Venezuela’s Continuous Coup

[geek tragedy]

5. I'm not comparing ideology, I'm comparing tactics.

Again, let me quote what the crime of the century was according to Maduro et al:

The stage was set for the Ledezma arrest. In 2014, Lopez joined Machado and Ledezma in writing a curious declaration called the “National Transition Agreement” that they allegedly planned to release on February 12 of this year.

Suggesting that the Venezuelan government is in its “terminal phase”, the declaration states the need to “name new authorities.” It then goes on to describe a restructured economy and a completely revamped society. Virtually everything the Bolivarian Revolution has put in place — from nationalization of utilites and the petroleum industry to education and social programs — would be scrapped. The picture that emerges is of the pre-Chavez Venezuela of old.

Some of the trio’s defenders insist that this was a plan for a transition based on legal, electoral processes. But there’s no mention of elections in the document and the plan’s language is couched not in the terms of an electoral pitch but as a concrete strategic plan for immediate implemention.

In short, they got arrested for a thought crime, for spelling out what they wanted the government to look like.

Even if one rejects most or even all of what such a declaration contains, the idea of jailing people for the mere act of authoring it is inconsistent with democracy, but perfectly consistent with Stalin's USSR or in Orwell's Oceania.