Basically, Venezuela is a democratic country in conscience. Venezuelans are democratic by nature. We like to debate, to talk, to express our ideas, to elect people. We like to be seen as equals. We treat people as equals without regard to color, race, etc. So, that is inherent to us. It is the essence of being Venezuelan. And, precisely because of our nature, at least for most Venezuelans, that was the main element to involve myself in this fight for freedom and democracy in Venezuela. Basically what has motivated me was the idea of building a better Venezuela.
The history of Venezuela of the last part of the 20th Century and the first decade of the 21st Century has served the new generation — The young people of Venezuela who have nothing to do with the events of the past nor those of the present – to give us a motivation that we have channeled, that we want to channel in the democratic framework of freedoms because we believe that is the only way that guarantees the social welfare, quality of life, and finally, a premise that seems to be abstract, but, for me, it makes a lot of sense, the pursuit of happiness.
Claudio Jose Sandoval is a Venezuelan human rights advocate. He was trained in social work and studied law at Andrés Bello Catholic University in Caracas. After the government of President Hugo Chávez closed down the country’s largest private television network, RCTV, in 2007, Sandoval became active in student organizations supporting freedom and democracy in Venezuela. He was active in the pro-democracy coalition Foro por la Vida (Forum for Life) and co-founded an organization called Generación de los Puentes (Generation of Bridges). His book “Beyond the Student Movement” discusses how Venezuela might achieve national reconciliation.
Venezuela is a South American country of 28.5 million people with a history of multiparty constitutional democracy. President Nicolas Maduro took office after Hugo Chavez succumbed to cancer in 2013.
During the 1998-2013 presidency of Colonel Hugo Chavez, a series of constitutional and legal changes were implemented that make it far more difficult for citizens to change their government. The Chavez government systematically used public resources to secure its power, closed down independent news media, and used legal and extralegal means to harass and intimidate its critics.
Soon after his first election, Chavez called for a new constitution that would give expanded powers to the president and replace Venezuela’s bicameral Congress with a unicameral national assembly. The new constitution was approved by referendum in 1999. Chavez acquired substantial control of the military, the judiciary, the electoral commission, and the news media. The government closed Radio Caracas Television Internacional (RCTV Internacional), the country’s largest television network, and forced into exile the president of Globovision, the other major opposition-aligned network.
The Chavez government’s increasingly repressive methods generated strong public opposition, including a series of public protests by students, workers, and others who were not previously aligned with the political opposition. In the 2010 National Assembly elections, opposition parties received the majority of the votes, but under the new electoral rules the government took a substantial majority of the seats in the Assembly.
Venezuela’s vast oil resources allowed Chavez to implement policies that steered the country towards a socialist economy. The country’s oil wealth funded a major expansion of government social programs, much to the approval of government supporters in the lower class. Oil became the foundation of Venezuela’s relationship with Cuba, which has strengthened substantially over the last few decades due to shared ideology and financial and security interdependence. Venezuela has replaced the Soviet Union as Cuba’s major benefactor, financially supporting the Castro regime. Cuba in turn has supported the transformation and strengthening of the Venezuelan military. In 2004, the two nations founded the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas (ALBA), a group of socialist and social democratic nations working toward economic integration. ALBA and its member nations often champion anti-American policies and sentiments. This alliance has led to close ties between Venezuela and nations such as Ecuador, Nicaragua, and Bolivia.
Immediately after Chavez’s passing, Vice President Maduro assumed the role of interim President. He then went on to narrowly defeat an opposition candidate by a 1.5 percent margin in the April 2013 presidential elections. Maduro has pledged to complete Chavez’s socialist transformation of Venezuela.
Recently, Venezuela has struggled with a rising crime and homicide rate, blamed by some on a recent economic downturn, the availability of arms, and the weak judicial system. However, Chavez and Maduro both have linked this increase in crime to the media’s portrayal of both fictional and real violence and have continued to influence what programming and content is available. Both leaders have expanded the security forces within the country, calling on police, militias, and the military to fight crime.
In Freedom House’s Freedom in the World report, Venezuela earned “partly free” status, with an overall rating of 5. A rating of 1 represents the most free and 7 represents the least free.
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