He June 4 officially begins Campaign for the presidential election on July 28 in Venezuelabut in the pre-campaign, both Chavismo and the opposition already began to draw up their strategies to win the vote.
From the very moment in which Edmundo González Urrutia was anointed as a unitary candidate of the opposition, anti-Chavismo began with the titanic task of making its standard-bearer known, due to his discreet profile in Venezuelan politics. A task that is already advanced, but not won, thanks to the journey of Maria Corina Machado with the photo of his ambassador in his hand.
“We have a candidate: Edmundo González Urrutia!“, she expressed on Thursday to the applause of the crowd that received her in the state Zuliain the west of the country.
“We are ready!” he added. Thus confirming that the matter of the nomination of Gonzalez Urrutia It is already closed and they already have what is necessary to compete at the polls.
All week long Machado dedicated himself to street activities with the photo of the electoral ballot in which its ambassador appears.
The massive calls by the opposition made the leaders of Chavismo rise from their seats, who went out to walk the streets, although with a noticeably lower participation in each event.
Thus, the dictator Nicolás Maduro was seen in the town of Guatire (to the central-north coastal part of the country), a former bastion of the state’s Chavismo Miranda.
The images of the reception of the head of the Venezuelan regime in the area were widely disseminated by the propaganda apparatus, including Venezuelan Television (VTV)the television channel taken over by the ruling party and financed by all Venezuelans, which highlighted the arrival of the dictator under the title “Guatire overflowed”.
In the official videos, where the protagonists are the close shots of the rally, Maduro is seen greeting attendees from the hood of his armored vehicle.
Despite promises of a great mobilization and media coverage of the regime suggesting mass reception, images and eyewitness reports told a different story.
In a video captured by an amateur from the roof of a building handed over by the dictatorship itself, you can see a tiny group of followers awaiting the arrival of “Chávez’s son.”
The small group of people gathered near the place where the meeting would take place, displaying banners of support and chanting slogans in favor of Chavismo.
“This is how the victorious and noble people of Guatire received me, with optimism and love, demonstrating that the Bolivarian Revolution has conscious men and women, who fight to defend the beautiful and peaceful Homeland. We are heading towards the great victory. “Hope is in the streets!”, expressed the Caribbean dictator on his account on the social network X.
The reduced attendance contrasts with the images of crowds that used to accompany Maduro’s visits to the interior of Venezuela in the past, reflecting the change in the country’s political and social climate.
In another example of how the opposition is setting the tone for Chavismo, last week, the visit of the opposition leader to the town of Turén (Portuguesa state) coincided with the presence of Chavismo’s number two, God given hair.
The vice president of PSUV did not refrain from criticizing the candidacy of Gonzalez Urrutiaalleging that it was an “election manipulated by the US government” with the intention of seizing Venezuelan wealth.
Simultaneously, Chavismo launched its campaign to instill fear in the electorate through an escalation of persecution against dissent and intimidation of the opposition vote.
After last week’s massive event in Portuguesea region in which Chavismo also had significant support in the past, the Maduro regime arrested three political activists who participated in the opposition rally.
The detainees were identified as Amber Marquez, Victor Castilloand Oscar Castañeda.
These arbitrary arrests triggered widespread condemnation by opposition political organizations, which classified these actions as serious abuse against civil rights and demanded the immediate release of those affected.
This without counting the different members of the María Corina Machado’s campaign command to whom an arrest warrant was issued during the first weeks of this year, while the opposition closed its candidacy for the July 28 elections.
According to a report written by the CASLA Institute for the International Criminal Court (ICC) that was presented this week, the persecution in Venezuela “has become more cruel and incisive and what it tries to do is dismantle any coordination that exists within the civil society”, to “frighten anyone who wants to support, for example, the Vente Venezuela party, which they declared a terrorist group”, which allows them to “go after all its members”.
Lawyer Tamara Sujú, executive director of the CASLA Institute, assured that the forces of the regime have even arrested people who have lent sound equipment or the hotel to Machado to deliver his speeches.
