Kick Copei out of the MUD
It’s not me, it’s you.
The recent decision by Venezuela’s Supreme Tribunal, ordering Copei to put in place a board consisting of people they selected, presents a difficult conundrum for the opposition coalition, the MUD.
The key thing here is that the Supreme Tribunal has ordered the Elections Council to only accept the roster of candidates the new Copei board proposes. Indirectly, the Supreme Tribunal is selecting who the opposition candidates for Congress will be! (At least some of them)
Picture the scenario: the TSJ-appointed copeyanos (including completely unknown figures Pedro Urrieta, Ibis Alemán, Alexis Gutiérrez, Wilgen Fernández, Silvia Melina Vásquez, Orlando Medina and Miguel Salazar) decide who their candidates for the Legislature are going to be. We end up with Ricardo Sánchez Clones #1, 2, 3, and 4. Guess what happens if we end up winning by a margin of, say, three legislators? It doesn’t take a genius to see what they have up their sleeve.
This is a trap – a clear, transparent ploy to intervene in the opposition’s internal politics. It doesn’t take a genius to divine who this Pedro Urrieta character is, for example – because … since when has the opposition ever won something in the chavista Supreme Tribunal? There is no doubt in my mind that Urrieta and his buddies are chavista hacks. The proof is in the fact that they actually got the TSJ to rule in their favor. I rest my case, your honor.
The TSJ-appointed Copei is a cancer inside the opposition, and sadly, the way to treat a cancer is to extirpate it. The only way forward is for the MUD to expel the TSJ-PSUV-Copei Frankenstein from its ranks and from the opposition coalition. Anyone who has ever seen a zombie or vampire movie will understand what I’m getting at.
These are crucial times, and we can’t be playing around. We can’t risk the December election by allowing Trojan horses or Manchurian candidates. If that’s the way the TSJ is going to play, then we have no choice but to cut them loose. It needs to be done in a delicate manner, preserving the elements within Copei who can actually play in the team, but it needs to be done. Soon.
Copei is more of a danger inside the MUD than outside of it.
Caracas Chronicles is 100% reader-supported.
We’ve been able to hang on for 22 years in one of the craziest media landscapes in the world. We’ve seen different media outlets in Venezuela (and abroad) closing shop, something we’re looking to avoid at all costs. Your collaboration goes a long way in helping us weather the storm.
Donate
