Elections in Venezuela may indicate Maduro’s future

Venezuela’s regional and municipal elections are taking place on Sunday (21) amid a political and social crisis unprecedented in the Latin American country’s history.

Nicolás Maduro’s regime, widely criticized by the international community and questioned about real political freedom and eliminate From Venezuela, he has the opportunity to show the world a country with democratic lines and a conciliatory tone.

That’s what the director of Ilaesp (Latin American Institute of Economics, Society and Politics) believes, Fabio Borges, noting that the participation of the opposition and international observers could set Venezuela on a fresh start.

What is new in this election is that the opposition will legitimize these elections and will participate strongly in the voting. There is also greater openness to international observers, which does not guarantee that the elections will be completely free and legitimate and that everything is going well, but in a deadlock that continues for years, this is progress.”

For the director of Elisp, the economic and political crisis in Venezuela was caused by both the left, which is in power with Maduro, and the right, which declared Juan Guaido as interim president of the country – with the support of the international community.

“[Estas eleições são] It has much to do with the suffering Venezuelans have experienced in the past ten years, with many internal problematic processes, but also with external pressures and interventions. It is a scenario that has generated a humanitarian crisis in South America,” says Borges.

Weakening the mature government

Venezuela’s serious social crisis has weakened Maduro’s government, which it may see in numbers in this month’s elections. However, Borges points out that the left has a majority in the country and a shift to the right may be off.

“In the last elections, the right became stronger and restructured in Venezuela, while Maduro was losing credibility,” explains Pimenta, noting that the Venezuelan president still enjoys broad support. As a result of political and social manipulation.or voters. Many people still have an ideological affinity with Bolivarianism and Chavismism.”

double Mature It is getting worse at a time when Latin America is divided between left and right. According to Borg, it is possible to see this bipolar disorder in other countries in the region, such as Brazil, Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru.

“I would say that, as in other Latin American countries, where we have countries divided in two, the extreme parties are opposed to voting on the vote in every election. […] We have a divided continent and I think the case of Venezuela will prove that, I hope it doesn’t hurt the legitimacy of the elections.”

The approval of the elections by international observers, the government and the opposition is essential for Venezuela to try to return to a positive role in South America, and these results may be a first step towards reconciliation in the country.

For the specialist, the result of the poll by political trends should also be seen as a possibility of self-criticism, which could guide the following actions of the left and the right in Venezuela.

“If the right wins in the end, which it can, the left will have to be very self-critical of what went wrong with this project of socialism in the twenty-first century, in important social projects, in Venezuelan foreign policy that had some interesting points. Despite all this, the result has been a massive humanitarian crisis.”

On the other hand, I think the right should stop boycotting elections it doesn’t win. Borges asserts that he does not really have much of a democratic conviction.

Legitimacy of elections could bring the United States and Venezuela closer

The United States is one of the countries that puts the most pressure on the Maduro government, whether through public criticism or in promoting economic sanctions that end in the isolation of the South American country.

Borges says that Venezuela’s important role in the international scenario of oil-derived product production makes the rapprochement with North America tangible.

“This is not utopian [uma reaproximação dos países]. Usually Venezuela and the United States had a very close relationship. The period we are witnessing is more an exception to diplomatic norms between nations than a rule. They always had good relations.”

Although he believes in commercial and diplomatic rapprochement between countries, Borges says the process will take place gradually, similar to what Barack Obama did with Cuba.