Maduro, with his strategic vision shaped by years of internal and external tensions, seeks to ensure the continuity of the Chavista project to turn it into a luminous design, a transcendent political act in history (Photo: El Cayapo)
After the second intercapitalist war in Europe (1939-45), financial-speculative capital decided to take over the world under the pretext of the end of history, but the real truth is that the development of capitalism always leads to its blockage; in all its crises the same thing happens: blockage, war, restart. But in this seismic crisis, its aftershocks are continuous, unstoppable and greater. There is no way to stop it because its current obstruction is confronted by the incapacity of consumption, allowing the blockage to increase. This can lead to sudden death.
Not even the incorporation of new technologies such as electronics, computers and robotics into industry has been able to bring capitalism out of shock, and every day its illness requires ultra-drastic measures to avoid its death in catastrophic conditions.
But when we talk about death we are talking about us, people who live in the system and who will be affected by this calamity, because in the end the owners will recover under other conditions, but they will continue to be the owners of the slaves that we are, even if we do not want it or believe it.
Everything is very clear, as it has never been before; the fog has lifted, all the points are explicit; all the actors are well defined, the stuntmen, the protagonists and the co-protagonists, the extras, the stagehands, directors and producers, a great production. A plot that contains demagogy, sex, terrorism, robbery, crime and is directed by a Tarantino imitator who, like all crude imitators, will try to surpass the master, taking us to the paroxysm of violence, flooding the screen with blood until it drips towards the audience, who will shout in chorus: "How clever, not even Tarantino could have done it better!" And the imitation, once again, will position itself in the consumer brains, to the delight of the interests of the corporations.
With more than 3 billion human beings living on less than $3 a day, it is impossible for capitalism to balance production with consumption. But the owners of the immense accumulated capital do not even know that they would be left without profits while their money was fermenting, and they simply decided to make money speculating with money and screw the poor. Once again the formula prevails: less investment, more profit. To date, there is nothing to indicate that this way will solve the problems posed to the species by the existence of capitalism.
MADURO: 48 YEARS OF POLITICAL TRAINING
In this tragic historical period, at the beginning of winter and the beginning of Pacheco, Nicolás Maduro Moros was born in Caracas on November 23, 1962. He is the son of Nicolás Maduro García and Teresa de Jesús Moros. His birth, childhood and youth are marked by the beginning of the New York Pact and the inauguration of the fight against communism, ordered by the oil corporations in Latin America, whose main promoter was Rómulo Betancourt, accompanied by the business, intellectual and political elite of the time.
He also has to live through the plan to privatize Venezuela, the elimination of the nation-state, which is manifested in the deterioration forty years later as a result of the political action of the aforementioned elites, which produced the elimination of small and medium-sized industry, the devaluation of the currency, the deterioration of health, education, the impoverishment of the poor population and above all the attempt to gradually destroy the oil industry in order to sell it at a dirt-cheap price.
The damage caused to Venezuela by the so-called Fourth Republic will continue to be felt for a long time, despite the efforts made by the government and the people under the leadership of Chavez and Maduro to overcome it. During the governments of the so-called Guanabana, the belts of misery around the small cities - which still existed in Venezuela - increased disproportionately between the years 1960, 1970, 1980, 1990, and with it a poverty that was inherited by the dictatorship of AD and COPEI.
Nicolás spent his childhood and youth in the El Valle parish of Caracas. He completed his secondary education at the José Ávalos high school. His protest activities, cultural and social work, quickly led him to join the Socialist League. Maduro, like all young people, sought his destiny in different fronts, including music and sports. At a very young age, he began working as a driver on the Metrobús of the Caracas Metro. His concerns for collective well-being led him to become a union leader and founder of the Caracas Metro Union (SITRAMECA).
These activities were carried out between 1976 and 1992, when Commander Hugo Chavez and his "for now" appeared in the public arena, taking responsibility before the entire country for the events that occurred on February 4, 1992. From then on, for Nicolas there was no more politics than following Chavez's directives, and he dedicated himself to militancy in the Bolivarian Revolutionary Movement (MBR-200) forming part of its national leadership. He was a founder of the Bolivarian Workers' Force (FBT), becoming its National Coordinator. From then on, he was a Founding Member of the Fifth Republic Movement (MVR), a deputy in Congress as a representative of this party from January 23 to December 15, 1999. In the Congress of the Republic of Venezuela, he was head of the Fifth Republic Movement (MVR) faction and member of various permanent commissions. Coordinator of the parliamentary team of this political party between 2000 and 2001. Coordinator of the parliamentary team of the Change Bloc in the National Assembly (AN) and Member of the National Constituent Assembly between August 1999 and January 2000; President of its Citizen Participation Commission and member of the Economy and Social Commission. Elected Principal Deputy for the Federal District for the five-year period 2000-2005. He presided over the National Assembly between January and August 2006, date in which he was called to assume the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, promoting with great performance the international policies and guidelines of Commander Hugo Chávez, of which we can cite: the creation and consolidation of ALBA-RCP (2001); Petrocaribe (2005); UNASUR (2008) and CELAC (2010), among many other diplomatic activities in which he performed satisfactorily until October 10, 2012, when he was called to occupy the position of Vice President. On October 10, 2012, he was appointed Executive Vice President. On March 8, 2013, he was appointed by constitutional mandate as President in Charge of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.
On April 14, 2013, he was elected constitutional President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, becoming the first Chavista and worker president in the contemporary history of Venezuela, beginning new battles in the life of the country, besieged by financial-speculative capitalism. From 2013 until now, when the recovery has begun, financial-speculative capital has led us to ruin with its sanctions and blockades, with its attacks, its riots, its assassinations of leaders and other calamities, which they still practice, such as the rejection of President Maduro's victory again, when they will claim electoral fraud on July 28, 2024.
Since approximately 1976, when Nicolás was barely 14 years old, his political and social activity has not stopped. These are 48 years of political training in hard battles to forge himself as a leader who is in tune with the problems that have plagued us for more than 500 years.
It has been through arrests, assassination attempts, discrediting, smear campaigns, attempted coups, riots, massacres, the setting up of a parallel government, an attempted invasion, an attempted blackmail by the United States by kidnapping the diplomat Alex Saab in Cape Verde, conspiracies and corruption carried out by traitors and fifth columns such as the former Attorney General Luisa Ortega Díaz, the former Minister of Oil Rafael Ramírez, as well as Tareck El Aissami, also a former Minister of Oil; all in complicity with the corrupt opposition, following the directives of their masters, the financial-speculative capital; but all discovered and defeated by President Maduro and the forces that accompany him.
The political possibilities and expectations in his mind expand when Chavez appears in the political panorama of the country. Maduro was initially a good assistant who from a very young age, as a teenager, began his political career without even knowing it, he had only the initial motivation of every young man who in his time noticed the difficult situation that Venezuela was going through. We are talking about the end of the 1970s.
MADURO LEARNED TO SWIM IN THE STORMY WATERS OF BIG POLITICS TO REACH THE SHORE STRENGTHENED
MADURO DEFENDS VENEZUELA'S RESOURCES
Just as hatred against Commander Chavez was fiercely incited, there is also the intention to finish off Maduro without any apparent logical explanation, but when we understand that Venezuela is a territory with many resources, we understand the move of financial-speculative capital, which urgently needs a civil war in Venezuela. The explanation is that chaos would allow them to absorb all the reserves of energy and mineral resources that the territory contains, and both Chavez and Maduro have been faithful guardians of these patrimonial assets of the country.
Venezuela is considered the largest energy reserve in the world. If an average of 3 million barrels of oil were exploited per day, the reserves would be exhausted in 300 years. We are also an important reserve of gas, iron, diamonds, gold, coal and other natural resources such as water, coltan and rare earths, making us an appetizing dish for the large corporations that plunder the world.
Maduro, like Chavez, went through long periods of training and were able to understand that although politics is the most wonderful activity that the intellect has created and we practice it in all our activities, it is only in the realm of collective interest that it acquires its greatest luminosity, and that dedication to politics is for life, it requires that people dedicate themselves to it; many people when they are young approach politics and then fade away. They dedicate themselves to doing other things and that stage remains only as a memory. Chavez and Maduro thought that leading a people and its destiny is something else, where the political leader must always have a vision beyond the visions of others, because a political leader goes beyond the academy, the profession, sports, social work, which are focused policies; it is up to him to amalgamate all the tasks for the benefit of the people in a given territory or at an international level.
They understood that a good leader fundamentally has to be a very good assistant from the beginning. He does not seek to be the boss at the moment, but rather he tends to admire the boss and try to learn as much as possible from him. A good carpenter, blacksmith or bricklayer first became a good assistant with the ability to observe beyond the normal level, because there is the assistant who only receives a salary and does not care about what happens around him. But in politics the assistant has the predisposition to learn and is concerned with observing what the majority does not observe.
He is aware that the leader can solve, with his help, any type of problem that is within his reach. A good assistant is aware that the guy who needs the tool has it at the right time. He understands the value of each tool, how to clean the work area and does not need to be ordered around, since he is interested in learning the trade. He also understands how to do things so that they turn out well, how to cut, measure, protect the material and make it perform. All these elements are learned quickly, and this is what happens in politics.
Maduro is not a guy who initially forged his own ideas, but rather he learned the trade of politics from a very young age. Because he has been a follower of leftist ideas, in different political movements, in sports, in social work, in union work. He was always learning. And he must have done so with eagerness because until now he is emerging as one of the fundamental politicians of the planet, formed in daily struggle, despite the fact that the historical circumstances in his political militancy were a lost left, in defeat, without plans, without ideas, repeating pamphlets, cursing itself within itself, just as the opposition is seen now. However, his union career was successful, he carried out important political work in the Caracas Metro as a union leader.
That is to say, his work has grown as has his political strength. By the time he met Chavez, he already had a clear vision that the Comandante was the path to follow, the one to which he had to integrate. He did indeed integrate with Chavez and the years he spent with him, from 1992 until the time of the Comandante's physical disappearance, he dedicated himself to learning. He did not perceive himself as someone who was aspiring to things, believing himself to be Chavez or wanting to take his place, but rather he respected him, was loyal and was learning. And he successfully completed all the tasks that Chavez entrusted to him. Where he made mistakes, he easily accepted the leader's scolding. That served as an incentive for him to continue and develop.
When Maduro was president, let's say, it's not that the other leaders didn't have the capacity; Diosdado and all those around him at that time were capable of being presidents of the country, because beyond the bad propaganda made by the opposition and imperialism, within Chavismo there are a number of leaders who can fulfill that task. But Chavez demonstrated that the leader needed for the political circumstances that arose from 2013 was Maduro, and Nicolas has fulfilled the task entrusted to him with flying colors. We have been taking blows for 25 years, since Chavez assumed control of the State, but these last 13 years have been very violent in every sense, counting the more than 930 sanctioning measures applied by the owners to destroy our oil industry and blackmail us in order to end the Venezuelan State.
During the Chavez era, although the war never stopped, there were assassination attempts, coups, and conspiracies, but Chavez had slightly more favorable international circumstances. An important Latin American leadership emerged that allowed him to put a stop to the international attacks against his government, until it was no longer possible. But in addition, more than 2 million barrels of oil were being exported, and oil prices rose from 7 to a peak of 140 dollars with the arrival of Chavez.
When it is Maduro's turn, international political support disappears, Maduro is left alone as a representative of the government. He is a pariah in the world, nobody wants to receive him. Everyone acts like they are crazy. And the guy has grown up, demonstrating his leadership capacity, his ability to make politics, to solve problems, to confront a powerful enemy, to know how to count on the true historical and moral reserves of the people who, until now, worldwide, have endured war in all its forms with fortitude.
Maduro has managed to overcome conditions of political orphanhood at the Latin American, Caribbean and global levels. These elements have forged a leader who is moving towards his own political construct, towards the development of what he has learned. At this stage, Maduro consolidates his leadership, to leave his own mark on the political process. The difficulties faced have hardened him, allowing him to internalize Chavez's legacy and combine it with his own experience to forge his own style. It is no longer just a matter of following a pre-established line, but of understanding it and adapting it to new circumstances.
Maduro, with his strategic vision shaped by years of internal and external tensions, seeks to ensure the continuity of the Chavista project to turn it into a luminous design, a transcendent political act in history. Maduro learned to swim in the stormy waters of great politics to reach the shore strengthened. Now it is his turn to amalgamate with the very foundation of the territory, with the people and his own organization, because it is the key to generating substantial perpetuity of the country, in the political arena of the world.
Maduro will undoubtedly win again, but times of political transformation are coming. He will have to get rid of the old pamphlets of politics and begin to build, not as a believer or savior, the design and organization of a country, founded, clearly thought of as being originally radical from the root as Simon Rodriguez proclaimed, and with the people who contradictorily we are. This is the great challenge to transcend substantially, because this is not possible with the seeker, the climber, the acrobat, the repeater of pamphlets, the fairground deceiver, but with the people of flesh and blood who go out every day to work, he is obliged to politically form this country, without beliefs or arrogance, or false simplicity. With his feet firmly on the ground, and thought as a fundamental tool to found a country different from the one he was born in and we were raised in.
" My firm opinion, full as the full moon, irrevocable, absolute, total, is that you elect Nicolás Maduro as president of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. I ask you from my heart. We must guarantee the progress of the Bolivarian Revolution. Today we have people, let no one be mistaken. Today we have the country more alive than ever, burning in sacred flame, in sacred fire ": never has a leader predicted the future with such precision as when Chávez gave that speech on December 8, 2012, in the memorable proposal that we elect Maduro, a man who became loyal to Chávez and the people of Venezuela, in 48 years of forging and tempering.
What the Mainstream Media Isn’t Saying About Venezuela’s María Corina Machado
JULY 6, 2024
María Corina Machado waves while campaigning for her surrogate, Edmundo González Urrutia, in Maracaibo, Venezuela, May 2, 2024. Photo: Humberto Matheus/Shutterstock.
By Steve Ellner – Jul 5, 2024
Machado is not the godsend for the opposition portrayed by the media and her close supporters. But opposition leaders have more cause for hope than in the past.
For every decision Venezuela’s opposition has made in recent months, the far-rightist María Corina Machado has had the last word. Center-right leaders, meanwhile, have ended up capitulating to her demands. Her success has much to do with the backing she has received from two faithful allies: Washington and the mainstream media.
With all the hype over Machado being the only real hope for Venezuela to overcome 25 years of autocratic rule, the mainstream media loses sight of several key factors surrounding the nation’s presidential elections slated for July 28. First, the United States has played a central role in favor of Machado’s candidacy and, once it was clear that the government of Nicolas Maduro would not allow her to run, Washington backed the notion that she had the right to choose who would represent the so-called united democratic opposition at the polls. Second, it was never clear on what basis Machado claimed to have that right, especially in light of the fact that there were contenders who were as anti-Maduro as her pick and were infinitely more qualified. And third, Machado’s rise as the supreme leader of the Venezuelan opposition is part of a worldwide trend in which far-right leaders and movements have achieved major inroads.
Unlike the 2018 presidential elections and subsequent electoral contests, all opposition parties, large and small, have opted to participate in this election. Even those most stridently opposed to the Chavistas now recognize that electoral abstentionism had been a losing game. Furthermore, the four main opposition parties, known as the G4, and its broader alliance, the Plataforma Unitaria Democrática (PUD), are united behind Machado. Last October, she was pronounced the winner in the opposition primaries with a whopping 92 percent of the vote.
The Venezuelan government has disqualified Machado from holding public office for a number of reasons. The initial one was her acceptance in 2014 of a diplomatic position from the government of Panama enabling her to address the Organization of American States, where she called for foreign intervention in Venezuela. In June 2023, the National Controller reimposed the ban.
Shortly before the deadline for registering candidates this March, Machado switched gears by choosing a surrogate to run in her place.After that, Machado insisted that popular support at home coupled with international pressure would force the Maduro government to back down. Shortly before the deadline for registering candidates this March, Machado switched gears by choosing a surrogate to run in her place. In a surprise move, she convinced Edmundo González Urrutia, a little-known former diplomat with no charisma and admittedly no desire to run for office, to be PUD’s presidential candidate. Upon accepting the candidacy, González revealed that he had no intention of barnstorming around the country, adding “María Corina is doing it very well.”
González has participated in only one of Machado’s 10 large presidential campaign rallies held to date. “Machado dominates the stage,” wrote Resumen Latinoamericano, adding “she converted herself into the queen of the [rally] platforms” and in the process has eclipsed all other PUD leaders.
In spite of the opposition’s unity, or at least the appearance of it, two major political currents supporting the candidacy of González are in some ways at cross purposes. For the center-right—led by the G4 parties Acción Democrática (AD), Un Nuevo Tiempo, and some of the leaders of Primero Justicia—unseating President Maduro is the one and only priority, and to do so the unity of the opposition is essential. In fact, it almost doesn’t matter who the united candidate is because the opposition’s principal message is that the removal of Maduro from office will put an abrupt end to the country’s economic hardships.
The center-right’s strategy for reaching power differs from that of Machado and the far-right in two aspects. First, by focusing its message on unseating Maduro, as opposed to specific policies, the center-right hopes to guarantee opposition unity by avoiding divisive positions. Second, a less aggressive discourse would stand a better chance of convincing the Chavistas to accept unfavorable electoral results.
Eduardo Fernández, who ran for president in 1988 and aspired to be PUD’s 2024 candidate, called for national unity and “reconciliation.” Another presidential runner, Antonio Ecarri, who is outside the PUD’s fold, has pledged to retain Vladimir Padrino López as defense minister. The proposal is designed to convince the Chavistas that repression against them will not be forthcoming, much as Violeta Chamorro attempted to do in 1990 when she named the Sandinista Humberto Ortega to head the Army.
In another sign that he is a stand-in, González stated that his government program is the same as that put forward by Machado in her bid for the presidency. His platform embraces laissez-faire economics with a vengeance, proclaiming: “The attraction of private capital is the solution and privatization is the strategy to achieve it.”
The prospect of the privatization of oil can’t sit well with AD and its offshoot Un Nuevo Tiempo, which take credit for the industry’s nationalization in 1976 by an AD government. Un Nuevo Tiempo’s Manuel Rosales, who Bloomberg described as “tend[ing] to be more leftist in his ideology” than Machado, launched his presidential candidacy supported by the Fuerza Vecinal party, which explicitly opposes oil privatization. Machado supporters criticized another presidential aspirant, Henrique Capriles of Primero Justicia, for saying “the oil is the people’s.”
In spite of differences, Machado has gotten her way in each instance. For example, Capriles, who was also prohibited from running, dropped out of the primaries to avoid giving the government an excuse to keep the PUD completely on the sidelines. But Machado refused to do the same. Then she insisted on her right to choose the opposition’s main candidate. The PUD heavily debated the issue but ended up giving in. Some PUD leaders supported Machado out of fear that she would opt for electoral abstentionism, a possibility that Capriles alluded to during the primaries campaign.
Since Machado chose González, she has given orders to her allies not to refer to the total privatization of health care, education, or the state oil company PDVSA. González raises the possibility of implementing “transitional justice,” which implies leniency toward leading Chavistas. However, Machado is too closely identified with radical positions on the right for this new line to be anything more than a pragmatic campaign tactic. Furthermore, González lacks the political capital to buck Machado’s will, even if he has the intention to do so.
Machado isn’t fooling anyone by not talking about mass privatization. Throughout her political career, this has been her most cherished banner.Carlos Ron, Venezuela’s Deputy Minister for North America, told me: “Machado isn’t fooling anyone by not talking about mass privatization. Throughout her political career, this has been her most cherished banner.”
Machado’s Faithful Allies
Among the leaders of the Venezuelan opposition, Machado is Washington’s unmistakable favorite. The Biden administration backs her even though she expressed sympathy for Trump on the eve of the 2020 U.S. presidential elections. Certainly, from an ideological viewpoint, the centrist Biden has more in common with PUD leaders like Rosales and Capriles than with Machado.
Washington’s singular preference for Machado became particularly evident between January 26, when the Supreme Tribunal of Justice definitively ruled that she could not run for president, and April 19, when González became the opposition’s candidate. During that period, a journalist asked Francisco Palmieri, head of the U.S. mission for Venezuela located in Bogotá, if “any opposition candidate would satisfy the Biden administration.” Palmieri went straight to the point: “We have and will continue to support María Corina Machado as the candidate of the democratic opposition.”
In assuming this stance, the U.S. discarded other options to unseat Maduro. Manuel Rosales, for instance, had much going for him. In addition to having been elected mayor of Maracaibo and then three times as governor of the populous state of Zulia, his presidential candidacy was endorsed by Fuerza Vecinal, a new party with a good electoral track record. Palmieri justified U.S. support for Machado on grounds that she won the opposition primaries, but Rosales had not participated in them.
Furthermore, there are nine candidates who are running against Maduro in the July 28 elections. The hardline opposition accuses some of them of “collaborating” with Maduro and calls them “alacranes” (scorpions). But not all of them, such as Ecarri, can even remotely be called collaborators.
The failure of the Biden administration to maintain a neutral position with regard to the internal divisions of the opposition raises a number of issues.
First and foremost, given the attractiveness of other presidential candidates, Washington’s unconditional support for Machado is not only an intrusion in the internal affairs of Venezuela, but in the internal affairs of the Venezuelan opposition. Claudio Fermín, who ran for president on AD’s ticket in 1993 and is one of the 10 presidential candidates for 2024, said he has “never seen this degree of external intervention in a Venezuelan electoral campaign,” adding that it has received “exuberant approval” from some.
Washington’s unswerving support for Machado may be related to her extreme version of neoliberalism, which includes the privatization of the oil industry, and to her hard line on the Chavistas. During the Trump administration, Machado even urged Washington to call off efforts to establish a dialogue with Maduro, dubbing such an endeavor a “fraud.” Echoing allegations from Washington, she rejected “impunity” for Chavistas who she called “criminals and mafiosos who have utilized money coming from drug trafficking and the food of Venezuelans.”
This hard line runs counter to the thesis put forward by opposition pollster Luis Vicente León that negotiations between the opposition and the Maduro government are necessary and even inevitable, regardless of who wins on July 28.
Machado’s decision to choose a surrogate and center the campaign on herself appears designed to mock the government and its decision to ban her from running. Her conflictive and confrontational approach is likely to facilitate a major break with the Chavista past and the implementation of the radical brand of neoliberalism that she stands for.
Machado’s other faithful ally, the mainstream media, has meticulously reported each of her accusations against the Maduro government for violating democratic norms of the electoral process. However, the most far-reaching violation of the principle of democracy is not reported at all, namely the devastating U.S.-imposed sanctions on Venezuela, which will influence many to vote for the opposition as the only way to normalize relations with Washington.
The mainstream media has served as an echo chamber for Machado’s claims, even those that some consider to be dubious, such as the degree of support she commands among the electorate.The mainstream media has served as an echo chamber for Machado’s claims, even those that some consider to be dubious, such as the degree of support she commands among the electorate.
For instance, the corporate media takes for granted the accuracy of the announced results of the opposition’s primaries last October that gave Machado 92 percent of the vote. Machado had vetoed the participation of the National Electoral Council (CNE) in the process while insisting that it be supervised by the NGO Súmate, which she cofound and formerly helped lead, serving as vice president. In the past, Súmate has faced criticism for being funded by the notorious National Endowment for Democracy (NED). Indeed, the late opposition leader Teodoro Petkoff had called Súmate authoritarian and refused to participate in the opposition’s presidential primaries in 2006, which Súmate was to supervise, on grounds that the organization was not reliable.
The Rise of the International Far Right
Back in 2012, Machado received less than 4 percent of the vote in the opposition’s presidential primaries. Her rise as the “principal leader of the opposition” is a sign of the times and boosts efforts to create what has been described as an “emerging reactionary international,” or what Steven Forti called in the Spring 2024 NACLA Report “a big global family” of the extreme right.
Most of the salient features of Machado’s discourse and positions coincide with those of reactionary leaders and movements that have emerged in 21st-century Latin America. Machado’s embrace of laissez-faire capitalism, including deregulation to “stimulate private initiative,” points in the direction of neoliberal shock therapy. This pattern manifests itself in Argentine President Javier Milei’s commitment to “destroy the state from within” and his concomitant shock treatment policies, as well as in the defense by Chile’s far-right leader José Antonio Kast of Pinochet’s “economic legacy.”
Machado’s positions on international relations also dovetail with those of the far-right elsewhere in the region. Machado makes no secret of being pro-U.S. and hostile to Washington’s adversaries, including Russia, China and Iran. Along the same lines, she predicts that “once we achieve what we are going to in Venezuela, this will be the final sword thrust into regimes like Nicaragua and Cuba.”
One of the salient features of the far right is its expression of hate for the Left, which Machado’s rhetoric reproduces. She attacks the São Paulo Forum and implicitly accuses it of assenting to “criminal dynamics that go from obscene and ferocious corruption to financing drug trafficking…[and] terrorist groups.”
To her credit, though, and in contrast to the far right elsewhere, she adheres to moderate positions on social issues such as gay marriage, which she accepts, and abortion.
Machado is an internationalist. She not only assumes reactionary positions but has openly supported and forged relationships with rightists in Europe, Israel, and Latin America. She also, like Milei and Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro, embodies features of populism: she is a charismatic, polarizing figure with a Manichean discourse who lacks the backing of a strong political party.
As the far right does elsewhere, Machado takes sides in elections in favor of her ideological counterparts in other countries.As the far right does elsewhere, Machado takes sides in elections in favor of her ideological counterparts in other countries. Machado hoped for the “definitive defeat of Kirchnerism” in the 2023 elections in Argentina, at the same time that she called Milei “super-clear, bold, full of energy.” She maintains ties with the rightist Popular Party of Spain, but also stresses her special relationship with the far-right Vox, a key force articulating with the Latin American new right, and called its head Santiago Abascal her “friend.” In a video interview with Machado, the right-wing ex-president of Colombia Iván Duque asserted that the Venezuelan opposition should be called “the resistance.”
In many countries, the center-right—like the Partido Popular in Spain and Republican Party leaders in the United States—have made deals with, or have accepted the terms imposed by, the far right. In other countries, traditional centrist parties have been reduced to a shadow of their former selves and have been displaced by the far right, such as in Colombia and Argentina.
The political polarization behind these tendencies is exactly what is taking place in Venezuela. On July 28, voters will choose between a far-right candidate and the incumbent Maduro, situated on the left of the political spectrum. Regardless of the electoral outcome, the center-right leaders of the PUD will not easily recover from the bruises received from far-rightist María Corina Machado.
Who is the Paramilitary Group That Denounced a Venezuelan Far-Right Destabilization Plan?
Autodefensas Conquistadores de la Sierra. Photo: X/ @LunaMartnez_
July 7, 2024 Hour: 5:43 pm
Recently, Autodefensa Conquistadores de la Sierra (ACSN) a Colombian paramilitary group made public that the Venezuelan far-right contacted them to to enter Venezuelan territory and create destabilization in the country, and even get to assassinate President Nicolás Maduro.
A report published by teleSURtv illuminates a little about who this irregular armed group is.
Formerly known as “Los Pachencas”, the group operates in the mountainous massif of Santa Marta, on the Caribbean coast of Colombia. Founded by Jesús María Aguirre, alias “Chucho Mercancía”, the ACSN controlled the cocaine routes from Barranquilla to Riohacha. Aguirre’s death in 2019 triggered a war for drug control, highlighting the volatility of these criminal structures.
The report details that the strategic location of the region has facilitated transnational criminal operations, such as “Operation Gideon”, an assassination attempt against President Nicolás Maduro that involved mercenaries trained in Colombia by US special forces.
The Jesuit priest Javier Giraldo tells in the report that although these groups like the ACSN claim political objectives of social change, what is really observed is a desire to maintain an economy based on drug trafficking. The wars in the peripheries, argues Giraldo, do not seek to improve the living conditions of local communities, but to maintain and dispute drug trafficking routes.
“In this context, the recent public denunciation of the ACSN, distancing itself from the destabilizing plans in Venezuela, can be interpreted as an attempt to gain legitimacy against the Colombian government,” the television material says.
He also points out that by declaring that they will not lend themselves to interfere in Colombian foreign policy, the ACSN seem to seek a space at the negotiating table of the “Total Peace,” carried out by the Colombian President Gustavo Petro.
Are they legitimate political actors or just criminal organizations looking for a legal escape? That’s the big question on the table.
For now Autodefensas Conquistadoras de la Sierra urged president Gustavo Petro for guarantees for direct dialogue with President Nicolás Maduro’s government to detail how and by whom they were specifically contacted.
Instead Venezuelan Public Ministry appointed on Friday night the National Prosecutor’s Office number 83, to ”investigate and sanction new threats of assassination against the Head of State Nicolás Maduro.”
THE ETERNAL OPPOSITION'S RECURRENCE OF POLITICAL VIOLENCE AND ASSASSINATION
9 Jul 2024 , 11:30 am .
There have already been several assassination attempts against President Nicolas Maduro (Photo: Xinhua / AP Photo)
The Attorney General of the Republic, Tarek William Saab, has offered statements regarding a statement issued by the Self-Defense Forces of the Sierra on July 6. According to the complaint, contacts with a paramilitary group began two months ago in Colombia's La Guajira. An emissary identified himself as a member of the Venezuelan opposition and three meetings were held in a restaurant in Maicao.
During these meetings, the possibility of attacking President Nicolás Maduro in public events or sabotaging the electrical infrastructure in the state of Zulia was discussed. In addition, maps and photos of the Miraflores palace were shown. Although no payment amount was specified, political asylum was offered to those who participated in these actions.
In recent months, Venezuelan authorities have dismantled a series of destabilization plans aimed at the government of Nicolás Maduro. These intentions, which include assassination attempts, espionage and projects to generate violence and instability, have revealed a recidivism by extremist sectors of the opposition, according to the Attorney General.
"The recurrence of this sector is very serious," warned Saab, who has detailed the dismantling of at least 8 cases of assassination attempts so far this year.
Among the most notable are the so-called "High Conspiracy," in which 11 individuals were arrested for disclosing classified military information; the "Espionage in Guasdualito" case, which involved the sale of confidential data on presidential security; and the "Fortunato" case, in which an individual was arrested for entering the country illegally to gather information on pilots and military personnel.
However, the most worrying case, according to the Prosecutor, is the one known as the "Cartoon Killer", in which the head of security at the presidential residence was caught plotting to assassinate Maduro. In total, five people were arrested and charged for this serious incident.
In addition to assassination plans, plans to foment violence and instability in the country have also been thwarted. For example, the "Barinas Case" revealed a strategy to carry out a new version of "La Salida" (The Exit), with the intention of provoking protests and riots in several cities, including Caracas and Táchira.
The Attorney General also reported the arrest of an individual in Monagas for uttering death threats against Maduro.
Let us remember that such actions are not new; the extremist opposition has historically used Colombian paramilitaries as mercenaries in its destabilizing plans against Venezuela. In this regard, it is worth mentioning the most recent statements by former paramilitary chief Salvatore Mancuso, in which he claims that there was complicity, shelter and protection from the authorities for "Operation Daktari," and he specifically pointed to the then mayors of the municipalities of El Hatillo and Baruta, Alfredo Catalán and Henrique Capriles, along with the governor of Miranda state at that time, Enrique Mendoza, who allegedly supported the seditious action.
OPPOSITION MAYORS JOIN THE PATH OF POLITICAL CONSENSUS
Amid such attempts to escalate political tension, the news that four opposition mayors from the states of Guárico, Cojedes and Barinas have joined President Nicolás Maduro's call for unity and consensus creates a strong contrast.
Jorge Rodríguez, President of the National Assembly, has highlighted the importance of this gesture, and considers it a crucial step in building a country of peace and unity.
"We want to thank this crucial step taken by a group of mayors nationwide... who have expressed what forms the core of our campaign and the speech of President Nicolás Maduro: the need for consensus, the need for unity, the need to care for economic growth in order to build prosperity in the future, the need to care for the peace of the republic," said Rodríguez.
The president of the National Assembly stressed that "much damage has been done in the search for shortcuts that lead us to violence and useless diatribe." In this regard, he called for the rejection of violence and warned about the reappearance of dangerous positions in desperate sectors that seek to destabilize, but he emphasized with certainty: "we will not allow it, the people of Venezuela will respond to these attempts to distort the tranquility that we now have."
The insistence of opposition sectors on promoting violence as a political tool to undermine the constitutional order and generate chaos in the country reflects a profound inability to build alternatives through dialogue and participation.
The decision of the mayors to join the call for peace and unity, in contrast to the intentions of the extremist sectors of the opposition, shows the deep conviction of Venezuelan society in maintaining constitutional order and seeking peaceful solutions. The praxis of President Maduro, which seeks to build the country's project through dialogue and participation, finds an echo in the majority of the population, which rejects violence and resists destabilization maneuvers.
"LAND OF GRACE" WOULD LEAD VENEZUELA TO THE SAME ABYSS AS ARGENTINA
8 Jul 2024 , 7:30 am .
The reality that is being experienced in Argentina under the Milei government is a preamble to what María Corina Machado and Edmundo González Urrutia intend for Venezuela with their "Tierra de Gracia" plan (Photo: AFP)
Six months have passed since Javier Milei, with his rhetoric and promises of economic freedom, took up residence in the Casa Rosada. However, the reality is that his administration has resulted in a brutal neoliberal adjustment that has left Argentina in a situation of unprecedented social precariousness.
The "cuts" implemented during the first period of his government have unleashed a spiral of poverty and despair that affects the vast majority of the population. The reduction in inflation, celebrated by the government as a triumph, has been achieved at the cost of the sacrifice of millions of Argentines who live in precariousness and uncertainty.
According to a report by the Torcuato Di Tella University in Buenos Aires , poverty in Argentina affects 48.9% of the population, which is equivalent to 29.4 million people. Between November and April, the cost of the total basic basket in the Buenos Aires region and its surroundings rose 265.3% year-on-year. Despite this, family income only increased 196.1%.
Cuts in social policies have strangled soup kitchens, leaving millions without access to basic food. The population is forced to choose between paying rent or buying food , with up to 18% facing this choice.
Industrial activity has suffered a sharp decline, similar to the levels during the pandemic. Businessmen like Walter, owner of a glass company, are on the verge of collapse due to unsustainable fixed costs. Milei defends his economic plan with the argument of reducing inflation, but the reality is that the socioeconomic context of the majority of Argentines has worsened in just six months of government.
The situation of retirees has deteriorated significantly . In June 2024, the minimum pension reached a value equivalent to 276,932 Argentine pesos, which represents a real drop of 17.5% compared to June 2023. Compared to December 2023, the last month of Alberto Fernández's government, the minimum pension has fallen by 9% in real terms.
The outlook for workers is not more encouraging. In May 2024, the minimum wage stood at 234,315 Argentine pesos, a value that represents a real drop of 29% compared to the same month of the previous year, and 15% compared to December 2023.
Milei has also received clear disapproval of his management, with polls showing more than 50% rejection of his government.
Criticism has intensified following the scandal involving thousands of tons of food retained by the Ministry of Human Capital — a substitute for the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Social Development, and Ministry of Labor, Employment and Social Security — destined for soup kitchens, and the payment of extra salaries in that agency.
Argentine sociologist Luis Alberto Quevedo, consulted by Página 12, points out that the negative consequences of the "cut" are not a collateral effect but part of Milei's strategy.
"All the boasting he did about the chainsaw and the blender, what he did with salaries, pensions, the cuts to the State and the closing of areas, all of that seems like a tragedy to me. But from his point of view it is a success because it is part of his economic plan," he says .
Quevedo anticipates that the government will continue to use the narrative of inflation reduction as a victory banner, regardless of the suffering it causes the population.
The reality that is being experienced in Argentina under the Milei government is a preamble to what María Corina Machado and Edmundo González Urrutia intend for Venezuela with their "Tierra de Gracia" plan. As mentioned in a previous analysis , the opposition proposal, without hesitation, replicates the neoliberal model that has brought disastrous consequences to Argentina, with a clear intention of replicating those policies of fiscal adjustment, elimination of social programs and privatization of strategic sectors.
The elimination of subsidies and social programs, the search for international financing that could jeopardize the country's financial policy and, in particular, the idea of privatizing public companies and assets, especially the oil and gas industry, constitute a recipe similar to that applied to the Argentine people with the respective devastating repercussions.
The plan of María Corina Machado and Edmundo González, in their quest to emulate the aforementioned model, not only ignores the Venezuelan reality but also reveals a profound disconnection with the interests of the population. It is, in essence, a project of economic and political subordination that seeks to perpetuate a model of plunder and exploitation of the nation's strategic resources.
THE COUNTRY, AN UNBREAKABLE HEARTBEAT THAT MOVES IN PEACE
24 Jul 2024 , 5:36 pm .
We should not consider these elections as just another battle (Photo: El Cayapo)
Every day that passes, the waters calm down, the storm disperses and the sun is brighter. Now all doubts are cleared, and winning the elections on July 28 with Maduro as leader is the great task to crown the victory. But no victory is achieved with sterile triumphalism, with early celebrations, with laziness justified by the triumph, but with work, organization, enthusiasm, joy, disposition, will and, above all, with a lot of coordination and unity in the tasks, checking that each one of them is fulfilled in order to win the elections.
These elections are no different from the previous ones. Since 1989 we have been subjected to a great war that, if it were not for the 4F, we would still be in a bloody civil war, with the sunken straws of the large transnationals sucking up our resources for free, while groups of fifth columnists benefit from the crumbs thrown to them by foreign corporations.
Searching for explanations for the criminal conduct of the opposition led by Maria Corina and her followers is a waste of time. Their hatred, their rage, their fear, their habitual lies, are all sustained by fear, ambition, custom, tradition, crude imitation, the desire to get too far away from this mine that they have always hated. It is not with Chavez or Maduro that they learned to hate us; their language, their gestures, their grimaces, are old rivets of the domination that was imposed on us since the Europeans set foot on these lands and subjected us to their ways, customs and habits.
In this territory that we call the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, 31 years have passed since the plans of capitalism generated the opening (1989) through which we are trying to sneak in. Many events have occurred, and we must remember them, not only those promoted by the interests of capitalism, but also those that we have caused.
The plans of capital move us like straws. We are millions of poor people who are dying today on the battlefields, in the great migrations, in famines, in endemic diseases, in drugs. The owners need to eliminate a high portion of the deteriorating labor-commodity and force the rest to live in shelters, in transit, behind walls, in prisons, crammed into places of no value, to sell us for simple subsistence, all this with the interest of taking advantage of the finite resources that still remain on the planet.
These events are not a spectacle that we should consume from a platform and a microphone; it is life being mistreated, yoked, subjected to hardships. All of us poor people are obliged to look our situation in the face. Criticizing, praying, pleading, condemning, crying, begging, blaming, comparing ourselves, saying stupid things, ideologically affiliating ourselves with a side, only serve to keep us in the tragedy. We have no other alternative: our duty is to communicate. Let the circle be the main way of looking at each other, touching each other and speaking to each other.
Because we must know that when they, the traitors, say “Maduro, the damned Colombian,” in their exterminating language, through which the foreman of slave-owning ingenuity sneaks in, they are spewing their hatred against the Colombian people, as if being born in Colombia were a curse that has no right to exist. Their arrogance blinds them, they feel all-powerful, protected by the owners of the world and they do not care how they insult and who they insult, because they simply perceive themselves as being unpunished against the poor.
Or when their desire for extermination makes them tell the crude and radical truth: “And I say to you Chavistas who support this, I repeat, you should be afraid. This will not stop you at all. You will pay, you will receive justice, and you, in decent Venezuela, will have to walk looking at the ground.” The only thing missing was the crack of the whip on the ground, because, in truth, their great illusion is to return us to the most aberrant slavery, where slaves feel that being slaves is a natural fact, as natural as it is for the owners to order us around and from time to time give us consolation and mercy prizes, like the slave of the year or an indulgence to heaven for a good slave.
These traitors are decent, well spoken, well fed, well drunk and well dressed, with refined manners, slow speech and precise wording, they are educated, artists, academics, professionals, businessmen, who have always deceived us with the idea that they have never broken a plate. But we must not imitate them, on the contrary, we must learn to speak among ourselves and for ourselves, so that fear is no longer a chain in this communication to be born, so that the motto is the body at work and the dogma is the daily reality.
The government we have is not a coincidence. It is the effort, the decision, the audacity of those of us who swam upriver, when everyone else pretended to be happy downriver. We showed that it was time for us, the ones who were set aside, the relegated, those who carried power on our backs, those who underground spoke to each other and listened to each other in the misery, pain and dreams. After 4F and Chavez with his for now infinite, we discovered that it was time for us, the many, my cousin, relative, my friend, my soul brother, gossip, camera, little camera, buddy, my people, tall friend, ñero, companion, mine, hand, live together. That it was time to speak to each other in the plural, with all the colors and flavors, with all the lights and darkness, with all the laughter and tears. No matter how much haste, hurry or uncontrolled we do it at the beginning. That it was time to talk to each other and listen to each other as we know how, as we have always done.
That the time has come to listen to those who claim to be with us but speak to us in the language of the court, of the summits, of the elites, of experts, of the wise, and they name us (those closest to us) as “the people”, “the bases”, “the majorities”, “the masses”, always close to the others who one day also mentioned us in that way, but who today hate us (they always hated us from their fears) and call us “rabble”, “mob”, “criminals”, “lice-ridden”, “drunks”, “lazy”, “vagrants”, “down to earth”, “dirty”, “scruffy”, “monkeys”, “macaques”, “lumpen”, “dogs”, “blacks”, “Indians”, “thugs”, “cachifas”, “stinking”, “thugs”, “smelly”, “illegal”, “weevils”, “brutes”, “connected”, “amorphous fatties”, “microbes”, “rats”, “scorpions”, “damned”, “trash”, “infected”, “insects”, “draggled”, “beasts”, “ignorant”, “dried coconuts”, “nail eaters”, and the worst of all for them is that they hate us because we are proudly Chavistas, a stigma, a brand with which they intend to condemn us for daring to think, to dream, to imagine a country different from the mine that its owners turned us into.
We are repulsed by this naming of ourselves from the other that we are not, “I represent”, “I come in the name of”, “I am the representation”, “we must go to the communities”, “we must educate the people”, “we are going to include the poor”, “we must enculturate the poor”, “the people have no culture”, “the people are not educated”, “we must climb the hill”, “we must go down to the people”, “the people are stupid”, “the people do not think”, “we are going to train the people”, “we are going to organize the people”, “our indigenous people”, “our workers”, “our women”, and already at the height of demagogy: “our whores”, “our LGBT”, “our Afro-descendants”, “our disabled”, “our dogs and cats”, and a string of other powerful words and powerful gestures that have been denied to us and that, many times, those who call themselves “our leaders” have repeated against us. themselves, without understanding the divisive damage of the powerful language inhabiting the body. Capitalism's method of division, through propaganda according to its interests.
We should not consider these elections as just another battle. With them we will get rid of many burdens that we will talk about later. It is a battle that will allow us a long creative breath. After July 28, it is time to discuss the great issues of the present and to prefigure the future, and that is why we must combine all our efforts to win and design the country as an unbreakable heartbeat that moves in peace.
Venezuela: President Maduro Closes Presidential Campaign With Massive Rally Filling Caracas Streets
JULY 26, 2024
Supporters of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro pack Ave. Bolivar in Caracas during the closing rally of his presidential campaign aiming at the elections this Sunday, July 28. Photo: X/@ConelMazoDando.
Caracas (OrinocoTribune.com)—On the last day of Venezuela’s presidential campaign and just three days before the presidential elections, scheduled for this Sunday, incumbent candidate and current president, Nicolás Maduro, brought his campaign to an end with a massive rally that overwhelmingly surpassed the capacity of Ave. Bolivar in Caracas, the largest venue for such political demonstrations in the capital of Venezuela.
With their characteristic joy, a crowd of Chavistas from Caracas and other regions of Venezuela began to gather this Thursday, July 25, at different gathering points established for the takeover of Caracas, all aiming at Ave. Bolivar as the final destination.
While reflecting on his tours across the range and depths of Venezuela in search of the truth of a people “to learn more about everything that our people have done to defeat the most criminal aggression that has been done to us in history,” the president noted how the Chavista movement belongs to the people. “We have done it again in Caracas, once again in our streets, from end to end, across the avenues and highways of the capital of the republic.”
Anti-Chavistas spent all Thursday complaining about buses bringing Chavistas and trying to claim that they were being paid or being forced to participate in the rally, which renowned journalist Luigino Bracci refuted clearly in a video he posted on social media showing Chavistas dancing happily up and down the rally, as many other such video and photographic records of the day show.
Algunas postales del cierre de campaña de @NicolasMaduro pic.twitter.com/Mk9uRRbjth
— Leonel Retamal Muñoz (@LeonelTeleSUR) July 26, 2024
“We have resisted because we love our country,” President Maduro said, referring to the strength of the movement despite all the actors targeting the sovereign power of Venezuela, while adding that the people are ready for the great victory on July 28. “The extremist right will not return,” was one of the slogans notably present at the closing ceremony.
“I have been to more than 300 towns, traveling around the country,” the president explained regarding his tour. “We have resisted all aggression targeted at us because we love our country and because we have faith in what is ours, despite having faced the worst aggression in our history.”
Hundreds of thousands of Chavistas packed the city: from downtown Caracas locations such as Plaza Candelaria, on Urdaneta Avenue; Parque Carabobo, on Mexico Avenue; the corner of Corazón de Jesús on Universidad Avenue; as well as two points on Lecuna Avenue, Parque Central and Bomberos, and the overpass on Fuerza Armadas Avenue.
The meeting points were coordinated from the east of the city at the Chacao Metro station and the Europa Tower, as well as in La Previsora, Plaza Venezuela, the Paseo de la Resistencia Indígena, and Los Caobos Park. Each of these points were full of people supporting Nicolás Maduro’s candidacy, who joined the rally himself in the afternoon after leading another closing rally in the city of Maracaibo, Zulia state.
Massive demonstration in support to Nicolas Maduro just a few minutes ago in Av. Bolivar, Caracas. Look at the adjacent streets also packed with people. https://t.co/Q1ZX3tRrlm
— Orinoco Tribune (@OrinocoTribune) July 25, 2024
Meanwhile, the far-right opposition candidate, Edmundo González, from the Unitary Platform (PUD) and its leader, María Corina Machado, mobilized their supporters in the affluent East Caracas neighborhood of Las Mercedes, in a much smaller venue with a much lesser attendance, which witnesses stated was less impressive than the Chavismo demonstration.
According to the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), Chavista forces also mobilized a motorized caravan of over 20,000 motorcycles from Petare to tour the city towards Ave. Bolívar in support of President Nicolás Maduro.
During his campaign closing speech, President Maduro called on all sectors of the country that have suffered sanctions, stating that “only a Bolivarian and Chavista president, only this man who is here, who is not an individual but a people, guarantees the peace and stability of this country called Venezuela.” He acknowledged that what is needed is to unite all Venezuelans for peace, independence, stability, true democracy, love, harmony, and inclusion.
The candidate highlighted various achievements of his government administration, including but not limited to the stabilization of the national currency of Venezuela, the bolivar, as well as bolstered national production and real economic growth, the creation of a robust exchange system, and the defeat of hyperinflation, amongst other economic achievements.
“We defeated the sanctions and the blockade, and we are moving forward, towards economic prosperity, but for that we need peace and stability,” President Maduro said, recognizing and promoting the role of the Venezuelan working class.
Later, he greeted the international electoral observers and guests who have arrived to participate in the elections and share with Venezuela in their great popular victory of July 28.
The president continued by talking about his religious and political views, stating that he is “a man raised in Christianity, by my mother, Teresa de Jesús Moros Acevedo, and since I was a child, my father raised me in the idea of socialism, of the progressive left. I had a great teacher and another father in life, Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías, who raised me in Bolivarianism. I have Christian, socialist, and Bolivarian roots, those are my values, strengths, and thoughts, and that’s how it is for all of us.”
“They attacked me when Chávez named me foreign minister,” he recalled, “the bus driver chancellor [they called me]. I have no ego, I have no attachment to anything, I have not been and am not a puppet of anyone. I am a totally independent president; I come from the people. I know how to work in a team and for the collective good.”
“First I listen to and look at the people before taking a step. I do not owe favors to anyone nor do I fear anyone: and that makes me free. After making this Venezuela great and taking it on the path of 21st century socialism. I am loyal to the people even beyond this life,” the PSUV candidate said.
The president added that he will call “all Venezuelan society, without foreign interference, I do not want anyone to interfere with Venezuela, to an inclusive national dialogue,” noting “that there will be peace before, during and after July 28, I guarantee it.”
“Do you want Venezuela to become a gringo colony? Do you want Venezuela to become Milei’s Argentina? With the extreme fascist right we don’t go anywhere, we are ready and if we have overcome all the difficulties, on the 28th with the resounding victory we are going to have we will get rid of the extreme fascist right for 100 years, they will end on the 28th,” he added.
He also confirmed that on July 29th he will call for a great national, economic, cultural, social and political dialogue with all sectors of the Venezuelan society to advance faster towards economic growth and political harmony.
Venezuela’s National Electoral Council Welcomes National and International Observers
JULY 26, 2024
Venezuela's CNE executive board welcoming international electoral observers participating in the presidential elections to be held this Sunday. In Caracas on Friday, July 26, 2024. Photo: X/@cneesvzla.
The CNE president condemned the smear campaign against the electoral referee spread by some media outlets.
The executive board of the Electoral Power formally welcomed national and international observers who will be accompanying the 2024 presidential elections this Sunday, July 28.
This Friday, July 26, from CNE’s headquarters in Plaza Caracas, the president of the National Electoral Council (CNE), Elvis Amoroso, discussed the importance of international observers for Venezuela and the world during electoral processes.
He said that the Venezuelan Electoral Power represents one of the five state branches defined by the Magna Carta of Venezuela, along with the Executive, Legislative, Judicial, and Moral Powers, the latter made up of the Attorney General of the Republic, the Ombudsman, and the General Comptroller of the Republic who also participate in this process to guarantee transparency, respect for human rights, and the guaranteed will of the people of Venezuela this Sunday, July 28.
Amoroso also said that the Venezuelan National Electoral Council has the best electoral system in the world, stating that each of the electoral authorities has been carrying out an arduous task to transmit to the candidates, to the political organizations part of this process, and to the media the transparency and effectiveness of the Venezuelan electoral system.
He condemned the campaign to discredit the electoral referee spread by mainstream media and foreign governments to hinder this Sunday’s electoral process. Amoroso added that each activity established in the electoral schedule has been developed transparently and with the participation of all political organizations and international observers.
Autoridades electorales dan la bienvenida a Veedores Nacionales e Internacionales para la Elección Presidencial 2024. https://t.co/2uRndXXJpo#CNE #Rumboal28dejulio pic.twitter.com/vVDAVL38XE
— cneesvenezuela (@cneesvzla) July 26, 2024
Amoroso reported that the Electoral Power sent an invitation to all candidates to sign, alongside the rectors, an agreement to avoid violence and recognize the popular will behind whoever is elected as president of Venezuela on July 28.
He asked for respect for the group of international observers coming to Venezuela in good faith to verify the will of the sovereign people. “They come here, and the media will say the opposite. Come, we are open to the public,” he said.
Acto de Instalación formal en el Centro Internacional de Prensa del Plan de Veeduría Nacional e Internacional, para la Elección Presidencial 2024. pic.twitter.com/gEvP1rL4ix
— cneesvenezuela (@cneesvzla) July 26, 2024
Vice President of the Electoral Power Carlos Quintero presented the Venezuelan electoral system to the international observers. He said that the presence of these organizations in the country is extremely important because it provides the opportunity to share the functioning of the Venezuelan electoral system.
He recognized the work of the international and national electoral experts who have accompanied the different inspections of the electoral schedule in the phases prior to the event. “Tomorrow, they will be able to witness the installation of the electoral polling desks throughout the national territory and on Sunday, July 28, the great democratic celebration of our country,” Quintero said.
Venezuela’s July 28 Presidential Elections: Polling Station Verification and Voting Processes
Quintero added that understanding the country’s political context is one of the most relevant aspects of this electoral process discussed by the five rectors that make up the Electoral Power body. In this sense, it was possible to develop this electoral schedule, bringing it to 86% execution by Friday, July 26.
Finally, Quintero highlighted that inspections are part of the guarantees of the Venezuelan electoral system. They are verifiable and auditable by all political parties and can be observed by international experts present at the time of their performance, as well as through digital platforms.
Nothing, other than dubious polls, indicates an opposition victory in Venezuela
Eduardo Vasco
July 26, 2024
After years of intense political, economic and social crisis caused by the death of Hugo Chávez, the fall in oil prices and the economic war sponsored by the United States, Venezuela’s economy began to recover.
Ten candidates, supported by 38 parties, are participating in this year’s presidential elections in Venezuela. There is a consensus, however, that the dispute centers on just two: President Nicolás Maduro and the main opposition bloc, the Democratic Unity Platform (PUD), whose candidate is Edmundo González Urrutia.
All voting intention polls place these two candidates at the head of the race. But the radical opposition, grouped in the PUD, and the international press, only take into account the polls that indicate González Urrutia’s victory.
Some examples are the Delphos institute, which states that the opponent has 59.1% of voting intentions, against 24.6% for Maduro; Consultores 21, which gives between 55% and 60% preference for Urrutia and 25% to 28% for Maduro; Hercon Consultores, which suggests that 68.4% will vote for Urrutia and only 27.3% will vote for Maduro; and ORC Consultores, which indicates support from 59.6% of voters for Urrutia and just 12.5% for Maduro.
Although it is said that these are the most reliable institutes, it is “forgotten” that they are run by people with strongly anti-Chavista political positions, such as Saúl Cabrera, from Consultores 21, Oswaldo Ramírez, from ORC Consultores, Luis Vicente León, from Datanálisis, in addition to by Benigno Alarcón, director of the Center for Political Studies at UCAB. They have been making public statements endorsing the questionable results of their polls, that is, that González Urrutia is the clear favorite against Nicolás Maduro, and that only political machinations using the State apparatus can give the current president a victory.
“Polls are being systematically used as an electoral propaganda weapon to generate a climate of opinion about the possible outcome of the election,” sociologist Juan Manuel Trak told the American agency Voice of America (founded by the CIA). He’s absolutely right.
The results of the above surveys differ greatly from those published by other institutes, which are not reported by the international media. The Hinterlaces institute, which is branded “Chavista” by the opposition and the media, but which has been getting practically all of its predictions right in recent years, points out that Maduro has 54.2% of voting intentions, against 24.1% for Urrutia. It is followed by other institutes: Data Viva predicts 55.2% of the votes for Maduro and 20.9% for Urrutia; Parametric indicates 51.74% for Maduro and 29.06% for Urrutia; and International Consulting Services collected 71.6% voting intentions for the current president and 23.9% for his main challenger.
Of course, Trak considers that the polls indicating a Maduro victory are also biased. This is very likely. But they are much closer to reality than the dubious polls that favor the opposition. If everyone votes, just the 4.2 million members of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) who ratified Maduro’s candidacy in March would already represent 19.6% of the 21.4 million Venezuelans eligible to vote in these elections.
After years of intense political, economic and social crisis caused by the death of Hugo Chávez, the fall in oil prices and the economic war sponsored by the United States, Venezuela’s economy began to recover. The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) study published in April reported a 2.6% growth in Venezuela’s GDP in 2023 and estimated that in 2024 growth will be 4.2%. Inflation in the first half of this year was 8.9% and in June it fell to 1% according to the Central Bank of Venezuela – the lowest monthly rate in 12 years and the best in the Maduro era. According to the Venezuelan Finance Observatory, independent of the government, inflation in June was 2.4%. In the previous month – May – inflation of 1.5% was the lowest since 2004.
The businessmen themselves gave a truce to the government, which made agreements with the private sector to rescue the economy, diversify production and invest in exports. Fedecámaras, famous for leading the successive coup attempts between 2002 and 2004, did not publicly embark on the PUD’s terrorist discourse and businesspeople are not coercing (at least emphatically) their employees to vote for the opposition, as they did previously. The United States government has returned to dialogue with Caracas, which suggests a relaxation of external pressure – which could change if Donald Trump is elected.
China and Russia are very involved with the Venezuelan government and this is an important pillar of support for Maduro, whose government has been reaping good results from this alliance – and from agreements with other countries, such as India, Turkey and Iran. Unlike the last crisis, in 2019, the two main neighbors (Brazil and Colombia) are now governed by presidents allied with Maduro, which makes it difficult to destabilize the country at the borders and support radical groups of the self-exiled opposition.
An indication of the recovery and stabilization in Venezuela is the fact that the country has left the international news headlines in recent years. The major international media outlets are clearly anti-Chavista and take advantage of any minimally negative event to carry out a broad propaganda campaign against the government. This has not been possible in more recent years.
An important reason is that the opposition did not recover from the 2019 defeat with Juan Guaidó’s failure and was unable to effectively reunite. There are no longer any large anti-government demonstrations, especially because the right has no longer found any opportunity to take to the streets and put the government under pressure. The radical wing of the opposition, however, continues with the same unrealistic discourse as 20 years ago (accusing the government of being a dictatorship, of repressing and censoring and of committing electoral fraud). González Urrutia’s proposals to privatize land, industries, health and education are highly unpopular, which alienates him from the broad masses of the population. Urrutia himself was a totally unknown politician three months ago and is nothing more than a puppet manipulated by María Corina Machado, a historic opposition leader manufactured in the CIA laboratories and scandalously financed by the U.S. government.
In turn, Chavismo remains strong and organized, despite its contradictions and dissent, such as that of the Communist Party. In addition to the presidency of the Republic, it governs 19 of the 23 states, 213 of the 335 city halls, has 222 of the 277 deputies in the National Assembly, the majority in 20 of the 23 state legislative assemblies and in 224 of the 335 municipal councils. The judiciary and other national public institutions, as well as the top brass of the Bolivarian National Armed Force and the police are, in general, legalists.
However, despite a favorable real scenario for the 31st electoral victory in 25 years of Chavismo next Sunday (28), it will probably not be as easy as the polls that favor it indicate. The economic situation is not as bad as before and the country is relatively peaceful, but the people continue to live in an unstable social situation. Although it will probably win the elections, its result should indicate that the attempts to reconcile with the opposition, the Venezuelan bourgeoisie and American imperialism are not bringing great political gains for Chavismo in the face of its social base, especially the youth.
On the other hand, the radical opposition gives victory as a matter of course, using the polls that favor it and denying reality. The international press buys this speech. This is a campaign that purposely sells an illusion and the right-wing will certainly use these polls and biased press coverage as “proof” that there was fraud, if the results of the polls are contrary to these predictions, and, taking advantage of this climate, will return to its traditional repertoire of not recognizing the victory of Chavismo.
The U.S. government, unlike in all previous elections, decided to be more cautious and not issue statements in support of the opposition. However, a Maduro victory that is labeled as fraudulent by the opposition and the international press could lead to a change in the U.S. stance regarding public support for destabilization. After all, a dying government in transition, like Joe Biden’s, is unpredictable.
Supporters of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro attend a July 2024 campaign event in Caracas. Photo: Ariana Cubillos / Associated Press.
By Tulio Camacho – Jul 26, 2024
Venezuela is experiencing one of the most complex political and social situations in its history since its founding. This Sunday, July 28, presidential elections will be held in which not only will the person who will govern the destiny of the nation for the next 6 years be chosen, but also the direction that our country will take between two antagonistic models of society, economic management and conception of the human being.
On the one hand, the Bolivarian model, initiated after the rise to power of Commander Hugo Chavez in 1999 and which has been developed since the beginning of the 21st century, will be put to the test once again, before popular scrutiny, as it has done in a democratic way from its beginnings until today. This model of social inclusion, national sovereignty and vindication of the exploited majorities is embodied by President Nicolás Maduro, who has managed to lead a nation that has suffered one of the most perverse sieges that any country has ever endured and has not allowed the republican order to be brought to a breaking point. On the contrary, despite all predictions, Venezuela has experienced a gradual economic recovery in recent years.
The Bolivarian Revolution is a political process that has undertaken important transformations and social demands, having as one of its greatest merits, the defense of national sovereignty against the pretensions of imperial powers and transnational corporate powers.
21 Days of Intense Chavista Campaign: ‘Our Venezuela’
This historic position has cost the Bolivarian Government of Venezuela, having to face during years of political process, various maneuvers aimed at annihilating it: coup attempts, assassination attempts, economic war, actions to destabilize the country at all levels, treacherous betrayals and more recently, a package of unilateral coercive measures imposed by the Government of the United States, the European Union and other imperial powers, which has generated a situation of calamity and suffering for the common Venezuelan people, those who constitute the core of fundamental support for the revolutionary process.
In contrast, the opposition option most favored by transnational capital and the powers that attack the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela with sanctions and other mechanisms is represented by Edmundo González Urrutia, as the figurehead of María Corina Machado, who embodies precisely the most faithful representation of that oligarchy, at the service of foreign financial interests, which during the 21st century has not hesitated to attack the integrity of the nation in all aspects: economic, political, social, psychological, territorial, diplomatic, etc. Reaching the very serious level of encouraging not only unilateral coercive measures abroad, but also a direct military aggression by the United States against our country.
In this sense, it is more than clear that we have two clear options:
The first, focused on the survival of a sovereign Republic, which aims towards its economic recovery, guided by the patriotic principles bequeathed to us by the Liberator, Simon Bolivar, the Commander, Hugo Chavez and the martyrs and heroes of our history; oriented towards a social model that aims towards the protection of the working classes and the common people, having the human being as its center; which is embodied in President Nicolas Maduro Moros and Bolivarian Socialism.
The second, in contrast, directed towards the establishment in Venezuela of a model of surrender of national sovereignty to global corporate power and hegemonic powers, of renouncing historically won social rights and guarantees and the subordination of human dignity and condition to the interests of capital, as preached by savage neoliberalism that has caused and continues to cause so much havoc against the peoples of the world.
Beyond many criteria that could be considered in this election, this is the real dilemma in which we Venezuelans find ourselves at this decisive hour for the country and its historical future. We have the opportunity to reaffirm the emancipatory path that has cost so much effort, sacrifice and struggle, in line with a world that is moving towards great transformations, or to allow those who represent those who have mercilessly attacked our nation to finally get their longed-for spoils, at the cost of what could constitute the most shameful and deplorable historical setback in our history. It is essential that the Bolivarian clarion sound victoriously again this Sunday, July 28, as it has done for years of Revolution.
Council of Electoral Experts of Latin America Praises Venezuela’s Electoral System
JULY 27, 2024
The president of CEELA, Nicanor Moscoso. Photo: X/@VTVcanal8.
The president of the Council of Electoral Experts of Latin America (CEELA), Nicanor Moscoso, ruled out the possibility of inconsistencies between the votes cast by voters and the votes registered by the voting machines in the Venezuelan presidential elections of Sunday, July 28.
In an interview with Venezolana de Televisión (VTV) on Friday, July 26, Moscoso stated that Venezuela has the best electoral system in Latin America, due to which Venezuelans can “vote in peace and tranquility knowing that the votes will be counted, that the will of Venezuelans will be reflected in the results declared by the National Electoral Council.”
Unique system
Moscoso said that the Venezuelan electoral system is unique in the region because, in addition to being an electronic system, it also has a manual element, where the voter receives a slip that shows which candidate they voted for and subsequently deposits this slip in a box.
During the counting of the votes, 55% of these slips are counted to verify that the machine correctly registered the votes. Such a high percentage of verification does not exist anywhere else, the expert commented.
He further stated that due to the political conditions in Venezuela, his organization has also been observing the technical audits.
In this regard, he explained that CEELA has been present at the audits of the voting machines, the electoral roll, the software, the hardware, and the vote-counting machine. “We have observed the manufacturing of the machines and the composition of the boxes being taken to the voting centers,” Moscoso said.
Audits certified by political parties
According to the president of CEELA, the most significant element of all the audits is that technical delegates from the 38 political organizations participating in this election have been present.
“They have been witnesses for each of the audits, and at the end of them, all have expressed their satisfaction with the processes,” Moscoso stated. He added that on Friday, the zeroing audit was carried out, consisting of the political parties verifying that all the machines are set at zero votes and ready to receive the votes on Sunday.
He explained that CEELA has met with the delegates from all political parties and their technical experts, who were able to ask questions and make suggestions to the auditors. Their queries were answered with satisfaction.
Moscoso added that the political parties participating in Sunday’s elections have certified all the audits conducted until now.
MEDIA JOINS PLAN TO IGNORE 28J RESULTS
23 Jul 2024 , 2:30 pm .
The National Electoral Council is the governing body that exercises electoral power in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. (Photo: Europa Press)
The opposition sector that supports the candidacy of Edmundo González Urrutia has been preparing the ground to ignore the results of the presidential elections on Sunday, July 28 and call for violence.
This was denounced by the head of the "Venezuela Nuestra" campaign, Jorge Rodríguez, last Friday, July 19, in a press conference when he referred to the intention of some factors to participate in the elections but in an "illegal" manner. "It is an established plan to ignore the election results," he said, adding that "in the absence of votes, they wanted to win the elections with bots."
For the campaign manager, it is very suspicious that fraud is being claimed before the elections are held. He referred in particular to a CNN headline about the favorites to win the presidential contest in Venezuela. The article is biased and claims, based on surveys, that the candidate of the Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD) will be the undisputed winner next Sunday, which in Rodriguez's opinion is also an integral part of the post-28J destabilizing plan.
In this regard, he warned that it is likely that international media outlets will begin to give their projections based on exit polls , also known as exit polls, starting at noon on Sunday, July 28, when the voting process is in full swing.
Two months ago we predicted that the international media would play an important role in the destabilization scenario that the PUD wants to impose after June 28. We are referring to the possibility that the electoral event will be one of the most monitored in the world and that the large networks affiliated with imperial designs will provide special coverage, falsely assuming —by origin and context— that the figure of María Corina Machado and Edmundo González represents a political phenomenon only comparable to the emergence of Commander Hugo Chávez in 1998.
Bloomberg, Reuters, among other European and American media, would be in charge of projecting the supposed epic of that sector of the opposition, since it had to "face" Chavismo in an unfavorable scenario. According to Rodríguez, they seek to re-edit a process similar to the Guaidó project when they validated the installation of a parallel government.
The dynamics would be as follows: they would publish the exit polls in the early afternoon, the opposition would claim fraud and then there would be pressure to not recognize the election results. The campaign manager mentioned as a sign of the implementation of this plan the statements of the representative of the PUD, Biagio Pilieri, a day before when he said that they would only recognize the votes that are reflected in their own minutes, a preamble to the possible non-recognition of the results issued by the governing body.
"We will have the minutes of the 30,026 tables and of the more than 15,000 voting centers, in the more than 1,100 parishes (…) We will respect what those minutes say in a process that has to be free, democratic and transparent that day. What our minutes say, which is the will of the people of Venezuela, we will of course respect it," he said at a press conference.
It is important to remember that the NGO Súmate, created by María Corina Machado in 2002 to act as a parallel CNE, participates in the organization of the comanditos, shock groups that would guard the fictitious victory of Edmundo González "at the exit polls."
"We will recognize the CNE's results, and after the CNE issues its first bulletin we will go to the streets of all of Venezuela to defend our victory even with our own lives," stressed the head of the Chavista campaign.
Beyond the anecdotal and merely propagandistic nature of the stance displayed by international media corporations and communication franchises spread throughout the hemisphere, what is worrying is their active participation in the construction of a dangerous narrative that presents the triumph of Edmundo González Urrutia as inevitable and, therefore, any contrary result as the materialization of fraud.
The role in this sense is not neutral, and as such must be denounced. Due to the incompetence and irresponsibility of the media, we are witnessing invasions in the name of freedom and democracy. In Venezuela, with the media's consent, sanctions were justified and a fake government was promoted without, to date, the Venezuelan people having received the necessary apologies for the offense caused.
On Sunday, July 28, respect for institutions must prevail and the Venezuelan State as a whole must guarantee it. Peace and stability must prevail despite the already evident destabilizing signs that they exhibit.
Nicolás Maduro wins the presidential elections in Venezuela
As predicted, the right-wing opposition has refused to recognize the results and affirms that they won “with 70% of the vote”, the US government meanwhile has called for a recount
July 29, 2024 by Peoples Dispatch
Nicolás Maduro greets thousands of supporters outside of MIraflores Palace. Photo: Zoe Alexandra
Nicolás Maduro was re-elected for a third term in Sunday’s presidential elections, winning 51.2% of the vote. In a press conference just past midnight on July 29, the president of Venezuela’s National Electoral Council, Elvis Amoroso, announced that with 80% of the ballots counted, there was an irreversible trend pointing towards a Maduro victory. Amoroso also announced that 59% of the electorate had participated in the elections. Right-wing candidate Edmundo González came in second place with 44% of the vote.
Thousands were gathered at the Miraflores Presidential Palace on Sunday evening to celebrate the birthday of the father of the Bolivarian Revolution, Hugo Chávez, and to wait for the results of the elections. After the results were announced, Maduro, accompanied by other leaders of chavismo, addressed the supporters to celebrate the victory.
“I can say before the people of Venezuela and the world: I am Nicolás Maduro Moros, re-elected president of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela,” he declared, adding, “There will be peace, stability and justice. Peace and respect for the law.”
Both Amoroso and Maduro mentioned that there had been a hacker attack on the country’s electoral system. “The Attorney General’s Office and the Public Prosecutor’s Office will investigate and prosecute those responsible. But we already know which country it came from.”
In his speech, Maduro thanked the various political, economic, and social sectors which came together under the Great Patriotic Pole electoral alliance to elect him and to carry out the grassroots struggle against right-wing, regressive forces in the country, represented by Machado and González.
Maduro also stated that his priorities are to advance the economic recovery of the country, to strengthen ongoing social projects, and to build spaces of national dialogue and unity amongst the diverse political and social forces in the country. Another key priority is to continue fighting for an end to the blockade and regime of sanctions imposed on the country by the United States and the European Union and to pass the Anti-Blockade Law.
Meanwhile, the far-right opposition led by the former presidential candidate Edmundo González and political leader María Corina Machado, has refused to recognize the results of the elections. Machado assured in a press conference that González had won the elections with 70% of the votes, and Maduro with 30%. She called on her supporters to mobilize in order to “continue affirming the victory of Edmundo in all of Venezuela…In the next few days we will continue announcing actions to defend the truth.”
The US Embassy in Venezuela, which is not located in Venezuela but in Bogotá, Colombia, released a statement after the results were announced where it expressed “serious concern that the result that was announced does not reflect the will nor the vote of the Venezuelan people.” In the statement, the US called for a recount and for the ballots to be made public.
However, across Latin America and the Caribbean, political leaders and progressive movements have saluted Maduro’s victory.
Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel wrote on X, “Today the dignity and valor of the Venezuelan people triumphed over pressures and manipulation. I send to my brother President Nicolás Maduro our affectionate congratulations for this historic victory and the commitment of Cuba to being alongside the Bolivarian and Chavista Revolution. Brother Nicolás Maduro, your victory, which is of the Bolivarian and Chavista people, won cleanly against the pro-imperialist opposition unequivocally. In this way you also beat the regional, meddling, and Monroe-ist right wing. The people spoke and the Revolution won.”
Bolivian President Luis Arce joined fellow regional leaders in the congratulations. “We congratulate the Venezuelan people and President Nicolás Maduro for the electoral victory of this historic July 28. Great way to remember Commander Hugo Chávez. We have closely followed this democratic celebration and we salute that the will of the Venezuelan people has been respected at the polls.”
Honduran President Xiomara Castro who is also the pro-tempore president of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), stated, “Our special congratulations and Democratic, Socialist and Revolutionary greetings to President Nicolás Maduro and to the brave people of Venezuela for their unobjectionable triumph, which reaffirms their sovereignty and the historical legacy of the Commander Chávez.”
The Iranian Embassy in Venezuela also released a statement saying, “We congratulate the great people of Venezuela and His Excellency Nicolás Maduro on the successful holding of the presidential elections in a safe, peaceful, transparent, democratic and competitive environment with a massive and broad participation of the people.”
Latin American right unites against the Bolivarian Revolution
Right wing political leaders from across the region have issued strong attacks against the ongoing electoral process and professed their support to the far-right opposition
July 28, 2024 by Peoples Dispatch
Martha Lucia Ramírez and Vicente Fox. Photo: Martha Lucia Ramírez
For the right-wing across Latin America and the Caribbean, the Venezuelan elections appear to be an existential threat. Ahead of the July 28 presidential elections, numerous political figures, former elected officials, and sitting authorities from conservative sectors of Latin American politics have united to condemn the ongoing electoral process underway in Venezuela and to manifest their full support and backing to the far-right in the country represented on the ballot by Edmundo González and politically by the figure of Maria Corina Machado, who is not eligible to run.
The first wave of attacks were in response to alleged political deportations of several political figures such as ex-vice president of Colombia Martha Lucía Ramírez, ex-president of Mexico Vicente Fox, ex-president of Bolivia Jorge Tuto Ramírez, who are part of the Miami-based right-wing think tank “Idea Grupo” who had attempted to travel to Venezuela to act as “electoral observers”. After they were denied entry to the country for not having proper accreditation from the country’s electoral authorities, they launched a campaign on social media alleging that they were arbitrarily detained and deported by the “Maduro regime”.
Fox held a press conference on Friday from Panama and stated, “I vomit that a dictator imposes a route for us to follow. It should be evident that Maduro is a dictator that dominates and imposes on airlines, flights, people, and more, I absolutely reject this dictator.”
In a statement released by IDEA Group, the political intentions of their trip are made crystal clear: “The determination of the former presidents that make up the IDEA Group, in particular, of the accompanying mission appointed by them at the request of the presidential candidate Gonzalez Urrutia and Machado, is to maintain this accompaniment from our countries and sustain the struggle for the return of democracy in Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela and Bolivia; this, to prevent other countries in the region from knowing the risk of suffering that long night that for 24 years has darkened the illusions and hopes of millions of Venezuelans.”
As they say in their statement, their invitation was not from the National Electoral Council (CNE) which is the only body with the authority to invite electoral observers, but from political candidates and parties. According to Venezuelan electoral law, this type of invitation is not allowed. The observers must be recognized by the body responsible for the elections, the CNE. Former Venezuelan Vice President Elias Jaua told Brasil de Fato, “There is undoubtedly an attempt to put on a show by parliamentarians from various countries around the world. In no country can anyone who has not been invited to an institutional electoral process impose themselves by force.”
In an event on Saturday July 27, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro rejected the statements and said, “In Venezuela there are laws, we are not a gringo protectorate. I apologize to the nations that were offended by us impeding the entry of certain people who are not owed explanations.”
The far-right leader María Corina Machado and right-hand of González has been meanwhile, drumming up support from other right-wing leaders in the region. In a post on X, Machado wrote about a phone call she had with the far-right libertarian president of Argentina Javier Milei, stating, “I thanked [Milei] for the support and commitment of his government and the political team of the Foreign Ministry during these difficult months for Venezuelans and for our people in the campaign commands. I reiterated my confidence in the unwavering libertarian spirit of Venezuelans and our conviction that this 28J will be a historic civic gesture.”
The alliance of Machado with the Argentine president who has implemented a political project that has aggressively attacked the people’s rights and well being, also signals the type of policies that Machado would seek to implement such as slashing the state budget, social programs, and hard fought for rights. However, Machado’s post also suggests something more sinister, which is the political support given to Machado by Argentina’s Foreign Ministry.
Venezuela’s far-right refuses to recognize electoral results, violent protests break out across Caracas
The day after the Venezuelan people voted in their presidential elections, a number of seemingly coordinated protests broke out across Caracas
July 29, 2024 by Peoples Dispatch
María Corina Machado and Edmundo González in a press conference on Monday July 29. Photo: Screenshot
Violent protests have broken out in places across the Venezuelan capital Caracas on July 29, in the aftermath of the country’s presidential election. Far-right mobs have attempted to block major roads, including the road next to the Simón Bolívar International Airport, and have attacked buses, police cars, and members of the country’s security forces. The protests seem to be in response to calls by the defeated far-right opposition that on Sunday evening refused to recognize the victory of Nicolás Maduro.
In response to these incidents, different Venezuelan officials have called for a return to peace and an end to the violent protests. The president of Venezuela’s National Assembly, Jorge Rodríguez declared in a press conference on Monday evening, that the proposal of the right-wing was always to provoke violence and disturb the rule of law faced with the impossibility of winning at the polls. He also stated that the Venezuelan government had foiled several attempts to attack vital infrastructure on Sunday.
The right-wing opposition candidate Edmundo González and opposition leader María Corina Machado also held a press conference on Monday night to declare that they had their own data which confirms that they in fact won the elections with 73% of the votes. This supposed exclusive data that they collected comes from a New-Jersey based company Edison Research. According to a report by journalist Ben Norton, the company which did an exit poll on Sunday is “closely linked to the US government and does work for US state propaganda outlets that were founded by the CIA.” The apparent political nature of the exit poll company has led many to question the veracity of the data, especially given the wide difference with the official results and other leading pollsters.
Progressive organizations and platforms from across the world have denounced the destabilization attempts, with many alleging that the protests are coordinated and likely backed by the United States.
A statement released by the Party for Socialism and Liberation reads, “Nearly every major corporate media outlet based in the United States and other western countries covered the story based around the same basic narrative – a result that couldn’t possibly be true. If any evidence at all is being cited to back up the right-wing’s claims of fraud, it is ludicrously biased pre-election surveys conducted by opposition-aligned polling companies that suggested González had higher support. What we are witnessing is a familiar pattern in the U.S. campaign to overthrow the Bolivarian Revolution – the process of socialist transformation that began with the election of Hugo Chávez in 1998. When the U.S. government thinks that the right wing opposition has a chance of succeeding at the ballot box, then they participate in elections. When they lose the vote, they turn back to street violence and coup attempts.”
US-based organizations The People’s Forum and the ANSWER Coalition, wrote in a statement, “Democracy is under attack as the far-right mobilizes violent protests to attempt to overthrow President Maduro who won yesterday’s elections. History shows us that these coup attempts are often orchestrated directly by Washington and by allies of US imperialism. Stand on the side of the people and for democracy! HANDS OFF VENEZUELA!”
On Monday, Venezuela’s Foreign Minister Yván Gil announced that the country’s diplomatic personnel in Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, Peru, Panama, Dominican Republic and Uruguay would be withdrawn in response to the attempts by the governments of these countries to attack and undermine the electoral process. The ministry stated, “Venezuela expresses its strong rejection to the meddling actions and declarations of a group of right-wing governments, subordinated to Washington and committed openly with the most sordid ideological positions of international fascism, attempting to revise the failed and defeated Lima Group, that are attempting to disregard the electoral results of the Presidential Polls carried out this Sunday July 28, 2024.”
Chavista movements and organizations have called for people to mobilize to the center of Caracas to defend their vote and peace in Venezuela.
Contradictions in the opposition regarding the voting records
29 Jul 2024 , 9:00 pm .
Maria Corina Machado proclaimed on Monday that the "new president-elect" of Venezuela is former ambassador Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia. (Photo: AFP)
As estimated in various analyses prior to the presidential election, the Venezuelan opposition represented by the candidacy of Edmundo González Urrutia has taken the step of ignoring the results of the presidential elections of July 28.
The numbers, which favored the now re-elected and proclaimed president Nicolás Maduro Moros, have been questioned by various actors of the Comando ConVzla and by the Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD).
However, the spokespeople who have expressed their rejection of the results of the National Electoral Council (CNE) have made hasty appearances and have offered contradictory data.
Contradictions
On July 28, just minutes before the polling stations began to close, the electoral source journalist, Eugenio Martínez, suggested that Edmundo González Urrutia was ahead of Maduro by 22 points.
From his account on the social network X @puzkas , this journalist made a veiled statement alluding to Spanish football, but it is understood from the context that he was referring to the presidential election, as he has done on other occasions. The aforementioned avoided publishing alleged data in advance of the CNE announcements in order not to violate the Organic Law of Electoral Processes (Lopre) and its General Regulations.
Additionally, at 11:00 pm, the general secretary of the PUD, Omar Barboza, commented that the organization he represents had at that time the records of 30% of the electoral tables. Barboza indicated that any announcement of results would be "hasty," perhaps assuming that the governing body would issue a first bulletin.
Shortly after midnight, and following the announcements by the president of the electoral body, Elvis Amoroso, María Corina Machado testified in the foreground alongside former candidate Edmundo González and indicated that she had in her hands 100% of the minutes transmitted by the CNE. She added that Edmundo González had obtained 70% of the votes, while Nicolás Maduro had obtained 30%.
At the same press conference, and in the presence of Machado, González stated that the PUD had 40% of the minutes.
On the morning of July 29, María Corina Machado's personal lawyer, who also serves as legal advisor to the Comando ConVzla, Perkins Rocha, told the media that the opposition had "a very significant number of records," but added that "he could not give the exact number."
Rocha claimed that Edmundo González had been deprived of 5 million votes in the electoral count.
Spokesperson crisis
The opposition's blunder in figures offered by its spokesmen is more than worrying, considering the scenario.
In terms of the lack of recognition of the election results, it proposes the development of a political upheaval that entered the street stage on July 29 with some violent demonstrations recorded in Caracas and other cities in the country.
The opposition has saturated public opinion by claiming that they have the electoral records that "refute" the result, but they have referred to this through clumsy, contradictory statements that show data that defy mathematics.
According to CNE data, there was a national turnout of 59%, according to preliminary data corresponding to 80% of the votes counted. If this data corresponds to the turnout according to the Permanent Electoral Registry (REP), the election would have exceeded the attendance of 12 million people. Therefore, considering that Edmundo González obtained in the first bulletin some 4 million 445 thousand votes and that, according to Rocha, 5 million votes would have been "stolen" from him, then the candidate would have obtained some 9 million 445 thousand votes, which would generate a result of 78% in the election, which contradicts the "results" of the "parallel" count carried out by the opposition and which were referred to by Machado, in the order of 70%.
The milestone pointed out by Machado about a vote of "70%" for Gonzalez versus "30%" for Maduro, is also a challenge to mathematics considering that 8 opposition candidates alternative to the PUD participated in the contest. Machado awards an impossible 0% to the 8 opposition candidates, eliminating them from the election.
The spectacular mathematics and opposition's voice-over are framed in the context of the lack of knowledge of the results, which, according to the re-elected president Nicolás Maduro, is part of a "coup d'état." But, in effect, the strategy is based on the disclosure of weak data, clearly marked by contradiction and uncertainty.
Chavistas Take to the Streets of Venezuela To Ensure Peace
July 30, 2024
The president of the Venezuelan National Assembly and PSUV deputy, Jorge Rodríguez, in a press conference, calling Chavista forces to demonstrate on Tuesday, July 30, to ensure peace in Venezuela. Photo: Venezuelan National Assembly.
The president of the Venezuelan National Assembly, Jorge Rodríguez, called on supporters of the Chavista revolutionary movement to mobilize this Tuesday in the streets of Caracas to ensure the peace of the country and the electoral victory of President Nicolás Maduro and to reject the violence unleashed by the extremist opposition that refuses to recognize the results of the National Electoral Council and the will of the Venezuelans.
“We call on all our people to march tomorrow at two in the afternoon from Petare to Miraflores, also from Catia, La Vega, and El Valle to celebrate our victory, but above all, to defend the peace of the republic,” Rodríguez said during a speech on Monday, July 29, from the Federal Legislative Palace in Caracas.
In addition, Rodriguez called on all revolutionary forces to carry out large marches in the other states of Venezuela.
“Tomorrow, we will be on the streets; tomorrow, we will be there by the thousands, from the four cardinal points that came out on the day of the presidential race closing rally … we are going to Miraflores to defend our right to life, to freedom, and above all, to defend the result of the election,” he added.
The president of parliament emphasized that Venezuelans should take to the streets to guarantee peace, even those who voted against President Nicolás Maduro.
“The candidate you voted for is the one who is organizing all these acts of violence, along with his boss, which they have tried to unleash with a focus of violence in the capital city and other cities in the country,” he explained.
Far-right violence
Rodríguez denounced that the extreme right opposition never had an electoral proposal or project for Venezuela; on the contrary, its plan was always to generate violence.
“The call for the election was an excuse to be able to develop the phase of the plan that they had been preparing for quite some time,” he said.
“Their project is not electoral,” said Rodríguez. “Fascism does not resort to elections except as an end to try to impose its violent proposal, and that has been the case since Hitler and Mussolini. Their proposal is violence and aggression, as they are doing today.”
Jorge Rodríguez also attacked technology magnate Elon Musk, who dared to say that the electoral process was tainted and even posted inaccurate and misleading videos on his social media network, X, that were circulated by opposition figures in an attempt to tarnish the electoral process.
“Mr. Musk, in Venezuela elections are automated, there are no voting booths,” recalled Rodríguez. “In Venezuela, people vote with voting machines …”
Attack on electronic vote transmission
The head of the Our Venezuela campaign staff also spoke out against the hacking attacks suffered by the National Electoral Council (CNE) data transmission system on Sunday night.
“They attacked the CNE’s transmission center,” Rodríguez stated. “Its website has received millions of attacks so far, but they specifically attacked the centers through which the data with the results and voting records pass,” he said.
Rodríguez explained that the intention was to prevent the CNE from issuing its bulletin and announcing the results.
“If they had succeeded in that, which was their main plan, then the violence they are trying to sow today would have occurred yesterday,” said Rodríguez.
Groundhog Day in Venezuela
Posted on July 30, 2024 by Nick Corbishley
Nicolas Maduro “wins” presidential elections but the opposition, the US and US-aligned governments in the region refuse to accept results. Eyes are now on Brazil, Mexico and Colombia.
On Sunday, Venezuela’s incumbent President Nicolas Maduro won a third term in the presidential elections after obtaining 51.2% of the vote share. That’s according to Venezuela’s National Electoral Council (CNE). But did he? That is the question millions of Venezuelans are now asking themselves and each other. According to the CNE, the main opposition candidate, Edmundo Gonzalez, won 44.2% of the votes cast.
González is a former Venezuelan diplomat who was put out to pasture in 2002 after supporting the failed US-backed coup against Hugo Chavez. He is widely seen as a stand-in for Maria Corina Machado, a US-backed politician who was until recently the opposition front runner before being banned from holding political office after being charged with corruption as well as for her full-throttled support for US intervention.
During her career, Machado has backed US-led sanctions against Venezuela’s economy, the Trump administration’s farcical attempt to impose Juan Guaido as interim president, and has even asked foreign governments, including Israel and Argentina’s, to intervene militarily in Venezuela. It is crystal clear what a González-Machado ticket will mean for Venezuela: a government in thrall to the US and Israel which, like Milei’s in Argentina, will rapidly cool relations with the US’ main strategic rivals, China and Russia, lend its full support to Israel’s Gazacide and may even ask to join NATO.
“Groundhog Day in Venezuela”
Election day itself was surprisingly peaceful, though tensions have been rising since the results were announced.
Maduro’s vote haul was down by more than a million compared with the presidential election of 2018. Following the announcement of Maduro’s triumph, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken was among the first to cast aspersions on the results:
“We have serious concerns that the announced result does not reflect the will or the votes of the Venezuelan people. It is critical that every vote is counted fairly and transparently, that election officials immediately share information with the opposition and independent observers without delay, and that electoral authorities publish the detailed tabulation of the votes.”
Whether the US recognises the elections results is ultimately moot. Even before the elections it was among a handful of countries in the world that still failed to recognise the legitimacy of the Maduro government. As Mint Press News reports, the US government has been working overtime to dislodge Maduro’s socialist government, spending tens, if not hundreds of millions of dollars on “democracy promotion” in the country since Chavez’s electoral triumph in 1998.
Venezuela’s opposition also refused to recognise the results, just as it did in 2015 and 2019. As the Argentine geopolitical analyst Bruno Sgarzini writes, welcome to “groundhog day in Venezuela”.
Before the official results were even announced, Machado had proclaimed Gonzalez as “president-elect.” Venezuela, she said, “has a new president elect and his name is Edmundo González, and everybody knows it.”
She also claimed that the candidate of the Democratic Unitary Platform (or PUD, for its Spanish initials) had won 70% of the votes, and that Maduro had obtained just 30%, adding that PUD had won in all of the nation’s 23 states. This claim was apparently based on the quick counts coming out of just 30% of the voting sites — which invites the question: why did the opposition have access to such a small sample of results?
There were other anomalies to the proceedings. For example, it took the CNE far longer than usual to announce the results and by Tuesday evening there was still no breakdown of results by polling station. The Carter Center, which often sends election observers to Venezuela, has called on the CNE to “immediately publish the presidential election results at the polling station level.” So, too, has Brazil’s Lula government.
Exit polls conducted by US pollster Edison Research giving González a more than 30-point lead over Maduro appears to have played a key role in shaping the post-election narrative. One of the first people to publish this information was Juan Forero of The Wall Street Journal. Venezuelan opposition figures such as Leopoldo López seized on the data and spread it across social media. Given its provenance — a US journalist sharing information from a US pollster — the information was treated as gospel.
“The results are undeniable,” Lopéz declared just minutes before the CNE announced the official results. “The country has chosen the path of peace.”
What Lopéz and other members of the opposition didn’t mention (but Ben Norton does) is that Edison Research is a CIA-linked firm with a long history of providing US state propaganda organs with convenient polling results in geopolitical hotspots such as Ukraine, Georgia and Iraq:
Ben Norton
@BenjaminNorton
BREAKING: Venezuela’s opposition and US media outlets claim there was "fraud" in the election based on an exit poll from US government-linked firm Edison Research.
It is too early to divine the veracity of the opposition’s allegations of electoral fraud. As I’ve already noted, there were anomalies in the reporting process. And Maduro clea[/img]rly has a motive and the means to commit electoral fraud. That said, disinformation on social media has played a key part in shaping the narrative. That includes a fake video of people purportedly stealing ballot boxes that was retweeted by Elon Musk, who appears to be developing a penchant for meddling in Latin American affairs on the side of US-aligned forces.
The Migration Effect
According to the CNE, voter turnout was 59% — in a country whose population has slumped by around 25% over the past decade as a result of mass migration. Abstention due to migration appears to have played a major role in the result.
In the past ten years, Venezuela’s population has shrunk by roughly a quarter after more than seven million people have fled the country trying to escape a brutal hyperinflationary crisis. A large part of that crisis was made in the USA. As Aaron Maté points out in the tweet below, John Bolton himself recently admitted to the Washington Post that the goal of US sanctions was not only to make Venezuela’s economy scream but also to “drive” its people out of the country.
Even before the Trump administration ratcheted the US’ sanctions regime against Venezuela in 2019, to coincide with its appointment of Juan Guaido as Venezuela’s interim president, the Centre for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) published a report alleging that U.S. sanctions on Venezuela had killed tens of thousands of people by crippling its ability to produce its number-one export commodity, oil, or import basic goods. Here’s Jeffrey Sachs explaining to Democracy Now how that process played out:
You will hear none of this on mainstream media:
Prof. Jeffrey Sachs details how the US systematically destroyed the Venezuelan economy through sanctions, killing 40,000+, in order to force Venezuelans to abandon the Bolivarian revolution and topple Maduro…
Calling for Another Coup
Following Sunday’s elections, 10 Latin American countries (Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, the Dominican Republic and Uruguay) and the US signed a letter demanding that the “will of the Venezuelan people be respected at the polls.”
All of the governments are closely aligned with the US and their message bore a strong resemblance to the August 8, 2017 declaration of the 12-nation Lima Group, a multilateral body that was established with the goal of pursuing a peaceful overthrow of Venezuela’s government exit to Venezuela’s crisis. As Szargini says, this is groundhog day in Venezuela.
Of course, it is not just the US that has spent the past 20 years or so trying to topple Venezuela’s Chavista government. So, too, has the British government, which “has surreptitiously given £450,000 from its overseas aid budget to establish an ‘anti-corruption’ coalition in Venezuela through a controversial fund,” as Declassified UK reported in 2020. The UK government and the companies whose interests it represents want access to the huge deposits of oil lying under Venezuelan soil or seabed.
In 2016, Maduro accused factions of the Spanish political, business and financial establishment of illegally financing Venezuela’s opposition. In the lead up to the elections a delegation of nine members of Spain’s Popular Party (PP) went to Caracas where they were duly refused entry and forced to fly back to Spain. Spain’s Pedro Sánchez government has responded by accusing the PP of using Spanish public funds to put on a “political show” in a foreign country.
One of the most vicious attack dogs this time round has been Argentine President Javier Milei, who tweeted the following message on X even before the official elections results were announced:
“The data reveals a crushing victory of the opposition and the world is waiting for [the Maduro government] to accept defeat after years of socialism, misery, decadence and death. Argentina will not recognise another fraud, and expects the Armed Forces [of Venezuela] to defend democracy and the popular will this time round.”
Former Argentine President Mauricio Macri also urged Venezuela’s armed forces to seize this opportunity to get on the right side of history and guarantee that the will of the Venezuelan people is honoured. In other words, two Argentine presidents, one current, one former, are publicly calling for a military coup in a neighbouring country, with all the chaos, destruction and bloodshed that would entail.
But even this is nothing new. Five years ago, it was Brazil’s then-President Jair Bolsonaro who was talking about mobilising Venezuela’s armed forces against the Maduro government:
“The intention of the United States and ours is to create a fissure, a division, in the Venezuelan Army. There is no other way because, as I said some time ago and I was criticized, it is the Armed Forces who decide whether a country is in a democracy or a dictatorship.”
Somewhat less rabid statements were made by many of the governments of the aforementioned countries. The Costa Rican government said that it does not recognise Maduro’s election, calling it “fraudulent” and saying it “repudiates” it. Peru’s government, led by an unelected president with a 5% approval rating, also called the election “fraudulent”. Guatemalan President Bernardo Arevalo said his government is “very hesitant” to accept the results while Ecuador’s President Daniel Noboa called for a meeting of the Permanent Council of the Washington-based Organisation of American States to discuss the crisis in Venezuela.
Chile’s ostensibly left-of-centre President Gabriel Boric also cast doubt on the election results, describing them as “difficult to believe” and stating that Chile will not recognise data “that is not verifiable.”
Maduro to Lose More Local Allies?
Maduro is not completely isolated and his government has ridden out equally grave crises in the past. Whether he is able to ride this one out will depend on whether he maintains the support of Venezuela’s armed forces.
A number of Lat Am countries, including Honduras, Bolivia, Nicaragua and Cuba, have ratified his electoral victory. Further afield but no less importantly, both Russia and China also congratulated Maduro on his triumph. China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said that Beijing is “eager to collaborate with Venezuela to further strengthen their all-weather strategic partnership, aiming to benefit both nations’ people.”
However, as of the time of writing, neither Brazil, Mexico nor Colombia, three key nations that in recent years have helped the Maduro government withstand the siege initiated by the Lima Group, had failed to recognise the election results. If one or more of these countries refuses to ratify Maduro’s triumph, his government risks becoming even more isolated in its direct neighbourhood.
Ominously, Mexico’s outgoing President Andrés Manuel Lopéz Obrador has said he will wait for all the votes to be counted before making an informed decision on the matter, which is uncharacteristic of him. Colombia’s Gustavo Petro, who is usually so vocal on foreign policy issues on social media, has opted for an uncharacteristically “eloquent silence,” as El País cheekily puts it.
Of the three countries, the one that is most likely to break ranks with Venezuela is Lula’s Brazil. Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva does not want to be perceived at home or abroad as supporting an authoritarian regime on Brazil’s borders. Just over a week ago, he admitted in an interview with international news agencies that he was “scared” on hearing his Venezuelan counterpart, Nicolás Maduro, say that there could be a “bloodbath” and a “civil war” in Venezuela if he loses the elections:
I was scared by Maduro’s statement that if he loses the elections there will be a bloodbath; whoever loses an election takes a bath of votes, not blood. Maduro has to learn that when you win, you stay [in power]; when you lose, you go.
But Lula also knows that if Maduro were to fall, there is a very real risk of Venezuela, which shares a border with Brazil, plunging into chaos. As the Wall Street Journal recently reported, US oil executives have been warning of this possible eventuality.
Lula also knows that if Venezuela’s rabidly right-wing opposition were to gain the upper hand in the country, another South American country would fall into Washington’s grip. Ecuador and Peru have already signed military partnerships with Washington over the past year while Milei’s government in Argentina has made huge concessions to Washington, including granting US SOUTHCOM a navel base in Patagonia.
Lest we forget, an attempted coup just took place in Bolivia. Like Venezuela, Bolivia is keen to join the BRICS+ grouping, which is presumably the last thing Washington wants, especially given their wealth of natural resources. As we have been reporting for the past year or so, the US is once again vigorously stirring the pot in its own “back yard” as it tries to regain geopolitical and strategic dominance over the American continent. The results could not be more clear.
The criminal factor at the forefront of the post-election coup agenda
30 Jul 2024 , 5:30 pm .
A new attempt at massive destabilization in Venezuela, linked to external financing and organized crime, is in full swing (Photo: AP)
In the context of recent high-voltage events in Venezuela, the strategy of the Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD) in the presidential elections of July 28 has revealed the true meaning of the expression “until the end.”
In a post-election speech , President Nicolás Maduro offered a detailed analysis of the violence surrounding the election.
Presenting compelling evidence, the president argued that the protests and systematic attacks are not mere spontaneous reactions stimulated by the fraud narrative, but are part of a coordinated insurrectional plan, designed with the aim of destabilizing,
The head of state described the premeditated plan that has been carried out before, during and after the elections, where previously organized groups seek to generate a climate of chaos and distrust.
"They did everything possible to create a violent scenario," he said, describing an advanced sabotage of the country's public services, with the aim of causing a national blackout and undermining the population's ability to exercise their right to vote.
Maduro pointed to a group that acts with a high degree of coordination and planning. The capture of dozens of people involved in acts of violence, many with criminal records and impaired by drug use: the evidence was provided by them themselves.
The description of the participants in the acts of violence as "drugged, with an exaggerated personality and with precise orders of where to attack, what to attack" helps to unravel the criminal nature of the threat looming against the country. These are organised, manipulated groups with the intention of intimidating and frightening the population.
The element of external financing, "they are being paid a hundred and fifty dollars per day," is key to understanding the international dimension that he denounced in this attempt at destabilization. A conspiracy that goes beyond national borders and seeks, as in previous episodes, to undermine the democratic process in Venezuela.
The tactic of politically focused violence has gone beyond the mere damage to the electrical infrastructure, extending to direct attacks against electoral centers and the headquarters of the National Electoral Council (CNE). This dynamic of aggression is not limited to these spaces, but is also directed towards institutions, security agencies and public property, evidencing a systematic pattern of destabilization, the loop of 2013, 2014, 2017 and 2019.
Fascist commandos of Maria Corina Machado set fire to the CNE headquarters in Coro, Falcón state.
Theirs has never been an electoral issue, it is pure fascist violence. pic.twitter.com/7XX7RlpVaF
In Guacara, Carabobo state, a hooded group attacked the police headquarters, destroying patrol cars and causing chaos in the town.
On Fuerzas Armadas Avenue in Caracas, Metrobus units that had recently been reopened were attacked.
The mayor's office of the Jiménez municipality, in the state of Lara, was vandalized by violent groups.
Another report records damage to the infrastructure of a vertical gym in the state of La Guaira, a recently inaugurated cultural and sports space that was intended to serve children from the Simón Bolívar Orchestra System, as well as young athletes.
The CLAPs, vital for food distribution in the midst of the economic crisis, have not escaped these attacks either. In Macarao, a parish in Caracas, a food collection center was set on fire.
Similarly, a hospital in the Coche parish was burned down by vandal groups.
“... I was calculating, because I know this issue well, and they have had about 10% of the impact they did in 2013 with Capriles, in 2014 with Machado, Leopoldo López and Antonio Ledezma, and in 2017 with Julio Borges and all these people,” said President Maduro.
These acts not only aim to destabilize the political environment, but also constitute a deliberate attempt to undermine the identity and history of Chavismo. This is evident in the attacks directed against statues of Commander Hugo Chávez and the headquarters of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) in various regions of the country, while seeking forced symbolic analogies with scenes that could have been seen in the early 1990s in Eastern Europe, only now in the immediacy of social networks.
The violence has rapidly escalated into hate crimes, as illustrated by the account of the brutal attack suffered by a passerby in Caracas' Plaza O'Leary. A group that wanted to label him a "collective" attempted to lynch the victim, but the prompt intervention of other citizens managed to save him from a fatal fate.
In addition, there have been reports of acts of armed harassment directed against leaders of local political structures, such as heads of communal councils, members of the CLAP and representatives of the Bolívar-Chávez Battle Units (UBCH). A pattern of harassment that aims to intimidate and inhibit popular organization in the communities.
What distinguishes this event from previous protests is the unprecedented and alarming speed with which armed organisations and criminal groups have taken control of the demonstrations. Unlike in previous years, where 'civil society' controlled and directed the staging, on this occasion we have witnessed how these violent groups have displaced the 'traditional' protesters, turning the streets into real battlefields.
These groups do not act in isolation; on the contrary, they have a direct connection with the so-called " comanditos " (command groups) organized by Vente Venezuela.
President Nicolás Maduro's accusations underline this reality. The people captured in recent operations are linked to criminal organisations, have criminal records and were incorporated into the "Comanditos", which reveals the organised structure behind these violent acts. In his opinion, these groups have received shady financing (the President pointed to Colombian drug trafficking networks), which has allowed their activation and expansion.
"They were all part of the famous 'comanditos'. We are dealing with a criminal organization; Colombian drug trafficking brought in a lot of money with drugs to activate these criminal groups."
This is the outcome of a plan that has been the subject of repeated complaints. Edmundo González Urrutia, María Corina Machado and their group did not intend to participate in the electoral process with the purpose of seeking popular support through the vote. Their focus was the organization of these "comanditos", using the electoral campaign as a vehicle to articulate criminal groups hired for openly terrorist purposes.
The ultimate goal is a coup d'état, and escalation of violence is the main tool.
In the current situation, the Venezuelan government is implementing firm actions to prevent the repetition of episodes of violence similar to those that occurred during the riots in past years.
Recognizing the high probability of such events being repeated, authorities have strengthened their monitoring and response capacity to any attempt at destabilization promoted by extremist sectors.
President Maduro has emphasized the importance of civil-military-police unity in the defense of the country.
"We know this story," he said, referring to the experience accumulated over the years in dealing with coup attempts and acts of violence. From the coup in April 2002 to the riots of 2014 and 2017, we have learned to identify and counter these tactics.
The Venezuelan government's commitment is clear: it will not allow the episodes of violence that have marked the country's recent history to be repeated.
Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist, Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist 31 Jul 2024
Ajamu Baraka, Black Agenda Report editor and columnist, discusses observing the recent elections in Venezuela and why the U.S. still seeks to undermine that democracy.
Margaret Kimberley: Ajamu Baraka is a Black Agenda Report editor and columnist. He is joining us from Caracas, Venezuela, where he was an observer in the recently held national elections. We will discuss what he observed, the meaning of the results, and the ongoing attempts from the U.S.-backed right wing to destabilize the elected government. Good morning, Ajamu, and thank you.
Ajamu Baraka: It's a pleasure to be here and to have this opportunity to discuss what's unfolding here in Venezuela.
MK: Tell us about your role as an election observer. How did that come about?
AB: Well, it's a combination of factors. One is, that this makes my third experience observing elections here. And then as well, I've done this here and in other places around the world, or for quite some time. Secondly, though, the invitation was extended to the Black Alliance for Peace , to join the more than 800 international observers to come in and to lend their eyes and ears to this process.
The rationale was that I think the Venezuelan authorities understood that, despite the fact that this election process in Venezuela is one of the cleanest in the world, one of the most effective and efficient, then there was a strong possibility that if the opposition did not win, then they were going to cry fraud. And so they wanted to have a variety of different eyes on this process. So we were accepted. So my role basically, here is partly as a journalist with the Black Agenda Report, and also politically with the Black Alliance for Peace.
MK: The election was held on July 28. We're talking two days later, and President Maduro’s party, the United Socialist Party of Venezuela, in Spanish the PSUV, did win a majority of votes with this process that you have described as being transparent and internationally recognized. But no sooner were these results announced than the US government, not surprisingly, said that the results were questionable, and there were allegations of fraud. And of course, the opposition did not accept being defeated. Talk to us about events since the election results were announced.
AB: Well, what we saw unfold was the playbook that the US has, when it comes to events in this region and really around the world, that when there's an attempt to have internal democratic processes, where the possibility of forces that may not be in alignment with the US come into power, and there is an attempt on the part of the US and the Western European allies to undermine those processes. And that's exactly what has occurred here in this country.
I think the world was forewarned that the possibility of violence erupting if the opposition didn't win, was something that had to be dealt with, and acknowledged. But even before we talk about that, I wanted to just briefly share with the people who are reading this interview, that the process will determine how people actually vote here in this country. On the day of the election, we had an opportunity to move around primarily around Caracas and right outside, to view the process of various voting spaces and voting precincts, and what we saw was the process in place.
They have a pretty robust process to make sure that results cannot be manipulated by any force. For example, the first thing that a voter has to do when they get ready to vote is present their ID, but then it has to be verified through a biometric process. When they are identified they are given a slip of paper. And then they are able to cast their vote electronically and to have a paper ballot to verify the fact that they in fact, have voted. And that is to ensure that there that the electronic count and the paper ballot count correspond.
And then during the election process, the day of the vote, the government engages in audits really before the voting takes place, but during the day of the voting, and afterward, 54% of the machines are randomly selected for audit, all of this is clearly observed by opposition forces. Opposition forces are allowed to be in the voting spaces to observe the process and to be present when they begin the process of recording the votes at the end of the day. So it's very difficult to manipulate this process. And that's why when Secretary of State Antony Blinken talked about some counter data that they have, we want to hear what that data is because I didn't observe too many gringo elements out there, engaging in interviews with voters to get a sense of what was really unfolding.
Now we know that, for example, in this country, it is not legal to engage in these exit polls because of how they can be used. So we suspect that this statement by Blinken is part of the process of providing a narrative that would justify the violence that the opposition is now starting up in the country. And again, this is part of how the US operates as an anti-democratic force. That basically the only concern is maintaining the ability to manipulate and control processes in various countries. Venezuela is a key country that they feel compelled to try to control because of the role it plays in our region. So we have observed a process that was clean, and efficient. We didn't see any irregularities. And so again, whatever information that the opposition has, along with their masters in the US, that information needs to be revealed.
MK: I think we also need to talk about the role that the corporate media plays in amplifying what the state says. I'm looking at the New York Times right now and it says, “Venezuela's authoritarian leader was declared the winner of the country's tumultuous presidential election. The vote was riddled with irregularities and citizens were angrily protesting the government's actions at voting centers, even as the results were announced.” Talk to us about The New York Times, The Washington Post, and other news organizations in the country and how they work with the state against governments that are declared enemies or adversaries.
AB: Well, you know that's part of the process. That's the role that they play. These are not journalistic outlets, these are propagandists posing as journalists, they have an ideological mission, and their mission is to support and prop up the interests of the U.S. and Western capital. So an experiment like Venezuela is a very threatening one. So, undermining that process is their number one objective, and the way you attempt to undermine that process is to attempt to de-legitimize it in the eyes of the popular forces not only inside the country but globally.
Fortunately for Venezuela, that process is not as effective as it was about 10 years ago, because of a shift in global power, because of the consciousness of people globally who have recognized the true role that the US plays in undermining people's democracies globally. So they are mainly speaking to a domestic audience. When they talk about these claims of irregularities and massive opposition and violence at polling places. We did not observe any of that. Most of the international observers didn't see that happen. Anytime we saw some potential violence at the polling places was when the opposition showed up, they tried to stop the voting process. The Venezuelan authorities have a commitment that even though the polls are supposed to close at 6:00 pm, if they have people in line, just like in the US, they are allowed to cast their vote. But the opposition showed up at a number of polling places trying to get them to shut down the voting, this is in line again with the behavior of these right wing forces, both in Venezuela and in the US.
So this is part of the process, these outlets are not there to report what objectively happens in these various countries, but to ensure that the dominant narrative coming from the US state, and the US ruling elite, becomes the narrative that shapes people's awareness or consciousness of these events in places like Venezuela.
MK: And there have been acts of violence but all perpetrated by the government's opposition. The day after the voting, there were fires set, including at a hospital and other government buildings. The police were attacked. Talk to us about this. And this is two days later. Is this still going on?
AB: Well, this is part of what they had in store for Venezuela. We have to be reminded that this opposition in Venezuela is one of the most backward and violent ones in the region. We remember the violent activity that it engaged in 2014 and in 2017, that resulted in a number of people losing their lives, people being literally burned to death by these thugs and gangsters, many of them on the payroll of western intelligence agencies. So you can't take them lightly, they did come out in force, yesterday, and as you know, because we talked, even at the hotel that I'm located in, because in a community that is a part of the opposition, we are basically confined to our hotel because of the demos taking place in the streets. And because again, of the real potential for violence from those forces. So today's been relatively quiet.
But we fully expect a continuation of that kind of activity today, until it is quite obvious to the opposition that they're not going to be in the position they were a few years ago, to really disrupt the society and to engage in the kind of criminal behavior that they engaged in before. There's no stomach for that, at this point, in this country. People have accepted the fact that there's a Bolivarian process, and that it is going to go forward. And these voices, with their backward looking perspective, are really on the wrong, on the opposite side of history. And I think that they already recognized that.
MK: And we also see the US working with other governments in the region to undermine Venezuela, which broke off diplomatic relations with seven nations, Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, Peru, Panama, Dominican Republic and Uruguay.
AB: Well, the authorities of Venezuela, believe that these nations are engaged in a systematic process to interfere in the electoral process within this country, that they make statements and that by their failure to recognize the process objectively aligns themselves with the interests that are trying to undermine Venezuelan democracy. So they made the decision to withdraw their diplomatic status. It is interesting that one of the states that was grouped in with those states because they’re considered to be reactionary is Chile. And that's a whole other conversation. But that's their decision that they're going to have to live with.
But also, it's a decision that is helping to define the grouping of states, in this region, between those that are looking forward, that are committed to transforming social and economic realities in favor of the people versus those states that are still in alignment objectively, with the past, with the reactionary elements that are still hegemonic in their societies, and that are then connected to the backward elements in the US and in Europe.
So this is part of an intensified struggle, if you will, a class struggle, this has taken the form of these of a national struggle between these various states, and Venezuela and other progressive states and in this region.
MK: You know, the Biden administration's hostility to Venezuela is not new. Every president from the time of Hugo Chavez to the president, that's George W. Bush, Obama, Trump and Biden, have all to varying degrees sought to undermine this government or even to enact regime change. What does it tell us about the US that these efforts are bipartisan and ongoing,
AB: It reflects the nature of the US regime, that the US government, that it is, in fact, a reactionary force, that, in my opinion, represents an excellent existential threat to global humanity. There's no commitment to any kind of democratic process. They don't respect national sovereignty. They are in the business of subversion and war in order to maintain their hegemony. So it's important to point out that these activities targeting Venezuela weren't because of any personality that is at the head of the process, in Venezuela, or in the US. But these are objects of interest that are clashing. Venezuela represents a threat to US interests. The US is operating from a framework that they have defined as full spectrum dominance. That doctrine suggests that any regional state that poses a real or potential threat to US regional dominance must be undermined. And here in this region, our region, the Americas, that state was in fact, Venezuela. Venezuela was driving the integration process, here in this region.
Venezuela had the ability through its revenues from oil to assist progressive and revolutionary processes here in this region. And therefore, they were the main target for subversion. So that's why you see this bipartisan cooperation, if you will, targeting this country, imposing illegal sanctions to the extent that even during the pandemic, they moved to ensure that the Venezuelans couldn't even secure COVID testing. And then when the vaccine was available, they tried to deny them access to vaccines, resulting in the unnecessary deaths of thousands of people here in this country. That's the fiendish character of US and Western imperialism. So, this is not driven by personalities but it is driven by the objective interest, the evil interests of the US to maintain the the evil empire if you will, and that means undermining democratic experiments, socialist experiments, like here in Venezuela and in Cuba and in Nicaragua, and in Bolivia and across the planet. That is what they are, therefore, it doesn't really matter who sits in the white people's house. That objective interest, that objective strategy will continue to unfold until there is an effective, domestic counterforce to this. And that's why it's so vitally important that it's built. We organize a campaign to make the Americas a Zone of Peace . That's an act of solidarity. It’s an act of solidarity to eject from our region, those forces led by the US that are only committed to force and violence. We want to demilitarize the region, and the control being exercised by the US. So this is why we organize these kinds of campaigns, because we understand objectively, we have a responsibility to ourselves, and to the people of this region, and really globally, to put a brake on the ambitions, the agenda of US barbaric imperialism.
MK: And my last question is about immigration, and the links to US policy towards Venezuela. The imposition of sanctions, which as you point out caused thousands of deaths in Venezuela, their attempt to destroy the economy inevitably resulted in thousands of Venezuelans being forced to leave their country with many of those people coming to the US. Many of the people who have come here as asylum seekers are Venezuelans. So the US is responsible for this migration. But that's something that is never mentioned, as immigrants are demonized, as the process is demonized. And it's always discussed in terms of the border, is a direct result of the actions we've been discussing. But that connection is rarely made.
AB: Or is really made because it will fully implicate us policy in driving people toward the southern border. And that's part of the conversation that the authorities want to avoid. But it's our responsibility to, in fact, make those connections, because you can't understand the migration issue until you understand what role US capital is playing throughout the region, and not just in Venezuela, of course, but across the region, and into Central America and the Caribbean.
So the kind of subversion we see of democracy in Haiti is part of that process. The continuation of the colonial status of Puerto Rico is part of that process. The subversion of Nicaragua is part of that process. A few years ago, you had very little migration from Nicaragua. So this is part of the story. But that part of the story they don't want to talk about in the US, but that's part of the story that has to be understood, because we see how they are using the issue of immigration or migration.
On the far right, and the right, represented by the neoliberal Democrats, that basically, these migrants are being used as an instrument to undermine the potential unity that we are attempting to build in terms of an anti colonial process. You have even some Black folks who are now sounding like Trumpists when they talk about the role of migration. So it poses a more difficult challenge for progressive revolutionary forces in the US, they try to counter the growing reactionary xenophobia, that has been used by the ruling class, to undermine our unity and to ensure that their rule can continue. So it makes it a very dangerous situation, both for the US and in this region. Because these same forces, also domestically, are providing support to these individuals, these arrogant interventions into the internal affairs of countries like Venezuela, and other countries here in the region.
1. Foreign-backed protests continue in the country, and the army and police are suppressing them. Over 1,000 people were arrested yesterday, several were killed, including security forces, and several hundred people were injured during the unrest.
2. The Venezuelan army has fully supported the elected President Maduro and declared what is happening to be an attempt at an imperialist coup d'etat supported from abroad.
3. Venezuela has consistently recalled ambassadors and broken diplomatic relations with those countries that dispute the results of the country's elections and support the attempted coup d'etat. Ambassadors of such countries are required to leave Venezuela within three days.
4. Russia, China, and Cuba fully support Maduro and, if necessary, will provide him with various types of support, as has happened more than once in the past. A change of power in Venezuela is not in their interests.
5. This situation clearly shows why flirting with the United States and the opposition is pointless. At the first opportunity they try to seize power one way or another. This will be an important lesson for the Chavistas.
Statement on the 2024 Venezuela's Presidential Election
* On July 28, 2024, Nicolás Maduro was elected president of Venezuela for a third term. With 51.20 percent of votes in favor, the National Electoral Council announced Maduro's victory in a contest in which nearly 59 percent of the electorate participated. Meanwhile, despite their defeat, Edmundo González and María Corina Machado -disqualified from running for elected office for 15 years due to her participation in the "corruption plot orchestrated by the usurper Juan Guaidó"- have dedicated the last 24 hours to reject the election's result and to instigate a climate of violence in the country. While the U.S. corporate media blames the fed-up Venezuelan people as the origin of the post-election unrest, they say little about the U.S. unilateral sanctions on Venezuela (widely supported by Machado), which have killed more than 30,000 people since their implementation. In the face of the threat of a U.S.-backed coup and the danger of the Guarimbas - shock squads - the Venezuelan people continue to defend their freedom and sovereignty at the ballot box and in the streets.
Caracas, July 29, 2024
We, the undersigned organizations, associations, and movements, congratulate the people, all authorities, and political parties of Venezuela for holding the presidential elections peacefully and transparently.
Once again, it was confirmed to the world that the Venezuelan electoral system continues to be one of the most secure globally, capable of transmitting the essence of the voters' decision, with more than a dozen types of audits and where the political forces of that country intervene in their different tendencies, all under detailed rules and regulations, with constitutional rank, which verifies the strength of the Venezuelan democratic institutions.
We congratulate President Nicolás Maduro on this new victory with 51.20% of the votes, which he has won under difficult conditions. He faced all the difficulties resulting from other countries' intervention in Venezuela's internal affairs, impacting its economy.
Likewise, we see the results as an opportunity for the international community to rectify its erroneous policy of sanctions and financial blockades against Venezuela, which have caused a crisis three times worse than the Great Depression in the United States.
We hope that this new democratic manifestation of the Venezuelan people will be the starting point for a new way of relating with Venezuela in terms of respect for the political and sovereign decisions of the Venezuelan people. Finally, we ask respect for the Venezuelan people who have not tired of sending us messages of political and economic independence. We call on the international community to accept once and for all this reality in Venezuela.
Peace has won, sovereignty has won, long live the people of Venezuela.
In solidarity,
• Alliance for Global Justice AFGJ, EE. UU.
• Asociación Americana de Juristas. Red continental.
• Freedom Road Socialist Organization, Tom Burke, EE. UU.
• The Task Force on the Americas, EE. UU.
• Haïti Liberté, Berthony Dupont Kim Ives, EE. UU.
• Venezuela Solidarity Network, EE. UU
• National Jericho Movement, EE.UU.
• All-African People's Revolutionary Party (GC), EE. UU.
• Philippines-Bolivarian Venezuela Friendship Association, Sarah Raymundo, EE. UU.
• New York Peace Council, Immanuel Ness, EE. UU.
• The ProLibertad Freedom Campaign, Benjamin Ramos, EE. UU.
• Venezuela Solidarity Campaign, Dr. Francisco Domínguez, Reino Unido.
• Church of Santa Cruz-Holyrood, Radhames Morales Ministry of Solidarity with the Peoples, EE. UU.
• United National Antiwar Coalition, EE. UU.
• Council on Hemispheric Affairs COHA, EE. UU.
• Friends of Latin America, Leslie Salgado, EE. UU.
• Workers World Party, EE. UU.
• International Action Center, EE. UU.
• BAYAN-Philippines New Patriotic Alliance, Teodoro Casiño, EE. UU.
• Barbados Cuba Friendship Association, David Denny, EE. UU.
• Barbados Industrial and General Workers Union, EE. UU.
• Coordinadora Americana por los Derechos de los Pueblos y Víctimas de la Persecución Política.
• Cooperation Jackson. Kali Akuno, EE. UU.
• B.L.M – OKC, EE. UU.
• Chicago ALBA Solidarity, Stansfield Smith, EE. UU. .
• Minnesota Anti-War Committee, EE. UU.
• Asociación de trabajadores del campo ATC, Nicaragua.
• Troika Kollective, EE. UU.
• Centro Cultural Político Deportivo El Maestro BRONX, EE. UU.
• Fuerza de la Revolución New York City, EE. UU.
• Asociación Americana de Juristas (AAJ) NYC, EE. UU.
• NYC Nurses Union, Judy Sheridan Gonzalez, EE. UU.
• Bangladesh Tri Continental Solidarity Campaign For Venezuelam, Dr. Jahangir Khan, EE. UU.
• Asociación Mexicana de Abogados del Pueblo - Guerrero, México.
• Organización Campesina de la Sierra del Sur, México.
• Comité San Lucas Xochimancas, México.
• Brújula Metropolitana, México.
• Colectivo Regina Martínez, de Xalapa Veracruz, México.
• Asociación de Familiares de Detenidos Desaparecidos y Víctimas de Violaciones a los Derechos Humanos en México (AFADEM FEDEFAM), México.
• Red Universitaria de Monitores de Derechos Humanos (RUMODH), México.
• Asociación de Derechos Humanos del Estado de México (ADHEM), México.
• Liga Mexicana por la Defensa de los Derechos Humanos, A.C. Filial Oaxaca (LIMEDDH-Oax), México.
• Consejo Federal Ejecutivo Nacional e Internacional del Frente Mexicano Pro Derechos Humanos, A.C. (FMPDH), México.
• Fundación Diego Lucero, A.C. (FDL), México.
• Mujeres Guerrerenses por la Democracia, A.C. (MGD), México.
• Foro Permanente de Mujeres Iztacalco, A.C. (FPM-I), México.
• Asamblea Vecinal Nos Queremos Vivas Neza (AVNQVN), México.
• Centro de Estudios para los Derechos Humanos y la Justicia Ambiental "YURENI", A.C. (CEPDHJA), México.
• Actuar Familiares contra la Tortura, (AFT), México.
• Comunidad Raíz Zubia, A.C. (CRZ), México.
• Comité de Familiares de Personas Desaparecidas en México Alzando Voces (COFADDEM), México.
• Despertares Derechos Humanos A C, México.
• Alerta Temprana Red (at-r), México.
• Mexicanos Unidos, México.
• Comité Veracruzano de solidaridad con Venezuela, México.
• Urbana Tv Argentina, Milcíades Peña, Argentina.
• Partido Intransigente, Enrique Gustavo Cardesa, Argentina.
• Club argentino de periodistas amigos de Cuba, Argentina.
• Observatorio de Derechos Humanos de los Pueblos:
Integrantes del Consejo Consultivo:
Argentina Adolfo Pérez Esquivel Premio Nobel de la Paz, Stella Calloni Corresponsal de la Jornada en Buenos Aires; Colombia Rubiel Vargas Secretario Ejecutivo Nacional del Comité Permanente por la Defensa de los Derechos Humanos de Colombia (CPDH), María Cardona Mejía Defensora de Derechos Humanos, Dr. Mario Hernández Álvarez Coordinador Doctorado Interfacultades en Salud Pública Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Víctor Osorio Cadena Presidente del Sindicato Nacional Memoria Viva; España Ana Andrés Ablanedo Defensora de Derechos Humanos de Soldepaz Pachakuti, Ricardo Sánchez Andrés miembro de la junta de la (ACP) Asociación Catalana por la Paz – miembro de la Asamblea de Internacional de (Comunistes de Catalunya) y miembro permanente del consejo de Solidaridad de la Ciudad de Manresa, María Victoria Fernández Molina Candidata a Doctora en Derechos Humanos, Estados Unidos James Patrick Jordan Coordinador Nacional de la Alianza por la Justicia Global e integrante del Observatorio de Derechos Humanos de los Pueblos capítulo Estados Unidos, Suiza José Manuel González López, Gerardo Romero Luna y Mariella Bauer integrantes del Observatorio de Derechos Humanos de los Pueblos capítulo Suiza; Venezuela Hugo Alberto Nieves Integrante del Movimiento Político – Social VAMOS, Zuleima Vergel Guerra Vocera Nacional del Movimiento Político – Social VAMOS de Venezuela, Indhira Libertad Rodríguez Red de Colectivos La Araña Feminista, José Miguel Gómez García Movimiento Internacional de la Economía de los Trabajadores, Ali José Álvarez Observatorio de Derechos Humanos de los Pueblos – Movimiento Cultural Campesino Los Arangues Venezuela; Ecuador Abg. Franklin Columba Cuji Presidente de la Unión de Organizaciones Sociales Interculturales del Sur de Pichincha UOSISP de Ecuador; Bolivia Ruth Verónica Huanca integrante del Comité Impulsor de Sucre – Observatorio de Derechos Humanos de los Pueblos Capítulo Bolivia, Rodolfo Machaca Yupanqui Ex Secretario General de Confederación Sindical Única De Trabajadores Campesinos de Bolivia - CSUTCB; Palestina Jamal Juma Coordinador STOP The WALL; Guatemala Ana Laura Rojas Padgett integrante de la Red de Integración Orgánica - RIO; Panamá Ligia Arreaga Integrante de la Alianza por un mejor Darién – AMEDAR; Brasil Gizele Martins del Movimiento de Favelas de Rio de Janeiro; Perú Betty Izaguirre Lucano Coordinadora General del Movimiento Alfa y Omega, Percy Katari Integrante de la Comisión de Comunicación del Observatorio de Derechos Humanos de los Pueblos, Director Internacional de ComuniSur, Impulsor del Frente Comunicacional Antiimperialista de Nuestra América, Responsable de la Secretaría de Países Andinos de Conaicop; Chile-Wallmapu – Territorio Mapuche Onesima Lienqueo Fundadora de la Red por la Defensa de la Infancia Mapuche; Chile Pablo Ruiz integrante del Observatorio para el Cierre de la Escuela de las Américas - Chile; México Eduardo Correa Senior Profesor de la Universidad Autónoma de la Ciudad de México – UACM, Dr. José Enrique González Ruiz Profesor de la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México – UNAM, Dr. José Rafael Grijalva Eternod Doctor en Derechos Humanos, Dr. Felix Hoyo Arana Profesor de la Universidad Autónoma de Chapingo; Daniela González López Coordinadora Internacional del Observatorio de Derechos Humanos de los Pueblos, Soledad Ortiz Vásquez Consejera General del Comité de Defensa de los Derechos de la Mujer – CODEM, Claudia Tapia Nolasco Consejera General del Comité de Defensa de los Derechos de la Mujer – CODEM, Lic. Hugo Aguilar Promotor y Defensor de Derechos Indígenas, Miguel González Muciño Director del Centro Cultural Las Jarillas, Arturo Díaz González Organización Proletaria Emiliano Zapata – Frente de Organizaciones Sociales de Chiapas OPEZ – FOSICH, Lic. Jocelyn García Fondón Integrante del Secretariado Técnico del Observatorio de Derechos Humanos de los Pueblos; Costa Rica Orlando Barrantes Cartín Coordinador General del Movimiento de Trabajadores y Campesinos MTC – Costa Rica.
Organizaciones integrantes:
Observatorio de Derechos Humanos de los Pueblos: Soldepaz – Pachakuti de España; Observatorio de Derechos Humanos Capítulo Suiza, de Suiza; Observatorio de Derechos Humanos Capítulo EU, Alianza por la Justicia Global, SOA Watch – Observatorio por el Cierre de las Escuela de la Américas de Estados Unidos; Movimiento Político – Social VAMOS de Venezuela, Red de Colectivos La Araña Feminista, Movimiento Internacional de la Economía de los Trabajadores, Movimiento Cultural Campesino Los Arangues de Venezuela; Colombianas y Colombianos por la Paz, Comité Permanente por la Defensa de los Derechos Humanos, Observatorio de Paz, Derechos Humanos y Derecho Internacional Humanitario, Sur Occidente Colombiano Antonieta Mércury; Sindicato Nacional Memoria Viva de Colombia; Red de Integración Orgánica – Rio – Por la Defensa de la Madre Tierra y los Derechos Humanos de Guatemala; Comisión Multisectorial del Uruguay; Unión de Organizaciones Sociales Interculturales del Sur de Pichincha (UOSISP) de Ecuador; Comité Impulsor de Sucre – Observatorio de Derechos Humanos de los Pueblos Capítulo Bolivia, Confederación Sindical Única De Trabajadores Campesinos de Bolivia (CSUTCB); Alianza por un mejor Darién – AMEDAR de Panamá; Movimiento Alfa y Omega de Perú; Movimiento de Favelas de Rio Janeiro Brasil, Red por la Defensa de la Infancia Mapuche Chile-Wallmapu – Territorio Mapuche; Observatorio para el Cierre de la Escuela de las Américas – Chile; Campaña Popular Palestina contra el Muro de Apartheid (Stop the Wall), Coalición de la Defensa de la Tierra Palestina Unión Palestina Campesina (Palestinian Farmers Union) de Palestina; Alternativa de Reivindicación Comunitaria y Ambientalista de Honduras (ARCAH) de Honduras; Comité de Defensa de los Derechos de la Mujer (CODEM), Instituto Mexicano de Desarrollo Comunitario (IMDEC), Centro de Atención en Derechos Humanos a la Mujer y el Menor Indígena (CADHMMI) y Centro Regional Indígena en Derechos Humanos “Ñuu-Savi” (CERIDH), Patronato Pro Defensa y Conservación del Patrimonio Cultural y Natural de Oaxaca (PRO – OAX), Frente de Pueblos en Defensa de la Tierra en San Salvador Atenco (FPDT-Atenco), Taller del Sur, Colectivo de Mejoramiento Barrial de la Ciudad de México – Centro Cultural Las Jarillas, Colectivo por la Paz en Colombia desde México (COLPAZ), Frente de Organizaciones Sociales de Chiapas (OPEZ – FOSICH), Colectivo Ocho Trueno, Comité Universitario de Solidaridad con el Pueblo Palestino (CUSPPA), Colectivo Insurrección Visual, Centro Libre de Experimentación Teatral y Artística (CLETA – UNAM) de México; Costa Rica Movimiento de Trabajadores y Campesinos MTC; Frente Comunicacional Antiimperialista de Nuestra América referente internacional de comunicación popular.
What's happening in Venezuela?
July 31, 2024
Rybar
Behind us are more than a day of active protests by opposition supporters, during which the Venezuelan Defense Ministry confirmed its loyalty to the ruling forces , ignored the opposition’s calls to go over to its side, and began to restore order.
According to the Prosecutor General's Office, 749 people have been arrested to date . Mostly for attacks on military personnel and police officers, and arson of government buildings and party offices. Anyone caught doing this faces terrorism charges.
It is now more interesting to wait for the wording of the charges against the organizers of what is happening, and also to understand what measures will be taken against opposition politicians. We assume that arrests are just around the corner: some sources report that an arrest warrant for opposition leader Maria Corina Machado has already been issued.
The data on the number of fatalities fluctuates depending on the sources and is mostly unofficial . The softest figures are six dead , while some Western sources have increased the number to 11 people. This is significant progress compared to the 2019 unrest, where foreign media reported hundreds of people killed.
It is known that there are killed both on the side of the protesters and on the side of the supporters of the current government. Naturally, there were also accidental victims, which is typical in situations of this kind. More than 100 people received injuries of varying severity.
In addition, eyewitnesses recorded cases of robberies, violence and looting - both against ordinary citizens and against protesters. However, many of the "perpetrators" also did not fare well - the authorities most often turn a blind eye to people's lynching in such situations.
There are also reports that members of local organized crime groups have come out on the side of the opposition (or pretending to be it). We do not rule out that the Venezuelan authorities could have taken advantage of the situation to purge individual criminal groups and this has very little to do with the electoral process. However, this does not prevent some media outlets from attributing “defense of democracy” to organized crime groups – but this does not sound very complimentary for the opposition.
As for the elections themselves, the final results of Sunday's vote have not yet been published. President Maduro claims that this cannot be done because the electoral system was subject to cyber attacks. He also made it clear that they were organized from the territories of pro-Western states.
On the involvement of media platform X in the protests in Venezuela
July 31, 2024
Rybar
News outlets were rocked by the news that Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro declared Elon Musk his sworn enemy and a “threat to Venezuela.”
The two sides exchanged negative comments about each other, with Maduro accusing Musk of controlling virtual reality and wanting to invade the Bolivarian Republic. Musk responded by comparing the Venezuelan president to a donkey .
Western media have called Maduro's claims against Musk unsubstantiated , but observation of the former Twitter in the last few days allows us to say that this is not the case.
Just days before the vote, Musk began expressing active support for the Venezuelan opposition , calling Maduro a “clown” and hinting in numerous messages that it would be a good idea for him to leave.
On the X platform , no one blocked numerous messages with instructions on how to make Molotov cocktails, identify Maduro supporters, set fire to buildings, and call for violence.
Videos from the 2019 protests that have no bearing on the current state of affairs were also widely shared . The former Twitter verified such content as “fake” much later than it should have, and in some cases ignored it altogether.
As a result, the Venezuelan leader announced the creation of a special commission to ensure cybersecurity after hacker attacks on the electoral system. Caracas asked Russia and China for help in these matters . Along the way, Musk's personality surfaced again - he was accused of cyberattacks.
The Cayapo
You will hear none of this on mainstream media: 
According to the Prosecutor General's Office, 749 people have been arrested to date . Mostly for attacks on military personnel and police officers, and arson of government buildings and party offices. Anyone caught doing this faces terrorism charges.