Very little is being said lately about the civil unrest in Venezuela by the international press. Media relates to the unrest in a most peculiar way. There is a very apparent bias in the way the civil unrest is portrayed, where anti-American press insists on glorifying Maduro's government as being attacked by international interests and American shadow forces, and pro-democracy press which denounces Maduro's repression and his employment of para-military and chavistas forces on the ground to stop dissent.
Almost accepted as a status quo or a minor burp on the screen, the vigorous student revolt in Venezuela has been treated by both the Venezuelan government and the press as nothing more than a ploy to unseat a 'legitimate' government.
Aside from the fact that a hand picked successor is hardly believable as a democratically elected leader, no matter what the percentages are and how fair the elections are deemed by local or international sources, the fact remains that Venezuela is a country ruled by a military dictatorship disguised as a socialist democracy.
For the first time since the beginning of the unrest and the subtle but relentless repression by Maduro, a single and authoritarian voice has been raised on the matter of Maduro's handling of the unrest and the civil protest.
Catholic bishops in Venezuela are finally acknowledging that Maduro is trying to establish absolutist rule in Venezuela and that the process he is following to achieve it is nothing less than evident and ruthless.
People keep dying in Venezuela, whether it is in the civil unrest, or in the relentless crime that has gripped the capital and the country for decades. But the way Maduro is quelling any dissent speaks clearly of his intentions.
Roman Catholic bishops are unequivocally accusing the Maduro government of seeking to establish a totalitarian regime. That leaves the bishops out of any possible negotiations between the pseudo socialist government and the opposition.
Bishop Diego Padron has pleaded with Maduro to stop his violent suppression of the protests and to stop treating dissenters as criminals.
Maduro initially agreed to let the bishops broker a truce between his government and the opposition. But his agreement has not come to fruition. The Vatican news has expresslly dubbed the situation in Venezuela as terrible, in consideration of the level of violence reached by Maduro's forces and affiliated groups.
It is apparent that the Catholic church has a vested interest in the freedom of expression of both the student body involved in the revolt and the general population's ability to profess their faith. But to say that the church is simply involved in the process for a self serving need simply negates the fact that the Catholic church's intervention may be the only force preventing the Maduro government from crushing the unrest and preventing any democratic process in Venezuela.
One of the things that the Catholic church takes exception to is Maduro's failure to respect the constitutional right to civil rights and specifically the right to protest. In addition, the Catholic chuch laments the inabiility or unwillingness of the Maduro government to reign in the appalling violence in Venezuela both by criminals and by government cronies or paramilitary groups who are working to suppress the protest in a proxy war that seeks to hide Maduro's direct hand in the repression.
Op-Ed
Source: News.Va: 4.2.14
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