Photo: People in Caracas, Venezuela cheer on Nicolás Maduro’s victory speech. Credit: Zoe Alexandra
Despite re-election victory for Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro on Sunday — certified by the National Electoral Commission (CNE) — right-wing opposition candidate Edmundo González immediately claimed fraud and refused to accept the result, setting in motion a violent outbreak in the streets.
This is not a spontaneous attack but a planned, multi-form operation whose author is the CIA.
At 6 p.m. on Monday, right-wing extremist María Corina Machado held a press conference with González, claiming a fantastical 73% of votes for him, with no proof or evidence, and no way for the opposition to have counted ballots in a day, as she claimed.
The official CNE count is Nicolás Maduro, 51.2% or 5,150,092 votes. González received 44.2% of the vote or 4,445,978, a difference of 704,114 votes. Voter turnout was 59%.
Hours before the polls opened, the CNE was hit by a major hacking operation. CNE President Elvis Amoroso demanded an investigation into the terrorist hit. The CNE’s system is not connected to the Internet, which protected the voting operation, but it delayed the announcement of the results.
Attorney General Tarek William Saab publicly accused right-wing activist Lester Toledo of the terrorist attack, which originated from North Macedonia. Leopoldo López and María Corina Machado were named as accomplices.
The violence broke out at the same time pro-U.S. governments in the region quickly denounced the election results. Venezuela’s foreign ministry has expelled diplomats from Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, Peru, Panama, the Dominican Republic and Uruguay due to their hostility towards Venezuela’s process.
The government also issued a communique to announce the elimination of flights to and from Panama and Dominican Republic starting Wed., July 31, 8 p.m.
The leaders of Cuba, Nicaragua, China, Russia and Honduras congratulated Maduro’s victory. Nine Latin American countries have called for an emergency OAS session, undoubtedly to act against Maduro’s government.
Roaming gangs started waging violent attacks in the streets on Monday, looting and burning buildings, including a hospital in the Chaco district of Caracas. At least one statue of revolutionary leader Hugo Chávez was toppled, in La Guaira state.
As right-wing forces began to march to Miraflores presidential palace, the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) called on supporters to surround and defend Miraflores from attack.
PSUV Vice President Diosdado Cabello, addressed the crowd of supporters who remained overnight, inside palace grounds.
“If they want to generate violence, they will find us here, they will find us ready to defend the palace, the Revolution, the Constitution and the victory of President Nicolás Maduro, which is the victory of Chávez and our people,” Cabello said.
“We are calm,” he continued. “It is they who are looking for violence. We don’t want violence, but we know how to defend ourselves and to pass immediately to counter attack.”
President Maduro denounced the perpetrators: “They ordered attacks on the offices of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela. What is that called? Terrorism! They attacked and burned CNE offices and damaged machinery. Some of those actively involved were captured, and they confessed they were paid.”
“We have told the [PSUV] members not to fall for provocations because their objective in attacking the offices is to create a bloodbath,” Maduro stated.
Washington’s role hardly a mystery
This conflict has been brewing for months, with the U.S. determined to topple the Bolivarian revolutionary government, either by vote or violence. It is not the first time, just the latest.
The most notorious was the U.S. refusal to recognize Maduro’s second inauguration of Jan. 10, 2019. Thirteen days later, a relatively unknown politician, Juan Guaidó, suddenly appeared before the press to name himself Venezuela’s new president. That fiction lasted several years, as the country’s CITGO oil company assets, gold and money deposits were stolen by the U.S. with Guaidó’s acquiescence.
Oil revenues, which finance the government’s spending, plunged 99%, and inflation reached 344,000%. More than 970 economic sanctions have been imposed by the Trump — and now Biden — administrations. The U.S. economic war has devastated the population’s living standards. But of course, the revolutionary government is blamed.
In a sheer act of hypocrisy, Biden last October granted legality to 500,000 Venezuelans who have recently arrived in the United States. This order gives them immediate permission to work, with permanent residency after one year. His tactic, was to strangle the country with sanctions, then entice Venezuelans to leave en masse for the United States. It is very similar to U.S. policy toward Cuba.
And yet, through sheer determination of people organized in collectives and communes, with the government’s support to the agricultural industry, national food production has largely replaced imports.
A new coup opportunity
Venezuela’s presidential elections are held every five years. July 28 was chosen for this year’s election, the 70th anniversary of Hugo Chávez’s birth. He died in 2013.
Washington employed the carrot-and-stick tactic to Maduro’s government months ahead, offering to ease up on some sanctions if Venezuela would permit a right-wing candidate, neo-fascist María Corina Machado, to run.
But she was banned from running, due to a conviction for representing another government in her capacity as national assembly delegate. So she joined forces with González and in reality became the de facto candidate.
During the campaign, Machado promised to “do away with socialism forever,” to privatize Venezuela’s oil industry, and to give title to the residents of the 5.1 million homes built by the Bolivarian Revolution. Currently, most of the new homes are given for free as long as the residents live there. Machado’s proposal, the right to sell one’s home, can be attractive to anyone feeling the economic blow of sanctions. Real estate developers and banks would stand ready to take over the newly privatized properties.
As leader of the ultra-right Vente Venezuela party, Corina Machado is notorious for urging violence. She openly called for the overthrow of the government during the most violent times in 2017. At one point in 2018, she asked for Israel to invade “and rescue” Venezuela.
Machado, acting on behalf of U.S. imperialist interests, could declare a “parallel government” that would be recognized by the Biden administration, a pretext to impose deeper sanctions by the U.S. and other western powers. The danger of military invasion is not to be discounted.
The genocide in Gaza, the U.S.-fueled war in Ukraine, the blockade of Cuba, U.S. preparations for war with China and Russia, growing military presence in Africa, this is the true nature of U.S. imperialism. All talk of democracy and freedom is simply code for world imperial domination.
What takes place in Venezuela will have earthshaking consequences. All progressive forces in the world must take an active stand with the Bolivarian Revolution of Venezuela and its socialist aspirations.
