You sit beside your family, huddled around the T.V., as the election coverage begins. Aside from the T.V. in the background, the air is thick with silence, and anxiety blankets the living room as you wait for the results to begin rolling out.
Your candidate of choice is currently leading in the polls, and is predicted to win the election. You allow yourself to cling onto a rare glimmer of hope, and begin to picture a future that is more than just a struggling nation, plagued with poverty and fear.
By the end of the day, that hope has been squashed, and instead replaced with frustration and dejection, as the reigning dictator is announced as the winner, yet again. Dread spreads across the country, you included, as you watch your home’s saving grace fall.
On July 28th 2024, citizens across Venezuela experienced this firsthand. Hoping for “libertad,” freedom from an oppressive government, they instead watched President Nicolás Maduro secure his third consecutive term as president, defeating Edmundo González in the presidential election. Maduro’s victory was shocking, and unquestionably illegal.
Dating back to 2013, Maduro has an infamous track record of stealing elections, dating back to when he first assumed presidential office in the wake of President Hugo Chávez’s death. Acting as Chávez’s successor under the United Socialist Party of Venezuela, Venezuela’s communist party, Maduro won by a suspiciously low margin. No action was taken despite the National Election Council pointing out discrepancies in the ballot, and Maduro was sworn in a few days later. When Maduro won his second election in 2018, the National Election Council again considered the election fraudulent, yet he still assumed power, and has been ruling ever since.
But how has Maduro maintained his power? From humble beginnings working as a bus driver, Maduro slowly made his way up the ranks of Venezuela’s trade union movement. Eventually he found himself within former President Chávez’s inner circle, serving as Venezuela’s foreign minister, and later, vice president. When Maduro finally assumed the role of president of Venezuela, he found himself with seemingly unlimited power. Venezuela’s national army has remained loyal to Maduro throughout his time as president, and with funding from other authoritarian states such as Russia, China, and Cuba, Maduro has been able to successfully repress his opposition, and remain in control.
However, this year, Venezuelans saw a light at the end of a more than decade-long tunnel when Edmundo González secured the presidential nomination under the Democratic Unity Platform party, Venezuela’s primary party that places an emphasis on democracy — an opposition to Maduro’s party. González was long considered the frontrunner in the election, previously serving as a Venezuelan ambassador to various other Latin American countries. One poll conducted by AS/COA, an organization that covers Latin American elections, suggested he secured nearly 60% of votes in voter intention polls, while Maduro was pulling only 12.5% of the vote.
For this reason, when Maduro won the election with 51.2% of the votes, the results were questioned all across the world, as Maduro’s plunging popularity had been well-known among other nations, along with knowledge of González’s sweeping victories in political polls. Later, when Maduro refused to release election tally sheets – tangible proof of his supposed win – the world confirmed he was, in fact, falsifying his victory. However, even with this revelation, Maduro continues to hold power over Venezuela, leaving citizens in a state of anguish.
Disapproval of Maduro’s government was already rampant across the country prior to the election — a subsequent reaction to his policies that have done nothing to alleviate both the human rights crisis and economic crisis within Venezuela. Due to Venezuela’s status as a petrostate (a country whose economy is dependent on its oil exports), when global oil prices tumble, Venezuela’s economy plummets. Back in 2014, soon after Maduro came into power, oil prices around the globe fell, and Venezuela’s economic state went into free fall alongside it. Coupled with the enormous amount of debt that Venezuela had already accumulated from previous administrations, Venezuela has been standing on very thin ice.
Foreign sanctions placed on Venezuela have also contributed to this economic suffering, particularly ones from the U.S. that remain in place today. In fact, America has had some form of economic sanctions placed on Venezuela since 2005 for various reasons, spanning from human rights abuses to corruption. However, prior to Venezuela’s July presidential election, the Biden administration had relieved some sanctions to incentivize Venezuela to produce a fair election. After Venezuela’s recent falsification of election results, they were reissued in full force.
Now, Venezuela’s economy continues to suffer, widely referred to by experts as the largest economic collapse in at least 45 years that is unrelated to war. This precarious financial state has placed more than half of the population into extreme poverty, and created nearly uninhabitable living conditions. 88.9% of public health services are inoperative, deeming Healthcare within the country almost nonexistent. Nearly 50% of children can’t regularly attend school, and 75% of households don’t have access to safe drinking water.
Alongside this, human rights are constantly imposed upon at the word of Maduro. Opposition to his power is practically outlawed, and not adhering to these laws often results in consequences. Venezuela has a recent history of arbitrary detentions, most of them against people who speak out against the government. This spans from people arrested participating in anti-government protests, to journalists who speak out against Maduro in the media.
The baseless arrests often come with immense torture at the hands of prison guards and officials, such as brutal beatings. Venezuelan jails are also not adequately equipped with food, water, or medical resources, further degrading its inhabitants as Maduro attempts to put an end to political unrest and criticism. This blatant disregard for the Venezuelan people is just one of the many reasons why Venezuelans want Maduro out of office. And as Maduro’s tyranny grows, the people’s disillusionment with both Maduro and the Venezuelan socialist government does too.
And out of these complaints of Maduro’s government, the Democratic Unity Platform emerged in April of 2021, acting as an umbrella party for all opposition factions. Currently Venezuela’s greatest shot of removing Maduro from power, it is the party that Maduro’s opponent in the most recent July election, Edmundo González, ran under.
However, the party had undergone a major shift in leadership before González took over the presidential candidacy. María Corina Machado, the former Deputy of the National Assembly of Venezuela, was supposed to be the candidate running against Maduro. She had overwhelmingly won the opposition’s primary election, and was considered to be Maduro’s greatest threat. However, everything changed when Venezuela’s highest court officially banned her from running for office in January of 2024 under orders from Maduro — another way in which Maduro has bypassed the requests of his people in favor of his own interests.
Machado’s removal from the race, however, opened the door for González to step in as a last minute, unexpected candidate. And with Machado’s full support, he quickly became a beacon of hope for the people of Venezuela. Presenting himself as the complete opposite of Maduro, he had based his platform around bringing peace to Venezuela. During his first campaign event, González stated that he wanted to make Venezuela a place “where the president does not insult. A country where everyone belongs, leaving confrontation behind.” In contrast, Maduro warned that a “bloodbath” would occur if he were to lose to González.
And although Maduro “won” the election, a bloodbath still ensued when anti-Maduro protests took the nation by storm. Fueled by the outrage of having yet another election stolen from them, Venezuelans took to the streets, advocating for a rightful election. And while the protesters were peaceful, the government was not.
Over the course of the protests, which are still ongoing, at least 23 people were killed, and over 2,400 arrested. The government also instated “Operation Knock Knock,” or “Operation Tun Tun,” an initiative that sought to uncover Venezuelans who had protested or spoke out against Maduro’s regime. Utilizing social media, accounts affiliated with Maduro essentially doxxed people who were in opposition to the election results, exposing them as targets who were then subjected to extreme risk at the hands of the government. Identified suspects could be threatened by the government, both in-person and over the phone, and spied on.
However, Maduro can not reach opposition outside of Venezuela’s borders, and people across the world have taken to the streets in Venezuela’s defense. Venezuelans living in New York City, for example, have protested the election calling for the restoration of Venezuela’s democracy, chanting “libertad” – freedom.
And all hope is not yet lost. González, currently seeking asylum in Spain, has not stopped advocating for Venezuela even after fleeing the country. In a message from González’s press team, González said he felt “confident that soon we will continue the fight to achieve freedom and the recovery of democracy in Venezuela.” González has also vowed to return to Venezuela by January 10th, 2025, the day of Maduro’s inauguration.
While Venezuela’s future is uncertain, the opposition’s power grows everyday, only ignited by the outcome of the most recent presidential election. And with every new threat issued by Maduro, Venezuela’s protest grows— boiling down to one word: “libertad.”
On July 28th 2024, citizens across Venezuela experienced this firsthand. Hoping for “libertad,” freedom from an oppressive government, they instead watched President Nicolás Maduro secure his third consecutive term as president, defeating Edmundo González in the presidential election. Maduro’s victory was shocking, and unquestionably illegal.