On Monday, July 29, Venezuelans woke up with an emotional hangover. In every election, we wait in front of the television or social media hoping for change, but knowing that traps always gain ground in the country. This time has not been any different; Venezuelans, inside and outside the country, do not sleep anchored to the promise of reform that has been tormenting us for a couple of decades. Once again, Chavismo and Maduro declared themselves winners, but this time there is a distinct atmosphere that could make a difference.
When I was 18 years old, my registration with the National Electoral Council (CNE) failed; after three more attempts I was finally able to register as a voter a couple of years later. However, my voting center was changed to one far from my place of residence.
At that time, there was an attempt to make young people’s vote not count.
Now, again, something similar has happened. Millions of Venezuelans in exile around the world could not access the right to vote remotely due to obstacles from Maduro’s administration. I was one of them.
After years of participating in Venezuelan elections, it feels strange not to exercise this right, knowing how much each vote counts. However, I know that Maduro and his allies will always look for ways, just as Chávez did, to ‘win’ elections at any cost, such as the banning of María Corina Machado and later of Corina Yoris.
There was no certainty about the Venezuelan elections, despite the fact that pollsters placed the Machado-backed candidate, Edmundo González Urrutia, ahead. The scenario was always one of unpredictability; no one was sure how election day would turn out. In recent months, more than 100 arbitrary arrests linked to the opposition campaign command were made, including Magali Meda, Machado’s campaign manager, and other close collaborators who are refugees in the Argentinean embassy due to political persecution. Only 70 occurred in the first days of campaigning and the number continues to rise rapidly since Sunday.
The Maduro regime bet on a fear of reprisals to avoid opposition support. Even in one of the campaign caravans, the driver of a truck that transported Machado and González Urrutia was arrested, as well as the person who was distributing water at the event.
The process was far from fair. Another factor with which Maduro tried to incline the balance in his favor was the design of the electoral ballot, with clear advantages for him due to deliberate confusion. Independent media were also blocked, but ways were found to circumvent this.
However, the regime finds a way to hide information and the people are the ones who pay: on Tuesday, my aunt was detained by the military personnel in the street and forced to delete all photographs and videos from her cell phonel She defended herself, but had to yield when she found herself alone.
In spite of everything, González Urrutia prevailed at the polls, although a first statement from the National Electoral Council (led by pro-government agents) announced the opposite. After years of thinking that dictators do not leave based on votes, people continue exercising their right because there is no need to give away spaces.
In the past it has been difficult to prove fraud, but years of experience have helped the opposition to become better organized. On Monday, María Corina Machado announced the launching of a website where the results can be seen. 73% of the digitized results show a clear winner (Edmundo González 6,275,106 votes, against Nicolás Maduro with 2,759,256 votes). Machado did something that Chavismo and Madurismo have not been able to do: show the figures.
Meanwhile, the international community is demanding Maduro and the CNE to be transparent as well, even some of Chavismo’s allies have asked for the publication of the electoral records. After all, there’s no need to keep their cards close to their chest if they’ve won.
Although the printing of the electronic recount was prevented in some voting centers and some of the tally sheets were stolen by officials and armed colectivos (according to videos published on Sunday on social networks), it is possible to speak of a clear winner with more than 70% of the tally sheets and a difference of 4 million votes. This is the first time that fraud has been demonstrated with convincing evidence.
Se levantó Venezuela contra el fraude. Señores, difundamos al máximo este video, Maduro mandó a cortar todas las señales.👇🔥🇻🇪 pic.twitter.com/Yz0wXmbc40
— Diego Álzaga Unzué (@atlanticsurff) July 29, 2024
After the initial declarations of Maduro’s supposed triumph, the streets in Venezuela dawned desolate on Monday. However, the silence was brief. On the afternoon of July 29, the people took to the streets to defend the votes as expected. Although repression by security forces was not long in coming, there were a few changes: some police officers took off their uniforms to support the people, if the trend continues it could shift the balance.
The most impressive images show the destruction of political propaganda. On Monday, the people burned, smashed and tore down whatever bore Maduro’s face as a sign of rejection. Statues of Chávez also began to fall — the political leader once supported by millions is now also repudiated after years of violence, hunger, destabilization and the continent’s largest migration exodus.
After all, with him started the destructive process Venezuela is in today, he is the image of the regime.
En el 2017 unos estudiantes, protestando contra el régimen, destruyeron una estatua de Chávez… la reemplazaron y hoy la volvieron a destruir 👊#VenezuelaLibre pic.twitter.com/0Jv94VSwlh
— Ani Abello (@ANIABELLO_R) July 29, 2024
People who do not know the recent history of Venezuela, or whose memory fails them, usually say that Venezuelans have not defended the country. The numbers of dead and wounded in protests and mobilizations prove the opposite.
Since 2002, Venezuelans have been in the streets. Sometimes we take a break, tired of chanting “down the chains” in front of the “vile selfishness that once again triumphed” (as the national anthem says), but we always come back, the “brave people” have always done so since the independence period.
This time, I fear for those who are in the house defending the votes, I fear for my family because these will not be easy days. It is not known how the electoral day will conclude — a rather long one that can be compared to the fall of the last dictatorship in Venezuela in 1958, when after a dubious electoral process, Marcos Pérez Jiménez was defeated starting the longest period of democracy in the country.
This shows that the game is not over yet, unfortunately, and it is not clear whether this time, the people will get good news.
Image: Eneas De Troya
.jpg){kind=link}