Chávez is afraid to debate as this lady is doing.
His ministers are the same.
The Venezuelan government and its media proclaim the opposition are mostly coup mongers (never mind Hugo Chávez is a declared coup monger) and want to topple the government (as Chávez and his followers tried to do in 1992). Chávez says the opposition wants a civil war. The state - which is supposed to represent all Venezuelans - does not allow the opposition to present its view on state media. In Venezuela state media means Chávez propaganda 24 hours a day. Chavismo claims it is the only way to confront the "international complot" against what it calls a revolution.
The current president of Venezuela and his ministers refuse to have an open debate with the opposition.
So far we have only had monologues for years.
How can we make debates happen? The Chavista government will do everything in its power to avoid it, as any other authoritarian government from extreme left or right does.
How do we break the stalemate? Chavismo will say they want debates on the streets between "the people", by which they mean they want to a farce where some of their hard-core followers make enough noise or threaten people. They do not want to have to stand in front of everybody and answer to specific questions in real time.
One of my ideas is to start a campaign throughout the whole country, specially in secondary cities and slums, to inform people how real debates take place in other countries and how Venezuela would benefit from having such debates.
The current president of Venezuela and his ministers refuse to have an open debate with the opposition.
So far we have only had monologues for years.
How can we make debates happen? The Chavista government will do everything in its power to avoid it, as any other authoritarian government from extreme left or right does.
How do we break the stalemate? Chavismo will say they want debates on the streets between "the people", by which they mean they want to a farce where some of their hard-core followers make enough noise or threaten people. They do not want to have to stand in front of everybody and answer to specific questions in real time.
One of my ideas is to start a campaign throughout the whole country, specially in secondary cities and slums, to inform people how real debates take place in other countries and how Venezuela would benefit from having such debates.
Ps. we are still waiting for PSOE member Miguel Ángel Martínez, one of the vice-presidents of the European Parliament, to answer to our questions. We will keep insisting as long as necessary.
EU functionary Martínez hasn't answered our email after he made quite some statements regarding democracy in Venezuela.
You can visit his page on the EU here.