Series
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Venezuela Election Update

July 31, 2024
VCU political science prof. Michael Ahn Paarlberg, Ph.D. discusses Venezuela’s recent disputed elections, erupting protests, and what happens next.
the details
At least 16 people have been killed and 700 arrested in protests across Venezuela since Nicolás Maduro claimed to win the presidential election on Sunday.

Maduro claimed to have won the election with...
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Show transcript
00:00
The election in Venezuela,
00:01
thousands of Venezuelans are protesting the results and now world leaders are
00:06
commenting on the alleged fraud to help us understand the situation.
00:10
We have Doctor Carl Berg,
00:12
professor of Political Science at Virginia Commonwealth University.
00:16
Hello, Doctor, how's it going?
00:17
I'm good. Thanks for having me on.
00:19
Awesome. Thank you for joining us.
00:20
We're just gonna get right into it.
00:22
What has led up to this election?
00:24
It seemed like the,
00:25
you know, opposition leader and Mundo Gonzalez had a lot of
00:28
momentum and people were excited to vote.
00:30
Well, according to pre election polls,
00:32
Gonzalez was leading Maduro,
00:35
the incumbent president by at least a 35 point margin.
00:39
So it was projected to be a blowout.
00:41
No one necessarily expected the elections to be free and fair given
00:46
the Venezuelan government's history of manipulating elections in the past.
00:50
But the announcement at midnight on Sunday that Maduro had won with
00:54
51% of the vote just did not align with with polls
01:00
And then it came out that the opposition had collected a
01:04
large number of vote tallies about 70% of all voters in the
01:08
country showing that Gonzalez had actually won by about a 7030 margin
01:14
And why do you like,
01:15
why do many believe that it has been unfair election?
01:17
And that Maduro intervened?
01:19
Well, Maduro has a history of intervening in,
01:23
in elections. The last election was widely seen as,
01:27
as fraudulent. He is an unpopular leader.
01:31
Maduro has overseen the worst economic crisis in Venezuela and the worst
01:36
migrant exodus that it is seen about 20% of the country has
01:42
has left. And so what's next for Venezuela if Maduro
01:45
does stay in power?
01:46
Well, everyone is waiting to see what the government's response is
01:50
and it seems pretty clear that the government's response is to crack
01:52
down with security forces,
01:54
both official police and these paramilitary biker gangs called Dios.
01:59
I've seen reports of about 12 people dead and maybe 800 people
02:04
arrested. Those numbers will certainly go up.
02:06
It seems that the strategy they're taking is just to ride it
02:09
out with repression. If that happens.
02:12
I expect we will see more Venezuelans seek to leave the country
02:15
than even up till now.
02:16
Well, is the opposition to Maduro trying to fight the alleged
02:19
fraud. Yes, the opposition has collected these things called a
02:25
Aktas are vote tallies by mesa by voting table.
02:30
Officially. The government is supposed to release this and actually post
02:33
it on the website of the elections board.
02:36
The CN they have,
02:38
the government has claimed that they were victims of a hacking attack
02:42
and that is why they could not post these.
02:44
However, these are all supposed to be shared publicly,
02:47
including with observers and the opposition.
02:50
So the opposition was able to collect about 73% of them up
02:54
till now. And according to the opposition,
02:56
they clearly show Gonzalez winning by a very wide margin.
03:02
So at this point,
03:03
the international community is demanding that the Maduro government post these afta
03:09
online and provide proof that he did win by the margin that
03:14
they have reported. And up until now,
03:15
they have not provided this proof.
03:17
And do you think that Maduro and the government will face some
03:20
you know, international pressure from other leaders now?
03:22
Well, the Maduro government has faced a lot of international pressure
03:24
up till now and it has survived.
03:26
These elections were the product of negotiations with the US with the
03:31
Biden administration to allow for something resembling free and fair elections in
03:37
exchange for sanctions relief.
03:39
And this is something that the Biden administration wanted because it really
03:42
wants to restrict the number of migrants coming to the southern border
03:45
ahead of the election because they're worried about losing the election over
03:49
the migration issue. And they also want to lower oil prices
03:52
because they're also worried about losing the election over inflation.
03:55
So we'll see the US reimpose sanctions.
03:58
We'll see other countries place Venezuela in a kind of pariah status
04:03
but it's been that way for a long time and Maduro
04:05
has managed to survive really by relying on the military for his
04:09
support. What do you think will unfold next for?
04:12
Well, unfortunately, right now it's a lot of violence we
04:15
are seeing,,
04:17
a lot of people protesting and the government taking extreme measures to
04:22
repress those protesters and that is going on right now.
04:25
And I think this is going to continue and I think if
04:31
the Maduro government and Maduro himself feel that their backs are up
04:34
against the wall, they're going to do everything they can to
04:38
stay in power. But there's always the possibility that the
04:44
important sectors that back him,
04:46
notably the military would abandon him if that were to happen
04:50
Then anything goes,
04:54
it's it's a lot to say the least.
04:56
But thank you so much for your time and where can
04:58
people stay informed about Venezuela and like any updates on this,
05:01
people can follow me on,
05:03
on Twitter at MP beg.
05:05
However, I would like to point people to other Venez
05:09
and specifically Venezuelan activists and and commentators.
05:13
And you know, I think one good resource as a jumping
05:16
off point is a blog called Caracas Chronicles.
05:19
I think you can find a lot of Venezuelan voices there but
05:21
you know, just go on socials and look for Venezuelan commentators
05:24
There are a lot of people are posting what's going
05:27
on on the ground in real time and risking their lives to
05:29
do it. Ok,
05:30
perfect. Thank you so much for your time and we'll
05:33
keep an eye on these things because it's getting crazy.
05:36
Thanks for having me.
05:37
Thank you so much.
05:38
Take care.