ADSactly World - Venezuela and the Destruction of its Democracy
Introduction
In today's article we are going to get a little bit deeper into the events in Venezuela that allowed for the current crisis to happen.
So far we have covered the before and after of the country, and the local misconception regarding the actual meaning of democracy, a factor that the government took advantage of throughout the years.
That was indeed a factor that helped this government develop a plan to subvert democracy little by little, under the eyes of not only Venezuela's population, but also under the eyes of the whole world. But how they did accomplish this?
The first strategy adopted by Chavez was to promote a strong division in the people as was mentioned in previous articles. He started with this since the very beginning of his campaign, as well as using certain words when talking about his opponents who were the ones who habitually had the power in the country. He called all of them the elite, and always tried to make the people develop hate towards them and their supporters. This dynamic became very popular, not only among his followers but everyone began to use it, the other candidates, the TV journalists, everyone talked about the elite overnight and how to defeat it in order to finally “fix” Venezuela.
Once Chavez became president he got rid of the strategy of calling others the elite. After all, the act of electing him had been the fatal blow to his enemies. With him in power, their supporters stopped thinking about an “elite” because it has been “defeated” finally.
So these people replaced the term with another one. Their enemy was no longer that horrible, intimidating and malicious elite. Their enemy now happened to be the opposition, and they started to say many things, mainly that they were "fascists" and "pro yankees", the opposition was then called “scrawny”(escuálido in spanish) to make people believe as if their were weak and insignificant. With that term they wanted to express the idea that the opposition is not a threat because they are not much people and they have no power whatsoever.
This trick was not created by them of course, it is exactly the same one used by Soviet manipulators when they used the term "Bolsheviks" which means they are more, and "Mensheviks" who were their opponents and were named like that simply because it means they are supposedly less, although in practice it was not true.
The Bolsheviks claimed the name after getting their way in a wrangle over the editorial board of the Party newspaper Iskra (‘the Spark’ – which was to ‘start a big blaze’). The Mensheviks unwisely accepted the appellation, though they were actually more often in the majority. | Source
This way, supporters of Chavez began to develop the idea that their opponents were weak, and if people wanted to be on the “winning” side, they should go and support Chavez and his revolution.
The method of destroying Western democracies by ironically using democratic means was first applied by Chávez and he used it to replicate the Venezuelan model in several South American countries.
In this method, unlike other violent dictatorships, democracy itself is used to destroy said democracy. It starts with a democratic government and if all the steps are applied, it ends with a totalitarian government that rather than looking totalitarian, it looks like the complete opposite of it, like a defender of democracy. The method has several steps as you can see below:
Changing the Constitution.
The possibility of always being a presidential candidate with no limits
Currency exchange control, that even to this day creates high economic distortions
Destroying freedom of expression.
Expropriations.
Each step is taken in democratic ways even if they are just the opposite of what democracy should be and with the complicity of the people of course. That is why it is necessary to deceive them.
In each step the true intention of their actions is hidden and justified before the population as a necessary, inescapable measure, and that is done for the sake of everyone. Actually there is only one intention and that is to control the country, to prolong their power as much as possible.
This strategy works and is constantly being perfected. Besides being applied in Venezuela even to this day, it has also being applied in Bolivia for example.
Today we are going to cover why they wanted to change the Constitution, how they did it and its final result.
When I mentioned changing the constitution I meant literally to take the constitution, throw it away, put a new piece of paper on the table and start writing from scratch, and this allows for the possibility of changing the name of the country and changing the flag, dissolving the congress, they can change the definition of who is considered citizen, they could even divide the territory again. They can do whatever they can because the constitution is what defines what a country is and how it works.
All measures that limit the president's powers can be seen as a safety lock. Laws that prohibit or limit the manner in which the constitution can be modified can be seen as another safety lock. So what they do is analyze the constitution and look for its weak points, take advantage of it and modify it so the new constitution can serve their totalitarian wishes.
This government convinced the people that it was very important to vote for changing the constitution because, according to them, the constitution that we had wasn’t a proper representation of the people of today because it had not been supported by them, therefore, it was nothing more than an obsolete legacy of the corrupt governments from the past.
But they never told the people the real reason why they wanted to change the constitution. Their true goal was not to make democracy stronger, they wanted to change the constitution in order to extend the presidential term limits. Because with the old constitution no one could be reelected as a president and each period only lasted for five years. So under those rules, Chavez was going to have to leave in 2004, only lasting 5 years in power. To take complete control over the country, he had to start by changing the rules of the game.
Before changing the constitution, a president could not be reelected in a short period of time, he had to wait 10 years to be able to return and participate in another general election. After changing the constitution, they extended the period to six years and eliminated the prohibition regarding immediate reelection, besides a president could only stay in power for a maximum of five years in a democratic manner, after the change he could remain in power for twelve uninterrupted years, which is a big difference.
But this is not the only change they did to the constitution, because essentially with the new constitution it was granted total power to the president. There was a new mechanism called Enabling Law that allowed the president to dictate laws without the need to consult with the Parliament, just for "special cases". A “special case” could of course, be any type of excuse, and by implementing this Enabling Law the president could rule literally doing whatever he wants. Thus hundreds of laws were created as if Venezuela were Chavez’s property, without having to consult those laws with anyone.
They made the laws somewhat ambiguous, the idea was to be able to interpret the constitution as they wish without having many problems or disadvantages when it comes to justifying their actions. For example, they eliminate the clauses that specify how and when a process should start, so they can use it at any time.
Something similar happened with the traditional mechanisms of representation since they were completely replaced by popular votes, the reason is that the system of proportional representation is used to protect the citizenship of what is known as "the tyranny of the majorities". Every populist leader knows that his best weapon is the popular vote
Tyranny of the majority (or tyranny of the masses) refers to an inherent weakness of direct democracy and majority rule in which the majority of an electorate can and does place its own interests above, and at the expense of, those in the minority. This results in oppression of minority groups comparable to that of a tyrant or despot. | Source
They also created a new power called "electoral power", the point was simply to give more importance to the votes and control the entity that counts the votes and announce the winner, which was something they leveraged throughout the coming years. There is a famous quote attributed to Stalin that says "It's not the people who vote that count, it's the people who count the votes." | Source
There were many other modifications of course, most are designed to make people happy about making the changes. For example, a lot of people won’t opposed any changes if you add to the new constitution that nobody will have to pay for electric service, because they will find those gifts so irresistible that they do not care about anything else. It does not matter if in the end they put those gifts into practice or not. By changing the constitution they eventually were able to change the flag, the coat of arms, the name of the country and they even changed the official time zone.
Conclusion
Changing the constitution can be seen as a kind of Trojan horse, it might look like a gift but it can potentially be an ambush. If a government wants to change the constitution, it might because they know the current one doesn’t work for them, and it doesn’t work for them because it is protected, because it is truly democratic and have security mechanisms capable of stopping any totalitarian take over. Of course, there can be well intended governments that want to change the constitution for correct and honest reasons, but sadly that was not the case in Venezuela.
We will continue with the next step in the coming article.
Thanks for reading!
Images sources
1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8, 9 , 10
Authored by: @dedicatedguy
Click on the coin to join our Discord Chat
Witness proposal is here:
Go To Steem Witness Page
In the bottom of the page type: adsactly-witness and press vote.
Use small letters and no "@" sign. Or, click here to vote directly!
Thank you!
Very good post @adsactly, your words are very useful to all of us and can be a very good motivation to live this life. Speaking of politics, I think, many people in this world do not understand well about politics in a country. Like the people who live in the village, in general most of them do not know about politics with good, so that they are very much in deceit by the state officials, so the life of people in the village is very difficult and do not have a good job.
As in my country of residence, very many state officials are corrupt the money of the poor, and orphans, maybe you better understand about all this. And the public can not protest for all this because there is no evidence, and they do not know the law well. I think, if within a country there is no one who is corrupt, surely people in that country will be prosperous, especially for the poor and orphans. But none of this will happen, because it is very difficult to find a leader who is truly honest and cares about all the suffering of his people in this day and age. Thanks for sharing @adsactly...
First, I apologize for my bad English and all that.
Chavez after the failed coup attempt, in his political campaign acted as an equal to the people, an ordinary person that you would find in a market making purchases, remember that the Venezuelan presidency maintained a bipartisan between Acción Democratica and Copei that They brought with them several economic defeats (the best known on Black Friday 1983 at the hands of Luis Herrera Campins), all these factors made a dent in Venezuelan society giving way to the election of Chavez as the only option to get out of these politicians and their defeats, that was the grave mistake.
The people allowed themselves to fall in love with the charismatic attitude of Chavez, his pupolist discourses that were only creating that division among Venezuelans, little by little it was much more evident with his reforms to the constitution to perpetuate himself in power.
There are videos of interviews called the three lies of Chavez before seizing power and these were (1- He assured that he would hand over the presidency in 5 years 2- That no company would be nationalized 3- And that would not take away private TV channels)
But in this interview we saw the issue of constitutional reform coming and we simply decided to believe in his words that it was the biggest mistake that Venezuelan society has had.
Excellent comment @bearmaster!
You are totally right and I have seen that video as well as other similar ones were Chavez says things that are the complete opposite of what he actually ended up doing.
A complete manipulator and deceiver without doubt. And yet, there are still people who defend him.
The problem in Venezuela was to believe a strong government was the solution for the corruption of the past, rather than a bigger freedom for the people. The solution will always be more freedom, and I think that is the next step in Venezuela. To have a new government that respects individual freedom.
It’s always hard to believe about the manipulative way people are using to get what they want. At the end the people get fooled. When they realize they actually got fooled, in most cases, it’s already too late. By changing the constitution, all they want to do is to enforce their position especially Chavez. If their future is threatened just a bit, they make sure it’s not a thread anymore, because they are frightening just to think about loosing their power. Just like you mentioned:
thanks for supporting our every post! it is very much appreciated.
Thank you!
I found your articles and contents very helpful and informative. The information I’ve received here I may not get anywhere else, especially not in the news or in today’s MSM.
Once again huge thanks coming from my side!
The word is good and bad, and unfortunately this tipi of people uses the language to deceive the people and I do not mean the uneducated people, but also the supposed Venezuelan intellectuals, who turned out to be almost all leftists and because of this affinity they preferred to be silent before criticize Chávez and Castro-communism. They preferred to continue idolizing Fidel Castro That defends the country that saw them being born, but for which undoubtedly they do not feel any kind of love. I have been one of those men who attacked this chavista charade from the beginning and called me crazy, fanatical and intransigent, or how they preferred to call us "Prophets of Disaster". Today they see me and they bend their faces in shame, but they do the same thing they did at the beginning. "NOTHING". The saying says "tell me that you boast and I'll tell you that you lack" and that is demonstrated in these traitors of the country who boast of being "patriots" Gracias
Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
There were indeed a lot of people who are no embarrassed for being supporters of this failed "revolution". People were clueless about what was the best political option and they went with the more charismatic candidate.
I don't understand how could someone idolize Fidel Castro.
Hello @adcsatly, I am grateful that you have dedicated a publication to inform consumers of the world about the reality that my country, Venezuela, is the cause of what we have today as a country. with a very similar situation in 10% until today and I say it because more than 20 years ago we did not live, since now we lived with scarcity, but not as much as today. The executioner Hugo Chávez took advantage of these situations to trap the most impoverished population of the country and a small number of businessmen who wanted to take advantage of the riches of my country with their way of cheating and other tricks. First he made changes in the consti
I am young and every time I see my mom fight, I manage to bring food to the table and, leaving aside the closet and other things, last year my dad died for lack of his medication, if it is painful, today we are My brother my mom and I are looking for how to make money on different pages, how you will survive. Newly graduated professionals and those who have been looking for work for years have decided to leave here because there are no opportunities for economic improvement. He is enraged when you see the government supporters with huge cars, houses, with their food bags for their refrigerators and others are in what we call here the rebusque, which is nothing more than doing several small jobs to have other income
I am really sorry to read that.
That was their plan from the very beginning. To take total control over the country and enrich themselves. It is always the same when it comes to these "revolutionary" politicians.
If you have a lot of truth that Venezuela's economy is well damaged and is delicate for all of us, but most of the time we blame the government, I do not belong to any political party at all, but we are more guilty. because we left to end up in this situation, and we have become selfish and malicious, and we always walk in defense, if we all agree in unity to try to resolve all this bad situation, our country would go ahead, I continue to maintain my faith in Soon Venezuela will come out of all this and we will only see the different things and we will value what we live from now on. Very good publication dear @adsactly
Because in the Venezuela's case, imposing absurd measures such as the currency exchange control, is the government's responsibility (and its supporters).
I understand blaming the government is in most cases something trivial, but in Venezuela there has been so many absurd decisions that it is impossible not to put the blame on them.
Putting the blame in the whole country makes no sense. Venezuela has been living the consequences of adopting an economic model that has never worked in any place. It is not about having "unity", it is about applying logic and don't support ideologies that always fail.
As simple as that.
There is trouble all over the world from the governments; strange that don't you think, that it is the government we elect to look after us that causes so much trouble...
I think people elect bad governments mostly out of misinformation about what are the best options.
and they change from time to time with a more clear voting system, the issue in venezuela is that they hacked up with corruption and political usurpation of the voting powers. @dedicatedguy
Brilliant analysis. Unfortunately I see similar mischief occurring in USA. The nation has become hopelessly polarized and each side stokes a false dichotomy that vilifies the other side. Add in a little Russian meddling and we have a recipe for true unrest. It is time for people to open their eyes and stop looking for a strong man to save them. To quote Pogo "we have found the enemy and it is us."
There might be similarities, but there is no comparison between the economic situation of Venezuela and USA.
Venezuela is in the biggest crisis of its history.
USA is reorganizing their policies toward themselves, something Venezuela needs to reestructurate but cannot since socialism scourge is all over the country development.
these are very planned strategy to control our country making people life a mess while the socialist criminals sack the country resources. @dedicatedguy
It is up to the Venezuelans to get themselves out of this mess. We can assist, but ultimately democracy will only prevail if Venezuelans liberate themselves - as interference from foreign powers will be viewed as suspicious by Venezuelans, and will only play into Maduro's hands.
The tactic of the opposition (those that were not arrested, that is) was to boycott the vote, which essentially handed Maduro the presidency. I for one do not understand this tactic, as if you don't vote, then frankly you get what you're given.
Completely agree with this. It is necessary to have in change in the mindset, and understand the importance of having complete individual freedom.
Not right now, each passing day more and more people are thinking a military intervention is the only way to get out of this mess. In Venezuela people don't have guns to fight against totalitarians.
Voting in Venezuela is pointless because the government control the organism who host the elections (CNE). The complete electoral system is corrupted and participating in the voting process would only legitimate such a system.
Modern history. All too familiar and unexpected in 2018. Hoping for a greater future for many places including Venezuela