HAVANA, Cuba.- I don’t have a special preference for watching the programs of the Chavista radio station TeleSurOf course, rather than being a news outlet, it deserves to be classified as an instrument of communist agitation and propaganda. That said, it must be acknowledged that, at times, its newscasts are somewhat less biased than those of Cuban Television, which is saying a lot…
This Wednesday, watching the blessed TeleSurI learned the news of the day: the disclosure of a document signed by Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutiaopposition candidate who, according to the only published records, won the recent presidential elections in Venezuela. According to that document, the politician, now exiled in Madrid, would have recognized with his signature the legitimacy of the Supreme Court ruling that ratified the alleged victory of Nicolás Maduro in those elections.
The opposition politician’s lawyer denied the authenticity of the signature. But Don Edmundo himself was in charge of denying it: “There were very tense hours of coercion, blackmail and pressure,” he declared; and continued: “At those moments I considered that I could be more useful free than locked up and incapacitated.”
To justify your acceptance and signature of the paper Presented to him by siblings Jorge and Delcy Rodríguez, senior officials of the Chavista regime, Mr. González Urrutia, in a video released on social media, argued: “A document produced under duress is vitiated by absolute nullity due to a serious defect in consent.”
Beyond arguments or legal subterfuges, I think that this situation is extremely regrettable. And it is necessary to recognize it without hesitation. At least I have no qualms about doing so. Especially when the shameful signature was not stamped in — let’s say — a dark dungeon. Helicoidbetween one session of Chavista torture and another. No, that happened in the cozy atmosphere of the Spanish Embassy in Caracas.
This current situation is compounded by the fact that Don Edmundo left the country a little over a week ago. Some people criticized him for having done so. This columnist avoided doing so. As I suggested in an article published in this same newspaper last Tuesday, January 10, the winning candidate can take possession of the office for which he was legitimately elected in January, and while abroad, high-ranking officials from democratic countries who decide to assume this worthy position can attend this event (something that would be very positive, but would be impossible in Venezuela itself).
#Release to Venezuelans to inform them of the whole truth of what happened with my departure from Venezuela pic.twitter.com/SULvChfo9n
— Edmundo González (@EdmundoGU) September 18, 2024
The publication of the ill-fated letter presents another regrettable aspect. Apparently, González Urrutia agreed with his Chavista interlocutors a kind of “gentlemen’s agreement” consisting of not giving publicity to the document. Since there is nothing chivalrous about the Rodríguez brothers, they took advantage of the first pretext that presented itself to divulge the letter. letter.
Now the president of the Chavista National Assembly threatens Edmundo Rodríguez. According to a publication Matured“gave him 24 hours to ‘deny’ the allegations of coercion to sign the document.” If he does not do so, said Jorge Rodriguez, “I will show the evidence of the conversations that you and I had face to face.” As they say in baseball slang, “the ball bounces and spreads.”
All these unfortunate circumstances remind me of some experiences that followed my years of stay in the Agüica prison, Matanzas, during the political imprisonment motivated by the issuance of the document The Homeland Belongs to EveryoneI would like to clarify that I do not intend for the behavior I observed to serve as an example to others (and much less to the President-Elect of Venezuela); these are simply some of the positions that even a prisoner can adopt in the face of the dictatorship’s repressors.
The political police who took me out of Agüica, transferred me to a guest house located on the outskirts of Havana. change It was tremendous and very pleasant for me. I went from a detachment full of bunk beds to a one-person room with a private bathroom, a bed with a foam mattress and air conditioning. Instead of swallowing the repulsive prison food on unhygienic aluminum trays, I went on to do it at a table with a tablecloth and porcelain dishes…
The food also improved – and how! – on one occasion I was asked what I wanted to eat. Once I made it clear that the question was serious, I replied: “Lobster”… and after a couple of days I was able to taste, in fact, the exquisite crustacean… My approach to the situation was quite simple: I was a prisoner and my food was the responsibility of my jailers. If instead of an uneatable stew they gave me a delicious shellfish… I was delighted.
There were also invitations to consume alcoholic beverages, but I decided not to compromise on that. I claimed to have made a promise not to drink while I was in prison. Eating at a well-stocked table with the “security officers” who “looked after me” was one thing. Giving in with them to a wild drinking session was quite another. And note that those who know me know that I am not at all averse to drinking (with friends, of course).
After a few days it became clear what my guards intended: to turn me into their agent. As a first step, they invited me to choose a nickname by which I could communicate with them. “But what kind of conversations do you expect me to have with you?” I asked. “Hello, Neptune; here is Pluto”? “No, don’t count on me for that.” A few hours later I was transferred to a “normal” camp.
When I was released a few months later, the first thing I did was to alert all my friends about my stay in the so-called “visiting house.” Since I know the Castroites, I assumed that the meals I had there had been filmed so that, if necessary, those visits could be used as an instrument of blackmail and slander. As the Cubans say: “I put the patch on before the pimple came out.”
I think González Urrutia would have done well to act in a similar way. When he was told “sign or face the consequences,” I think he would have done very well to answer: “I face the consequences.” But, since he agreed to sign the unfortunate letter, he could have, upon arriving in Madrid, made known what had happened and given his version of the events. Unfortunately, he chose not to do so.
In any case, the current situation is quite clear: Beyond any disappointment that international observers (or, above all, the Venezuelans who gave him their majority vote) feel about Mr. Edmundo’s conduct, he is the legitimate President Elect of the Liberator’s Homeland. And the one who has led this fight against the Chavista dictatorship and obtained the votes, María Corina Machado, remains in Venezuela and continues to lead her democratic compatriots.
