Causes of the Political Divide in Bolivia and Venezuela

Since the 1800s, the planet has undergone tremendous change. Change has arisen in all fields, resulting in a society that is somewhat different from the world in which our forefathers existed. Some of the most significant developments have arisen in the areas of science, medicine, and human rights. Slavery was not only a popular occurrence in the 1800s, but it was also a way of life for many individuals, including women, owners, and the general public who benefited from it. Humanitarian missions arose as the world evolved. Humanitarian associations believed that all humans regardless of race or any other factor are equal and should have free will. As these humanitarian missions came up practices such as flogging of slaves, rape, and killing of innocent people or civilians, that were very normal up until recently became crimes against humanity. These crimes were considered punishable by law and were strictly prohibited in many countries. Today some specific courts and organizations have been mandated with the task of dealing with such crimes and their perpetrators. For example, the International Criminal Court which has the jurisdiction to try individuals with crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide that happen internationally. In spite of having such organizations, there are still some countries whose civilians are facing some of these injustices. Venezuela and Bolivia are two examples of such countries. The war in these two countries is based on Political turmoil which is one of the leading causes of crimes against humanity all over the world.

The citizens of the two countries; Bolivia and Venezuela, are both seeking to change their leadership. This is an uphill task for any country especially when the presiding government and its officials are hell-bent on staying in power. Throughout history, the two countries governments have been plagued with corruption. This has led both their citizens to champion the fight for change. This fight has led to a division between the citizens in both countries, and this has paved the way for crimes against humanity.

In Venezuela, those charged with the responsibility of protecting citizens and enforcing the law, are the same people who regularly make headlines on corruption scandals. Corrupt officials, especially the military and members of the police force play a fundamental role in the execution and growth of corruption within the country. "Officials such as members of the Bolivarian armed forces have taken part in crimes such as drug transportation and gasoline smuggling into Columbia."(Insight Crime) They do this by using military vehicles to transport drugs on the ground. Military vehicles are the most unlikely vehicles to be searched or flagged down and therefore the best for such crimes. The police also not only allow but facilitate the safe passage of planes carrying drugs to and from the country. Police officials are paid very well for their extra-curricular activities and are therefore inclined to continue in this manner. It is suspected that many police generals and government officials know about this, but they turn a blind eye or participate and get paid as well. These drugs are killing the youth of Venezuela both directly and indirectly as they are used to sell the drugs, and sometimes get gunned down by rivals or the police. This has made the citizens rally together to change the leadership of the country.

Major differences in ideology are another major reason for the political divide. The former Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez managed to implement a new constitution in the year 19991. Later on, various constitutional amendments were made by the use of a constitutional referendum. These amendments marked the first step in doing away with democracy in the country. Some of the amendments included; extension of term limits for various public offices including the office of the president. This amendment also made room for indefinite presidential re-elections. These amendments made it possible for holders of specific offices in the government that was responsible for maintaining office for a long time. Because of this, the quality of their service to the citizens they were meant to govern and protect at all costs depleted. The current president became a dictator who could not be overthrown without the use of force because the constitution allowed him to continue holding that office. This was another reason as to why the citizens of Venezuela took it upon themselves to fight to re-establish democracy in their country by changing the regime. Their decision to fight resulted in their agony and torture.

The economic status is another reason for the political divide in the country. Since the years of the former president Hugo Chavez, there has been a massive decline in the economy of the country due to the bad governance. This has led to other perils such as lack of food and starvation in serious cases. This is a situation that has also led the citizens to take part in protests because if they do not fight for themselves who will fight for them?

Even though most of the citizens hate the current government, they do not like the opposition any better. ‘In spite of the fact that they are the opposition and are trying to throw the government over, they are trying to do this by using violent means and are not paying any attention to the plight of their people.' (Kat) Therefore many people who make up the poor population of Venezuela opt not to fight at all. This is because they lack enough energy to go out on the street and protest due to the lack of food in the country and they would much rather use their time searching for food to keep their families alive in the hope that they'll see a better Venezuela soon. The fact that some people have chosen not to fight has caused animosity between the citizens, as those who have refused to fight have been viewed as ‘enemies of progress.'

‘The political turmoil in Venezuela has been building up for years. There have been several signs of this over the year's one of them being the constant decline of the government's spending which is calculated annually in GDP.'(Embersberger) Humanitarian missions have been watching the situation from afar and waiting for it to get out of hand to come in and fix it. This is a common trend in such cases where citizens are facing human rights violations, are often left to help themselves until humanitarian missions have no other choice but to help them. The best way for humanitarian missions to deal with such occurrences would be to organize peace talks among the differing parties in a nation to completely prevent and eventually stop the violation of human rights that more often than not lead to serious fatalities. To have talks, there are some measures that need to be taken. The first of these measures is to understand the problem. This means looking at the problem from two perspectives, that of the current government and that of the opposition. Because there is always a right and wrong, the next step would be to establish which of the two options is best in regards to the people and their welfare. Then finding a middle ground on which the two opposing parties can agree on, and that is not detrimental to the people is the next step. After all, this has been done the next uphill task would be to get the two opposing parties to sit down and have talks concerning the welfare of their country and their stake/claim at the power and how to satisfy them both. Once that has been done coming to an agreement that will benefit the three parties; the government, the opposition, and the people will be much easier, than letting the people of a country lay down their lives to fight for their freedom and democracy which in today's world are considered basic human rights as long as they do not negatively affect other people. The road to rebuild Venezuela and get it back to its former glory will not be an easy one and not one that they could walk alone.



Works Cited

Emersberger, Joe. “Bolivia-Venezuela Comparisons Should be Very Helpful to Radical Chavistas” Oct 20th 2014 Venezuelanalysis.com 12 Dec 2017

Hillman, Richard S. Democracy for the Privileged: Crisis and Transition in Venezuela. Boulder, Colo: Lynne Rienner, 1994. Print.

Venezuela Investigative Unit. “Military and Police Corruption: Venezuela’s Growing Evil.” Insight Crime Sep 22 2016: Insightcrime.com 12 Dec 2017.

Kat, Quintjin. “Venezuela: a country divided.” Al Jazeera 24 Jun 2017: Al jazeera.com 12 Dec 2017.