Following the results of the Venezuelan presidential elections of the July 28, 2024 and to the reconfirmation of the President Nicholas Maduro with the 51% of the votesVenezuela has been plunged into chaos with widespread and even violent protests, sparked by accusations of alleged fraud. This has led to clashes with the armed forces, to 1200 arrests and unfortunately to 24 dead. Part of the population is trying to leave the country and the international community is calling on the government to ensure compliance with international law and standards relating to freedom of expression and assembly. Some countries, including the USA, have also recognized the opposition candidate as the winner. Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia. Maduro, on the other hand, has blocked the social network X for at least 10 days, accusing it of fomenting protests by spreading fake news.
The Venezuela lives a strong economic, social and political crisis which has worsened in recent years due to the shortage of basic necessitiesof the‘inflation and of the rampant poverty (The 52% of the population is in conditions of extreme poverty). For this reason, in recent years many Venezuelans have decided to abandon their country in search of better living conditions.
Background to Understanding the Protests: Venezuela’s Historical Context
In the 1998 Hugo Chavezpolitician and military man, founder of the Fifth Republic Movement (later merged into United Socialist Party of Venezuela in 2008) was elected President of Venezuela and subsequently re-elected until 2012, year in which he decided to retire due to serious health problems. His political program was based on encouraging social programs and a strong nationalization of private companies, particularly in oil sectora great economic resource of the country. At the same time Chávez was harshly criticized for the authoritarian mold and the centralization of powers, including that judicial. Following a cancer diagnosis in 2012 he decided to leave government, publicly naming as his direct successor Nicholas Maduro.
From April 2013 Venezuela is governed by Maduro himself: a former subway driver in Caracas, he began his political career as trade unionist to then join the party Fifth Republic Movement of Hugo Chávez in the late 1990s, shortly before Chávez’s election as President of Venezuela. In 1999 Maduro was elected deputy to the National Assembly and in 2005 he was appointed President of the Parliament. Later, it was Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2006 to January 2013 and Vice President of Venezuela from October 2012 to March 5, 2013.
Maduro began to govern the country in 2013 during a very difficult economic moment, following the global financial crisis of 2012. At this juncture the price of oil collapsed and the country entered a period of hyperinflation which has led to a drastic increase in poverty. Heavily criticized for theauthoritarianism and the repression of dissent, also documented by international organizations such as Amnesty International, Nicolás Maduro has always defined his policy anti-imperalist, especially towards the United States, with which bilateral relations have always been tense since the time of Hugo Chávez.
Let us remember that Venezuela is also subjected to international sanctions by the United Statesparticularly in the sector of gas and of the petrolium and motivated by theauthoritarianism of the Venezuelan government. These sanctions have contributed and continue to contribute to the conditions of socio-economic crisis in the country. They had been loosen in April 2024, for a period of 6 months, following an agreement signed in Barbados between Maduro and the political opposition to hold free elections in the country, but after the repression recently implemented by the government, they have been restore.
Venezuelan presidential elections on July 28, 2024
Last July 28th elections were held to nominate the new President and, according to the electoral polls conducted before the elections, the opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia was in the lead with a preference of approximately 73% of votes. Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia is a former retired diplomat, part of the opposition coalition Unified platform, of a liberal democratic nature. In his electoral program he had expressed the will for dialogue and national reconciliation and the will to implement reforms to attract foreign investments in the country.
Despite the polls giving him the victory, the elections saw the reconfirmation of outgoing president Nicolás Madurowith a preference of 51% of votes. This victory was immediately disputed from the opposition, which accused the new President of electoral fraud. This has generated strong protests even in civil society that mobilized to protest against the results of the vote. It is estimated that from July 28th to today more than 1200 arrests and about 24 dead in clashes between protesters and law enforcement. During the clashes, some protesters in the city of Coro, 450 km from Caracas, tore down the statue of Hugo Chávez, a scene that immediately went viral on social networks for the strong symbolic value that this gesture represents.
The current situation in Venezuela
Following the chaos that has descended upon Venezuela, many countries and international institutions have called on the government to Checking the votes and to the recount in the presence of international observers independent. In particular theUN, theEuropean Union and nine South American countries: Argentina, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Dominican Republic and Uruguay have called for maximum transparency in the recount of votes. In addition, some of these countries – Panama, Argentina, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Peru and Uruguay – together with the United States have currently recognized Urrutia as the winner.
The CNE (National Electoral Council) has filed the electoral registers with the Supreme Court of Justice which has decided to prepare ainvestigation to verify the results. According to the opposition, the candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutiawould have received more than 7.3 million votes against the 3.3 million Maduro. Meanwhile, President Maduro yesterday announced a ten-day halt to the platform X (formerly Twitter) in the country, declaring that its founder Elon Musk incites hatred and that a “cyber coup” is being carried out through X, fueling a climate of hatred within the population.
He also requested the Contactthe Venezuelan state agency that regulates and manages telecommunications, to decide on the administrative sanctions and measures to be adopted regarding the X platform. The climate remains tense and numerous Latin American governments, including those politically close to Maduro, such as the Chilean president Gabriel Boric and the Brazilian Ignacio Lula da Silvahave stressed the need to publish the official electoral registers and to count the votes transparently, stopping any kind of human rights violation on the population.
