Mass Arrests and Threat of Socialist ‘Bloodbath’ Mark Tense Days Before Venezuela Sham Election

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro gestures to supporters as he speaks during a campaign
AP Photo/Matias Delacroix
Christian K. Caruzo

Venezuela will hold a sham presidential “election” on Sunday expected to grant dictator Nicolas Maduro another six years in power, starting in January 2025.

Venezuelan citizens will “choose” among a total of ten candidates on a ballot that will show Maduro’s face on it 13 times. The candidates are all handpicked by the ruling socialist regime, eight of them left-wing “opposition” figures and one representing everyone to the right of Maduro – 74-year-old former diplomat Edmundo González. González is the only legitimate opposition candidate that the Venezuelan National Electoral Center (CNE) — controlled by the ruling regime’s socialist party — allowed to participate.

The sham election is the result of the Maduro regime trashing an agreement signed in Barbados with the opposition in October that called for a “free and fair” election to be held sometime during the second half of 2024. The document, known as the “Barbados Agreements,” was signed by both sides under the observation of the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

Maduro, who never indicated he would keep to his word in any way, replaced the Biden administration-endorsed agreement with a tailor-made one that called for the Sunday sham election. The election’s date was chosen by the ruling socialists as July 28 marks the birthday of late dictator Hugo Chávez, who directly appointed Maduro as his successor in December 2012 shortly before dying of cancer weeks later.

Maduro will appear on the ballot a total of 13 times because he has received the backing of 13 leftist parties. González will appear three times. In addition to Maduro and González, the ballot will feature “opposition” candidates such as Jose Brito, Daniel Ceballos, and Luis Martinez, all of whom are running as candidates of leftist opposition parties hijacked by the ruling socialists such as Popular Will, Democratic Action, and Justice First.

The socialist regime banned María Corina Machado, the opposition’s top candidate and arguably the most popular politician in Venezuela, from running for president as well as any other public office as a result of her public support for human rights sanctions on the regime. Machado’s party, Vente Venezuela, the country’s only mainstream center-right party, was also not allowed to be on the ballot backing any candidate.

Additionally, the ballot will feature comedian Benjamín Rausseo, “opposition” candidate Antonio Ecarri, former CNE member Enrique Márquez, regime-affiliated evangelical pastor Javier Bertucci, and Claudio Fermin — a perennial candidate who has unsuccessfully ran for president several times since 1993.

Polls released this week suggest that, under fair conditions, González would overwhelmingly defeat Maduro with 64 percent of the votes against the socialist dictator’s 21 percent. Support for all remaining candidates hovers between one to two percent of the vote.

Both Maduro and González held their campaign closing events in Caracas on Thursday evening. The conclusion of the campaign period is followed by a mandatory silent period and the preparation of the voting centers ahead of Sunday.

The presidential campaign was marred by a new wave of repression, the arbitrary arrest of dozens of dissidents, and more media censorship by the ruling socialists. The Maduro regime also attempted to prevent pro-González campaign events from taking place, forcing local police to block highway access and ordering roads to be deliberately damaged. Regime thugs also became a staple of attempted campaign events, harassing the opposition candidate. Private commercial establishments that provided food, lodging, and other services to González’s campaign were forcefully shut down by the regime’s tax officials.

Maduro, who has been in power since 2013, is seeking to “win” a six-year term after clinging to power in a similar sham presidential election held in May 2018 where all opposition parties were banned from running and only handpicked “rivals” were allowed to participate. The ruling socialists eliminated all Venezuelan public office term limits in 2009, effectively allowing anyone to run for reelection for as many times as they want.

Under Maduro’s authoritarian rule, once-rich Venezuela has experienced the full collapse of socialism, enduring an unprecedented economic, social, political, and humanitarian crisis. Maduro’s social disaster has profoundly affected the entire Western Hemisphere, as it fueled the most severe migrant crisis in Latin American history. Over 7.7 million Venezuelans — nearly a third of Venezuela’s entire population — have fled their country in the past decade.

Last week, Maduro threatened Venezuela with a “bloodbath” if he does not “win” on Sunday. The dictator’s threats prompted regional leftist heads of state such as Brazil’s Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to state that they felt “scared” by the remarks.

During his Thursday evening campaign closing event, Maduro claimed that he has “a new majority” to be reelected and once again issued threats against his opponents, warning that there will be “an iron fist and justice for fascists and violent people.”

“Think well, for your family, for your entrepreneurship, for your commerce, for your company, for your work, who of the ten candidates guarantees peace and stability in Venezuela?” Maduro said.

“I am prepared for a great victory and I know that our people are going to do it again. They could not defeat us and they will never be able to, and on Sunday we will prove it to the fascists, to imperialism,” he added.

The socialist dictator also claimed that he fulfilled his “oath of loyalty” to Chávez.

“I have not surrendered nor will I ever surrender to any power, I am loyal to the people, until beyond this life,” Maduro said, adding that his “only mission” is “to make this Venezuela great and take it to the path of prosperity, of growth, of the socialism of the 21st century.”

Local media reported that Caracas’ Bolívar Avenue, often used by the ruling socialists for their political events, was not full during Maduro’s campaign closure event.

González ended his campaign in Caracas’ Las Mercedes district in the company of Machado and other opposition politicians, all of whom signed an agreement to support a “government of democratic transformation” if he is elected. The former diplomat called for his supporters to vote on Sunday to begin a “national reconciliation.”

“On that day we will vote for the institutional reconstruction of Venezuela, for the return of our children to their homeland and for the beginning of the road to reconciliation,” González said.

González said citizens have organized and are ready to defend their will on Sunday. 

“We are going to win on July 28, only three days to triumph. We are here in Las Mercedes, ready and willing to win,” he said.

Machado, who accompanied González throughout his campaign, praised the work of the citizens who signed up to act as witnesses in Sunday’s election, describing them as the “heroes of this process” and stressing that Venezuelans have placed their trust on them.

The former lawmaker asked voters to participate on Sunday with firmness, organization, and joy, and encouraged them to bring their families.

“Let’s go as a family because we are going to tell our children and grandchildren about this historic day,” Machado said.

Machado and González have consistently treated the election as legitimate and encouraged Venezuelans to vote, suggesting that a victory for the opposition is possible despite the reality of the circumstances.

Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.

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