She got stood up, once again…

This is how Venezuela felt after the downfall of the oppositional initiative to take the reins of the country and lead it once again to democracy.

After 17 years of social transformations, thanks to the gradually repressive, torturer and even psychotic system founded by Hugo Chávez, the country’s fracture has finally given up, breaking into two irreconcilable halves.

If you’re not Venezuelan, it’s hard to understand the fact that we have never lived neither Socialism nor Communism, or any similar political system. We’re used to discussions beginning with “But, didn’t Chavez…?” To give in despair and leave everyone else with their own conclusions, before allow us to be engulfed in a debate that could take hours and destroy brief friendships.

But after the massive Venezuelan brain drain and the plummet in the economy, the Mesa de la Unidad Opositora (Spanish for the opposition coalition), has been poking around in fog, against the need to face the Goliath that the “Reds” represent.

An inflation soaring around the 500%, the general shortage, the humanitarian crisis and the constant rise in the number of political prisoners, has finally exposed what all Venezuelans knew and nobody believed: the Chavist government has been and still is a brutal dictatorship.

Before such scenario, the popular will leaned towards the opposition in the Elections of December 6^th 2015 when choosing the representatives in the National Assembly, chaired this time by Henry Ramos Allup – a political character, well known for his alliance to the Democratic party – whose handling has denoted the supposed determination of the Venezuelan opposition to recover what’s left of the country.

After adhering to the Constitution and evaluating the legal procedures to the request for the recall referendum against the current President Nicolás Maduro, the National Assembly authorized the recollection of signatures on April 26^th 2016, which was immediately boycotted, postponed and finally annulled by the National Electoral Council, in a gesture of total illegality.

Before the facts, that took over 5 months, the Venezuelan opposition called on the people to take the streets and manifest peacefully against the violation of the fundamental democratic rights. But knowing little about this regime, no manifestation is ever untouched. The parallel militia showed up protected by the Army and the results where as usual.

More radical sectors of the opposition, such as Vente Venezuela, called the people to the streets, to the radicalization of the protests and to a march towards the Palacio de Miraflores, in Caracas. But the called “mediator” opposition coalition answered an international call from the Vatican and several international political representatives, to begin a dialogue around the peaceful resolution of the country’s situation.

The beginning of the dialogue between the Venezuelan opposition and the government was scheduled for October the 30^th and was attended by Martín Torrijos (Ex-president of Panama), Leonel Fernández (Ex-president of Dominican Republic), Claudio María Celli (envoy from the Vatican), Monsignor Aldo Giordano (Apostolic Nuncio in Venezuela), Ernesto Samper (General Secretary of Unasur) and José L. Rodríguez Zapatero (Ex-president of Spain), as “mediators” and international observers.

On his hand, the government representatives were Jorge Rodríguez (Mayor of the Libertador Municipality), Delcy Rodríguez (Chancellor of the Republic), Elías Jaua (PSUV deputy) and Roy Chaderton (former ambassador).

Finally, the representatives of the opposition were Jesús “Chuo” Torrealba (Opposition leader), Luis Aquiles Moreno (National Sub-Secretary of the Democratic party), Carlos Ocaríz (Mayor of the Municipality of Sucre), Timoteo Zambrano (Opposition leader) and Henry Falcón (Governor of the State of Lara).

The debate was transmitted only through the channels of the government, with great emphasis on the broadcast edition since the independent media wasn’t allowed in the meeting.

The topics where very different: from the “commitment” to keep the peace, the political prisoners situation and the respect to the constitutional competences, to the “joint” actions, the restocking of the country and the attention over the urgent economic issues.

The Venezuelan population, armed with flags and hopes, was left by itself, sitting on their houses watching how their future was being discussed among strangers that know very little about the situation in their country and that even argue that it’s a matter of international interest, before the incompetence of the opposition that supposedly represents them.

Venezuela has passed 17 years in the limbo of “This is it!”, waiting for the moment when everything will go back to normal, waiting for the country of opportunities, the country that nobody abandoned but that received everyone else. Seems like, once again, the economic interest outshined the pain of millions of people.

The ignorant and the one that suffers were stood up… once again.