Pepe Mujica: “Venezuela has an authoritarian government and you can call it dictatorial or whatever you want”

The wave of imprisonments in Venezuela has once again worried the government of Nicolas Maduro. In the region, several countries have condemned the arrest of Rocío San Miguel, an activist allegedly involved in a plot to assassinate the president, and the expulsion of representatives of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. Leftist leader and former Uruguayan president José Mujica has also distanced himself from Maduro’s Chavismo, with whom he was once close.

“Venezuela has an authoritarian government that goes the other way,” he said this Friday in front of a group of journalists who asked him if there was a dictatorship in Venezuela. “What does the word dictatorship mean? Where does the concept of dictatorship originate from? When the potatoes were burning it was the Roman Empire’s decision to concentrate power and give it to one person alone to rule. No disagreement or anything. Closed order because it cannot be discussed in moments of danger. Someone must be in charge. There the figure of the dictator was invented. “Venezuela is an authoritarian government, you can call it dictatorial… say whatever you want.”

Mujica also criticized the reaction of Vice President Delcy Rodríguez, who a few days earlier, in an exchange of statements on social networks, had described Luis Lacalle Pou, the current President of Uruguay, as a “weaker” of the United States. The authoritarian drift in Venezuela that even Uruguayan leaders now recognize. “You can’t talk about America’s presidents like that. “It should not even be talked about for the sake of convenience and diplomatic relations,” Mujica said.

It is not the first time that Mujica has criticized Maduro, but it is the first time that the leader considered one of the most outspoken and calm voices in Latin American politics has acknowledged his authoritarianism. In 2016, in an interview he said that “everybody in Venezuela was crazy as a goat” and came out in defense of Uruguayan Luis Almagro, Secretary General of the Organization of American States, who was a regular target of chavismo insults in power.

Maduro’s hardening opposition, dissident voices and even multilateral diplomacy have placed a new siege on Venezuela. Argentina, Ecuador, Paraguay and Uruguay have rejected San Miguel’s arrest and the expulsion of UN representatives. The United States and the European Union have also condemned the incidents and have now been joined by the United Kingdom. The international community is fighting for the resumption of the Barbados Agreement in Venezuela, which means progress in talks between Chavismo and the opposition to find an electoral solution to the Venezuelan crisis.

The opposition primaries held last October, in which leader María Corina Machado confirmed high popular support that quadrupled Maduro’s low approval and the determined mobilization of opponents were evident in a process fraught with obstacles, ringing alarm bells for Chavismo. Gave. Who is not willing to give in power. The scenario of free and competitive elections that was envisioned last year now seems unlikely after Maduro reversed his commitments and concessions that he made, particularly with the United States for relaxation of oil and gas sanctions. , which have become the levers of change in the Venezuelan crisis in recent years.

“Venezuela’s misfortune is that they have a lot of oil and they feel surrounded and have an authoritarian government, they go to the other side,” Mujica said in another interview with reporters. “But I learned this: At a besieged intersection, anyone who dissents is a traitor. They treat people like ortho,” he indicated. In recent days, the Venezuelan situation is once again at the center of the political debate in Uruguay, which is heating up ahead of general elections to be held in October this year. The latest events such as the blocking of the candidacy of María Corina Machado prompted President Lacalle Pou to speak about the context in the Caribbean country. “It’s obvious, it blows your eyes out, it’s dictatorship, there are no elections,” he said last Sunday. Members of Uruguay’s right-wing and centre-right parties have demonstrated in unison along similar lines.

The situation is not so clear in the ranks of the leftist Frente Amplio, whose main leaders are more reluctant to call the Maduro government a dictatorship. However, there are some notable exceptions, such as the former Vice President, Danilo Astori, and even Mujica himself, who described him as such in 2019. “It is a dictatorship, yes. The current situation is nothing but dictatorship, but Saudi Arabia has a dictatorship, with an autocratic king, in Malaysia 25 people are executed a day, and in the People’s Republic of China, what do you tell me? Mujika.

Follow all the information from El PAÍS America Facebook And xor in our weekly newspaper,