By Javier Herrera
HAVANA TIMES – This Sunday, July 28, 2024, the Presidential Elections for the 2025-2031 period took place in Venezuela. Ten presidential candidates were in the running, including the current president, Nicolas Maduro, of the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), and Edmundo Gonzalez, representing the Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD), an organization that brings together the major opposition parties.
The current Venezuelan elections have been under the watchful eye of the world due to the strong geopolitical implications of the victory of one side or the other. On one hand, they have significant global and regional importance due to their impact on migration and the economic stability of the entire region.
The Venezuelan crisis has caused the largest migratory exodus in the recent history of Latin America, affecting neighboring countries and generating pressure on the United States. The outcome of the elections could change these migratory waves, within which almost eight million Venezuelans have been forced to migrate due to misery or persecution by the regime.
On the other hand, countries like Cuba, Russia, China, and Iran, which have political and economic interests in the region, use Venezuela as a pawn in their game and favor the continuation of the current regime. The United States also has a great interest in Venezuela due to its importance in the global oil trade and the wave of Venezuelan migrants that have settled in the US.
Despite the world’s close observation, the ruling regime has been placing obstacles in the way of opposition candidates since the elections were announced.
Engineer, politician, and professor María Corina Machado, who managed to unite the Venezuelan opposition in the Democratic Unity Platform and who was elected as the presidential candidate in the opposition’s primary elections last October, was prevented by Maduro from participating in these elections or holding public office for 15 years.
To evade the ruling party’s trickery, María Corina chose Professor Corina Yoris as the presidential candidate, but once again, the regime dismissed the candidacy, this time without giving reasons.
Finally, it was possible to register the former diplomat, professor, and writer Edmundo Gonzalez as the opposition candidate. Despite the candidacy being allowed, the obstacles raised to carry out the campaign multiplied enormously. While Nicolas Maduro made use of the media, access was denied to the opposition candidate.
Threats, kidnappings, and arbitrary detentions of security chiefs and other collaborators were also resorted to. Even businesses where the opposition campaign group stopped at some point to eat or lodge during their movement ar