Venezuela: A Call for Peace
By NICOLÁS MADUROAPRIL 1,
2014
CARACAS,
Venezuela — THE recent protests in Venezuela have made international headlines.
Much of the foreign media coverage has distorted the reality of my country and
the facts surrounding the events.
Venezuelans
are proud of our democracy. We have built a participatory democratic movement
from the grass roots that has ensured that both power and resources are
equitably distributed among our people. (...)
According
to the United Nations, Venezuela has consistently reduced inequality: It now has the lowest
income inequality in the region. We have reduced poverty enormously — to 25.4 percent
in 2012, on the World Bank’s data,
from 49 percent in 1998; in the same period, according to government statistics,
extreme poverty diminished to 6 percent from 21 percent.
We have
created flagship universal health care and education programs, free to our
citizens nationwide. We have achieved these feats in large part by using
revenue from Venezuelan oil.
While our
social policies have improved citizens’ lives over all, the government has also
confronted serious economic challenges in the past 16 months, including inflation
and shortages of basic goods. We continue to find solutions through measures
like our new market-based foreign exchange system, which is designed to reduce
the black market exchange rate. And we are monitoring businesses to ensure they
are not gouging consumers or hoarding products. Venezuela has also struggled
with a high crime rate. We are addressing this by building a new national
police force, strengthening community-police cooperation and revamping our
prison system.
Since
1998, the movement founded by Hugo Chávez has won more than a dozen
presidential, parliamentary and local elections through an electoral process
that former American President Jimmy Carter has called “the best in the world.” Recently,
the United Socialist Party received an overwhelming mandate in mayoral
elections in December 2013, winning 255 out of 337 municipalities.
Popular
participation in politics in Venezuela has increased dramatically over the past
decade. As a former union organizer, I believe profoundly in the right to
association and in the civic duty to ensure that justice prevails by voicing
legitimate concerns through peaceful assembly and protest.
The claims
that Venezuela has a deficient democracy and that current protests represent
mainstream sentiment are belied by the facts. The antigovernment protests are
being carried out by people in the wealthier segments of society who seek to
reverse the gains of the democratic process that have benefited the vast
majority of the people.
Antigovernment
protesters have physically attacked and damaged health care clinics, burned
down a university in Táchira State and thrown Molotov cocktails and rocks at
buses. They have also targeted other public institutions by throwing rocks and
torches at the offices of the Supreme Court, the public telephone company CANTV
and the attorney general’s office. These violent actions have caused many millions of
dollars’ worth of damage. This is why the protests have received no support in
poor and working-class neighborhoods.
The
protesters have a single goal: the unconstitutional ouster of the democratically
elected government. Antigovernment leaders made this clear when they started
the campaign in January, vowing to create chaos in the streets. Those with
legitimate criticisms of economic conditions or the crime rate are being
exploited by protest leaders with a violent, antidemocratic agenda.
In two
months, a reported 36 people have been killed. The protesters are, we believe, directly responsible for about half of the
fatalities. Six members of the National Guard have been shot and killed; other
citizens have been murdered while attempting to remove obstacles placed by
protesters to block transit.
A very
small number of security forces personnel have also been accused of engaging in
violence, as a result of which several people have died. These are highly
regrettable events, and the Venezuelan government has responded by arresting
those suspected. We have created a Human Rights Council to investigate all
incidents related to these protests. Each victim deserves justice, and every
perpetrator — whether a supporter or an opponent of the government — will be
held accountable for his or her actions.
In the
United States, the protesters have been described as “peaceful,” while the
Venezuelan government is said to be violently repressing them. According to
this narrative, the American government is siding with the people of Venezuela;
in reality, it is on the side of the 1 percent who wish to drag our country
back to when the 99 percent were shut out of political life and only the few —
including American companies — benefited from Venezuela’s oil.
Let’s not
forget that some of those who supported ousting Venezuela’s democratically
elected government in 2002 are leading the protests today. Those involved
in the 2002 coup immediately disbanded the Supreme Court and the legislature,
and scrapped the Constitution. Those who incite violence and attempt similar
unconstitutional actions today must face the justice system.
The
American government supported the 2002 coup and recognized
the coup government despite its anti-democratic behavior. Today, the Obama
administration spends at least $5 million annually to support opposition
movements in Venezuela. A bill calling for an additional $15 million for these
anti-government organizations is now in Congress. Congress is also deciding
whether to impose sanctions on Venezuela. I hope that the American people,
knowing the truth, will decide that Venezuela and its people do not deserve
such punishment, and will call upon their representatives not to enact sanctions.
Now is a
time for dialogue and diplomacy. Within Venezuela, we have extended a hand to
the opposition. And we have accepted the Union of South American Nations’
recommendations to engage in mediated talks with the opposition. My government
has also reached out to President Obama, expressing our desire to again
exchange ambassadors. We hope his administration will respond in kind.
Venezuela
needs peace and dialogue to move forward. We welcome anyone who sincerely wants
to help us reach these goals.
Nicolás
Maduro is the president of Venezuela.
