Once bitten, twice shy

He’ll never get those months back

Maduro wants dialogue. He wants to sit down and have a chat with the murderous, fascist, imperialist, anti-homeland, drug-snorting, baby-eating, racist, mysoginist haters of the poor he calls the opposition.

That means you and me.

We’ve been through this before. Remember the “Mesa de Diálogo“? Last time the government and the opposition sat down to talk, it was 2003, and the OAS Secretary General had to make his residence in Caracas to make it happen.

Remember the outcome? Two documents came of this dialogue. A declaration for Peace and Against Violence, and a final agreement. It’s worth looking back at these.

Among other things, these documents stated that both sides, the government and the opposition, agreed to:

• avoid “mutual recriminations, hurtful language, and any rhetoric that contributes or stimulates confrontation”;
• form a Truth Commission to deal with the violence of those years;
• reject insults or offense as a way of dealing with political differences;
• call for peace and tolerance;
• form an instance of permanent dialogue between the government and the opposition;
• promote the disarmament of the civilian population;
• form an independent, trustworthy, transparent, and impartial Electoral Council;
• protect freedom of expression.

I really don’t have to stress that none of these points came to be. In fact, these points read like a recipe of everything that Venezuela deliberately is not.

So I say to Capriles and the rest of the opposition: ignore calls for dialogue. There is no possibility for any type of dialogue.

You want to talk? Try releasing Judge Afiuni. You wanna chat? Audit the election thoroughly. You wanna get together and chill? Fire Iris Varela. You’re serious about dialogue? Then don’t name Diosdado Cabello – who recently said the opposition could not even talk in the National Assembly – to lead a group for dialogue.

Dialogue requires trust. Show some signs you are open to dialogue. Show many of them. Otherwise, this is just an unserious charade.

None of this is going to happen, so there is no possible dialogue. And even if it was possible, I would vehemently oppose it – it is not going to lead anywhere, and there is nothing to gain by it.

Let’s not forget that one of the signatories of the documents referenced above was a guy named Nicolás Maduro.