Venezuela: A Further Slide into Tyranny

Fire of Liberty

It looks like Hugo Chavez's forces of tyranny are trying their best to snuff out any group, movement that wants to spread the Fire of Liberty throughout Venezuela. Amongst the prime targets on Chavez's checklist of threats to his regime is Maria Corina Machado and her pro-democracy Sumate group, which has espoused a turn towards a more democratic government. As with all dictatorships throughout the World, Chavez has decided to revert to imprisoning his opponents via trumping up charges. Fortunately, Mrs. Machado has the eye of the State Department, The White House and the media during these momentary days of darkness. Just read what The Christian Science Monitor has to say about Machado in a recent article:

Her frustration reflects the mood of the opposition, which is still trying to pick itself up from Chávez's victory in last August's referendum. The charismatic and controversial president enjoys 70 percent support in polls and has a campaign chest filled by record world petroleum prices. The disparate opposition, meanwhile, lacks a single candidate or message to rally around. Some say that Machado, articulate and passionate about her ideas, could be the candidate to unite and motivate the opposition. She denies interest.

But that discussion will become moot if Machado goes to prison. She faces a charge of treason for allegedly signing the manifesto which dissolved the nation's democratic institutions during the ephemeral 2002 coup. Machado says she had simply visited the presidential palace and wrote her name on what she believed to be a sign-in sheet. The conspiracy charge against Machado and other Sumate directors stems from $53,000 the organization received from the US Congress-funded National Endowment for Democracy. Machado makes no apologies.

"It is legal, it is our right," she says of the foreign funds. "We have to do it, because if we concede, then the government has achieved what it wanted; they have intimidated us." But, Machado says, 95 percent of Sumate's funding comes from Venezuelans.

Machado vows she will see the trial through. Meanwhile, she is trying to continue her work. "If you're going to fight for democracy, this is something which you have to do every day, all day long," she says.

Machado also has the support of Fire of Liberty, which will continue to keep the flames of freedom burning for folks who stand up to tyrants. So keep up your good fight, we know who's wrong and a lot more people in Venezuela does to.