Venezuela holds presidential elections on Sunday

by Lyf Compton

If one were to go by the pictures painted by the Western media of Venezuela, you would expect to be bombarded by beggars on the streets, and dirt-poor poverty at every turn, probably even gunmen robbing your entourage.

The panel which spoke on Alternative for unalterable peace, sitting second from left is Socorro Gomes of the Brazilian Center for Solidarity with the People and Struggle for Peace.

One would also expect food shortages, undrinkable tap water, protests and just all-out chaos, doom and gloom.

What one wouldn’t expect, is a country that loves to show off its rich culture and traditions, dancers and singers pulling you into their routines at the airport as a form of welcome, a smiling, jovial, welcoming people. You wouldn’t expect buffets, and fresh fruit and vegetables in abundance either. Probably wouldn’t expect shopping malls and shop windows showing Samsung devices and swimsuits.

Don’t get me wrong, poverty, crime and violence exist, but which country doesn’t have these things?

This Sunday July 28,2024, Venezuela will hold presidential elections where the incumbent, Nicholas Maduro will attempt to be re-elected for a second term.

As a result of this, over 500 election observers, including four from St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG), have descended on Venezuela to monitor and report on the process.

“If one was to believe the stories, we best hope Maduro wins or we might not be able to leave,” one of the foreigners commented jokingly. And while some people did laugh, the comment seemed to make some nervous, again because of reports from Western media.

One of the reports by an online publication quoted Maduro as saying if he loses the upcoming election, the reaction would be a bloody one.

“They said Maduro said this, but who heard? Does this sound like something a sensible politician would say,” one man questioned during the second day of a meeting discussing a World Social Alternative, at the Bolivar Theatre of Caracas/Simon Bolivar Hall where hundreds of the observers were gathered.

According to Wikipedia, in 2015, the Obama administration imposed asset and visa sanctions against 110 Venezuelan individuals, and eight entities; in August 2017, the Trump administration imposed sanctions which prohibited Venezuela’s access to U.S. financial markets, and in May 2018, expanded them to block purchase of Venezuelan debt.

“Beginning in January 2019, during the Venezuelan presidential crisis, the U.S. applied additional economic sanctions to individuals or companies in the petroleum, gold, mining, and banking industries and a food subsidy program. Companies in the petroleum sector evaded the PDVSA sanctions to continue oil shipments. In October 2023, the administration of Joe Biden temporarily lifted some U.S. sanctions on the oil, gas and gold industries in exchange for the promise of the release of political prisoners and free 2024 elections; the sanctions were reimposed in April when the U.S. State Department said the Barbados Agreement to hold free elections had not been fully honored,” Wikipedia tells.

During another part of the same discussion on Wednesday, this one on “Alternative for unalterable peace”, Socorro Gomes of the Brazilian Center for Solidarity with the People and Struggle for Peace, stressed that the sanctions imposed on Venezuela by the USA hurt, not the big wigs, but the poor and working class people, even causing a rise in the infant mortality rate in the country due to the fact that medication and other health care essentials were affected by the sanctions.

The speaker cited the USA “as an obstacle to peace” because they seek to dominate and control countries and when countries resist, they spread lies, distort words and spread fake news because they have control of over 90 percent of media outlets, “and fully control them”.

The sentiment is also being expressed that the rhetoric of elections on Sunday not being free and fair is already being structured by Western media.

Gomes said the Venezuelan election is important because it shows people are resisting outside powers with their own agendas.

“The future is filled with hope because the people are struggling and they prevent the US from, oppressing us,” Gomes said, while noting that US citizens are fighting some of the same fights as Venezuelans, “and they believe they are democratic but they want to destroy democracy”.

She said that the US has four percent of the world population but they have one of the highest incarceration numbers, and the majority are Blacks.

Meanwhile, the world is waiting for the outcome of Sunday’s elections which has 10 candidates but is really between the incumbent president, Nicolás Maduro who took up office in 2013, and Edmundo González Urrutia who is representing the Unitary Platform, the main opposition political alliance.

Maduro heads the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (Partido Socialista Unido de Venezuela; PSUV) and one poll says he has 54% of the votes, while another poll claims Urrutia has 80%.

“They are already saying the election was rigged even before we know the outcome,” a supporter of Maduro commented on Thursday during the closing rally of the PSUV.