Venezuela: Maduro Refuses To Quit

The Odyssey Venezuela On Jan. 10, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro was sworn into office for his third term, promising to uphold the constitution even as he defied it – he reportedly lost July’s election by a landslide. But trampling over the popular will and civil rights is nothing new for Maduro during his 12 years in power, say observers. The only thing is, wrote World Politics Review, that now, “governing for Maduro has largely become an exercise in repression and controlling the narrative”. Maduro has tightened his grip on the country so completely that even the protests have dwindled – the number of demonstrators that took to the streets after Maduro’s election victory could be measured in the thousands – but during the inauguration only in the hundreds. As a result, opposition leader Edmundo González, who says he won about 67 percent of the vote in last year’s election over Maduro’s 30 percent, has been hoping for more external pressure to oust Maduro, and to that end he’s been visiting world capitals to drum up support and pressure the president. The US, the United Kingdom, Canada, and the European Union listened. Recently, they increased sanctions on the Maduro regime while in addition the US hiked its reward for capturing Maduro and Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello, a top ally, to $25 million each. It also placed a bounty of $15 million for the capture of Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López. Still, none of those measures will likely oust Maduro, who remains defiant. “I have not been made president by the government of the United States, nor by the pro-imperialist governments of Latin America,” he said during his inauguration – which was only attended by a handful of regional leaders. “I come from the people, I am of the people, and my power emanates from history and from the people. And to the people, I owe my whole life, body and soul.” Opponents say they are tired of waiting. “In the end, it feels as if the soup got cold,” college professor Nelson Perez told Marketplace. “We’ve been on the subject of not losing hope for a while … But then you realize it’s more of the same.” Many say the situation is almost a rerun of 2019. Then, the speaker of the National Assembly, Juan Guaidó, declared himself the country’s interim leader and called for mass protests on the streets after having been recognized as Venezuela’s legitimate leader by the US and around 60 other countries. Maduro responded by cracking down on the opposition and forcing many into exile. Now he is shifting those efforts into higher gear. In the weeks before the inauguration, the Maduro regime detained thousands of opposition supporters and their relatives. He also blocked the opposition from communicating with their supporters, blocking access to X, TikTok, VPN networks, and other ways to reroute Internet communications to bypass government restrictions. He closed the borders when González, a stand-in for the revered opposition leader, María Corina Machado, whom the regime banned from running, tried to enter the country to hold a counter inauguration. He had his officers detain Machado – then tried to make it appear as if it was a staged detention to discredit the regime. He also cut off electricity, cellphones, and Internet access to her neighborhood to prevent her from communicating with her supporters. The Economist believes a large-scale protest movement could dislodge Maduro. But the problem is, millions of Venezuelans have fled the dire economic conditions and repression in the country and those dissidents who remain face severe consequences. The issue is the military, which is loyal to Maduro and is the real power center in the country. It profits handsomely off of the Maduro regime. “Democratic forces are not only contending with ruthless authoritarian rule – they are also dealing with a country dominated by an oil economy and massive criminality and corruption, complicating any transition (to democracy),” wrote Spain’s El País. “In this epic Latin American tragedy, the task ahead is not only to rebuild a democracy that has been destroyed, it is also to rebuild an economy, a society, and a country.”