By Rajika Chauhan
Staff Writer
As Venezuela gears up for a landmark presidential election in 2024, the country’s path towards a legitimate democracy remains hindered by ploys on the part of the government in power. A primary contest to decide on a candidate to run against current President Nicolas Maduro in next year’s elections was held on Oct. 23, with opposition leader Marina Corina Machado winning 93% of the vote out of a record 2.4 million ballots, according to reporting by the New York Times.
In a reversal of agreements made with both the opposition and foreign nations, the Maduro government is now resorting to undemocratic forms of interference to contest the opposition’s conduct of the primary. The country’s Supreme Court, populated by mostly government appointees working on behalf of Maduro, ruled to annul the results of the primary on Oct. 30. Reuters reports that the attorney general has additionally opened an investigation of 17 members of the commissions that organized voting, alleging violations of electoral functions, identity theft, money laundering, and criminal association.
Maduro came into power in 2013, following the death of Hugo Chavez, the socialist revolutionary who entered the nation into a new era of governance at the turn of the century. Chavez’s ‘Bolivarian Revolution’ brought into the fray a system of government coined in his name “Chavismo,” a left-wing populist political movement which sought to reconcentrate wealth in the hands of the nation’s poor and working class, as per the NYT.
With vast oil-reserves, Venezuela is among the wealthiest nations in South America, and a member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. The nation has struggled significantly over the past 10 years of Maduro’s rule, experiencing hyperinflation as oil prices plummeted. According to ABC News, this economic devastation has led to the mass-exodus of more than seven million Venezuelans, almost a quarter of the nation’s population, in one of the most dramatic refugee crises in the Americas.
Maduro has faced further allegations of dictatorial and despotic behavior, apparently ordering the extrajudicial killing of political enemies and using corrupt tactics to maintain his stronghold on power. The NYT reports that Maduro began his second term after a decisive victory in the country’s 2018 presidential elections, which were declared fraudulent by the United Nations and European Union.
The U.S. imposed strict sanctions on Venezuela under the Trump administration, motivated in part by its failures to control the influx of migrants into the U.S. and the undemocratic activities of its government. Restrictions were eased under President Joe Biden in response to certain concessions made by Maduro, including an agreement to accept Venezuelan deportees from the U.S. and release political prisoners, as stated by Reuters. Chief amongst these agreements was a deal made between the Maduro government and the opposition in Barbados earlier in October, with a commitment to hold a fair and free election in 2024. That agreement included protections for the opposition’s primary, a stipulation the government has now apparently reneged on.
The primary elections were organized without any official government support, managed by civilian groups with polling stations established in homes, parks and offices. Machado, a veteran politician and center-right candidate, won the majority of the vote. Her popularity reaches across economic and generational lines, and she has begun to appeal to even the nation’s economic poor, a sector which usually leans strongly in favor of Maduro, as per the NYT. The government has banned Machado from running in a state election for 15 years over claims she did not declare her assets and income as a legislator, an allegation likely made in efforts to silence an increasingly compelling threat to Maduro’s power. Machado has maintained a hardline in her campaign promises, vowing to bring members of Maduro’s government to justice for alleged human rights abuses, privatize the state-owned oil company Petroleos de Venezuela and restructure the nation’s debt. These positions make it unlikely the government will allow her a just transition into power, despite the likelihood of her winning national support.
Machado criticized the government’s interference with the primary in a speech, referring to the Barbados agreement: “It is a contradiction to sign an agreement and then, in the days that follow, they proceed to violate the first points of the agreement.”
It is likely that the U.S. will reinstate previous sanctions should the Maduro government continue in its restrictions on electoral activity. The opposition has voiced skepticism that the government will cooperate with Machado and her backers.
In a statement, the U.S. State Department issued a strict warning: “The United States and the international community are closely following implementation of the electoral road map, and the U.S. government will take action if Maduro and his representatives do not meet their commitments.”
For members of the opposition and critics of Maduro’s regime, the 2024 elections represent a potential turning point in what has been an extended period of economic and social crisis for Venezuela. Hopefuls continue to fear that they are facing an impossible solution, seeking to coax power out from under a government that refuses to relinquish it. The pressure is on from both world powers and the resistance within Venezuela to hold Maduro’s government accountable to its earlier commitments, ideally making it impossible for the regime to cling to power without resorting to despotism that is bound to be severely punished.
Despite the odds against her, Machado has refused to show signs of backing down. In both public face and through action, she has remained staunchly on the path to overturning Maduro’s power come 2024.
“The people have given me a mandate and they know the obstacles that we overcame to win the primary, just as we will overcome the obstacles ahead,” Machado told the Financial Times in an interview. “I am going to be a presidential candidate, I am going to register, and we are going to defeat Maduro.”
