A tense calm reigns in Venezuela as inauguration day approaches, with two candidates vowing to be sworn in as president.
Incumbent president Nicolás Maduro has declared he will attend the official inauguration ceremony in the National Assembly on January 10. The National Electoral Council (CNE) declared Maduro winner of the July 28 presidential election, but four months later has failed to present any evidence to ratify this result.
Meanwhile, right-wing opposition candidate Edmundo González has pledged to return from exile and be sworn in at the ceremony. González’s campaign team claims alleged polling centre tally sheets collected by party scrutineers on election day show him winning by a big margin.
It is not clear how González plans to re-enter the country, where he faces arrest, much less be sworn in by the government-controlled parliament.
But many, such as human rights activist María Alejandra Díaz from the Popular Democratic Front (FDP), fear the situation could trigger a new round of political violence and state repression.
Díaz told Green Left: “We are in a difficult position because we are demanding justice while caught between two warring parties” who seem “intent on continuing head-on towards a collision in the run-up to January 10, which could end very badly.
“That is precisely what we want to avoid.”
The FDP, which was set up by left-wing and moderate opposition groups, is campaigning for the CNE to publish the election results — as per its legal requirements — so Venezuelans can verify who won.
Exacerbating the possibilities of violence, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken announced his government officially recognised González as president-elect on November 19, even offering him help to re-enter Venezuela.
Blinken’s statement came a day after Congress’s House of Representatives passed the BOLIVAR Act, banning state contracts with businesses associated with the Maduro government.
Venezuela Analysis notes “the BOLIVAR Act does not translate into new restrictions against Venezuela”, but rather seeks to “codify measures imposed via executive orders into legislation”.
The Biden administration’s stance has been opposed by left-leaning Latin American governments, particularly those of Brazil and Colombia.
Colombian foreign minister Luis Murillo outlined his government’s position on November 23 that the election in Venezuela “was not completely free, due to two factors”.
“The first are the sanctions that weigh on Venezuela and even on government candidates, imposed mainly by the United States and the European Union, and which obviously do not allow for a free election.”
Economic sanctions have been a major factor in Venezuela’s economic crisis, depriving the country of the ability to import necessary goods, such as food, medicines and spare parts for its oil industry.
The US government pledged to lift the blockade if Venezuelans voted for the opposition.
“The second factor was the attitude of the Venezuelan government itself … There was a lot of harassment of certain opposition figures or leaders, which made the atmosphere more tense by not ensuring guarantees for all participants.”
Given this, Murillo said, it was up to Venezuelans “to decide how to arrive at a process of free elections”. In the meantime, Murillo said on November 26, his government’s stance remained the same: “No results, no recognition”.
Venezuela’s National Assembly responded to the US’s latest moves by passing the Liberator Simón Bolívar Against the Imperialist Blockade Organic Law on November 28.
Under the new law, those who “have promoted, instigated, requested, invoked, favoured, supported or participated in the adoption or execution of coercive measures [sanctions] against the Venezuelan population, the public authorities or their authorities by a foreign state, group of states or corporations” can face up to 30-years jail or a 60-year ban on running for public office.
The FDP also condemned the BOLIVAR Act as an attack on Venezuela’s sovereignty in a November 24 statement.
The FDP said it strongly opposed “foreign interference in Venezuela's internal affairs. It is up to the Venezuelan people, in full exercise of their sovereignty, to define their collective destiny.”
But the FDP also noted with concern the government’s ongoing attempts to dehumanise and criminalise all opponents. Just days earlier, interior minister Diosdado Cabello accused FDP leaders of “planning violent acts” together with right-wing opposition leaders, though no evidence was presented for these claims.
These types of threats, only “seek to silence those who raise their voices against violations of the Constitution and choose to point the way towards persecution, disqualifications and the closure of political spaces”.
Reaffirming its “respect for the self-determination of the Venezuelan people” and support “for a constitutional way out” of the current crisis, the FDP said: “This begins with respect for the vote of all Venezuelans.”