“We will go all the way!” : In Venezuela, one month after Nicolas Maduro’s contested victory in the presidential election, his opponents take to the streets again
Protests continued on Wednesday in the capital Caracas with a fourth demonstration since the election. The crowd was smaller than in the previous mobilization, but energized by opposition leader Maria Corina Machado.
The mobilization persists in Venezuela, where the opposition still claims victory for their candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, one month after the officially won election by Nicolas Maduro. A rally took place on Wednesday, August 28th in the capital Caracas, with opposition leader Maria Corina Machado in attendance. She lives in hiding as she is threatened with arrest by authorities, following the arrest of several members of her team.
For this fourth gathering since the election, thousands gathered in Caracas to hear their leader’s speech, appearing unexpectedly in a black hooded sweater. Her supporters are determined to uphold their vote.
“We don’t know how much time we have, but we will go all the way!”, affirms a protester. “There is no alternative, we must fight no matter what. If we want a prosperous country, if we want to revive the economy with functioning public services, we must go all the way.” “We will do as Maria Corina tells us!”, says another protester.
It is indeed the leader Maria Corina Machado who has been leading this mobilization for a month. Her radical personality unifies: “I remember, at the announcement of the results, it was a cold shower,” a protester recalls. “But with Maria Corina Machado’s leadership, morale returned. Everything we do, peacefully, is to reveal the truth. And then we will demand ‘our due’, as she says, on January 10th Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia will be inaugurated!”
Fear of repression
But a month after the election, the mobilization is shrinking, with fewer people attending on Wednesday than at previous gatherings. Fear is likely a factor. “We had never seen such repression, with over 2,000 arrests. These are not just detentions, but sentences of five, ten, or 20 years in prison.” For this French-Venezuelan, the government has revealed its true nature after several years of trying to rebuild an international reputation. “It openly told Venezuelan society and the world what its nature and essence were: deeply authoritarian, antidemocratic, anti-people, and completely dictatorial.”
The challenge for the opposition is to remain mobilized as the government appears more unyielding than ever, with no resolution to the crisis in sight for now.