Pablo Hiriart
The well-deserved Nobel Peace Prize awarded to María Corina Machado will not remove Nicolás Maduro from power because narco-governments do not bow to anyone’s moral authority. Staying in control is the fundamental condition for survival. And not because the opposition or the CIA will kill Venezuela’s rulers if they leave office. Their accomplices will kill them.
Maduro and his inner circle would be happy to leave and enjoy what they have stolen under the guise of social justice and Bolivarian socialism. They could go to Turkey or Russia, like Syria’s Assad, and not answer to any court. He cannot. You don’t get out of the mafia unscathed. He heads a narco-government.
The Cartel of the Suns includes generals, colonels, middle-ranking officers of the Armed Forces, secretaries of state, legislative leaders, and governors—plus the pyramid of complicity below them—all colluding with international drug trafficking mafias. No amnesty can reach them, nor is there any political agreement in sight that would guarantee the freedom of so many criminals.
At the beginning of Hugo Chávez’s government, when political and military power had not yet taken control of drug trafficking in Venezuela, it was possible to defeat the authoritarian leader at the polls. This was not possible because the opposition was divided, and the government had the money to buy popular support. Much of the Venezuelan private sector bowed to Chavismo to gain economic advantages and believed — or chose to believe — that property, the efforts of entrepreneurs, and the rule of law would be respected. That the version of what was said would happen, “will never happen in Venezuela.”
For them, the cowardly and complacent Venezuelan businesspeople and politicians, María Corona Machado’s Nobel Peace Prize is a slap in the face. It was easier to adapt, to join in, than to commit to freedom and take a chance before drug trafficking infiltrated the entire power structure in Venezuela. Today, that is no longer possible, or at least much more complex.
Less than a century ago, the most prosperous countries in Latin America were Argentina, Venezuela, and Cuba. And now? They suffer for having been lured by the siren song of populism, or for going along with it as if nothing serious were happening, and thus obtaining temporary privileges. After 26 years of institutional and economic devastation, the result is clear: with a population of 29 million, Venezuela has seen 7.9 million of its inhabitants leave in search of protection and a better life (UNHCR data). There are currently 850 political prisoners in the country’s jails.
The Nobel Peace Prize awarded to María Corina Machado shows the world which side is morally right. It also exposes the hypocrisy of Western governments, media, and intellectuals who proclaim themselves to be democrats, defenders of human rights, and advocates of equality before the law, but who are all talk and no action. Choosing Maduro and turning your back on María Corina Machado says it all.
The Nobel Prize to Machado degrades the international reputation of those who support Maduro under any pretext. For the Venezuelan dictator and the mafia that accompanies him, the moral blow that the award to his victim represents is of no concern to them, or so they need to pretend. It makes it clear to the democratic governments of the rest of the world that they cannot continue to have commercial and political relations with Venezuela as if it were a “normal” country.
Maduro will no longer be able to continue playing the game of endless political negotiation and dragging out the process. The only credible negotiating table would be one at which his government presents a timetable for his departure from power. Maduro has already lost the elections. And he lost them, among other reasons, because María Machado united the opposition and won 95 percent of the vote in the primary elections on October 22, 2023. Maduro disqualified her, but he still lost to the opposition candidate. It will be very difficult for the tyrannical government to leave power. But there is hope: Machado has reminded the world that perseverance also moves mountains. Recognition of her peaceful struggle brings hope and a lesson, summed up in the words of the Norwegian Nobel Peace Prize Committee:
“When authoritarians take power, it is crucial to recognize the brave defenders of freedom who stand up and resist. Democracy depends on those who refuse to be silenced, who dare to step forward despite grave risk, and who remind us that freedom must never be taken for granted, but must always be defended: with words, with courage, and with determination.”
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