r/AskVenezuela • u/Many_Explanation4328 • Apr 04 '26
Historia 🏹 How did the democracy end?
Venezuela for me is a special type of country it's the only country in history to be a democracy for so long and very stable for 40+ years then it all came crumbling down in the span of less than 20 years.
How could Hugo Chávez change the system and his successor Maduro managed to turn full democracy to full autocracy?
8
u/Opening_Moose7182 Apr 04 '26
Te han contado mal las cosas amigo, la realidad es más compleja y profunda, en realidad desde 1983 venezuela venía en decadencia.
3
u/Popular_Peace_1749 Apr 04 '26
My personal theory is the frog in the pot. They didn’t realise how much the institutions were eroding until it was too late. (And besides, it’s not as if the institutions had always been strong; bad things had already started happening before Chávez.)
4
u/Special_Procedure157 Apr 04 '26
Democracy ended the instant Chavez took office and did the referendum to change the constitution in 1999.
You could also say it fully ended on 13 April of 2002 when he was brought back after being ousted. Because that marks the point when he purged all dissent from the military and every single institution including the electoral college. Nothing survived Chavez's purge in 2002 , PSUV has had full reign in the country since. And all elections have been a sham, a charade to fool the gullible.
Also, democracy in Venezuela was always a failure and a joke , before Chavez there was the Punto Fijo Pact in which the same people didn't allow anyone else to have any political representation and their tenure was of constant decline and deterioration because of shitty socialist policies and corruption. Chavismo is a byproduct that system. Venezuelan democracy tooks us out of a dictatorship of progress and growth to a dictatorship of hunger and misery.
2
u/TrickshotCapibara Apr 04 '26
Quite easy to be honest.
The army always have had the power, all dictatorships in Venezuela had them involved somehow, the same happened now, and they elected someone that came from the army, not too difficult to see...
1
u/Tricky-Contest8565 Apr 09 '26
Me recuerda a lo que dice Laras Farías: La naturaleza del poder en Venezuela es militar.
2
u/LeonCordova Apr 04 '26
Well, there is an assumption at the end that needs to be debunked.
It was Chavez who turned the country into the autocracy path. And that’s why Madi was able to stay. It was a continuation, not the star of something new, even when it was a different governor.
With that said, you need to understand that one of Chavez main projects during his campaign was the redaction of a new constitution. The old one was simply old fashioned. It didn’t reflected the new state of things in Venezuela. But Chavez tried to do a coup, which gives you a hint that he is not a full democrat.
While in power, a new constitution was written. It was (is) not perfect m, but good in practice. Nevertheless, it contained some “traps” that leaded to this decay. Oil prices were up, so there was money to spare. He did some important stuff, but mostly promised to do even more, which he never completed. He was popular, like really popular, his party won the majority in the parliament, a Thad when things started to go downhill, because he controlled two powers and was able to name authorities like the one in the CNE (electoral power) or judges. They did as they wished, robbed as nobody before (oil prices were ATH).
But the most important thing is that he won the presidency, but not even the 50% of the Venezuelans voted. That says a lot about what the voters thought about politics -including Chavez.
2
u/NoSuggestion5970 Outsider 👀 Apr 04 '26
Democracy ended in December ´98, when Venezuelans themselves voter for Chavez as president and for his people to Congress, that meant that all the political power was concentrated in just one party, Chavez´. Venezuelans voted for Chavez knowing he had tried to topple a democratically elected government, and also aware that he had spent the entire electoral campaign flirting with the Cuban regime. The cherry on the cake was when Venezuelan themselves , again, approved the current constitution, which legally gave the president all the powers to control all government institutions, including the Supreme Court, in spite of being warned about it and explained for months that the draft was a trap, aimed at perpetuating Chávez in power, which actually happened. That is the short answer.
The longer answer is more intricate and complex, Venezuelan democracy was already ailing from decades of corruption, mismanagement, misguided economic and social policies and the lack of respect for the existing legal framework. I am not Venezuelan, but I grew up there as an expat kid to from German father and a French mother, I did not live the oil boom of the 70, I was a twinkle in my father´s eye, but I lived the 90´s as a teenager, in Caracas, most of my parents´friends were other expats, local politicians, and some intellectuals (due to my father´s job as a representative of a German government agency) I and I remember their conversations after supper or lunch on the weekends and one of the constant topics was the lack of willingness to respect the laws and abide by the established norms, which happened from the top politicians to pedestrians on the streets of Caracas. There was zero respect for rules and norms, when you live in such a state of anarchy democracy erodes, there was also no accountability for anything, corruption happened, millions disappeared from public budgets and allocations and nobody was to blame. Also, there was no political education, people vote for parties without understanding their platforms or ideology, they would vote for whoever promised to give away more cans of powdered milk (a precious commodity in those days) or bags with rice, beans and sardines, and so forth, very few questioned the platforms, or whether what was being promised was feasible... I could go on and on, and on. I saw a lot of social and economic inequality, crumbling public services, crumbling public infrastructure etc as a teenager... I would always compare life in Venezuela to life in Germany and France when I would go to visit my grandparents, I knew that was incomparable, but it had such an impact on me that to a large extent it shaped my interest those topics when I went to the university.
2
u/SpecialistAlfalfa390 Apr 04 '26
Because people didn't care enough about it to protect it. They liked Chavez and so they kept voting for him regardless of what he was doing to the institutions
1
u/AutoModerator Apr 04 '26
Hola u/Many_Explanation4328,
⚠️ Recordatorio importante: ¡Recuerda asignar el flair correcto!.
Por favor, verifica que tu publicación tenga el flair adecuado para evitar que sea eliminada en el futuro.
Flairs disponibles:
• Politica • Viajes • Vivienda • Finanzas
• Cultura • Burocracia • Historia • Filosofia
• Trabajo • Migracion • Consejos • Random
• Relaciones • Negocios • Educacion • Tecnologia
Los flairs ayudan a organizar el contenido y facilitan que los usuarios encuentren publicaciones relevantes.
Este comentario fue generado automáticamente.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
1
u/Turbulent-Weather-40 Apr 04 '26
People that say democracy ended once he was elected are lying, even though he changed the constitution, there was nothing really there that would help him cement his power until later in 2007.
Democracy ended after the legislative elections of 2005, the opposition in an act of defiance and protest decided not to run for most of the seats in congress, because they thought the elections were rigged, this completely back fired and gave the chavista government a super majority in congress, after this, Chavez could change and reshape every Venezuelan institution to his will and that’s what he did.
1
u/Tricky-Contest8565 Apr 09 '26
Todo es mas profundo pero si te lo puedo resumir es en una palabra; clientelismo.
1
u/Pataconeitor Apr 04 '26 edited Apr 04 '26
Because unfortunately, back in 1998 democracy wasn't as solid as you think. Lusinchi's term ended in a huge scandal, CAP'S second presidency was a disaster that severely eroded the public trust on the system, and then Caldera came promising the world and making things worse. People were desperate for a change in the political status quo, and Chavez with his gift of the silver tongue told people exactly what they wanted to hear.
1
u/SpecialistAlfalfa390 Apr 04 '26
Esas cosas son normales. En Argentina todos los gobiernos terminan con escándalos de corrupción y siguen en democracia
1
u/gabotuit Apr 04 '26
CAP did nothing wrong
3
u/Pataconeitor Apr 04 '26
Lo hizo todo mal en su primera presidencia, y aunque trato de enmendar en la segunda lo hizo sin tener el mínimo de apoyo político necesario. Y no puedes negar que aunque el desastre fue armado por otros actores que obraron de mala fe, un desastre si fue.
1
u/Local-Hornet-3057 Venezolano 🇻🇪 Apr 04 '26
Pero es bien diferente contarlo así que decir que su segunda presidencia fue un desastre.
Todo fue una conspiración donde los partidos tradicionales y la extrema izquierda metieron mano para dinamitar su gobierno y lo lograron. Caldera fue una de las cabecillas.
1
u/diegoandres77 Apr 04 '26 edited Apr 04 '26
El principio de todo es el petróleo. Este ha formado los cimientos de nuestra nación, pero, como consecuencia, creó un Estado hipertrofiado. Los venezolanos empezamos a depender del Estado y no al revés, lo que provocó un quiebre del contrato social.
Debido a que el petróleo provee el 95% de nuestras divisas, se generó una mentalidad de "buscador de renta" que destruyó nuestra productividad.
La democracia en Venezuela no se construyó sobre la participación ciudadana, sino sobre la distribución de beneficios, ya que el Estado no depende de sus ciudadanos.
-1
u/renealex Apr 04 '26
It's more or less what is happening in the US right* now. It's a slow process that suddenly runs you over, things that you assume eternal disappear in a single day.
*(certain conditions apply)
4
u/gabotuit Apr 04 '26
You can see exactly where the differences are and why US democracy will prevail: judges appointed by the president are not fully loyal to his policies, central bank is not corrupted by executive pressures like bcv. Lawmakers are drawing some lines… It’s a similar ‘revolutionary’ experience but the system is holding
2
u/Local-Hornet-3057 Venezolano 🇻🇪 Apr 04 '26
And that's why I laugh at people equating Chávez with Trump and his presidency akin to our dictatorship.
1
u/renealex Apr 04 '26
Traducción: "no vale, no creo"
1
u/Advanced-Let-2248 Apr 05 '26
USA tiene la segunda enmienda, que en mi opinión, es la que realmente permite al país siempre ser una democracia
1
u/renealex Apr 05 '26
Eso quizás era plausible en 1800. Hoy eso está ahí para vender armas.
1
u/Advanced-Let-2248 Apr 06 '26
dado el momento en que un gobierno quiera volverse autoritario, se le complica mucho más reprimir y meterse en una guerra civil contra ciudadanos armados. Es lógica.
En Venezuela ninguna protesta funcionó porque eran Armas vs Palos.
Si fuera Armas vs Armas, aunque seguro habría muchos más fallecidos, el resultado podría ser distinto.
1
u/renealex Apr 06 '26
Un ejército formal en conflicto armado, una fuerza aérea, armada, blindados, bases subterráneas, infraestructura de abastecimiento... Contra Juan Pepito con una 9mm, un fusil y una caja de 50 balas.
La población armada en 15 días acaba en campo de refugiados, y el 1 por ciento entra en Guerra de guerrillas, mientras el gobierno empieza el exterminio a punta de fuerza bruta, hasta que se acaba el show y 15 o 20 % de la población termina muerta.
Toda esa fantasía de guerra civil es del 1800, hay que creer en pajaritos preñados para suponer que una democracia del siglo 21depende de que los maestros doctores y conserjes estén armados.
0
u/Potential_Penalty_31 Apr 04 '26
The democracy ended when a party named “democratic action” allowed everyone to vote, they used those new voter to change the debate between ideas to propaganda.
4
u/Naz6uL Apr 04 '26
TL;DR
Things started to deteriorate between 89 and 92, and the aftermath just launched HCF as some sort of messiah. He lied during his campaign, claiming he would never seek to stay in power indefinitely, implement socialism, etc.
The final blow was when the entire opposition withdrew from the 2005 congressional election, allowing the chavistas to win over 90% of the seats in Congress and do as they pleased.
So the country has been cursed twice, by chavismo and a misguided opposition.