Venezuelan regime hypothetically condemned by Simón Bolívar in new essay

Jesús Elorza's essay "¡Bolívar Vive!" speculates how Simón Bolívar would react if he were alive today. The author argues that Bolívar would denounce the current Venezuelan government led by the Rodríguez brothers as a usurping regime that betrays Bolívar’s principles of absolute sovereignty, republican institutionalism and opposition to oppression. The essay cites Bolívar’s Angostura speech warning against prolonged personal power, his condemnation of armies turned against civilians, and his vision of a strong separation of powers, suggesting he would view the regime’s reliance on U.S. support as a form of foreign tutelage that undermines Venezuelan independence.