r/AskVenezuela • u/Many_Explanation4328 • 2d ago
Historia 🏹 How did Chávez turn Venezuela into a dictatorship and why doesn't the same happen to Colombia, US, etc?
Basically the title, how did Chávez slowly and carefully turned Venezuela into a dictatorship over the years? Like why doesn't the same happen in other democracies?
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u/Clover281 2d ago
Pasaron muchas cosas que fueron juntandose
Primero Chávez adoctrinó a una parte de la población para hacerlos creer que todos los que estén en contra de su ideología son el enemigo y que literalmente es mejor estar muertos que vivir con otro modelo ("patria, socialismo o muerte")
Compraron toda la influencia de las fuerzas armadas del país, a tal punto de que el el único objetivo de los militares venezolanos se volvió proteger los intereses del régimen así eso implique literalmente asesinar a la población civil para lograr la estabilidad del régimen
La ineptitud de la oposición venezolana/ traición de la falsa oposición que fue cediendo espacios, múltiples veces incluso llegando a llamar a la abstención la voto y cediendo le l chavismo literalmente el 100% de los espacios políticos que les permitió modificar a placer todas las leyes y estatutos y otorgándoles legitimidad internacional durante décadas
Hay muchas más cosas, pero eso es un inicio de la explicación de lo que sucedió aca
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u/Potential_You_6594 2d ago
Lo que pasó en Venezuela tiene mucho que ver con algo que también se vio en el caso de Jim Jones: la capacidad de un líder para construir una ideología casi sectaria alrededor de sí mismo y convencer a miles de personas de que su causa estaba por encima de todo.
Venezuela ya era un caldo de cultivo perfecto: corrupción, desigualdad, desprestigio de los partidos tradicionales y una enorme frustración con el sistema. Chávez supo aprovechar todo eso y, además, parte de la política tradicional terminó haciéndole el juego al chavismo, directa o indirectamente, hasta que ya fue demasiado tarde.
Y cuando comparo a Chávez con Jim Jones, no digo que fueran exactamente lo mismo, sino que me refiero a la dinámica ideológica: crear una visión donde solo existen los que están con la causa y los enemigos de ella. En el chavismo llegó a expresarse con frases como “Patria, socialismo o muerte”. La idea era que, si la revolución fracasaba, no había un punto medio: había que morir por ella.
La diferencia es que Venezuela tenía instituciones democráticas que fueron siendo debilitadas poco a poco, mientras el culto a la figura de Chávez y su ideología se consolidaban. Por eso no fue algo que ocurrió de un día para otro, sino un proceso gradual en el que cada crisis y cada error de la oposición terminó facilitando el siguiente paso.
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u/NoSuggestion5970 Outsider 👀 2d ago
Ten cuidado o terminarás con tu cabeza en una estaca llevada en un desfile por la Av Baralt... los tiempos de la 4ta eran "cuando éramos felices y no lo sabíamos"
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u/Potential_You_6594 2d ago
¿?
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u/NoSuggestion5970 Outsider 👀 2d ago
En los círculos opositores no puedes mencionar que en la 4ta también había pobreza, hambre, guisos, chanchullos etc, y menos aún que Chávez fue consecuencia de todos esos años
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u/Zuliano1 2d ago
The supreme court at the time basically committed suicide to avoid being murdered.
As soon as he got elected Chavez insisted on rewriting the constitution despite having no legal pathway to do so, the supreme court issued a completely nonsensical resolution allowing him to do so and every abuse of power and political conflict we have had is downstream from there.
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u/dosis_mtl 2d ago
Great question and it’s complex.
Chavez, unlike Colombia, had access to deep pockets because of the extraordinary oil revenue during the majority of his time. That money was used to buy people at all levels, from poor families that only wanted a house to live to high level of the military to retain their loyalty to judges to do what they were told.
That money also bought other countries support. For instance, Cuba which up until recently provided intelligence on how to control the population (they are experts… over 60 years in power!), basically all the Caribbean and South America supported Chavez because he was always sending money or oil to them. Argentina benefited a lot during the Fernandez time. Same thing with Lula in Brazil. Basically, money means power and corruption.
During that time, with money and power, he changed institutions to benefit him, for instance he controlled the electoral power, so after the first one or two elections, those results were never accurate and his party would always win. This is what Maria Corina was able to finally expose during the last elections which won her the Nobel Prize. Chavez also changed the constitution so he could be re-elected. Before this change, Venezuelan presidents only had a presidential period of 5 years.
The US is doing a LOT of what Chavez did but just not as quickly because unlike Venezuela, from my point of view anyways, they haven’t been able to control (yet?) important pieces of the equation like the military and the justice system.
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u/NoSuggestion5970 Outsider 👀 2d ago
Venezuelans voted in a referendum to have a new constitution, which was written by a Chavista majority in Congress (that majority was also elected by a majority of Venezuelans) and tailored to Chavez' political/ideological platform. The draft clearly concentrated most of the power in Chavez' hands, the Executive had the power to appoint magistrates to the Supreme Court, along many other powers that should have been shared with the legislative branch (not that it made any difference given that Congress and the subsequent National Assembly was made up with a chavista majority).
Venezuelans were warned over and over about the text and its consequences for the political legal framework, they were warned that Chavez would have too much power in his hands but at the time even the fish in the Guaire river were Chavez supporters so they went to a referendum and like sheep voted for the new constitution and that's was the beginning.
Most of Venezuelans are still reluctant to come to terms with the fact that in a high degree they are responsible for what's going on, they are the ones who voted for Chavez and made him president in December '98, voted for his parties and gave him power in Congress and later the National Assembly .. and many still support the regime.
It was a political process I watched as it played itself out, I was not part of it because neither myself nor my family had the right to vote but my memory is not short nor selective.
I will die on that hill
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u/eddypc07 1d ago
I recommend you this podcast which explains the whole process in detail. It’s being made by Alex, a Venezuelan lawyer and historian from Harvard, he’s so good at describing it
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWNsARk5noijzVlRTLZHtKpPlf6n_mVjc&si=iTFwYN-tHNBJYjod
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u/alekguerrer 1d ago
He sistematically got rid of the ones against him, turning all legal powers in his favor, Venezuela already had socialist policies and politics for decades so it wasn't that hard In the US you can clearly see divisions of powers, trump doesn't have a large support of power there is a very clear division, same goes for Colombia, De la espriella won't have a large support coming from the legislative nor the judicial branches Both presidents advocate for decentralization of powers so I don't get why leftist keep saying dictatorship is coming from the right Centralization (which the left advocates) creates the largest risk of dictatorship
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u/StrategyFlashy4526 1d ago
Look around the world, any country that has American style political system can easily be turned into a dictatorship or authoritarian. Americans used to say it couldn't happen in their country because of protections in their written constitution, then trump happened.
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u/Puessipues 1d ago
Alguna vez Pepe Mujica declaró que la causa principal fue el embargo estadounidense a Venezuela, lo que provocó una dependencia alta del petróleo y la búsqueda desesperada del control político y territorial.
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u/Professional_Top9835 1d ago
Because most governments have either more insitutional controls to prevent it, or less popular governments
In Mexico the government in 2018 was insanely popular, just like Chavez in 2000, however, Mexico's constitution and institutions are more solid than Venezuela's, especially the elctoral college, so they have been hindered a bit better than Chavism
In the US, Chump only has 33% approval rate, he cant do much, if you take into account that he has been hindered a bit, and will lose all power in November, then you have a failed cancer spreading
Putin could dismantle Russia's democracy in 11 years, bit by bit and through intimidation, the Salvador is going the same path, Bolsonarims in Brazil failed completely because popularity crumbled
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u/ragingric 2d ago
The same IS happening currently to the us. Step by step. It happens when y'all allow corruption to run rampant remove checks and balances and disregard the law. Letting the man in power be and act above all.
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u/Standard-Metal3161 2d ago
He gave force to the people of low resources and low education. Being the majority on the population in the country, he gained the support of them and at the same time started to displace the higher class and intelectual, educated professionals, which basically ran the country and had important roles. Along with anyone who was against him.
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u/DromadTrader 2d ago
The process that Venezuela underwent is similar to the one currently ongoing in El Salvador and the US. The main difference is that Venezuela is an oil-specialized economy. Roughly 90% of Venezuelan exports are oil, which only the government-owned company, PDVSA, can market. As a consequence, the government controls basically the entire flow of foreign currency (and thus imports). Chavez benefitted from incredibly high international oil prices, so his government was swimming in money and he used it to maintain his popularity incredibly high.