Nicolás Maduro must be sworn in next Friday as president for the third time and with the proclaimed support of the Armed Forces. But before the faded ceremony takes place in the National Assembly (AN), The Venezuelan capital will once again function as a sounding board for a political conflict with no solution in sight. On January 9, the ruling party and the opposition mobilize. The first, to shield Maduro in a militarized city like Caracas. The seconds in defense of the legitimacy of Edmundo González Urrutia’s victory at the polls. The factions guard their weapons in the midst of an unanswered question about the fulfillment of the former candidate’s promise to return to that country with the declared purpose of taking possession of an executive position that he claims as he considers himself the winner of the July 28 elections.
According to the Minister of the Interior and Justice, Diosdado Hair, who also manages the United Socialist Party (PSUV), González Urrutia, whom he described as a former CIA agent, will not dare to go from words to actions. In case he did, “The people of Venezuela are waiting because he is a mercenary who doesn’t love this country.”
The former president of Colombia, Andres Pastranasaid that nine former Latin American heads of state of conservative orientation will board with González Urrutia a plane that must depart from Panama. Cabello said he had set up an office at the Caracas airport “to check those who are arriving; they have to arrive somewhere, and Wherever the enemies of this country arrive, they will be captured and submitted to justice”.
Speculation about the eventual return of González Urrutia, six months after leaving for Spanish exile, is to a point eclipsed in the face of Thursday’s events. The opposition surprised the Government by changing the date of its occupation of public space, which was scheduled for January 10, which forced the PSUV to double its efforts in the streets. Madurismo will put the entire state apparatus and its loyalties at stake for the purposes of demonstrating majority social support. “Bitter, don’t try anything. There will be a march on the 9th and the anti-fascist congress starts, with more than 100 countries. On the 10th, the swearing-in ceremony in the National Assembly. We are going to take Caracas completely,” warned the Minister of the Interior. “How many are we going to move? You’ll see.”
The opposition agenda
Maria Corina Machado is once again at the forefront of the opposition protest. For now, the time and place of the demonstration in favor of the candidate who was declared the winner of the elections is unknown. Machado highlighted the importance of Biden’s support for González Urrutia, whom he treated as a “president-elect.” The meeting, said the right-wing leader “represents the recognition of popular sovereignty expressed through the votes of millions of Venezuelans and the epic deed of a people who decided to be free.”
The Miraflores Palace has reacted angrily to the meeting on Monday afternoon. Washington hardened its stance towards Caracas due to the refusal of the National Electoral Council (CNE) and the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ) to show the minutes that prove Maduro’s victory. He sanctioned representatives of the two organizations, as well as soldiers and spies. In turn, he recognized that González Urrutia had won the contest. In this context, Biden and the former diplomat took a photo, both smiling in the Oval Office. The image was enough for the Foreign Ministry to express its anger. “It is grotesque that an exit government as sunk in political discredit and marked by a legacy of domestic and international failures, insists on supporting a violent project that has already been defeated by the popular vote and the revolutionary democracy of the Venezuelan people.” The Foreign Ministry considered that the reception of González Urrutia represents “a flagrant violation of international law and a crude attempt to perpetuate imperialist interference in Latin America.”
What most unnerved Madurismo was not González Urrutia’s appointment with Biden but the meeting that the opponent held with Donald Trump’s next national security advisor, the former Green Beret, Mike Waltz. Thursday’s protest was at the center of the conversation. Waltz was accompanied by congressmen María Elvira Salazar, Mario Díaz-Balart and Carlos Giménez. Upon leaving the meeting, González Urrutia said: “He guaranteed us that the United States and the world will be alert about what happens in our country“. The word “alert” raises different interpretations at this time. Waltz has been the promoter of the so-called Bolívar Law, a bipartisan initiative that prohibits the United States from contracting companies that carry out commercial operations with Madurism. “Garbage Law” the current one called it president.
History repeated?
Maduro assumed his second presidency on January 10, 2019 with the presence of representatives Russia, China, Türkiye and Iran. On that occasion, 19 member countries of the Organization of American States (OAS) agreed “not to recognize the legitimacy” of their Government. Nine days later, the opposition deputy Juan Guaidió He proclaimed himself “interim president” with the support of Trump, part of the EU and the main countries in the region. That strategy did not achieve its goal and Maduro intends to extend his administration for another six years, after highly questioned elections. The opposition knows that history cannot repeat itself and its confidence in succeeding this time will be tested in the coming days in the streets and weeks later because Trump will reenter the White House on January 20 and expects eloquent gestures from the Republican magnate.
The big news compared to 2019 is the existence of a group of Latin American countries from the so-called progressive bloc that decided to turn their backs on the pomp of Friday, as in the case of Chile, or will be represented only by ambassadors accredited in Caracas. Venezuela broke relations with Paraguay after joining the group of countries led by the United States and Javier Milei’s Argentina that consider González Urrutia the legitimate president
