---

BY JUAN VíCTOR FAJARDO

In print | Published November 6, 2008

This past Sunday Chavez declared that he would be “more than willing” to meet with Obama if he were elected president. His willingness to meet with the head of state of “the empire” is both promising and particularly out of character. But that’s not why I am mentioning this. What I want to highlight is the way in which Chavez expressed this, which is yet another example of the sort of things only Chavez can get away with.

Not once did Chavez mention Obama’s name during his speech. He spoke instead of “the black man” and of “the man of African descent and a humble background” and said that he hoped Obama was ready to fill the shoes that history has apparently chosen for him. Could you imagine what would happen if an American politician said something remotely like that about any political candidate?

I would have liked to write about the results of the 2008 presidential race in light of Chavez’s most recent declarations. Due to inopportune timing, however, this week I hope to transmit a personal and rather simple reflection about democracy that the electoral climate in the US has brought to mind.
In times of so-called “revolution,” most Venezuelans my age are desperately looking for ways to leave the motherland in search of safety, functioning institutions, opportunities to develop and train themselves in their vocational activities and, most of all, in search of democracy. Perhaps the last of these motives is not explicitly the case. But it can be argued that only in a truly democratic state can citizens exert their power as constituents to make sure that at least their safety will be guaranteed by the government.

The promissory note that the Bolivarian Revolution issued in 1998 to give life to these basic needs of the Venezuelan population remains unfulfilled to this date. In fact, since then we seem to have progressively distanced ourselves as a nation from the promised utopia.

If the crime and homicide rates in Venezuela are frightening, the rampant corruption and impunity that characterizes our courts and institutions leave no room for hoping that things will ever improve. How this distancing will yield a just, socially responsible, and democratic state is a question that members of the opposition think the Chavez administration cannot adequately answer.

What makes things significantly worse is that there is currently no viable political alternative to Chavez’s revolution. In my opinion, this is the case not because the segment of the population that wants “change” in Venezuela is a political minority (which is debatable), nor because there is no single political figure strong enough to stand up to Chavez (which may be true). The very root of the issue at hand is that the democratic system in Venezuela is far from being functional, let alone transparent or just. The omnipotence of the Chavez administration in electoral matters and otherwise has led to disbelief with regard to voting urns as a viable way to bring about desired changes. I cannot stress enough how detrimental this has been for political life in Venezuela.

Perhaps a perfectly functional and transparent democratic system is nowhere to be found on our planet. But when one thinks of the most developed nations in the world, it is hard to dissociate their comparatively high standards of living with the stability of their institutions and democratic systems.
By the time this column is published on Thursday, the results of the 2008 electoral race will be in. Regardless of who wins (although the race has left no room for doubt as to who is the more qualified candidate) there is no reason to think that the results will not directly reflect the opinion of the US citizenry. That is, if the popular desire for “change” is present, democracy will make it actual.

This is taken for granted on this campus and elsewhere in the USA, and there is no reason to expect anything less of a democratic state in the 21st century. But, although this probably goes without saying, this is not the case in every country in the world! Even in some nations that are allegedly democratic, like Venezuela, the dynamics of political life and transparency of their electoral system stand in opposition to the proper functioning of democracy.

I do not mean to imply that countries like Venezuela should look at the US government as a model to follow, or that the US is by any means the embodiment of an ideal system of government. In fact, one of the many reasons why these current elections are so important is because they present the possibility of changing the goals and principles of the White House. All I want to express is a very simple and perhaps self-evident thought: the citizens of the US are privileged in that they live in a country with unshakeable democratic foundations. All I can dream of for my country is that one day a true democratic system will allow Venezuelans to translate their visions for the future of our country into reality.

Juan Victor is a senior. He can be reached at jfajard1@swarthmore.edu.

---

« RETURN TO OPINIONS

« PREV ARTICLE | NEXT ARTICLE »