Former president of Jorge Tuto Quiroga defended direct elections in Venezuela as soon as possible, and criticized the passivity of the fact that Delcy Rodriguez remains in the country’s Presidency. She was deputy to Nicolás Maduro, the dictator who was kidnapped by the American government in January.
“It pains me to see the passivity of the region, which does not say that it is unsustainable to remove Maduro and install his assistant Delcy, while the people have no right to choose,” he said in
Linked to the center-right, Quiroga governed Bolivia between 2001 and 2002. Last year, he ran for office again, but lost in the second round.
According to him, the future of Venezuela will be fundamental to advancing the cause of freedom on the continent.
“Venezuela’s fight is impressive, and the challenge is to stop waiting for what the USA, Donald Trump and Marco Rubio want and start asking what we are going to do to help them vote and choose their governments”, he stated, to applause from the audience, made up mostly of young liberals. “Today we have the opportunity to free the land of the son who gave us freedom, Simón Bolívar.”
He also criticized the legacy of left-wing governments in his country, especially former president Evo Morales. According to Quiroga, Evo wasted the country’s gas reserves and did not open new energy sources.
“Today we sell more cocaine to Brazil than we sell gas. Today Petrobras is not coming [à Bolívia]but the PCC and Comando Vermelho are coming”, he stated.
Critical of the Latin American left, he directed attacks in his speech at what he called the “three pirates of the Caribbean”: the socialist regimes in Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua.
The former president did not want to comment on the political situation in Brazil, saying only that the presidential elections this year in the country and in Colombia will help define whether it will live in an environment of freedom or not.
Asked about the El Salvador government’s action against criminal groups, which is generally applauded by the right, he adopted a measured tone. He said he approves of the fight against gangs, but criticized President Nayib Bukele’s maneuvers to stay in power.
“In El Salvador they did a good job against the gangs, but care must be taken, you cannot exchange security for the rules of change of power,” he stated.
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