https://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/13115
Quote:In the current moment, a constituent assembly might, of course, buy time for the government, by functioning as a distraction. Yet without the possibility of lasting mass mobilization, the assembly will almost surely produce an overall political effect that is negative, amounting to a pact among Chavist elites and possibly between those elites and the traditional ones. Perhaps this will be done in the name of the “peace and stability†that Maduro has turned into his perpetual leitmotif. The other limitation — the elephant in the room — is that the Venezuelan military appears to now directly manage an important part of state power. Though some military representatives will participate in the future constituent assembly, their power has another basis, making the whole thing appear to be even more of a spectacle.
A final comment: the government continues to promote the idea that social representation happens immediately and without friction. Hence eighteen hours after Maduro’s announcement, there appeared magically on television “representatives†of university students, evangelical churches, and indigenous peoples (with their faces painted to avoid any possible confusion), among others. This idea, apart from being ridiculous in itself, has the effect of denying the possibility of an organic and real representation emerging from these very sectors. Effectively it gives the lie to the idea that the constituent assembly is a process. And democracy without process, just like frictionless politics, rings hollow.