The implications of a Formula

By Luis Manuel Aguana

"Formula: 1. f. Practical means proposed to resolve a controversial issue or execute something difficult" (DRAE, first meaning). And it could not be more controversial or difficult the Venezuelan issue raised on Monday, November 13, within the Security Council of the United Nations (UN), convened under the mechanism of the "Formula Arria". Nobody could say that we Venezuelans will not resolve this issue ourselves, if to really start to seriously vent this serious problem that afflicts us we do it under a formula invented by a Venezuelan.

When I learned of the existence of this mechanism in March 2014 by a reference on Twitter from its own author, Ambassador Diego Arria, in the midst of the death on the streets of our young people who resurfaced with the death of Bassil DaCosta on that fateful February 12th of that year, I was horrified at why the Venezuelan opposition did not make use of this mechanism to prevent the deaths from continuing. I wrote a note titled “La Fórmula Arria o cuando en la casa del herrero los cuchillos son de palo” (The Arria Formula or when in the blacksmith's house the knives are of stick "(see it in spanish at http://ticsddhh.blogspot.com/2014/03/la-formula-arria-o-cuando-en-la-casa.html) reviewing the lack of knowledge and/or envy of the Venezuelan opposition to act immediately to make it known to the world of our tragedy.

More than three years ago, an eternity. How many deaths we could have saved. That was the taste of those who carried - and still carry - the franchise of the official Venezuelan opposition. But these mistakes have a very high cost, and even more so in politics, where the currency for changing attitudes in most cases is measured with blood, but unfortunately not that of those who are responsible for these mistakes.

Today, at the instigation of our humanitarian tragedy and even more, of the geopolitical danger posed by a narco-terrorist regime who runs an entire country, the Venezuelan case arrives at the United Nations, paradoxically mounted on the mechanism that Diego Arria invented. I have always said that God has his hand in all things. Both the Secretary General of the OAS and the Ambassadors of the United States and Italy, who called the UN Security Council together with this Formula, publicly acknowledged to our compatriot the initiative of its creation in favor of the peace of nations, recognition that in Venezuela has been concealed. I already explained it in my note in 2014, that we have in our history.

Although the interventions of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Al Hussein and Julio Henriquez of the Venezuelan Penal Forum exposed the serious humanitarian and human rights situation of our country, the problem for the world is not only focused there, but also on the consequences of that situation. U. S. Ambassador Nikki Haley said in her speech during the Formula Arria session that “The situation unfolding in Venezuela is more than a human tragedy. The crisis there today is a direct threat to international peace and security. Venezuela is an increasingly violent State. A Narco-State that threatens the region and the whole world...” (see UN Security Council on Venezuela - ONUConVzla - Arria Formula. Full discussion, https://youtu.be/EMr9f-bXB1g  minute 41:57). And that is the basic point that really summons the Council: the security of the region, given the political and economic instability of our country.

The intervention of the Secretary General of the OAS, Luis Almagro, is a computerized tomography of what is happening in Venezuela. Almagro deepened the seriousness of the threat: "Venezuela is, in the first place, a threat to the stability and security of the Americas. It has drug trafficking installed in the government dome. The nephews of the presidential couple are being tried in New York for drug trafficking. The Vice President has been classified as a drug trafficking ringleader and he has frozen goods by the hundreds but billions of dollars. The Minister of the Interior has an international accusation for drug trafficking. They create ties with international networks and groups classified as terrorists, giving Venezuelan passports to connoted international criminals. No one should choose the path of ignoring this information ... ".

The repeated warnings made by the United States at the UN regarding Venezuela have been corroborated in the sense that, as the situation of human rights violations in the country has worsened, bordering countries have been significantly affected by the violence generated by the regime of Nicolás Maduro. According to Ambassador Haley, countries such as Syria, Southern Sudan and Burma are examples of countries that have already traveled the path of Venezuela and subsequently fell into conflict. The United States believes that we are on the same path and they are encouraged that other countries are determined to resolve our situation and warned here that they will not allow it.

From that meeting of the Security Council through the mechanism of the Formula Arria, and the political leadership of the world is officially informed of the concern of the first power to resolve as soon as possible the situation in Venezuela and will continue to press -for our good luck- because so be it. This was a necessary and transcendental step that, starting today, has many international backing. I had to pass this formal meeting of the Security Council in this Formula for the world to find out about our tragedy. It has already been aired and now the formal implications will continue.

In that sense, Ambassador Haley's closing words sound premonitory:"We want to send a firm message to the Maduro regime: we are waiting, we do not allow ourselves to be deceived, our commitment with the Venezuelan people does not end in this meeting. Today we meet to talk about peace and security, but at the center of all this is the people, the people, people like Deivis Perez (see CNN's note in "We are suffering in a hospital": a child loses his life in the midst of the medical crisis in Venezuela, at http://cnnespanol.cnn.com/2017/10/25/estamos-sufriendo-en-un-hospital-un-nino-pierde-la-vida-en-medio-de-la-crisis-medica-en-venezuela/ ). We will continue to sound the alarms, raise awareness and take steps to honor your memory. Our message to the people of Venezuela today is that they will not give up. May they not give up hope for themselves and their families. We don't want to give up. We don't want to despair. And we will continue to fight for their voices to be heard. There's light at the end of the tunnel. The light of freedom, dignity, security and prosperity is still possible. And for those who have difficulty imagining this future today, let them know: the world is increasingly united in its efforts to regain respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms for all Venezuelan people. Justice will come..." .

On Monday, November 13, the United States made it clear to the world that we are meeting today to talk about peace and security, but people come first. That we do not stop fighting for our freedom because they will accompany us in that struggle, together with the rest of those who are increasingly united to recover “respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms for all the Venezuelan people”. A good understanding few words. Now I do believe that finally "justice will come"...

Caracas, November 15, 2017

Twitter:@laguana

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