Protests in Venezuela a Month After Hijacked Elections
HAVANA TIMES – One month after the controversial presidential election on July 28th, Venezuela remains mired in the depths of its long-standing political crisis, with a government that is solidifying the walls behind which it entrenches itself and an opposition that continues to protest despite the ongoing arrest of its leaders and other citizens.
President Nicolas Maduro appointed retired Captain Diosdado Cabello, his second-in-command in the United Socialist Party of Venezuela as Minister of the Interior and Justice, in charge of police forces. Cabello is a constant advocate of hardline measures (“with the hammer smashing” is his slogan) against any dissident that does not recognize the authorities.
The opposition returned to the streets once again on Wednesday, with demonstrations —diminished in number compared to the election campaign— in Caracas and other cities to reiterate that the election results (tally sheets) gave their candidate Edmundo González a victory by a ratio of nearly 70-30.
The ruling party also held marches today to celebrate the July 28 victory, interpreted as an attempt to turn the page on the election and to gain acceptance of the current state of affairs both domestically and internationally.
Maduro was declared re-elected for the 2025-2031 term by the National Electoral Council, supposedly with 51.9% of the votes, compared to Gonzalez’s 43.1%, but without any proof, and the Supreme Court recently validated this result at the president’s request.
The Electoral Council, the Supreme Court and other national powers are in the hands of the ruling party, and the lack of judicial independence has been highlighted by entities and missions of the inter-American and United Nations human rights systems.
The protests that erupted after Maduro’s victory proclamation on July 29 were suppressed, resulting in 25 deaths, several dozen injuries, and about 2,000 arrests, with initial police and paramilitary actions in streets and neighborhoods, or later, in a wave of arrests of opposition members or those suspected of being so.
Maduro and Attorney General Tarek Saab announced that hundreds of detainees will be prosecuted on charges of terrorism and transferred to prisons that are being rapidly converted into maximum-security facilities.
Last week, the National Assembly passed a law that increases control and limitations on civil associations, progressed in another to punish expressions deemed fascist or neo-fascist (any dissenting voices), and announced reforms to legislation on political parties and elections.
Meanwhile, Maduro reshuffled his cabinet of 32 ministers, placing key political figures known to be the president’s closest allies and firm in their stance against opposition demands in key positions.
Cabello, heading the powerful Ministry of the Interior, joins Vice President Delcy Rodríguez, who oversees the Oil Ministry; General Vladimir Padrino, confirmed in Defense; Foreign Minister Yvan Gil; and well-known members of the president’s inner circle in other portfolios.
This dismisses one of the ideas proposed by neighboring country leaders as potential ways to resolve the crisis, namely a broad-based or even coalition government. Another idea, also rejected by the conflicting parties, is to repeat the election with a kind of “run-off” between Gonzalez and Maduro.
Celso Amorim, international affairs advisor to Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, reiterated in an interview with El País that this could be a way out of the crisis, although it has not prospered because neither contender supports it.
Lula, along with Gustavo Petro of Colombia and Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador of Mexico, is seeking solutions like these to solve the Venezuelan crisis, while refusing to endorse Maduro’s victory, although they also have not recognized Gonzalez as the elected president.
In contrast, Canada, 10 Latin American countries and the United States consider that Maduro lost and Gonzalez won the Venezuelan election, and they maintain the debate on the situation in the Organization of American States (OAS).
They, along with European Union governments, agree that they will not recognize Maduro until a detailed breakdown of the records from the 30,026 voting precincts is published and can be audited independently.
With the legal deadline for that publication and several audits required by the Venezuelan electoral system already passed, the situation remains stagnant and framed within the political confrontation that has dragged on for decades.
In the Americas, Maduro’s re-election is supported by the governments of Bolivia, Cuba, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and outside the region by China, Iran, Russia and several countries in Africa and the Middle East.
The day saw a new chapter triggered by an opposition rally on an avenue in a middle-class eastern residential area of Caracas, with the charismatic leader Maria Corina Machado as the central figure, while Gonzalez —one day before his 75th birthday— remains “in hiding,” in a near-clandestine situation.
Gonzalez was summoned by Maduro’s Prosecutor’s Office to testify in a criminal investigation related to the publication, on a website, of copies of official tally sheets received by opposition electoral witnesses at the polls, which Gonzalez and Machado use to support their claim of victory in the July elections. Numerous specialized organizations and publications both national and international have vouched for the veracity of those results.
Machado highlighted in a brief speech at the Caracas rally the international support received, stating that “no democratic government in the world believes in Maduro’s re-election.” She called for strength and confidence in support of her strategy for González to become president in January next year.
She drew attention to “the 2,500 detainees in the protests, including 150 minors,” for whom she requested protection from other prisoners in the jails, and denounced the detention of opposition leaders and collaborators.
As soon as the rally ended, Biagio Pilieri, one of the leaders who accompanied her on the truck from which Machado spoke to the attendees, was followed and arrested by political police (Sebin) agents, according to the opposition leadership.
First published in Spanish by IPS and translated and posted in English by Havana Times.