Pulling no punches, Venezuelan Bishop Oswaldo Azuaje Pérez said Monday that his country is being run by “a civilian-military narco-dictatorship” that is looting the country and bringing it to the breaking point.
Named by Pope Benedict XVI as bishop of the diocese of Trujillo, Azuaje’s strong remarks stand in sharp contrast to the more conciliatory tones taken by the Vatican in dealing with Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro. Ten days ago, Pope Francis called on the government, as well as Venezuelan citizens, “to avoid any other forms of violence, to respect human rights, and to seek a negotiated solution.”
The pope suggested that the opposition to Maduro is “divided,” a claim that was roundly rejected by two-time opposition presidential candidate Henrique Capriles Radonski.
In a phone interview, Bishop Azuaje told La Prensa that his country faces not only a dramatic political crisis, but also a serious food crisis, which has provoked political opposition and citizen protests in the streets.
The prelate also accused the Maduro government of “plundering” the nation’s coffers, resulting in the loss of “billions of dollars.”
President Maduro’s move last March to remove powers to the National Assembly, which is currently dominated by the political opposition, was “the breaking point” that unleashed the political crisis, Azuaje said.
The bishop listed a number of crimes that the Maduro regime has committed against the country’s constitution, such as “choosing a Supreme Court outside regulations and laws and outside the spirit of the Constitution” as well as voiding Congress of power, which “did not go over well in [their] country.”
Recently, the Venezuelan Episcopal Conference criticized the Maduro regime’s call for a Constitutional Assembly, underscoring that “what the Venezuelan people need most is food, medicine, freedom, personal and legal security and peace.”
“Venezuela does not need to reform the Constitution, but to fulfill it,” the bishops said.
The bishops also stated that the reform of the Constitution that Maduro wants “is unnecessary and dangerous for Venezuelan democracy, for integral human development and for the peace of society.”
Bishop Azuaje said that Venezuelans are overwhelmingly opposed to the Constitutional Assembly that Maduro proposed, which he compared to attempts by Hugo Chávez to impose a communist or socialist state.
“This week there will be demonstrations against the Constitutional Assembly,” he said, noting that the opposition has “taken the lead in everything.”
Azuaje expressed no doubt regarding Venezuela’s current crisis, declaring that “the primary culprit is Maduro as president and his clique,” such as the anti-clerical Diosdado Cabello, Tareck El Aissami, and the Defense Minister, Padrino Lopez.
Bishop Azuaje has defended the hard line taken by the nation’s bishops in dealing with Maduro, noting that they are only seeking the good of the country.
The bishops have been critical but constructive, he said. “What happens is that the government has become more sensitive so any criticism is simply interpreted as a position of even partisan opposition,” he said.
Venezuela lives under “a growing authoritarianism,” he said, where “economic freedom does not exist.”
“No one can understand how such a rich country is going through what is happening, where there is no industry, there is not enough production, where everything is excessively expensive and you have to settle for what there is and if not, you shut your mouth,” Azuaje said.
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