Versión Español
By Maria Corina Machado
Not all options are on the table. The latest events have made it clear that fraudulent elections or false dialogues are discarded by Venezuelans, as it must be by international allies who want freedom for Venezuela, the exit of the dictatorial regime and the defeat of its criminal conglomerate, as well as “the revolution”, whose tentacles already transcend our borders.
Discarding the previous choices we only have options based on our wits and the use of force and, among these, we have yet to execute the most convenient and effective one. In the country we do not face a dictatorship, not even a narco-tyranny with Cuban support. What is entrenched in Venezuela is a regime of another nature, never before present in the Hemisphere. It is made up of the worst mafias in the world that, in addition, develops an unconventional war in our country.
This type of war, also called asymmetric, is waged on multiple planes, starting with the fundamental one, which is the plane of the minds. Hence, the importance that tyranny gives to psychological operations and the immense investment they make to influence public opinion, national and international, positioning their own narrative.
In this sense, the Maduro regime, supported by Cuban propaganda experience and the means of dissemination of other powers of the world, has been effective in the construction of false narratives, with the aim of dismantling external forces, diluting the credible threat and demoralizing to the Venezuelans.
They operate on three fundamental myths: the first, that an external operation in Venezuela would be a massive and conventional military occupation. The second, that the attempt of an external action that entails the exit of the regime would generate a civil war. And the third, that a peaceful transition, has to incorporate the regime’s criminal mafias as part of the transitional government.
With regard to the first myth: To claim that the national clamor for the Responsibility to Protect (as established in chapters VI and VIII of the U. N Charter) through an international coalition for humanitarian purposes is the same as a conventional military occupation, is an unacceptable banalization. Here, now, we on the ground are fighting to stop the daily loss of thousands of lives due to violence and indolence. Obviously, resolving a conflict of this nature requires the use of force, which is applied in different levels and proportions, be it in policing, economically, diplomatically, or legally through the international justice system, and, unavoidably through special military operations using the latest techniques.
As for the second myth, the regime pretends everyone to believe that its exit from power would provoke a civil war in Venezuela, creating a scenario like that of Libya, Syria, Afghanistan, or Vietnam, and that this would imply the presence of a large number of foreign troops in Venezuelan territory for a long time.
This is absolutely false, for four fundamental reasons:
- In Venezuela there are no ethnic, religious, cultural, ideological or territorial tensions. We are a cohesive population where more than 90% claim the immediate exit of Maduro and the regime.
- In the neighboring countries there is also complete alignment with this purpose and their peoples and governments are committed to the transition and democratization of Venezuela.
- The number and capabilities of the violent groups allied to the regime, such as “collectives”, militias and guerrillas, has been irrationally bulked up by the regime, with the purpose of turning it into the inhibitor of any international action. Many of these groups operate based on economic benefit; once Maduro is gone and there are no incentives to distribute, they will not risk their lives for “the revolution”.
- Our Armed Forces are today neutralized and even if they wish, they cannot restore the democratic order resulting from the strength of the mafias that have infiltrated, spied on, persecuted and tortured them. Once the breakdown occurs and our security bodies are released, we will have an important and committed human resource, military and civilians, active and retired, that being reorganized and quickly equipped with equipment, intelligence, technology, communication and logistics, will be very effective in the demobilization and neutralization, in the short term, of these paramilitary groups.
Finally, the third myth consists in the farce that an “orderly” transition requires involving criminal, military, judicial and financial mafias in a new government. This is not only an unacceptable approach from the ethical point of view, but also a blunder from the political and pragmatic point of view. Leaving the criminals in power is condemning Venezuela to consolidate a mafia state.
The events of recent days have further cleared the picture. Those who warn about the risks and costs of a force of international support for the liberation of Venezuela, conveniently do not consider or quantify the costs of non-action, not only in thousands of lives, but also in the continuous advance of the destabilization of the democracies of our hemisphere; it is enough to see what is already happening in Colombia.
The route is very clear: in the face of unconventional conflict, the answer is the intelligent, creative and equally unconventional offensive to win it in all its dimensions and in a definitive way. It will be thus!
This note was originally published in 2001.com.ve.
