VOA常速英语:委内瑞拉的大学拒绝被政府接管

The illegitimate regime of Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela is now threatening the independence of the country’s five public universities. The regime is seeking to replace independent university leadership with Maduro supporters, with the aim of seizing control of school curricula in order to propagandize students with radical socialism.
Venezuela’s universities are some of the last remaining independent institutions in the country. In many cases, the regime has already taken over pre-university education, indoctrinating students on the embellished legacy of former President Hugo Chavez and his socialist revolution.

University leaders are doing their best to resist the efforts of the regime to take control of their institutions. School rectors have delayed holding elections under conditions imposed by the Maduro regime – conditions that violate university regulations. Many rectors are putting off retirement in an effort to hold out for free and fair elections at a later date – when, hopefully, Maduro no longer poses a threat. But Venezuela’s Maduro-aligned supreme court announced that it would file a ruling to change the law governing how university elections are conducted, opening the door for the regime to begin installing its hand-picked cronies into university leadership positions.
Such a move would be catastrophic for Venezuela’s educational system, potentially subjugating an entire generation of youth to indoctrination in Maduro-style socialism. Until now, the university system, along with the National Assembly, has been one of the country’s last bastions of freedom of thought and ideas. The universities are a last line of defense, and must remain that way.
The United States condemns the Maduro regime’s efforts to illegitimately take control of Venezuela’s university system. Now is the time for all nations that support democracy in Venezuela to speak out on behalf of the students and university rectors who are courageously standing up for the independence of Venezuela’s higher education system.