First, a small snippet of the contemporary history of Venezuela told by one of its main protagonists, Don Rómulo Betancourt, interviewed by Sofía Imber and Carlos Rangel in 1978:
“CR: Now, without pretending to give us a
preview of your memories, tell us a couple of things, for example, how do you
explain that Venezuela was able to go through that time of such difficult
turmoil that was the year 58 after January 23, culminating with the
presidential elections that you won, and then when you assumed power in 59,
what almost miraculous factors made Venezuela go through such a chaotic period?
RB: In
history, Carlos and Sofia, miracles do not happen. Miracles are made by the
living. Some believe in them, others do not believe in them. Men are the ones
who, acting in accordance with the circumstances, and setting clear goals, lead
history. In 1958, I attach great importance to the fact that we, the political
leaders, had realized that it was necessary to seek an understanding to prevent
the recurrent barbarism from reintroducing itself into the country, that a new
dictatorship could return. I attach great importance to the Punto Fijo
Pact, in which the Copeyanos, the Adecos and the Urredistas reached an
understanding on certain minimum rules of the political game" (see in
Spanish Sofía Imber Channel, Sofía Imber and Carlos Rangel interview Rómulo
Betancourt, 10-05-1978, min 8:20, in https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZlZm5Uxg00&t=500s) (our highlight).
Waiting I wanted to share with you an excerpt from the words of the Venezuelan politician who may have had the greatest influence on the construction of the only democracy we have ever had, as only a few of us came to know it in our lifetime.
Yes, in our lifetime. Because Venezuela NEVER knew democracy before 1958, except for the few months following the popular vote that took place between February 17 and November 24, 1948, which placed Don Rómulo Gallegos in the Presidency of the Republic, after the promulgation of the 1947 Constitution. What our ancestors knew before 1948 were military dictatorships and guerrilla groups that came to power through coups in a politically highly unstable country.
Venezuelans experienced popular voting with the Constitution enacted by the National Constituent Assembly of 1947, and after a period of darkness between November 24, 1948, and January 23, 1958, politicians of the caliber of Rómulo Betancourt succeeded in restoring it as a mechanism for assigning political power.
Unfortunately, if the torch is not properly passed on to new political generations, the meaning and substance of the achievements made by those generations is lost. And the achievement was enormous. They achieved 40 years of political stability. No more could be asked of that generation.
Rómulo Betancourt specifically recounts the political moment when it became necessary to understand that there were reasons beyond the political differences of the moment to prevent the dictatorial experience from repeating itself in Venezuela after 1958.
But politics is dynamic, and its actors change over time. The degeneration of political activity in Venezuela reached the point of electing a coup leader as President of the Republic, under the rules of democracy established by democrats such as Betancourt, whose main concern in establishing a pact such as the Punto Fijo Pact was precisely “to prevent recurring barbarism from returning to the country, which could lead to a new dictatorship.”
Since that breakdown in 1998, which destroyed the political foundation that created Venezuelan democracy in 1958, we have reached the extreme point where the main opposition political leadership is waiting for a miracle from abroad to resolve what only Venezuelans can resolve.
And as Betancourt rightly pointed out: “In history... miracles do not happen... It is men who, acting in accordance with circumstances and setting clear goals, drive history forward”. And this history must be driven forward. The lessons of that generation of politicians were forgotten over time due to the mediocrity, complacency, and corruption of those who inherited the responsibility of maintaining democracy.
But not everything is bad. From outside, we are sent a clear and direct message that the problem is ours. US Under Secretary of State Christopher Landau said a few days ago in an interview with Donald Trump Jr. that “The Venezuelan people have to rise up and claim their freedom. We cannot go around the world changing governments at will” (see in Spanish @Monitoreamos in X, in https://x.com/monitoreamos/status/1955054753852908018).
And why do I say it's not bad? Because it's a reminder of what Rómulo Betancourt said in that interview, where he points out that those who act “according to circumstances, and set clear goals, drive history” not the other way around. If the opposition political leadership allows itself to be driven by what is happening, history will pass them by, because miracles do not happen in history. The US will go as far as it needs to go, but it will not perform miracles. That is up to us, those of us who are alive.
It is time for the opposition political leadership to demonstrate with actions that they have clear short- and medium-term goals to drive the history that will be written for future generations. Whether those goals are to continue waiting for a miracle, or to build the ones needed to eradicate barbarism.
Caracas, August 16, 2025
Blog:
TIC’s & Derechos Humanos, https://ticsddhh.blogspot.com/
Email: luismanuel.aguana@gmail.com
Twitter:@laguana
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