Intervention at the Forum-chat "Democracy and Human Rights, realities and expectations for Venezuela", sponsored by ANCO Mérida, August 13, 2022
Good afternoon, my name is Luis Manuel Aguana, and I am part of the National Board of the National Original Constituent Alliance, ANCO. First of all, my thanks to ANCO Merida, in the person of its Coordinator, Mari Sol Arreaza, for the invitation to this important opportunity to address you in this Forum, to exchange about the reality of Democracy and Human Rights in Venezuela, and the expectations that many of us still have that in a very near future we will be able to achieve them. However, both constructs, Democracy and Human Rights, are only possible and a direct consequence of a superior right, which assures the self-determination of people: freedom.
Without freedom, Democracy cannot exist, much less ensure that people's Human Rights are fulfilled, because respect for them is a fundamental condition of a State governed by the Rule of Law. Without freedom we are exposed to be trampled at any time because there are no limits for those who, being in power, abuse it with the intention of perpetuating themselves in its exercise. Hence, beyond describing what has happened and continues to happen in Venezuela due to the absence of Democracy and the abuse of Human Rights due to the loss of the Rule of Law, we must try to understand why we have lowered our guard in the search for that superior right which is freedom. I will justify this statement later on.
Today I will do with you an exercise that in my opinion can explain this behavior, comparing the freedom that we took for granted before the arrival of the regime, with the concept of paradigm. In our case, the meaning of paradigm, according to its second meaning in the DRAE, is: "Theory or set of theories whose central nucleus is accepted without question and which provides the basis and model for solving problems and advancing knowledge". Based on this, we do not question the paradigms, leaving aside, somehow and on our own, the supreme right of freedom.
The closest and simplest thing I have seen to explain in the current context the implications of not fully understanding the word paradigm, I saw some years ago in the social networks of an anonymous author, from whom I extract the following story, which may seem a little long, but if you have a little patience you will find it very meaningful:
"A group of scientists placed five monkeys in a cage, in the center of which they placed a ladder and, on top of it, a pile of bananas. When a monkey climbed up the ladder to grab the bananas, the scientists threw a stream of cold water on those remaining on the ground. After some time, when a monkey would climb the ladder, the others would hit it.
After some more time, no monkey climbed the ladder, despite the temptation of bananas. The scientists then substituted one of the monkeys. The first thing he did was to climb the ladder, but he was quickly pulled down by the others, who gave him a tremendous beating. After a few beatings, the new member of the group no longer climbed the ladder, although he never knew the reason for such beatings.
A second monkey was substituted, and the same thing happened. The first substitute enthusiastically participated in the beating of the rookie. A third was replaced, and the same thing happened again, he was beaten again. The fourth and, finally, the fifth of the veterans was replaced. The scientists were then left with a group of five monkeys who, even though they never received a cold water bath, continued to beat anyone who tried to reach the bananas. If it were possible to ask some of them why they were hitting anyone who tried to climb the ladder, the answer would certainly be: "I don't know, things have always been done like that here. Sound familiar?" (anonymous author).
I do not know if this experiment actually took place, but it fully explains the human behavior of Venezuelans faced with the reality of a tyranny that persecutes, imprisons, tortures and kills civil and military dissidents. At the beginning of these citizen struggles, the supreme good of freedom, as described by El Libertador, was persecuted by all. Venezuelans took to the streets in search of freedom. This was demonstrated by the gigantic marches of the first years of the tyranny, the fundamental one being the great march of April 11, 2002. And on that day, let us never forget, for a few hours, tyranny fell.
But one by one, as in the story told, when trying to achieve it, the regime managed to punish every effort of the population to achieve freedom. And finally, as those who actively demanded freedom disappeared, either by exodus or by the weariness of the years and the surrender of the political leadership, Venezuelans were left fighting and protesting, no longer for our freedom but for subsistence, without realizing that this was the regime's formula to remain in power.
And to the evidence I refer: according to the Venezuelan Observatory of Social Conflict, the protests related to the demands of Economic, Social, Cultural and Environmental Rights (DESCA), more than doubled those aimed at demanding our Civil and Political Rights (CPD). During the first half of 2022, 73% of the protests (2856 protests) were in demand of improvements in the quality of life, while 27% (1036 protests) were and I quote, "in rejection of the persecution, stigmatization and detention against human rights defenders, humanitarian workers and other members of civil society. Meanwhile, persons deprived of liberty and their relatives denounced procedural delays and terrible prison conditions" end of quote (see in Spanish OVCS, Conflictividad Social en Venezuela, Primer semestre 2022, in https://www.observatoriodeconflictos.org.ve/destacado/conflictividad-social-en-venezuela-en-el-primer-semestre-de-2022). This means that the numbers indicate that Venezuelans are protesting mainly to survive, not to achieve their freedom.
According to the UN Human Rights classification (see in Spanish UN Classification of Human Rights, in https://eacnur.org/es/actualidad/noticias/eventos/tipos-de-derechos-humanos-segun-la-onu), two types of human rights are conceived: Civil and Political Rights (CPR), and Economic, Social, Cultural and Environmental Rights (ESCR).
In the first type ( CPR), we find the so-called First Generation Rights, which refer to our freedoms, or Rights of Liberty. Here we find, for example, among others, the right to liberty, to life, to legal security, freedom of expression, freedom of association, right to due process, religious freedom, freedom of rights between men and women. They are also called Fundamental Rights. It is not possible to speak of Human Rights without the existence of these rights.
The second type, Economic, Social, Cultural and Environmental Rights (ESCR), also known as Second Generation Rights, refer to those rights that must be fulfilled in a Social State governed by the rule of law. These include, among others, the right to social security, the right to work, the right to unionize, the right to an adequate standard of living, the right to health, clothing, housing, necessary social services, the right to education, children's rights and maternity.
A third, fourth, and even fifth, sixth and more generations of human rights have been added. We will not refer to the latter in this discussion. The third generation is linked to justice, peace and solidarity of the peoples, being among others, the Right to Self-Determination, a right that ANCO is demanding through the so-called Constituent, Right to Economic and Political Independence, Right to National and Cultural Identity, Right to Peace, Right to Peaceful Coexistence and Right to Development.
Fourth Generation Rights arise from the massive use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). Among them are the Right to access to ICTs, the Right to Informational Self-Determination, the Right to Habeas Data and digital privacy and security. Quoting the portal Unidiversidad, I quote: "Currently, in a world where there is talk of Big Data, the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, there must be a legal framework to regulate this digital progress to avoid the violation or infringement of human rights" End of quote. (see in Spanish Classification of Human Rights, Unidiversidad, in https://www.unidiversidad.com.ar/como-se-clasifican-los-derechos-humanos). This modest space that I opened in the "ICTs & Human Rights" network more than 10 years ago, was especially directed to the surveillance of these Fourth Generation rights, especially the Privacy of Venezuelans' Data (See note in Spanish Census 2011 in Venezuela and the Right to Informative Self-Determination, in https://ticsddhh.blogspot.com/2011/08/censo-2011-en-venezuela-y-el-derecho-la.html).
One of the fundamental theses that I have publicly sustained in my blog, and that was one of the main hypotheses of my doctoral work, is that technology turns out to be the best ally of political regimes of the kind we have in Venezuela, becoming its support because it gets to control even the smallest piece of information of the citizen. That is why they are so technologically advanced in all areas of administration. The most representative example of this is our current electoral and citizen information system. This is another of the pending rights to be conquered.
Little by little the tyranny of Nicolás Maduro Moros has managed to make Venezuelans forget their Civil and Political Rights, bursting the population everywhere, and especially those who have not tried to climb the stairs, just as the scientists of our history did with the monkeys, so that we ourselves forget and fight among ourselves to discard the fight for what is fundamental: freedom. And it is not that it is not important to fight for wages, health, social security and the rest of the rights that the regime has violated. It is that over the years we have ceased to perceive that without freedoms, the rights of 2nd, 3rd, and more generations will never be achieved. This is the true success of the regime to continue in power. We must break this paradigm!
And if we continue in that direction, the time will come -perhaps not too far away- when we will stop even trying to climb the stairs, when we will say like the monkeys in the experiment: "here things have always been done this way", and we will continue protesting, but not for the reasons the regime really fears, having forgotten the real reasons why we fought at some point to get out of tyranny, keeping the scraps the regime ends up giving us when we protest for them, because they will remain in power. The unfortunate thing is that they have a soft, corrupt and complicit opposition that helps them, let's not forget that, and that settles for the crumbs of power they throw them.
It is necessary to understand well the paradigm that freedom poses us, to turn around that proportion measured by the Venezuelan Observatory of Social Conflict during the first semester of 2022, if we want to improve the expectations that the rest of the rights that have been violated will be respected. First are individual liberties. That is the first fight for Human Rights that must be fought in Venezuela, and that is why I end and begin -again- demanding Fundamental Rights, such as life and freedom: Freedom for political prisoners!
Thank you very much...
Caracas, August 13, 2022
Blog: https://ticsddhh.blogspot.com/
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