The illegitimate regime of Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela is now threatening the independence of the country’s five public universities.
委内瑞拉总统尼古拉斯·马杜罗的非法政权现在威胁着该国五所公立大学的独立性。
The regime is seeking to replace independent university leadership with Maduro supporters,
政府试图用马杜罗的支持者取代独立的大学领导层，
with the aim of seizing control of school curricula in order to propagandize students with radical socialism.
目的是控制学校课程，向学生鼓吹激进的社会主义。
Venezuela’s universities are some of the last remaining independent institutions in the country.
委内瑞拉的大学是该国仅存的独立机构之一。
In many cases, the regime has already taken over pre-university education,
在许多情况下，政府已经接管了大学预科教育，
indoctrinating students on the embellished legacy of former President Hugo Chavez and his socialist revolution.
向学生灌输前总统乌戈·查韦斯及其社会主义革命的美化遗产。
University leaders are doing their best to resist the efforts of the regime to take control of their institutions.
高校领导们正在尽最大努力抵制政府控制他们学校的努力。
School rectors have delayed holding elections under conditions imposed by the Maduro regime – conditions that violate university regulations.
学校校长推迟了在马杜罗政权强加的条件下举行的选举，这些条件违反了大学的规定。
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.
许多校长推迟退休，希望能等到马杜罗不再构成威胁的时候，再举行自由公正的选举。
But Venezuela’s Maduro-aligned supreme court announced that it would file a ruling to change the law governing how university elections are conducted,
但委内瑞拉支持马杜罗的最高法院宣布，将提交一项裁决，修改有关大学选举如何进行的法律，
opening the door for the regime to begin installing its hand-picked cronies into university leadership positions.
这为政府开始在大学领导层中安上自己精心挑选的亲信打开了大门。
Such a move would be catastrophic for Venezuela’s educational system,
这样的举动对委内瑞拉的教育系统来说是灾难性的，
potentially subjugating an entire generation of youth to indoctrination in Maduro-style socialism.
可能会使整整一代的年轻人屈服于马杜罗式社会主义的灌输。
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.
直到现在，大学系统和国民议会一直是这个国家思想和思想自由的最后堡垒之一。
The universities are a last line of defense, and must remain that way.
大学是最后一道防线，必须保持下去。
The United States condemns the Maduro regime’s efforts to illegitimately take control of Venezuela’s university system.
美国谴责马杜罗政权非法控制委内瑞拉大学系统的行为。
Now is the time for all nations that support democracy in Venezuela to speak out on behalf of the students and university rectors
现在是所有支持委内瑞拉民主的国家代表学生和大学校长发言的时候了，
who are courageously standing up for the independence of Venezuela’s higher education system.
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