Venezuela’s democratic façade has completely crumbled

WaPo ^ | 07-01-2016 | Moisés Naim and Francisco Toro

[NRx]

...Chávez was either admired as a progressive visionary who gave voice to the poor or dismissed as just another third-world buffoon. Reality was more complex than that: Chávez pioneered a new playbook for how to bask in global admiration even as he hollowed out democratic institutions on the sly.

Step one was his deft manipulation of elections. Chávez realized early that, as long as he kept holding and winning elections, nobody outside Venezuela would ask too many questions about what he did with his power in the interim. And so he mastered the paradoxical art of destroying democracy one election at a time.

Venezuelans have gone to the polls 19 times since 1999, and chavismo has won 17 of those votes. The regime has won by stacking the election authorities with malleable pro-government officials, by enmeshing its supporters in a web of lavishly petro-financed patronage and by intimidating and marginalizing its opponents. It worked for more than a decade — until it didn’t work anymore.

After every election, another little piece of the constitution would be chipped away: Courts and oversight bodies were stacked high with supporters, checks and balances stripped, basic freedoms eroded.

[NRx]

This is simply damning. The whole thing should be read in its entirety. I am surprised that the WaPo would publish something so brutally honest about a progressive regime.

[RushIsMyTeddyBear]

Bkmrk.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

he mastered the paradoxical art of destroying democracy one election at a time.

No different than motor voter, early voting that extends weeks or months, no purging of voter rolls, striking down by courts of voter ID laws, Black Panther intimidation of,polling places, rampant multiple voting in more than one state, etc., etc. Anything to destroy the credibility of elections.

[dynachrome]

“bask in global admiration even as he hollowed out democratic institutions on the sly.”

Describes obozo and the US.

[jsanders2001]

Venezuela and the USSR have proved that socialism doesn’t work and only allows the eliteists to rape the people. Hmmm...I think It just dawned on me why the homos embrace socialism so much...

[bert]

Every word applies to the Democrats and especially to the Clintons.

The Clintons are worse American enemies than Vladimer Putin

[Cboldt]

As far as I know, Venezuela is still a democracy.

Every device the article describes being used to win a majority of votes is used in the US too. Bribe the electorate with promises, give special status to those "in the government." It is a recipe for continuity of regime.

[Popman]

-—I am surprised that the WaPo would publish something so brutally honest about a progressive regime-—

It’s called leading from behind, aka: Obama

[Cboldt]

-- I am surprised that the WaPo would publish something so brutally honest about a progressive regime. --

Good point, but it is an OpEd.

[M Kehoe]

Feel the Bern.

5.56mm

[exDemMom]

Judging from the commentary after the article, many readers of WaPo are utterly conditioned to spout the socialist narrative, regardless of any facts presented to them.

WaPo took no risk in publishing this. Their useful idiots are still useful.

[bert]

leading from behind is following

[Steely Tom]

Under Fidel Castro’s tutelage, Chávez successfully cultivated a pro-poor, anti-American posture . Endless professions of concern for the poor followed furious denunciations of gringo imperialism.

But this, too, was a charade.

We now know that the fiery speeches professing unconditional love and support for the poor were a ruse to deflect attention from the wholesale looting of the state. In fact, more than $100 billion in oil profits stashed in a “National Development Fund” were simply never accounted for.

I love that. "We now know."

[justlurking]

Something similar happened with the media. The government learned early on that shutting down dissident media carried major political costs. So it turned to cronies to buy up critical outlets and rein in their journalists. As dozens of critical journalists who’ve been intimidated or forced out of their jobs can attest, media freedom in Venezuela today is a sham: The airwaves have been scrubbed clean of dissent.

This has been going on in the US for decades. It's just taking longer.

[justlurking]

Late last year, a sting operation in Haiti recorded two of the first lady’s nephews offering to sell hundreds of kilos of cocaine to “buyers” who turned out to be undercover Drug Enforcement Administration agents. The two sit in a cell in New York, awaiting trial. Their aunt, the first lady, has responded by accusing the United States of kidnapping them.

This is the classic method for laundering bribes in the third world. The high-ranking government official (President, Governor, Secretary of State) keeps his/her hands clean, while the spouse collects the payoffs.

Does this sound familiar, too?

[Lurkinanloomin]

I was going to say the same.
Chavez provided Barky the roadmap for the destruction of the US

[butlerweave]

The Bus Driver is in charge , Speed 3

[VRW Conspirator]

Feel the Bern.

No Kidding. When Bernie was asked about the events in Venezuela, he simply refused to answer. I knew right then and there that he was a fraud. A deceptive liar. Labels himself a socialist and does not defend a socialist state. He KNOWS socialism is doomed to fail.

[PGR88]

Pretend the article is about the United States

Replace the words “Chavez” with “Obama.”

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks NRx.

...Chávez was either admired as a progressive visionary who gave voice to the poor or dismissed as just another third-world buffoon. Reality was more complex than that...

No, actually, it wasn't. He was a creepy but completely typical left-wing demagogue, and corrupt thug -- just like his successor, just like the Sandinistas, just like the Castros. Boy, do I hate partisan media shills who suddenly discover they can't cover up for a fellow left-winger any longer, so instead of trying, they start talking about his deceased predecessor.