While the former executive secretary of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) Paulo Abrão describes the dictatorships of Nicaragua and Venezuela as “the shame” of Latin America, several organizations defending human rights and democracy in Brazil have sent a letter to the president of that South American country, Luis Inácio Lula da Silva, to pressure the Venezuelan dictator, Nicolás Maduro, and make way for a peaceful and democratic transition in the Venezuelan State.
Last Friday, December 27, Abrão, commenting on a BBC News Mundo report, which describes the parallelism that the dictators Daniel Ortega, in Nicaragua, have formed; and Maduro, in Venezuela; Regarding the methods of repression and annulment of public freedoms, he pointed out that both dictatorships have become a shame for the region.
«They are two dictatorships that embarrass the region. Every dictatorship needs an “appearance of legality.” This is what happens with the proposal of a dictatorial Constitution in Nicaragua and the scandalous “election” of almost 15,000 “community justices of the peace” in Venezuela,” criticized the human rights defender.
The international media report that Abrão commented on describes the similarities in the repressive methods used by the two dictators who are also ideological partners. It also exposes the similarities between the ways used to overturn the rule of law, which includes legal reforms that allow both tyrants to tighten their hold on power.
They ask Brazil to assume leadership in the fight for democracy
In such circumstances, six organizations defending human rights and democracy in Brazil sent a letter to Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula Da Silva asking him to “adopt concrete measures to help guarantee a democratic and peaceful transition in Venezuela.”
Likewise, the organizations remember that the most recent escalation in the Venezuelan political crisis is the result of the fraud reported in the presidential elections held in that country five months ago.
“Despite the strong evidence of electoral fraud identified and documented by international observers, President Nicolás Maduro is moving forward to assume his third term without the electoral records proving his victory in this year’s elections having been presented to date” says the letter sent to Lula.
Among the urgent measures that they ask Lula to be taken into account to democratize Venezuela are “not confirming the electoral result until the original records have been verified and the UN decides the formal case (investigation) in progress.”
Related news: María Corina Machado and Edmundo González announce that they have 73.2% of the electoral records to demonstrate fraud
Likewise, they ask the Brazilian president to “guarantee protection to Venezuelan political asylum seekers in the Argentine embassy in Caracas, under the custody of the Brazilian government.”
Another request is that Brazil support Venezuelan civil society “against repression and criminalization.” Finally, they ask Lula to “demand the release of people arbitrarily detained in the context of protests against alleged electoral fraud.”
The defense organizations close their letter by highlighting “Brazil’s strategic role in the defense of democracy in Latin America,” and warn that normalizing the origin of the current political-institutional crisis in Venezuela would compromise its regional leadership.
The dictator Nicolás Maduro has been harshly questioned for not presenting the original records of the vote count in last July’s elections, which shows that he is hiding the fraud that the opposition denounces. Among the few rulers who have offered their support to Maduro, the Nicaraguan tyrant Daniel Ortega stands out.
