Human Rights and
International Democratic Solidarity

Statements

International Relations and Human Rights Observatory

07-30-2024

Greater international democratic solidarity is imperative in light of the Venezuelan dictatorship’s electoral fraud

It is time to vigorously demand a greater commitment to democracy and its defense at the international level. Therefore, it is not enough to simply denounce the events in Venezuela without extending this denunciation also to the countries that recognized the fraudulent victory of Nicolás Maduro.

After the electoral fraud perpetrated by the government of Nicolás Maduro, who had warned that he would win “by hook or by crook”, there is little left to say about the allegations of tampering with the people's will and the subsequent repression of social protest, which has already claimed lives.

Let us bear in mind that since the inauguration of the military officer Hugo Chávez as President of Venezuela on February 2, 1999, after having competed in the free elections of December 6, 1998, there began a process of progressive erosion of the rule of law in Venezuela, sustained by a discretional and corrupt management of public funds, as well as an ostensible will to hold on to power at any price.

The truth is that this film of democracy’s slow death in Venezuela played out in plain sight and enjoyed the complicity of many countries in the region, whose rulers and officials contributed, by action or omission, to legitimize a dictatorship that forced millions of Venezuelans into exile.

For this reason, it is time to vigorously demand a greater commitment to democracy and its defense at the international level. Therefore, it is not enough to simply denounce the events in Venezuela without extending this denunciation also to the countries that recognized the fraudulent victory of Nicolás Maduro, such as the dictatorships of China, Russia, Iran, Syria, Belarus, Qatar, Cuba and Nicaragua.

It is time to demand that countries with democratic governments implement a foreign policy that actively denounces authoritarian states that criminalize dissent. Economic and commercial interests must not prevail over the defense of human rights and human dignity. This is the commitment that the international community made on December 10, 1948.

If democracies do not assume their responsibility to defend this form of government to guarantee the exercise of human rights and to promote world peace, cases like that of Venezuela will keep occurring and dictatorships will continue to enjoy impunity.

 
 
 

 
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