By Luis
Manuel Aguana
They say you should copy what's good. And that's what I did, starting with the title of this article, which is the excellent response given by Ian Bremmer, one of the world's most prestigious global policy analysts, to a reader of his columns in Gzero Media, in reference to the domestic political situation in the United States under Donald Trump's presidency (see GZERO, Ian Bremmer, A citizen’s guide to civic resistance, in https://www.gzeromedia.com/by-ian-bremmer/a-citizens-guide-to-civic-resistance).
The reader's question revolved around her anguish, as an ordinary citizen, at what she perceives as a change of proportions in her country in what she considers to be the institutional collapse of fundamental freedoms and her powerlessness to do anything to stop it, because she thinks her country is on a path that she considers a fast track to government authoritarianism. Does that feeling sound familiar?
In Bremmer's response, I saw our own tragedy reflected, only in our case it is in an advanced state of decay. Venezuela began its authoritarian path years ago with Hugo Chávez Frías, which set off alarm bells among the population and led to the tragic events we have witnessed, which are now the root cause of our current situation.
Bremmer's explanation is largely general advice that I believe is very important to understand. It was offered in the heat of the moment in response to a situation unfolding in the US, but it contains many points that can be applied to our current situation in Venezuela, and possibly our future, once we begin to resolve the tragedy we are now experiencing, even though we went through something similar a long time ago.
Explanation of the situation
The first thing to be clear about is why this is happening, what is happening:
“The foundations are shifting beneath us, and the tools we were told would protect democracy – engagement, institutions, information – are being undermined in real time.…”.
“We're living through a transformation in how power works. Grassroots civic engagement – the kind you're doing – is eroding not just because of political polarization, but because the systems that used to amplify individual voices are being replaced by algorithms that consolidate power in fewer hands. The social media business model is fundamentally incompatible with a healthy civil society – it welcomes bots, promotes extremism, and spreads disinformation precisely because those things maximize engagement. You're not just fighting bad policy; you're fighting a system designed to maximize division for profit. Traditional information networks are collapsing. The "messy middle" of democratic institutions is under sustained attack. And younger Americans especially are feeling a disenchantment that's hard to overstate” (highlighted ours).
That is a first approximation. We knew before this tragedy struck that institutions were disintegrating. And we sought a solution with someone who betrayed his oath to protect institutions and citizens. However, now—in the present—with the transformation in the functioning of power, things have changed structurally.
The manifestation of political participation has shifted elsewhere. The phrase “The social media business model is fundamentally incompatible with a healthy civil society” is deadly. At this moment, unlike 26 years ago, it is impossible to know what is true or false in the information that circulates. The benchmarks have vanished, and people no longer trust traditional information networks. In fact, they no longer trust anyone except individuals with names and surnames. And that is very dangerous. When citizens do not trust partisan or civil society institutions, but rather specific personalities, because these are not organizations based on tradition and the collective intelligence of many people who act as a counterweight, there is a risk of disastrous results, such as those we experienced in 1998.
Entonces, ¿qué hacer cuando todo está comprometido?
First: People's commitment
In the case of the US, there is still an institutional framework that is struggling to prevail, even though there have been significant attacks on constitutionally backed institutions, such as freedom of expression. Bremmer points out that “Some things still work extremely well: contract enforcement, capital markets, innovation. The judiciary remains independent in its decision-making. State and local governance remains mostly technocratic and independent of Washington. The professional military is still firmly loyal to country over leader”. In Venezuela, all of that institutionality disappeared a long time ago, starting with the judiciary. But that was already functioning very poorly before Chávez came to power. What was destroyed from within was the rest, especially the institutionality of the armed forces.
What is the suggestion? A culture of people's commitment to the values that built the nation: “That culture, that commitment to something bigger than partisan politics – it's one of the things that's holding. Imperfectly, but holding.”. And that still holds true in Venezuela, despite all the betrayals by its leaders. It is our famous resilience. Hence the immense responsibility of the main—and current—opposition leader, María Corina Machado (MCM). If that opposition political leadership fails the people again, the country will not end, but there will be an unprecedented setback.
Second: Keep the focus on the local level
The struggle in a federal country like the US is concentrated in the states of the American union. Its focus is regional, not national: “…stay local. National politics feels like screaming into the void because, increasingly, it is. But local politics – school boards, city councils, state races – still have leverage points where individual voices matter disproportionately. It's less glamorous, but it's where you can actually see cause and effect. And it's where the most consequential fights over voting access, education, and civil society are happening right now.”.
At ANCO, we prioritize the local over the national in our El Gran Cambio (The Great Change) Project. In fact, national policy should be the result of many voices from all the states in the country. That would strengthen us as a nation and as a people in the face of attacks from any centralized authoritarianism. But that does not exist in Venezuela because all governments have hijacked the destiny of citizens. And it will be no different in a future government if we do not change the power relations first. True federalism is what has allowed the United States to resist any authoritarian drift by any national administration. That is the model we must follow if we want to avoid repeating this tragedy in the future.
Third: People, not avatars on the net
Even though the world is moving towards instant and mass communication through electronic media, only real people make a difference. It is the community, the neighbors, the closeness of others who have the same problem as you, it is the distance between solving a real problem or not:“… build real community. Not just online networks, but face-to-face relationships with people who share your values – and people who don't. The coming years are going to require resilience, and that comes from knowing your neighbors, organizing locally, and creating mutual support systems that don't depend on institutions you can't control.”. These support systems will be the ones that effectively pressure governments to create a better quality of life for people. Have we done that here? We have blindly trusted in a cyberspace that cannot be touched, and so have politicians who, before social media existed, used to visit neighborhoods and housing developments, and who have forgotten that people are not avatars in a virtual network.
Fourth: Choose your battles
I really liked this advice. We can't devote all our time to every problem. It's simply impossible. In Venezuela, everything is uncertain, so the following advice is pure gold:“… focus on the 10%. Not every outrage requires your energy. In an environment where everything is breaking news, where uncertainty itself has become the dominant condition, the most important skill is figuring out which fights matter for outcomes. Don't let the noise exhaust you. Pick your battles”. This is especially important when those who claim to possess the truth and ask for your participation are often less informed and less willing than you are. That makes you the one who can make a difference by choosing which battles to fight, when, and why.
One last piece of advice: You can't control what happens.
And what good advice that is for us in the current state of anxiety in which the country finds itself. We cannot control everything that happens in Venezuela—and we all know what I mean—not even those who claim to know or control what will happen here. We can only control our own response: “Finally – and this is hardest – accept that you can't control outcomes, only your response. You stood by your husband for 24 years because you believed in something bigger than yourselves. That belief was real and justified. The question now isn't whether you can stop the tidal wave alone – you can't. The question is whether you're willing to keep standing for what you believe in even when the odds look terrible. Because the alternative – cynicism, withdrawal, giving up – guarantees the outcome you're trying to prevent”.
And this is the most important thing, which will define what follows: Are we willing to defend our system of values, beliefs, and desire for freedom, no matter what happens? Because the alternative will not be to prevent anything that has already happened to us, but rather to allow what we are already suffering to continue and worsen, regardless of whether any opposition leadership remains or is destroyed. If we are willing, everything will be fine after whatever happens, because that way we will guarantee that at some point there will be light at the end of the dark tunnel of this battered country...
Caracas, October 18, 2025
Blog:
TIC’s & Derechos Humanos, https://ticsddhh.blogspot.com/
Email: luismanuel.aguana@gmail.com
Twitter:@laguana
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