Venezuela finds itself in a deep crisis due to the totalitarian actions of its government, which declared the re-election of Nicolás Maduro despite a mountain of evidence suggesting otherwise and an electoral process that was anything but transparent. This new crisis affecting the South American country serves as a powerful warning about how fragile democracy can be when an authoritarian figure is allowed to take power.
This year, the Venezuelan government called for elections, but not without first aggressively restricting the opposition, hindering international observers, and stifling the vote of nearly five million Venezuelans living abroad who are eligible to vote. Despite these obstacles, a sense of hope and change began to emerge.
Before July 28, several opinion polls showed an unexpected surge of support for the opposition candidate, Edmundo González Urrutia, of the Plataforma Unitaria Democrática (PUD). On election day, a massive turnout of Venezuelan voters was observed, and four independent exit polls indicated that González Urrutia had won with at least 70% of the votes. The opposition also documented the results in multiple electoral precincts with photos and videos, corroborating Maduro's defeat.
Did Maduro win with 51.2% of the votes in Venezuela?
However, as has happened in the past, a lack of transparency prevailed. The National Electoral Council, controlled by the Venezuelan government, announced Nicolás Maduro as the winner with an implausible 51.2% of the votes, while González Urrutia was said to have received 44.2%. The indignation among Venezuelans, both inside and outside the country, was palpable.
In response to this blatant discrepancy, several countries, including the United States, Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, Peru, the Dominican Republic, Uruguay, and Panama, among others, questioned the Venezuelan electoral results.
It remains unclear what will happen in Venezuela. Although Maduro's regime controls all state powers, including the military and the electoral system, many people are taking to the streets. This socialist regime has indeed survived other massive protest movements over the past two decades, but it is also true that historically speaking, no government can endure if the people withdraw their support.
This is a painful warning to those in the United States who flirt with the idea of authoritarianism.
“Dictator” for a day
During the 2020 elections, messages frequently circulated on social media targeting the Latino community, claiming that if Joe Biden won, the United States would turn into Venezuela. Today, near the end of his term, it is evident that this did not happen. Ironically, it has been the ultraconservatives of the MAGA movement who have been pushing the idea of an authoritarian regime, with Donald Trump at the helm.
The storming of the Capitol on January 6, 2021, marked efforts to make it harder for minority voters to participate, and a candidate who has repeatedly said he would like to be a “dictator” for a day paints a worrying picture.
On multiple occasions, Trump has expressed his dissatisfaction with the democratic system. For example, on December 4, 2022, he suggested that the Constitution should be “suspended” to allow him to be president again despite his electoral defeat. More recently, on July 27, in a speech in Florida, he told a group of supporters that if they vote for him in November, “in four years, you won’t have to vote again. We’ll have fixed it so well that you won’t have to vote.”
We must take these threats to our democracy very seriously; the best way to deal with an authoritarian government is to prevent it from coming to power.