In paramilitarism it has been possible to determine that the paramilitaries have a political discourse, regardless of the country, region, state or area where they are, they always have a fundamental trait in mind, they engage in politics and pretend to be a Para-State in the absence or coexistence with the true state; but although not very coherent, his political language, at least not more incoherent and primitive than the other political, legal and extralegal actors who play in the world of political partisanship.
Now, one thing is theory and another is practice. In the case of the paramilitaries, it should be noted that the theory is very different from the practice, so it is necessary to know a little more in-depth about their political practice towards the civilian population in the areas where they have influence, in addition to determining how this it translates into political participation, more or less clandestine, that they can exercise in the regions and through it also throughout the country.
Most of the explanations that have been tried to define why illegal armed groups have succeeded in replacing the functions of the State in countries where this armed phenomenon has occurred, even in countries where they have been able to count on political representation, revolves around the thesis of the absence or partial collapse of the State. Said in a very simple way, as every human community needs to have some institutions that fulfill the most basic functions of regulation of society, such as the exercise of a certain notion of law and order; It is then when the State is not capable or does not have the will to exercise these functions that other institutions and / or organizations arise that replace the State, totally or partially.
That, of course, does not mean that the absence of the State necessarily produces armed organizations, but once these exist they have adopted the logic of filling the power gaps left by the State and from there try to build their own nuclei of counter-power.
In many areas, this is the “law” that is imposed by the absence of the state. But there are also areas where there is a presence of the State, where by the way there may be mayors, governors, municipal councils, and even military commanders, commanders of the ZODIS, and the so-called protectors, and I repeat the presence of the police and the Army, but where there is also “the parallel law” which is often the strongest.
Above all, this is the case with paramilitary groups, or dissident irregular groups that can operate in border states because they share the territorial domain of their areas with the State. In any case, “the law of the bush” is an arbitrary and undemocratic order, but at the same time much more effective than state institutions. For example, what is currently happening in Apure the paramilitaries, dissidents and guerrillas dominate the territory, in case anything happens they can call them. In short, it may be that paramilitary “justice” is arbitrary, draconian, undemocratic and implies the exercise of a very high level of violence, but it is effective and that generates acceptance and adherence among the population, due to a condition of collective fear, and adaptation and survival.
Although there is no doubt that the irregular and paramilitary groups have managed to build alliances with sectors of the legal policy, it is no less true that these groups respond only to particular interests, and this also constitutes a problem for the State, for the rigged official. In many cases, the paramilitaries and the guerrillas generate actions of such grotesque violence that the State, in an attempt to appear to be order and maintain irregular and illegal actions within a supposed status quoYou need to take action against these irregular groups with which you have a relationship. And it is when we see how violence overflows and the warlike reality of irregular actions comes to light, and in many cases the state pays the consequences in military confrontations with irregular groups, which I repeat, in many cases the state is the one who carries out the worst part, and that means in casualties of soldiers for the nation.
In any case, there is a very clear contradiction between theory and practice of the paramilitaries and the irregular groups, simply the practice, not only in the internal armed conflict of an unconventional nature, but also in politics, they contradict each other and therefore lack credibility for a possible political project that they can publicly manage. Therefore, although they are articulated with the population in some regions, it is most likely that they do not represent, either in theory or in practice, a viable political project as a hypothetical electoral alternative in the future; leveraged on the messianic ideas of the socialist left, or misnamed 21st century socialism. This fact, together with a series of other logics, makes it very difficult to find any political solution to the cessation of violence by irregular groups in Venezuela, in the short, medium and possibly not in the long term, without taking into account the legal cost and the imposition of penalties. , which they must face for having transgressed the legal systems.
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