Español Analyzing Venezuelan public policies is a risky business. Any opinion regarding official announcements — the economy, oil, health care, education, security, etc. — may legitimize the Cuban dictatorship’s representatives who are present in our country. They have taken over government and are now unlawfully holding power.

This illegitimacy stems from innumerable violations of the essence of any civilized society and an attack on national pride. Nothing can be more humiliating than relinquishing responsibility for our internal affairs to a foreign nation — even more so when we are talking about a tyrannical regime that has been subduing its people for over half a century.

By writing this letter I want to address you, my Venezuelan brother, so we can finally accept our reality and start calling a spade a spade. We need to leave aside all the hypocrisy that has filled the political arena, and stop those who have shaped our reality for their own benefit and disregarded national interests along the way.

Fifteen years of this terrible experience have shown us that we do not have the right heroic leaders to face such a tragedy. We need people who are capable of designing the right strategies to stop a situation that is depriving us of our rightful fate. Otherwise, later on, it will become an even more treacherous climb up the ladder towards freedom, and we will slowly sink into oblivion, as a primitive example of a failed, wild nation.

It is pointless to ask ourselves why our political leaders in the opposition have failed. And everyone commenting on their alleged triumphs of this era is accomplishing nothing but envisioning fictional scenarios in his mind — a magical reality, where political advances can be achieved in a conventional fashion.

In this theatrical play, analysts focus on statistics, supporting one trend or the other, pointing to the successes and failures of A or B. This goes on every day, and every month, ad infinitum.

This play features journalists and “experts” speaking a language that would seem normal, were Venezuela a normal country; if the democracy were flawed but real, or if liberty were not an illusion, this would all make sense. Even our political leaders act as if reality were not an abyss, or as if our most precious possessions were not at stake.

But we know better. Liberty is our most cherished possession, and we understand that life without freedom is not a life worth living. Its departure binds us to the dictates of others, as our chosen destiny slips from our hands.

As long as we feed the illusion of conventional democratic engagement, the last 15 years will perpetuate indefinitely. People will keep on playing the charade, so cleverly staged by both the representatives of the Cuban dictatorship in Venezuela and the Democratic Unity Roundtable (Mesa de Unidad Democrática – MUD).

The MUD is nothing but a mix of collectivist parties that, despite calling themselves “opponents,” is made up of regime adherents. The MUD is a death trap, and until our country acknowledges that, it will consume all the energy we need to achieve freedom.

I will not resort to attacks on individuals, a tactic used by those without reasonable arguments. I shall base my assertions on facts, as historical outcomes are as exact as numbers. They will need no further explanation.

In our history we observe all the broken promises, all the elections with proposals that never came true. These elections only served to legitimize the regime in power, disguised as democratic and with international support. To speak of fraud, but at the same time to carry on as if nothing happened, is worthless. Moreover, I understand it as treason — no excuses.

Where is freedom? Where are the demands for a happy ending, an outcome that would make people believe in the future and look forward to their nation’s progress? What is the real balance after the last 15 years? Who benefited, and who has been deceived?

The answer is clear. A few distinct individuals and political parties benefited. But the entire Venezuelan society has been tricked. All of us who do not make obscure deals with power, or rely on privileges. We, who do not kiss up to the Cuban dictatorship in Venezuela, which the MUD calls “government.”

We cannot help but feel mocked when, after 15 years, we can only see our futures outside Venezuela. Inside is a reign of chaos; every relevant measure of whether a society is moving forward or going to hell is simply abysmal.

What Do We Do?

First things first. We must fight all attempts to keep this charade going. The government does not exist. What we have here is a branch of the Cuban dictatorship that has taken over all public powers, and is trying to repeat in Venezuela what it did to the Caribbean island.

We must also fight against the false opposition. Clearly, the MUD has one goal only: to gain advantages that allow them a peaceful agreement with the Cuban regime.

Cuba has peace, I do not deny it. Peaceful slaves form the society — people that have resigned to a miserable life with perpetual condescension from the tyrants who have subdued them, so that they may live as kings.

These dictators want to do the same here in Venezuela: to pacify us all, to subdue us into an irrelevant destiny. They want an egalitarian society, where no one can prosper through their own efforts. They want us to live in an almost animal state, depending on government charity and rations to obtain life’s basic necessities.

Of course, Cuba also has an “opposition” and periodic elections. People vote peacefully, and results are always the same. The only winners are the parties that participate in the elections, which receive a slice of the cake, so their leaders can live comfortably, thus fueling the charade.

Is that what you want?

Everyone can see that the only people who benefit from what happens in Venezuela are corrupt leaders, congressmen, governors, mayors, and the whole bureaucratic structure around them. But the situation for you, me, and everyone else who is not part of that universe is getting worse every day. I do not need to explain it, because you see it in front of you.

Let us unmask the illusion and deal with reality. Once we have pushed the charade aside, we need to come up with a strategy that can effectively put an end to the Cuban dictatorship in Venezuela. This plan will help us rescue our society from the gates of communist hell and allow us to return to a decent way of life for our country.

How Do We Do It?

We must first reject all forms of illegitimate authority. We need to use the available mechanisms at our disposal — by word of mouth, social networks, etc. — to demand the return of the constitutional order that was once the rule in this country.

We must raise our voices loud enough to gain momentum, so we can demand the end of the oppression once and for all. That is why it is imperative that we refer to our current government as what it truly is: a dictatorship.

We must call our armed military forces — and rest assured, there are still decent soldiers left — so they act in accordance with our National Constitution to reestablish the broken constitutional order. They need to expel the representatives of the Cuban dictatorship in Venezuela, and form a transitional civic-military government. That would be the best scenario for institutionalizing public powers, so we could finally have a transparent election of legitimate authorities.

Members of this transitional government would have an impeccable curriculum, worthy of the change we need. We should design the appropriate mechanisms to better identify these people, so we can put our trust in the right place.

When this new consensus is reached, institutional military forces will want to fulfill their constitutional duties. This is not currently possible because of the MUD and their representatives. They keep saying that military action is reproachable, when actually only the military has the necessary — and legitimate — strength to attain the goal of removing the Cuban invaders.

No other choice remains, but this course of action will never come to fruition unless it becomes a national concern. That is why the MUD cannot be the voice behind these issues anymore.

I know your head must be exploding with new information; skepticism abounds. But you need to remember, that skepticism comes from years of government manipulation, perpetuated by a political class that led the country in the wrong direction, by leaders that only made sense in the scheme of the charade that we know is not real.

If history has taught us anything, it is that nothing can defeat a nation willing to conquer freedom at all cost. Freedom is priceless, and when the alternative is communism, we fight to the death. No exceptions, no excuses. It is a war that, if lost, results in slavery and a meaningless existence.

Do We Have Another Choice?

Are we to believe that peace equals peaceful slavery, with record-breaking murder rates?

We need to make 2014 the year of freedom. As long as everyone internalizes this feeling, everything will take its natural course. Consensus will feed on that passion, and we will progressively find success in the national arena until we reach our final goal. We will do it for ourselves, our children, and our country.

In breaking the illusion, it is key to distrust totems and idols, characters who have become dominant and charismatic voices in the media. We need to stray from past traditions to realize that all the political strategies have drawn us away from genuine freedom, of our manifest destiny.

Once we have done this, we need to move forward and design strategies that will not repeat the same mistakes.

Reconciliation? Dialogue?

These are valid arguments, as long as they have real grounds. Reconciliation will happen when freedom wins. It can never occur when we are forced to accept the unacceptable, when we have to bow our heads and kneel before an illegitimate, unworthy system.

Reconciliation and dialogue will exist when there is a civilization; this reconciliation will happen among decent and worthy citizens, not between criminals and tyrants.

Dialogue will flow through justice. We do not sit and discuss affairs with terrorists; nor do we arrange peace with tyrants.

We make amends with justice and dialogue. But first comes justice: everything else follows. When justice materializes it becomes long-lasting, thus making way for the civilization that will allow progress for free men and women.

We will call this new plan the “Strategy for Freedom” (Estrategia para la Libertad). All people willing to walk the path of justice and willing to give up old strategies are welcome to embrace the present with an eye on the future.

It is vitally important that we connect with reality, resisting the temptations within the illusion: political rock stars, CADIVI dollars (the Foreign Exchange Administration Board), preferential trips, lucrative businesses, great perks (government positions, travel expenses, etc.).

We also need to let go of the fake peace that surrounds the charade created by the Cuban dictatorial agency.

We live in a country with the highest murder rate per capita in the world. Is that peace?

Does peace mean waiting in line when toilet paper or milk magically appear out of thin air?

Does peace equal living like a slave?

Do you want that for your children?

Do you want that for yourself?

Where is our love for the country?

Where is our love for ourselves?

Many of you in the civil society have contributed to the MUD, with the best of your intentions, and with faith. How do you feel nowadays? Do you really think all that effort has been taken into account, properly acknowledged? Do you think it served an effective purpose?

I know the answer. Many extraordinary, highly talented people have worked designing strategies and public policies for a first-world country. These people should be the first ones to embrace the Strategy for Freedom and apply their talents into these new consensus schemes. They need to set the stage for reality, and not fiction, with their efforts and ideas.

What is wrong with the MUD is not civil society; it is the gathering of opposite political interests, that eventually cancel each other out, contaminating the entire organization with their flawed tactics and failed ideologies.

What does not work in the MUD, never did, and never will, is their attempt to be friends with God and the devil at the same time. This approach has betrayed the coalition’s original spirit and made it obliging, comfortable, and fictitious.

2014 will see the rise of a true opposition, which will be able to connect with real tragedy, and a purposeful course of action aimed at putting an end to the Cuban dictatorship’s agenda that has taken Venezuela hostage.

This is not a figure of speech. An opposition will appear, solely to set the country straight, organizing it into one strategy for freedom that puts an end to the communist horrors, reestablishes the constitutional order, and leads Venezuela to its prosperous destiny.

No other national claim must exist; no other agenda must be in place; nothing is above this. We all need to get involved and contribute — whatever we can do.

The strategy for freedom is the path we choose, the only road worth taking.

God bless us all…