Ungovernable Venezuela

Protests, repression and economic disaster seem to have taken hold in Venezuela, with no solution in sight. For two months now, the country has been in a state of emergency, and, far from easing up, the crisis seems to be taking root. Meanwhile, all calls for dialogue are coming up against a lack of political will to find common ground.

A committee of foreign ministers from UNASUR, the Union of South American Nations, was expected to take further measures in Caracas on Monday with a view to bringing together President Nicolás Maduro and his detractors. But it is hard to imagine that the opposition will want to sit down with the government when its leaders are being jailed or harassed by the courts, at a time when police brutality, arbitrary measures and media censorship are cutting back civil liberties.

President Maduro has made some moves in recent days, but the scope of his play is limited. On the one hand, he called for dialogue in an article he published in The New York Times, in which he nevertheless portrayed himself as the victim of a coup conspiracy, accused protesters of the violence, and charged the media with twisting the truth. The address was more aimed at US Congress, which is considering sanctions against Venezuela, than at the country’s own opposition.

The opposition, for its part, must reconcile its own positions

On the other hand, this week Maduro created a human rights panel, no doubt as a result of the international repercussion of the police abuse in Venezuela. The reports and statements by Amnesty International, the Venezuelan bishops, the United Nations, the European Union and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights indicate that the repression is beginning to take its toll on the government, if somewhat late. To this must be added the very opportune Spanish decision to suspend all sales of riot gear to Caracas.

But just like all calls for talks will fall on deaf ears as long as there is no real desire to get to the bottom of the crisis – which means rectifying some policies – no committee will be of any use if the government fails to take effective steps, such as checking the actions of the chavista gangs that commit outrages in connivance with security forces.

The opposition, for its part, must reconcile its own positions. Disagreements over strategy – whether to pull out of the streets or keep up the protest pressure – have finally created cracks in the coalition Mesa de Unidad Nacional. This is no time for personal partiality or for leadership disputes.