Five weeks have passed since the Venezuelan elections. Millions of citizens attended that day with hope and were brutally disappointed at night. The National Electoral Center (CNE) gave victory to Nicolas Maduro without publishing the electoral registers, which the opposition did, more than 80% of them, through an Internet platform. With the dictator’s manual in hand, Maduro clung to power and undertook a repressive escalation towards dissent.
Edmundo Gonzalez UrrutiaThe opposition’s unitary candidate remains undercover. His safety hangs by a thread after the arrest warrant was issued against him. Maria Corina MachadoDuring this time, he does not indicate his whereabouts and limits himself to interacting on his social networks and connecting to video calls with international media.
Time passes and ideas run out. The opposition is facing a critical moment. The presidents of Brazil and Colombia, Lula da Silva And Gustavo PetroOnce centers of hope, are stagnating in their peace negotiations. For its part, Peru, which until recently had categorically denounced fraud and supported the opposition’s candidacy, has decided not to recognize González as president-elect.
Lula underestimates the crisis
The Brazilian president, an old friend of Maduro and the Bolivarian regime, has downplayed what is happening in Venezuela. He did so in an interview with Central American television, affiliated with the Globe TV in Mato Grosso. “The electoral court recognized Maduro as the winner, even though the opposition has not yet done so. So we are in a process. There is nothing serious, nothing scary. I see the Brazilian press treating this as if it were a Third World War. There is nothing abnormal,” he said.
The truth is that Lula’s expectations fell into the void. He was convinced that his profile as a mediator would bear fruit. However, he is being punished for his closeness to the regime and his refusal to open a process of transition to democracy. In his attempt to resolve the crisis, he sent on sitefirst of all, to your personal advisor and Minister of International Affairs in his first administration, Celso Amorim.
Brazilian President Lula da Silva.
Faced with a lack of ideas, Lula and his strategic partner, Gustavo Petro, they proposed repeat elections. An idea that was rejected by both the government and the opposition. From there, instead of proposing formulas, they limited themselves to expressing “worry”Which, for many democratic compatriots, is not enough in the face of a dictatorship and a country facing a deep socio-economic crisis.
Petro, between a rock and a hard place
The Colombian head of state also sat at this table. Like Lula, Petro is also a former ally of Hugo Chavez’s successor. Not only do they agree on ideology, but they have also repeatedly stressed that Venezuela “It’s not a dictatorship”. Now, its role as mediator also appears weakened.
In addition to his past, Petro is between a rock and a hard place due to his internal conflict. “I am the guarantor of the peace negotiations, Venezuela is the guarantor and I will never give an opinion on what Colombia should do to overcome its terrible war (…) I will never say: Colombia, its government, must do this and post advice on my social networks (…) We will continue to help Colombia in its peace process without intervening in internal affairs.” These were Maduro’s words on August 15.
And it is true. The Venezuelan regime has shown itself close to the National Liberation Army (ELN). And vice versa. Ivan MarquezThe maximum leader of the dissidents, stressed a few minutes after the fraud of June 28 that Maduro was the elected president and that the elections had been legitimate. In this sense, Petro knows that by putting more pressure on the crisis of his neighbor, a conflict that has held the population and its administration, for months, on the ropes, can become tense.
Peru backs down: “He is the opposition candidate”
The ghost of Juan Guaido is going around the continent. Who was the “legitimate president” of Venezuela, in the eyes of the majority of the international community, appears as the main argument against the recognition of González. Guaidó’s tactic did not work; in fact, some analysts claim that it only strengthened the regime. However, the opposition defends that in this pass, the votes are the great distinction.
The President of the Council of Ministers of Peru, Gustavo Adrianzén.
Gustavo AdrianzenPresident of Peru’s Council of Ministers, said last Thursday that he did not recognize González as president-elect. His remarks contradict what was said shortly after the July elections by the then chancellor, Javier Gonzalez – OlaecheaThe former minister defended his position before the OAS Permanent Council. Shortly after, he resigned without explaining the reasons.
“It cannot be the elected president. We have no official communication from the Peruvian State recognizing this condition for Mr. González Urrutia, we do not have it. What we have requested is that a recount be done,” Adrianzén told the local PNR media. Whoever followed his words is Elmer Schialer, successor to González-Oleacheaby calling the Venezuelan opposition leader an “opposition candidate.”
Moment of clandestinity and resistance
While the international democratic community is stumbling on its attempts at conciliation, repression continues in the country. Only now also against opposition leaders. After an arrest warrant was issued against him, Edmundo González clarified, through a letter sent to the prosecutor’s office, will not be responsible for the digitization, storage and publication of electoral records collected by witnesses.
Despite the above, the candidate insisted that nothing of what he is accused of amounts to a crime. “I consider that the functions of the CNE have not been usurped, since the electoral system and the regulations of Venezuela consider the delivery of acts to accredited witnesses as one of its guarantees of reliability.” He also assured in the letter that his appearance could only “further intensify social tensions.”
Venezuelan prosecutor Tarek William Saab.
Another who spoke out was his legal representative, who denounced that “his client’s right to the presumption of innocence has been violated” and that “there is currently no institutional guarantee for him to appear.” While the opposition leader remains infiltrated and far from the authorities, people like Diosdado Cabello, Minister of Internal Affairs, Justice and Peaceclaims to know where he is and threatens to find him and make him suffer the consequences.
In the same vein as Cabello Attorney Tarek William Saab. “The letter becomes an aggravating circumstance in his legal situation, to the extent that he declares himself judge, takes justice into his own hands and ultimately declares his innocence.” Similarly, he stressed that the Public Ministry maintains the arrest warrant and that the former applicant at the Miraflores Palace must appear urgently for an interview.
