Written by Akshar Patel
Edited by Andrew Hermann and Annika Lilja
On the 28th of June, 2024, Venezuelans headed to the polls to cast their votes in their country’s election. The two contenders for the race were the incumbent socialist President Nicolás Maduro and the independent candidate Edmundo González, running under the Unitary Platform party led by rising political superstar María Corina Machado. However, even before the election, international analysts already suspected the election would not be fair. Maduro, whom many Venezuelans online have likened to a dictator, has often used authoritarian tactics to scare, cheat, and threaten his way into power. Notable examples include the practice of holding rigged elections and the funding of colectivo cells: armed leftist criminal groups who work closely with Maduro’s regime to get rid of dissent.
Last month’s election was no different. As reported by the Associated Press, Maduro and his government claimed on the 29th of July that he won with over 50% of the vote. Despite this, all the evidence seems to go against this. As US Secretary of State Antony Blinken wrote on his office’s website on the first of August, “Unfortunately, the processing of those votes and the announcement of results by the Maduro-controlled National Electoral Council (CNE) were deeply flawed, yielding an announced outcome that does not represent the will of the Venezuelan people...the democratic opposition has published more than 80 percent of the tally sheets received directly from polling stations throughout Venezuela. Those tally sheets indicate that Edmundo González Urrutia received the most votes in this election by an insurmountable margin. Independent observers have corroborated these facts, and this outcome was also supported by election day exit polls and quick counts.” According to Reuters, by some estimates, almost 70% of Venezuelans actually voted for the opposition candidate Gonzalez. Alongside the US, Peru, Argentina, and Uruguay have all recognized Gonzalez as the legitimate president of Venezuela.
In response to the alleged electoral fraud, many Venezuelans took to the streets to protest. Most of their protests were initially peaceful—though the state’s response was not. The colectivo militias and specialized police squads began to crack down on protestors harshly. Due to their lack of officiality, the colectivos were able to do much of the dirty work for Maduro, shooting and killing dozens of protestors across the country in drive-bys on motorcycles and pickup trucks. PBS News reported on August 4 that Maduro announced his government had already arrested 2,000 dissidents, with more on the way. Two days later, the government launched a criminal investigation against Machado and González for allegedly, as Al Jazeera reports, “instigating disobedience and insurrection”—even though they both called for protests to be peaceful.
Tensions began to escalate from there; protestors were seen throwing bricks at the police and Molotov cocktails—a type of incendiary weapon—at government buildings. Not only were civilians getting involved, but so were criminal groups. As reported by La Opinión, a major Spanish newspaper, the Venezuelan cartel “Tren del Llano” posted a video on social media where their leader “Oscarcito” threatened action against the police and military in the group’s native state of Guárico. Later videos from the group show them brandishing rifles and demonstrating explosives, though it is unclear if any actual violence has occurred between the two groups. Meanwhile, in major cities, protestors slammed sledgehammers against statues of the former socialist leader Hugo Chávez, Maduro’s predecessor who laid the foundation for many of the authoritarian practices he would later use.
These recent riots are the culmination of a historic and ongoing crisis in Venezuela that stretches back over a decade. Rich with natural resources, especially oil, Venezuela has fallen to the same curse many other oil-rich nations have fallen to—overdependence on one singular export. Nations reliant on their natural stocks of fossil fuels are known as petrostates, with the most well-known examples being nations in the Middle East like Qatar, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia. Since the oil-fueled government of a petrostate relies less on the taxes of its citizens to fund itself, it is less beholden to them—resulting in heavy corruption, undemocratic policies, and high inequality. Venezuela’s case is no different. When Hugo Chávez was elected in 1999, he promised to be a man of the people, sharing the natural wealth of Venezuela equally among its citizens. However, his actions in office did not reflect the promises he made—seizing control of the Supreme Court, targeting journalists, and later, cracking down on speech against the government. His successor, Maduro, has doubled down, leading to many of the abhorrent actions listed above.
The crisis in Venezuela, ongoing for decades, has produced a large influx of refugees in neighboring countries. As the oil-dependent economy of Venezuela slowly collapsed, millions fled to Colombia, Peru, Brazil, the USA, and other countries. Tensions between the people of Venezuela and Maduro and his allies had been simmering for years until the violence abruptly rang out this year. Now, having refused to accept the results of the election, Maduro’s regime has crossed the point of no return into authoritarianism that so many other dictators have crossed, from Lukashenko to Gaddafi.
Sources:
Acevedo, Nicole. “Venezuelan Opposition Leader González Urrutia Thanks U.S. For Recognizing Him as Presidential Election’s Winner.” NBC News, NBC News, 2 Aug. 2024, www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/us-recognizes-opposition-candidate-gonzalez-winner-venezuela-election-rcna164802.
“Banda Criminal Lanza Dura Amenaza a Maduro Y Las Fuerzas Chavistas.” La Opinión, La Opinión Cúcuta, 2024, www.laopinion.co/sucesos/banda-criminal-lanza-dura-amenaza-maduro-y-las-fuerzas-chavistas.
Cheatham, Amelia, and Diana Roy. “Venezuela: The Rise and Fall of a Petrostate.” Council on Foreign Relations, Council on Foreign Relations, 10 Mar. 2023, www.cfr.org/backgrounder/venezuela-crisis.
Goodman, Joshua, and Regina Garcia Cano. “Venezuelans Take to Streets of Caracas to Protest Maduro’s Claim That He Won Presidential Election.” AP News, 29 July 2024, apnews.com/article/venezuela-presidential-election-maduro-machado-edmundo-results-acee6c8cd3a8fc88086c2dd71963b759.
Goodman, Joshua, and Regina Garcia Cano. “Maduro Is Declared Winner in Venezuela’s Presidential Election as Opposition Claims It Prevailed.” AP News, 29 July 2024, apnews.com/article/venezuela-presidential-election-maduro-machado-edmundo-5ce255ae90614162590bfe1207d2e1d0.
Newman, Lucia. “Venezuela: Who Are the Colectivos?” Al Jazeera, 9 May 2019, www.aljazeera.com/features/2019/5/9/venezuela-who-are-the-colectivos.
Rogero, Tiago. “Venezuela Protesters Target Hugo Chávez Statues amid Disputed Election.” The Guardian, 30 July 2024, theguardian.com/world/article/2024/jul/30/venezuela-protesters-hugo-chavez-statues.
Sanchez, Fabiola. “World Leaders Voice Concern as Thousands Arrested in Venezuela after Disputed Election.” PBS News, 4 Aug. 2024, www.pbs.org/newshour/world/world-leaders-voice-concern-as-thousands-arrested-in-venezuela-after-disputed-election. Accessed 7 Aug. 2024.
“Venezuela Launches Probe against Opposition Leaders Gonzalez, Machado.” Al Jazeera, 6 Aug. 2024, aljazeera.com/news/2024/8/6/venezuela-launches-probe-against-opposition-leaders-gonzalez-machado.
“Venezuela: Chávez’s Authoritarian Legacy.” Human Rights Watch, 5 Mar. 2013, www.hrw.org/news/2013/03/05/venezuela-chavezs-authoritarian-legacy.
“Venezuela’s Machado Says Opposition Candidate Won 70% of the Vote.” Reuters, 29 July 2024, www.reuters.com/world/americas/venezuelas-machado-says-opposition-candidate-won-70-vote-2024-07-29/.
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