Bp Victor Basabe

A Venezuelan lawmaker took a rhetorical swing at a prominent bishop in the country last month, soon after the bishop blamed Venezuela’s ruling political party for the country’s dire economic and political situation.
It’s nothing new in Venezuela for a politician to criticize the Church.
But when it happened in January, the criticism came as a surprise to some political observers in the country because it happened while senior officials in the country’s government – including President Nicolas Maduro – have been courting a better relationship with the Church.
In fact, the context tells a much bigger story about the state of the Venezuelan Catholic hierarchy and its relationship with the Venezuelan regime, well-known for causing a grave economic, political, and humanitarian crisis in the country.
The lawmaker was Diosdado Cabello, who is also the second-ranking official in the Venezuelan United Socialist Party, led by dictator Nicolas Maduro for more than a decade.
The churchman was Bishop Victor Basabe, a young and prominent bishop in the country. Cabello was unsparing in his criticism of the prelate, and of the Venezuelan bishops’ conference.
“That ecclesiastical hierarchy has historically turned its back on the people. They haven’t realized that their attitude has led other religions to welcome so many Venezuelans, thanks to the petty politics of the episcopal conference, every last one of them,” Cabello said in a January press conference.
Cabello, who has been sanctioned by the U.S. and the EU for allegedly leading a cartel that smuggles hard drugs to the U.S. from Venezuela, is among the most powerful men in the Venezuelan regime. The politician is widely regarded as one of President Maduro’s most influential deputies and he has a long history with the Venezuelan regime.
“When Hugo Chávez staged a coup attempt against a democratically-elected government in Venezuela in 1992, Cabello was one of the many military officers who joined him. When [Chávez] became president, Cabello turned into one of his strongest allies and collaborators,” Enderson Sequera, a Venezuelan political analyst, told The Pillar.
“Cabello imposes fear in Venezuela. From his TV show, he created operación tun-tun ‘operation knock-knock.’ Cabello mentions a list of names on his show, accuses them of committing a crime, and hours later, the SEBIN – the political police of the regime – raids their homes,” Sequera explained.
Diosdado Cabello is clearly a powerful man in Venezuela. But why does it matter that he criticized a bishop, or the bishops’ conference? Doesn’t his party criticize the Church in Venezuela often?
It does.
But what happened in January might point to part of the regime’s political strategy for engagement with the Church while the Maduro administration is reportedly looking to Rome to help Venezuela address its international problems.
The concordat
Víctor Hugo Basabe, 61, is the bishop of San Felipe, a small diocese in the western region of Venezuela. Since 2020, he’s also been apostolic administrator of the Archdiocese of Barquisimeto.
Basabe’s position in Barquisimeto is a temporary one; he is not the permanent archbishop of the city, despite his two-year tenure at its helm, and the favorable impression he’s made among other Venezuelan Church leaders.
But while Catholics outside Venezuela might expect Basabe to be appointed soon as Barquisimeto’s archbishop, few in the country are holding their breath.
The reason is probably a political concordat between the Venezuelan state and the Vatican, signed in 1965, which governs the Church’s appointment of bishops.
The agreement requires that before the Vatican appoints a diocesan bishop, the Holy See “shall send the candidate’s name to the President of the Republic, so that he may state whether he has any objections of a general political nature to oppose the appointment.”
“In case of such objections, the Holy See will indicate the name of another candidate.”
In other words, Venezuela’s dictator has the right to thwart the appointment of any diocesan bishop. But he can’t, according to the agreement, stop the Holy See from appointing apostolic administrators theoretically temporary diocesan leaders, who can be given the power of archbishop, but not the stability of office.
That might explain why Basabe, an outspoken critic of the Maduro regime, is apostolic administrator, not archbishop.
‘A political enemy’
It would be an understatement to say that the Church has had a significant role in the history of Venezuela. In reality, you can’t understand the country’s history without understanding something about the Catholic faith.
If you go to elementary school in Venezuela, it’s one of the first history lessons you learn.
Venezuela was once a Spanish colony, led by a Crown appointee. But amid the Napoleonic invasion of Spain in the early 19th century, some Venezuelans began calling for their country’s independence.
Things came to a head on April 19, 1810, which was Holy Thursday.
On that day a crowd had gathered in Caracas, protesting the Spanish government. A few representatives spoke with Vicente Emparan, the Spanish Captain General of Venezuela, telling him that the people wanted independence from Spain.
An 1835 painting depicts an 1810 confrontation between Vicente Emparan and the Venezuelans calling for the country’s independence. “19 de April,” Juan Lovera, 1835. public domain.
Emparan went out on a balcony that day to ask the gathered crowd if they still wanted him as their ruler.
Behind Emparan stood a priest, Fr. José Cortes de Madariaga, who signaled to the people that they should say no. They did. Emparan resigned his office, and fled to the United States.
The moment paved the way for the eventual Declaration of Independence in Venezuela, issued July 5, 1811 and Fr. Cortés de Madariaga played an important role.
Daniel González, a Venezuelan historian, told The Pillar that the Church has continued to occupy an important role in Venezuela as a voice for public morality, and for public justice.
“The Church has always had an important socio-political role in Venezuela,” González explained.
The Church’s voice “has been moulded by a concern for the most needed in society, for example, through a large network of schools that are partially funded by the state,” he added.
“Many religious institutes have built schools, universities, soup kitchens, outpatient clinics, which allow them to reach parts of the country that the government simply cannot reach,” González added.
‘A constructive dialogue’
After decades of political repression in Venezuela, the Catholic Church remains one of the few local institutions that is relatively free to criticize the country’s political regime.
The bishops’ conference has rarely been timid in denouncing human rights violations and the dire economic situation of the country.
While Pope Francis has mostly remained silent about the country, he has said that “my voice …resounds in the voice of the Venezuelan bishops,” a sentiment which has encouraged the country’s prelates to continue speaking out against the regime.
The bishops can speak out in Venezuela because the large network of schools and social services operated by the Church in the country forces the government to be careful in its dealings.
The Church also enjoys widespread public trust in Venezuela, leaving the Maduro regime usually careful not to push back much against the prelates.
Recent polling shows that “two-thirds of Venezuelans consider the Church the most trustworthy institution in the country,” according to the political analyst Sequera, who runs Politiks, a local political consulting firm.
“In a country that distrusts the government and opposition equally, the Church is an institution that goes beyond political or ideological divides. For its enormous credibility and moral power, it has become an actor which all can trust, and a potential mediator in political negotiations,” he added.

Recent polling shows that “two-thirds of Venezuelans consider the Church the most trustworthy institution in the country.”

Mr. Cabello

The role of the Church is regarded as especially important in Venezuela in recent years, as the Maduro regime is aiming to see U.S. and EU sanctions on the country lifted, without major concessions. Some government leaders believe the Church can play a big mediation role in Maduro’s diplomatic efforts.
“Maduro is taking pressure away from his relationship with the Catholic Church because he is seeking to legitimize himself through the negotiations in Mexico with the opposition,” María Verónica Torres, a political consultant and canon lawyer, told The Pillar.
In November, Archbishop Edgar Peña Parra, second-in-command at the Vatican’s Secretariat of State of the Vatican, traveled to Venezuela, his home country.
When the archbishop met with Maduro, many analysts thought that the government was looking to the Vatican to mediate between its government and Western countries imposing sanctions.
In an interview after the encounter, Peña Parra said that he was hopeful that Venezuela would have “a constructive dialogue that really takes [the country] ahead.”
While no major details were shared, it is widely believed that Peña Parra’s meeting with Maduro led to Cardinal Porras’s appointment as Archbishop of Caracas, after four years of serving as apostolic administrator. Maduro’s approval of the appointment is perceived as a sign of good faith offered to the Vatican.
Maduro, in short, has been making a special effort to show goodwill to the Church.
And that’s why Cabello’s January criticism of the bishops’ conference – and the ensuing protests against Basabe – came as something of a surprise.
‘Good cop, bad cop?’
Analysts have had differing readings of Cabello’s sharp criticism of the bishops’ conference.
“I think Cabello and Maduro are doing a ‘good cop, bad cop” bit,” political analyst Sequera suggested.
“Maduro is a friendly, diplomatic face that tries to improve his relationship with the Church. Maduro’s son is the VP of religious affairs in the ruling party and his father gives him many of these tasks. On the other hand, Cabello is the bad cop. He’s there to remind the Church of the punishment they might suffer if they cross the red line,” Sequera added.
Torres, the political consultant, took a different view. She questioned whether the Maduro regime really intends any positive relationship with the Church.
“There might be some internal disagreement in the regime. There are different groups of power within them and that means that their political interests may not align every time,” Torres conceded.
But that’s not the whole story, she said.
“I cannot call it a rapprochement because there are no common interests or common will to strengthen the religious identity of the country with the Catholic Church and the Evangelical Churches.”
“I don’t think there is an honest dialogue because it’s just a political strategy to obtain what they need. They want to show that they are close to God and religion because the presidential election is near and religion is still important in Venezuela.”