The former governor of Carabobo, Venezuela, Henrique Fernando Salas-Römer (son of the also former governor Henrique Salas-Römer Senior), addresses one of the most uncomfortable questions in Latin American politics: why democracy collapses so easily while totalitarian regimes seem to withstand the tests of time and history.
"I have always wondered how it is possible for democracy to be so weak and so easily uprooted, while totalitarian regimes are so difficult to remove. What are we doing wrong in democracy that makes it so vulnerable? With a snap, it disappears, while you can push back against these regimes and they still remain," commented journalist Tania Costa to interviewee Salas-Römer Jr., live on CiberCuba.
The ex-governor's response highlights an essentially cultural problem. "The issue is that when a human being lives in freedom, they think it came for free, that no one had to fight for it. And at the end of the day, we realize, when these totalitarian regimes emerge, that freedom has its price."
The analysis by the former governor of Carabobo —who held the position between 1996 and 2004 and again from 2008 to 2012— comes at a time of double regional crisis: the seventh nationwide blackout in Cuba in 18 months, which occurred on July 6, 2026, and the interview granted by Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro, “El Cangrejo,” grandson of Raúl Castro, to the American newspaper USA Today, in which he offered to negotiate with Trump the future of Cuba without "sacrificing the revolution."
Salas-Römer Jr. warns that both the Cuban and Venezuelan regimes operate in what he describes as "survival mode," aware that they are losing control over their populations. In the case of Venezuela, he expresses concern that Delcy Rodríguez —who assumed the role of acting president on January 5, 2026, following the capture of Nicolás Maduro— is using the apparent stabilization as a deliberate tactic.
"I am concerned that Delcy Rodríguez and her associates see stabilization as a way to buy time to see if they can stay in power permanently, and then a new democratic government arrives, and the hope that the Venezuelan people have held onto fades away."
To support that fear, the former governor references the precedent of Barack Obama's approach to Cuba, announced in December 2014. “During the Obama era, when considering some of the decisions to engage with Cuba, many of us believed that a solution was being sought for the issues in Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua, but rather what they did was strengthen ties.”
Salas-Römer also outlines a network of connections that he deems essential for understanding the persistence of these regimes. "I wanted to make clear these invisible yet existing links between the Forum of São Paulo and the Socialist International, which includes well-known financiers like George Soros, as well as several foundations with significant funding that support this hegemony." He describes this agenda as "a counterculture that goes against our Judeo-Christian values and seeks instead to undermine the family."
In this context, the former governor criticizes the leadership of the Democratic Party for being, in his view, "practically taken over by individuals who are deeply committed to ideas related to that radical left that does not seek to solve problems," and that "are not addressing the main issues facing the people, which are economic concerns and food security."
Regarding the Cuban-American vote, Salas-Römer agrees with Tania Costa that "it is difficult for Cubans to support the Democrats, among other reasons because the Democrats do nothing to attract the Cuban vote." He also adds that, although there are serious and respectable Democrats, he regrets "that the leadership of the Democratic Party is dominated by the most radical wing, which drives away a lot of people."
The host of Transición in Cuba encapsulated the weight of this moment with a phrase that summarizes the anguish of those closely following both crises: "We are all watching... With our hearts in our throats, observing what is happening in Venezuela, because that experience will likely apply in Cuba."
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