Dear Editor,
US Ambassador Perry Holloway in an opinion piece (SN Jun 10) expressed concern about the violation of democratic norms, rising violence, and increasing authoritarian tendencies in Venezuela. It was the decent and right thing to do; people should have a natural right to freedom and democratic rule.
Similar concerns, as noted by Ambassador Perry, were penned in an earlier letter by a host of former Presidents of countries in Central and South America that was published in SN. Mr Perry and the former leaders should be applauded for focusing attention on happenings in Venezuela. But to avoid charges of duplicity, similar remarks should have been voiced about Guyana (during the period of the PNC dictatorship) by US Ambassadors to Guyana during the 1970s and 1980s. The nation was looking to the US for rescue from the Burnham dictatorship. The US was the beacon of democracy; everyone globally looked to America for leadership as a guarantor of democratic rule. America has a moral right to take measures against human rights abuses as indeed it has done in so many countries. But it was not until 1990, after a quarter century of abuse of democratic rights, that the US government took a U turn and demanded the restoration of democratic rule in Guyana.
Contrary to what Ambassador Reina Arratia Diaz penned (‘US Ambassador’s article reflects meddling in Venezuela’s domestic affairs’ SN June 21), it is not meddling in a nation’s affairs when the America Ambassador comments about violations of democracy and/or human rights in Venezuela or any other country. Such soft interference, as it is called, has become routine in recent times in country after country where human dignity has been violated. International organizations and leaders of countries are known to condemn violations of human rights in many countries. The US has spoken out against violations of basic rights in countless dictatorships in Africa and Asia, including those allied with the US. So called meddling or interference on humanitarian grounds is justified, but unfortunately such intervention has not been consistent, and often times it was plain political rather than moral.
The international community must consistently condemn and take action against violations of democratic rule and abuse of human rights regardless of the political affiliation of the nation concerned.
Yours faithfully,
Vishnu Bisram
