Cuba's coup de grâce in Venezuela

Cuba's coup de grâce in Venezuela
By Roger Noriega
Published March 06, 2013
FoxNews.com

In this July 22, 2006 photo released by Miraflores Press Office,
Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez , right, speak with Cuba's Fidel
Castro during their visit to the home of Cuban revolutionary Ernesto
"Che" Guevara in Cordoba, Argentina. Venezuela's Vice President Nicolas
Maduro announced on Tuesday, March 5, 2013 that Chavez has died. Chavez,
58, was first diagnosed with cancer in June 2011. (AP Photo/Miraflores
Press Office) (AP2013)

For two long years, Venezuelan leader Hugo Chávez's Cuban medical team
perpetrated a colossal deception of the Venezuelan people and the world
about his bout with terminal cancer. According to knowledgeable sources,
Cuban doctors botched the initial treatment that doomed Chavez,
manipulated his anxiety and paranoia so he would settle for substandard
medical care in Havana, and pushed him back on to the campaign trail
despite the impact on his health.

Quite plainly, the Cuban regime traded Chávez's life for its own
survival – knowing that its bankrupt economy depends on Venezuelan
generosity. Unfortunately, the Cubans are not done administering to
Venezuela – putting that country's constitution under the knife.

Article 233 of that charter says, in part, "When an elected president
becomes permanently unavailable to serve prior to his inauguration, a
new election by universal suffrage and direct ballot shall be held
within 30 consecutive days. Pending election and inauguration of the new
president, the president of the National Assembly shall take charge of
the presidency of the Republic." [Emphasis added]

After years of ignoring Chávez's authoritarianism, the
international community might finally muster the courage to speak up to
prevent bloodshed.

Today, Chávez is as "permanently unavailable to serve" as president of
Venezuela as anyone can be. He was out of the country and unable to
take the oath of office on Jan. 10, when his new term should have
commenced; the cronies on his supreme court pushed back his inauguration
to a time convenient to the president. So, he was never inaugurated and
never will be. A plain reading of Article 233 makes National Assembly
chief Diosdado Cabello the custodian of the presidency until new
elections can be held. But Havana does not like Cabello, and the feeling
is mutual.

Havana favors Nicolas Maduro, whom Chávez named late last year as vice
president. If Chávez had taken the oath of office and initiated his new
term, Maduro might have some claim to succession. However, Chávez's term
was never inaugurated, so there is no mandate for Maduro to claim.
Indeed, the moment Chávez died, Maduro became no one's vice president.

The Cubans have no choice but to run the risk of awakening Venezuelan
nationalism. Not only did they essentially sequester another country's
president for the last 90 days, they even summoned Venezuelan ministers
to Havana to hold imaginary cabinet meetings. In recent weeks,
university students have protested Cuban interference in Venezuela's
internal affairs. Nationalistic military officers – most of whom favor
the veteran Cabello and were trained to oppose Cuban communism – have
grumbled about Havana's heavy-handed stage-managing of a succession that
favors Havana's selfish interests.

According to sources in Venezuela, the country's security forces are
divided – with most of the military muscle lining up behind Cabello.
However, with 30,000 Cubans – including disciplined mobile hit squads –
roaming the streets and monitoring the movements of every Venezuelan
military officer, Havana will put up a fight. If that sparks a civil war
in which thousands of Venezuelans might die, so be it.

After years of ignoring Chávez's authoritarianism, the international
community might finally muster the courage to speak up to prevent
bloodshed. The solution appears to be fairly straightforward: a
constitutional succession and new elections to choose a president.

If Maduro wants to be president and defender of the Venezuelan
Constitution, he can play by the rules and compete for the job. Of
course, before the democratic opposition hits the campaign trail yet
again, they are insisting on simple but profound reforms to ensure a
level playing field and a fair process in which all the votes are
counted. These concepts might be alien to a bunch of thugs from Cuba,
but Venezuelans have gotten fairly used to elections of one sort or another.

If Havana gets its way on interpreting the Venezuelan Constitution in a
manner that hands power to its puppet, who can object when Cuba vetoes
new elections? And if new elections are held, does anyone expect the
Castro brothers to risk holding a freer or fairer process?

In recent months, the U.S. State Department has found itself in the
awkward position of favoring Havana's hand-picked candidate, holding
secret talks with Maduro beginning last November aimed at normalizing
bilateral relations. Yesterday, Maduro rewarded the naïveté of U.S.
diplomats by expelling two military officers assigned to the U.S.
Embassy for allegedly destabilizing Venezuela; he also suggested that
Chávez might have been poisoned.

As of this morning, it is not too late for Washington to be as effective
as Havana when it comes to defending our values and interests. By this
afternoon, the Cubans' coup de grâce against Venezuela's constitution
may be irreversible.



Roger F. Noriega was Ambassador to the Organization ofAmerican States
from 2001-2003 and Assistant Secretary of State from 2003-2005. He is a
visiting fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and managing
director of Vision Americas LLC, which represents U.S. and foreign
clients, and contributes to www.interamericansecuritywatch.com.

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