By Gerardo Arreola (Confidencial)
HAVANA TIMES – In his attempt to be re-elected by excluding part of the opposition, Nicolas Maduro entered into a controversy that shows discrepancies with the left in Latin America regarding Venezuela’s authoritarian course.
The discussion exposes that Maduro is moving towards a regime like Daniel Ortega’s in Nicaragua, something that part of that left is not willing to support.
In the latest debate, the Colombian Foreign Ministry expressed “concern” over the virtual veto of the candidate from the opposition Democratic Unity Platform (PUD), Corina Yoris. Likewise, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula considered this exclusion “serious.” “I don’t want anything better or worse for Venezuela, I want the elections to be conducted like in Brazil, with the participation of everyone,” he said.
Without naming names, Maduro called those who “are not capable of condemning the coups, the attempts against the revolution” “cowardly leftists”, suggesting that the opposition represented by the PUD was involved in plans to assasinate the president himself.
“There is no cowardly left,” replied Colombian President Gustavo Petro. “There is the possibility of changing the world through deepening democracy.”
Weeks earlier, Chilean President Gabriel Boric had come out to defend the democratic will of the Communist Party of Chile (PCCh), a partner of the ruling coalition that supports Maduro.
Boric clarified, however, that he has “denounced in international forums the human rights violations of a Venezuelan regime that undoubtedly has taken an authoritarian turn.”
The Chilean Communist Party supports Maduro, but the Communist Par
