Those in power in Cuba, Venezuela, Bolivia and Nicaragua can only continue to subjugate their people through the daily commission of crimes that violate human rights and crimes against democracy, international peace and security. Despite the seriousness of the internal and international perpetrations, the Americas and the world seem accustomed to the infamy of dictators who present their crimes as a socialist narrative of the 21st century.
Narrative is “a literary genre, generally in prose, that consists of telling a story that can be real or fictional and that can be transmitted in writing or orally.” Political narrative is “a term used in the humanities and political sciences to describe the way in which narrative can present facts and impact the understanding of reality.” “Meta narratives are an important component of political narratives, as they encompass the artificiality of storytelling within a political context.”
The narratives of 21st century socialism or Castrochavism are the permanent falsification of facts to cover up their crimes by attributing them to the victims or disguising them. Dictatorships explain their crimes with more crimes, they cover their crimes with more crimes and to do so they spread narratives with which they take the strategic and communication initiative.
False accusations with prosecutors and judges who illegally imprison prisoners and exiles, “infamous laws” that institutionalize the violation of human rights, torture, slavery and human trafficking, murders, limitation and suppression of private property and the right to work, elimination of freedom of expression, extortion, attacks on life, all forms of trafficking, narco-states, creation and protection of terrorism, conspiracies, promotion and maintenance of violent and armed seditions, are just a tight summary of the actions that socialism of the 21st century or Castrochavism is carried out with impunity.
The Cuban dictatorship presents its crimes for 65 years as a narrative of revolution, ranging from shootings, permanent violation of human rights, nearly 1,200 political prisoners, human trafficking and slavery, to the justification of international terrorism and the narco-state in which they have converted the country. One of the most recent narratives of the Cuban dictatorship is the one referring to accusing Cuban exiles who fight for the freedom of their country of being terrorists, creating a list of people whom they once again attack with the “murder of reputation.” .
The Cuban narrative covers up all types of crimes against humanity and atrocious violations of human rights, from direct violence against peaceful protesters on July 11, 2021, arrests and torture, exile and extortion, to the sending of troops into service. of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine with a narrative of “internationalists.” International interventionism with the creation of guerrillas, terrorist groups, conspiracies and a transnational system of narco-states that they present as defense of the people and “anti-imperialist narrative.”
The dictatorship of Venezuela, the main satellite of Cuba’s expanded dictatorial system, manipulates with the narrative of the “disqualification of candidates” to disguise the ruthless political persecution and suppression of fundamental rights and falsify elections for a dictator who has more than 80% rejection popular. The narrative of the defense of the “Bolivarian revolution” is the cover of the taking of political prisoners by the “revolving door” system to negotiate them in exchange for their criminals prosecuted in international justice or sanctions. Internationally, they are in full manipulation of the “defense of sovereignty” narrative, reactivating the Essequibo conflict that the same dictatorship had resolved.
In Bolivia, with narratives of development and national security, the regime delivers lithium to Russia and China without bidding or any competition and turns the country into a platform for Iran’s military expansion as a base in the Southern Cone, while using the Inter-American Commission on Rights Humans that until now does not recognize the existence of more than 290 political prisoners. The “narrative of democracy” continues to be accepted in this dictatorship in which the Judiciary – the operational arm of the government – has just extended its functions.
In Nicaragua, under the nationalist narrative, the dictatorship seeks to appropriate the “Miss Universe” franchise, for which it arrested the husband and son of the owner and carried out public and international extortion, while making the property rights of all Nicaraguans disappear by imposing the state’s authorization to buy or sell.
*Lawyer and Political Scientist. Director of the Interamerican Institute for Democracy
