Despite a Venezuelan opposition determined to contest the presidential election and a brutal repression by the regime, the international community is struggling to react firmly. Its means of pressure seem limited.
In his office in the Miraflores Palace, Nicolas Maduro receives a dozen Western diplomats. The Venezuelan president says, with a Machiavellian smile: “I will dissolve the opposition like sugar in rum.” The scene does not take place in August 2024 but in 2020. His threat is then aimed at interim president Juan Guaido, who is contesting his re-election. It is carried out. The opponent, supported since 2019 by 50 Western countries, is prevented, crushed by the judicial system.
Read alsoVenezuela: Opposition calls on Maduro to stop violence and persecution
Four years later, history seems to repeat itself: the victory in the presidential election on July 28, claimed by Nicolas Maduro, is contested by the opposition candidate, Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, who certifies having won with 67% of the vote. The 75-year-old diplomat risks prison at any moment.
The West reacts weakly
The machine to repress the people has started up again. 2,400 citizens have already been imprisoned, 27 people have died in the post-election riots. Despite the fear, thousands of Venezuelans have demonstrated three times, such as on August 28. But this time – is it because the famous scene from 2020 haunts the diplomats who supported Juan Guaido? – the chancelleries seem paralyzed.
In the camp of democracies, the firmest position was held by the United States, which recognized Urrutia’s victory and recently seized one of Maduro’s planes. A new turnaround on the part of Washington, which had just reopened dialogue with Caracas after the war in Ukraine, in the hope of replacing part of Russia’s black gold with Venezuelan oil.
For the rest, the West reacted weakly. The European Union and the G7 were initially content to express “doubts” about the electoral process. Since August 30, the EU has not recognized any “democratic legitimacy” to President Maduro, without validating that of the opposition.[…]
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- challenges.fr
