A Lesson From Venezuela For Americans

      With our national interest focused on our upcoming Presidential election, perhaps is would well behoove us Americans to turn our attention to the outcome another country's recent election and learn from it a lesson for ourselves.
             Once upon a time Venezuela was an oil-rich democracy, the most democratic and politically stable country among the generally authoritarian regimes of South America.

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       Forty years ago Venezuela enjoyed such affluence that it was a magnet for immigrants and refugees from its poorer, more repressive neighboring countries.
       Though a plunge in the price of oil in the 1980's sent Venezuela into an economic downturn, government leaders continued to be chosen in fair elections. 
       Then in 1998 Hugo Chavez, a charismatic insurgent Presidential candidate,​

...broke onto the scene promising a revolution to end government corruption, oil dependence and the status quo. Chavez vowed to lift up the poor, bring down the elites, and be a President for the common people.      
      In 1999 Hugo Chavez won the Presidency in a landslide that would be Venezuela's last free, democratic election.
​       On the platform that only he could fix the country's ills, Chavez took authoritarian control over all the other branches of government as well as the election process. From then on any opposition to Chavez and his political machine was suppressed and the votes of Venezuelan citizens became meaningless as elections were invariably thrown to Chavez and his party. Meanwhile Venezuela's economy was neither  wisely nor sustainably managed under Chavez and the state of Venezuela's economy rose and fell depending on the price of oil.
          Hugo Chavez ruled Venezuela with an iron fist until he died - an attempt at a coup failed in  2002 - and in 2013 he was replaced in another meaningless election by an even more corrupt and repressive dictator, Nicolás Maduro.

       Under Maduro the Venezuelan economy has  failed, most Venezuelans live in dire poverty and basic human freedoms and rights are nonexistent.  Protests are crushed, dissidents are arrested, free speech is suppressed.
​        But in the midst of Venezuela's hopelessness and political apathy, in the months prior to the Venezuelan Presidential election in July, a strong social movement in opposition to Maduro rose up under the leadership of Maria Corina Machado,

...a political activist and former member of the national assembly who was running for president in opposition to Maduro until Maduro's court had her disqualified. Ms. Machado nonetheless took up the cause of 74-year-old Edmundo González, an opposition candidate whom Maduro decided was a safe opponent. 

        Maria Corina Machado then travelled the country whipping up hope among the Venezuelan people and support for Edmundo González, with promises of a return to democracy, economic reform, and the reinstatement of free speech and human rights.
​        Leading up to the election, polls showed Edmundo González with a 47-point lead over Nicolás Maduro. 
         Last Sunday, July 31, the Presidential election was held in Venezuela. Exit polls indicated that Edmundo González won the election in a landslide. Though the government-controlled election body refused to make the voting tallies public,  some opposition workers managed to get paper copies of the ballots, which indicated that Maduro had lost the election with 31% of the vote to González's 69%.
         Democracies the world over have acknowledged Edmundo González as the new legitimately elected President of Venezuela. However Maduro and his party have declared victory.

        Protests across Venezuela in opposition to the fraudulent election results have already been crushed by the government-controlled police and military. Global outrage  has been blown off by Maduro and his enablers. Though Maduro lost the election, there seems to be little anyone can do to make him leave. So he'll continue to be the dictator over a country that doesn't want him.
        There's a lesson in the plight of Venezuela for all democracies, and it's that democracies aren't guaranteed to last. Any democracy must be carefully guarded by its citizens, who must never allow themselves to be wooed by any candidate, no matter how appealing, into being reckless with their vote. 
         Beware of the candidate who seeks all power for himself under the pretext that he alone can save the country. Beware the one who seeks to consolidate all the government agencies under his direct control and to control  the other branches of government. Beware he who aims to bend the courts and justice system to his will.
          Beware of anyone, no matter how magnetic or appealing, who gives off even a whiff of authoritarianism. Because once a dictator is voted into office, he will never leave until he dies, after which he'll be replaced by a new dictator from among his protégés​.
            Once democracy is lost, abandon hope of getting it back.

References:​
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/30/world/americas/venezuela-election-maduro-chavez.html

https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/venezuela/

https://www.britannica.com/place/Venezuela

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/24/world/americas/venezuela-election-opposition-machado.html​