Nicolás Maduro, president of Venezuela, and Lula da Silva, president of Brazil, during a president’s meeting in Brasilia in May 2023. Photo by Palácio do Planalto via Flickr. CC BY 2.0.
The Bolivarian dream that Commander Hugo Chávez once had lies shattered like his statue toppled in Coro, Venezuela. Thousands of furious citizens have taken to the streets of Caracas and throughout Venezuela to protest against the controversial electoral results, in which Nicolás Maduro allegedly won with 51.2 percent of the votes, securing a third term, while his main rival, retired diplomat Edmundo González, allegedly only managed to get 44.2 percent of the votes. The National Electoral Council (CNE) yet has to publish the tally sheets proving Maduro’s victory.
The rejection of Nicolás Maduro by countries such as the United States was to be expected, as seen in their support for the 2019 civic-military insurrection, “Operation Freedom,” led by Juan Guaido to overthrow Maduro. We could also anticipate similar reactions from Latin American right-wing politicians like Argentina’s President, Javier Milei, who called on Venezuelan military forces to join the protesters in insurrection, Uruguay’s Luis Lacalle Pou, who denied the election results, and El Salvador’s Nayib Bukele, who labeled the election as fraudulent.
What Maduro did not foresee was the rejection and silence from other countries with which he had established ties in the region. For instance, Chilean leftist democratic president Gabriel Boric expressed his disbelief regarding any electoral result days before the presidential election, following a controversial comment made by Maduro that “there will be a bloodbath” if he did not win. Then, on July 29, Boric rejected the CNE’s results. After all, Boric came from student movements, and therefore could not remain silent in the face of the violation of the human rights of Venezuelan citizens.
President Lula da Silva, founder of the Workers’ Party of Brazil, shared similar views. Lula, who was considered a political prisoner by former president Dilma Rousseff and who faced an attempted coup on January 8, 2022, was “scared” of Maduro’s bloodbath statements.
Similarly, former guerrilla fighter Gustavo Petro, now president of Colombia, who swiftly reactivated diplomatic relations with Venezuela when he assumed power, had strong doubts about the Venezuelan electoral process and insisted that the voting records be made public.
In Mexico, leftist president López Obrador did not remain silent either. In his morning conference, he stated that Mexico’s position would be fixed once the CNE released the official results, while also accusing the Organization of American States (OAS) of being interventionist for calling in a meeting to demand a vote recount in Venezuela. He refused Mexico’s participation in the OAS meeting and instead coordinated with Colombia and Brazil for a joint statement.
South American leaders in May 2023, from left to right: Nicolás Maduro (Venezuela), Chan Santokhi (Suriname), Irfaan Ali (Guyana), Gustavo Petro (Colombia), Luis Arce (Bolivia), Lula da Silva (Brasil), Alberto Fernandez (Argentina), Gabriel Boric (Chile), Guillermo Lasso, (Ecuador), Mario Abdo Benítez (Paraguay), Luis Lacalle Pou (Uruguay), Alberto Otárola (President of the Council of Ministers of Perú). Photo by Palácio do Planalto via Flickr. CC BY 2.0.
Although Maduro received support from governments similar to his own — ones with authoritarian tendencies and facing economic sanctions — such as Cuba and Nicaragua, as well as others like China, Iran, and Russia, it was not enough to legitimize his alleged victory.
It makes sense that more moderate leftist leaders would not feel so secure in their affiliation with Maduro, even though they are also skeptical of US influence in the region. For example, the governments of Colombia, Mexico, and Brazil had expressed opposition to US economic sanctions on Venezuela, which they consider responsible for the exodus of 7.7 million Venezuelans. On the other hand, they were not willing to endorse what amounted to the persecution of political opponents and the violation of human rights.
Maduro’s statements — such as literally challenging billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk to a fight — painted him as emotional and erratic. He removed former Argentine president Alberto Fernández from the list of international observers for having said that he should accept a possible defeat and broke diplomatic relations with seven Latin American countries (Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, Peru, Panama, the Dominican Republic, and Uruguay) that spoke out against the election results, further deepening his international isolation.
In Venezuela, María Corina Machado, leader of the opposition party coalition, opened an online portal publishing the voting records collected by citizens. That website marked the beginning of a countdown to the end of the credibility of the CNE results, culminating in a decisive victory for Edmundo González.
Even though Maduro committed to presenting the tally sheets on July 31 to confirm his supposed victory before the Supreme Court of Venezuela, the 2024 presidential election was already marred by repression, arbitrary detentions, and the deaths of protesters. On August 2, the CNE ratified that Maduro won the elections but still did not show the records.
Several left-wing governments in Latin America tend to adopt a series of much more cautious governmental measures, which also serve to maintain a stable relationship with the United States. Disruptive speeches and authoritarian behavior like those of Nicolás Maduro tarnish and discredit democratic left-wing governments in the region, creating an uncomfortable relationship with Venezuela.
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Publish date : 2024-08-06 20:57:00
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