject the rigged parliamentary elections. Again, asking the obvious.
The third one will ask if you agree to have all arrangements with the International Community to activate the cooperation, accompaniment, and assistance that allows us to rescue our democracy, attend the humanitarian crisis, and protect Venezuelans from the crimes against humanity that they have been subject to. While it has some substance to it, we simply go back to square one, because this is something that the interim presidency should’ve been doing in the first place.
More than anything, I see this public consultation as just a way to gauge and measure numbers of supporters, like a “look, only X amount of people participated in Maduro’s sham elections, but we had Y people participate in a consultation.”
Truth be told, I’ve personally seen a handful of people express a certain degree of enthusiasm with this consultation, but I don’t expect much to come from it. I find it superfluous, and more of the same.
Doing nothing benefits the regime, but doing something that does nothing benefits them as well — but, these are the politicians that we have, and they’re very content with keeping this as is, in the end, it is good business for them, just as always. We got dealt a losing hand, with no way to reshuffle or use a different deck of cards.
These are two events that with all due respect, you can’t possibly expect me to invest any time whatsoever, I rather play video games or something during those two days and I’d still be doing something far more productive with my life.
What should be on everyone’s minds, however, is not the easily predictable outcome of these two events, but rather, the question of what will happen in January. Maduro’s brand new National Assembly will seat, and you can be damn sure that they will try to bring Guaido and the opposition to their justice.
What will Guaido and the opposition do, and what will happen next year? I don’t know, honestly. One thing is for sure, the country, regardless of what steps, twists, and turns our status quo loving politicians will do, the country will become even more miserable and remain ever so steady towards oblivion.
There’s no gasoline left, power and water keep failing, people are forced to cut down trees to have firewood to cook, hyperinflation is beyond measure, politicians, military, and foreigners will continue to launder money here. Little by little whatever is left of our industries and resources will continue to be sold to China, Russia, Turkey, Iran, and others (Remember, according to our Socialist rulers, imperialism is good as long as it’s not America’s).
Business as usual with our accursed status quo, we don’t get to choose because the choices are always made for us.
-Kal
