Jay Nordlinger is a senior resident fellow at the Renew Democracy Initiative and a contributor at The Next Move.
To oppose a dictatorship is to court drama—great and terrible drama. Think of María Corina Machado, the Venezuelan opposition leader, forced into hiding for more than a year. She then escaped her country in a dangerous voyage by skiff, to collect her Nobel Peace Prize.
Pedro Urruchurtu Noselli is a member of Machado’s team. With a group of colleagues, he was holed up in the Argentinian embassy, in Caracas, for 412 days. Then came a daring, dramatic rescue operation.
Last month, Urruchurtu participated in the Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy, and he and I recorded a podcast. In this podcast, Urruchurtu discusses his upbringing in chavista Venezuela. His ordeal in the embassy. The impact of Machado’s Nobel Peace Prize on the Venezuelan democracy movement. And more.
We end our podcast on this question: How did Venezuela unravel so quickly—falling from a democracy into a dictatorship—and what lesson might that provide to other peoples and nations?
But this is not the end of our conversation altogether. By e-mail, I asked him a couple of questions we did not have time to get to, “on air.”
The first concerns the leadership in Caracas. Delcy Rodríguez is the current No. 1, having replaced Nicolás Maduro, who sits in a New York jail. Does Pedro Urruchurtu Noselli view Rodríguez as an improvement over Maduro?
“No,” he says. “Delcy Rodríguez is not an alternative to Maduro because she is part of the same criminal system. For years, she has been one of the central figures of the regime, serving as vice president and holding key positions that helped sustain the authoritarian structure that destroyed Venezuela’s institutions and economy.”
Moreover, Rodríguez “played a key role in strengthening the regime’s repressive apparatus and in deepening its strategic relations with actors such as Russia and Iran.”
Urruchurtu continues, “Changing the face at the top does not change the nature of the regime. What Venezuela needs is not a reshuffling within chavismo, but a genuine democratic transition with free elections, the rule of law, and the dismantling of the repressive apparatus that has persecuted millions of Venezuelans.”
A final word, on this first question: “Replacing Maduro with Rodríguez would simply mean replacing one operator of the system with another. Venezuelans want full democracy, and that is what we are fighting for.”
And here is the second question: “What are the next steps for the democratic opposition?”
Says Urruchurtu, “The next step is very clear: to turn the democratic mandate of Venezuelans into a political transition.
The opposition “has already achieved something fundamental,” he says. “Venezuelans expressed their will for change. Now the task is to ensure that this mandate translates into real institutional transformation.”
There are three priorities, says Urruchurtu.
(1) “International pressure and coordination to guarantee a democratic transition.”
(2) “The dismantling of the repressive apparatus, the release of all political prisoners, and the return of exiled leaders, particularly the legitimate leaders María Corina Machado and President-elect Edmundo González Urrutia, which is essential for rebuilding political life in the country.”
(3) “Free and verifiable elections, with democratic institutions restored and authoritarian structures dismantled.”
Urruchurtu says, “Transitions are complex, but the direction is clear: Venezuela has already decided to change. The challenge now is ensuring that the regime cannot continue indefinitely through cosmetic adjustments or internal succession.”
They are an incredibly brave group, these Venezuelan dissidents and democrats. Our guest is a fine example of the breed.
More from The Next Move:
A Conversation With a Former US Ambassador to Venezuela
Discussing what happened in Venezuela with Otto Reich.
In Defense of María Corina Machado—and Freedom Fighters Everywhere
Uriel Epshtein responds to María Corina Machado’s critics. Jay Nordlinger contextualizes the award for the Venezuelan dissident and its place in Nobel history.
