Maduro and the Country That is Disintegrating in His Hands

Maduro and the Country That is Disintegrating in His Hands / 14ymedio,
Yoani Sanchez

14ymedio, Generation Y, Yoani Sanchez, Havana, 19 May 2016 — All signs
point to the collapse of Venezuela. Every minute that passes the country
is disintegrating in the hands of Nicolas Maduro, who insists on
maintaining with revolutionary violence a power that he has not known
how to keep through efficiency or results. His stubbornness has led a
nation rich in resources to misery and his incendiary oratory is now
pushing it towards a violent explosion.

In front of the microphones, Maduro claims to defend a chimerical 21st
century socialism that only works in the minds of its progenitors.
However, his political and repressive actions are aimed at preserving
the privileges of a clan that rants against the bourgeoisie while living
in opulence and looting the public coffers. He believes in the Robin
Hood of the children's stories, but this time Sherwood Forest has become
unlivable, even for the poor.

Power outages, insecurity in the streets, food shortages, emigration of
the young and professionals, along with the highest inflation in the
world, are some of the signs of deterioration experienced by a nation
trapped for almost two decades in a populism that has bled the economy
and polarized society.

Corruption, mismanagement and a string of neighboring countries that
have behaved more like leeches than allies, have drowned Venezuela in
less than twenty years. Few still have the shamelessness to publicly
support the delusional regime that has installed itself in Miraflores
Palace and brought the nation to the verge of collapse. Even former
fellow travellers, such as Spain's Podemos Party, led by Pablo Iglesias,
and former Uruguayan president José Pepe Mujica, have distanced
themselves from Maduro.

A member of Podemos has criticized the Venezuelan president's attacks
against Spain, while the Uruguayan politician described Hugo Chavez's
heir as "mad as a hatter." Others, like Raul Castro, remain complicity
silent while, from the shadows, weaving the threads of support for the
Bolivarian forces. No wonder Evo Morales has rushed to Havana to receive
instructions about how to proceed in the face of his floundering comrade.

However, Chavism, and its bad copy "Maduroism," has entered its endgame.
Its motorized faithful can instill fear in the population and the
National Electoral Council can delay ad infinitum the review of the
signatures on the recall referendum, but this will not restore the
popularity enjoyed in the times when a military coup hypnotized millions
with revolutionary rhetoric interspersed with anecdotes and songs.

Nicolas Maduro is collapsing and dragging a nation down with him. In
this fall into the abyss of violence, a military coup or other demons,
he has not shown a single instance of the greatness that would put the
interests of Venezuela first, ahead of his party and ideological
affiliation. History will remember him in the worst possible terms and
he deserves it. He has ruled from caprice and exclusion, ultimately
inserting his name on that deplorable list of caudillos, satraps and
authoritarians who have trampled our continent.

Source: Maduro and the Country That is Disintegrating in His Hands /
14ymedio, Yoani Sanchez – Translating Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/maduro-and-the-country-that-is-disintegrating-in-his-hands-14ymedio-yoani-sanchez/