Since 1999, with the advent of Chavismo in Venezuela, a process of transformation began across all sectors of the nation. These changes, far from advancing the country’s development or improving its citizens’ quality of life, have led to the tragedy known today to much of the international community.
One of the areas most profoundly disrupted—and decisive in shaping the harsh reality Venezuelans now face—is politics, or rather, the way it is practiced. Words such as politics, democracy, human rights, and even the institutions meant to uphold them, have become hollow, stripped of content and practical meaning.
Since the current regime was established, the exercise of politics has never sought the common good, the service of the person, or the improvement of living conditions. Its sole purpose has been power for power’s sake. As the saying goes, “Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” That is precisely what has occurred in Venezuela.
An elite has not only corrupted itself but has also corrupted public officials, political leaders, businesspeople, and members of the national armed forces—turning them into accomplices and collaborators. All this has been made possible by the abundant economic resources flowing into the country, which they have managed at their own discretion, alongside the hijacking of public institutions to serve their political project.
A clear example of this is the total concentration of power in the State—that is, in the government—whose visible head is the President of the Republic, together with his party’s leadership. Thus, the State, the Government, and the Party have become one and the same. Here, the expression attributed to King Louis XIV, later echoed by Hugo Chávez, finds new meaning: “I am the State.” In this case, it would be: We are the State.
When the State becomes omnipotent, it is because society has been weakened. For two and a half decades, the regime has worked deliberately to achieve this—through the impoverishment of the population, welfare dependency, the suppression of political parties and civil associations (including trade unions), and the creation of laws that restrict freedom of expression and criminalize protest, despite these being constitutional rights.
The conditions of poverty, unemployment, low wages, inflation, and the deterioration of public services—together with fear of repression and persecution of anyone opposing the regime—make it nearly impossible for citizens to organize, mobilize, or even think freely. Their lives revolve around survival or, ultimately, emigration. As a result, society’s participation in public life is almost nonexistent.
The situation worsened after the presidential elections of July 28, 2024, when the regime disregarded the popular will. While this deepened frustration, despair, anger, and even depression among part of the population, a quiet resistance still endures beneath the surface. The passivity and silence of the Venezuelan people do not signify surrender. They are a people with a democratic vocation, as demonstrated in every electoral process—though these have often served only to erode democracy’s foundations—and reaffirmed once again in the 2024 elections.
In that vote, Venezuelans clearly expressed their discontent and their desire to end the evil that oppresses them. It also proved that when a people unite around a common feeling and purpose, they can achieve the unimaginable. In the most recent elections called by the regime in an attempt to legitimize itself, the people did not participate—thereby saying “no” to usurpation, regardless of the regime’s claims to the contrary.
Amid this grim scenario, another factor has entered the scene: the recent decision by the U.S. government to launch an offensive against the regime’s leadership, accusing them of being narco-terrorists who threaten the security of the United States. A powerful military contingent has been deployed in the Caribbean. Its true objective remains unclear, but many Venezuelans see in this action a possible opportunity for liberation. Time will tell.
These, then, are the reasons why hope must not be lost. As Pope Leo XIII said:
“Oppression disguises itself as authority, and there is no true authority without obedience to God… Any authority that does not serve, destroys itself.”
