“An evil man is capable of burning his own nation to the ground to rule over its ashes.” -Sun Tzu
By Javier Herrera
HAVANA TIMES – Nicolas Maduro, the current President of Venezuela, warned on Tuesday, July 16th, of “a bloodbath, a fratricidal civil war” if he did not win the elections on the 28th of the same month. His statements struck a chord, even among his close political allies like Luis Inacio Lula Da Silva, who stated: “I was scared by Maduro’s declaration that if he loses, there will be a bloodbath; when you lose, you leave.”
In controversial elections, the official National Electoral Council declared Maduro the winner with 51% of the votes in his favor without showing the precinct Electoral Records that confirm the result and that, by law, should be available for public scrutiny within 48 hours of the closing of polling stations.
Meanwhile, the opposition, led by Maria Corina Machado, declared Edmundo Gonzalez, candidate for the Democratic Unitary Platform, the winner with 67% of the votes against 30% for the current dictator. The opposition supports its claim of victory with 83% of the Electoral Records, which are displayed on the website https://resultadosconvzla.com/, where they can be scrutinized one by one. It is worth noting that the records were obtained by a vast network of electoral witnesses and collaborators, although in some polling stations they were refused to be handed over to opposition witnesses as is required.
As expected, the people felt defrauded, and with María Corina at the forefront, they took to the streets from the night of July 28th to claim their victory. And, as also expected, the regime deployed its entire repressive arsenal against a people tired of misery and unfulfilled promises.
Repression began by sending the Chavista Collectives (pro-regime paramilitary groups) to the streets to confront the demonstrators, in the same s
