«I have no weapons, I only carry my faith,» a young girl showed on Saturday, standing on a stone pin, to be more visible at the opposition rally on Avenida de las Mercedes in Caracas. Thin, young and innocent like the hundreds and hundreds of prisoners distributed today among the dungeons and prisons of Venezuela.
«We are not terrorists, we are people of peace»«We will leave fear behind and conquer freedom», «We do not want any more massacres», «I am Venezuela until the end» and many other banners accompanied the people throughout the country who yesterday challenged Nicols Maduro despite the virtual state of siege and terror applied by Chavismo to repress the protests caused by the mega electoral fraud of 28J, the largest in the history of Latin America.
Not only in Caracas, but also in the rest of the national geography, Venezuelans wanted to celebrate their electoral victory. It is true that the revolution managed to scare many of them after Maduro decreed the siege of the capital with the excuse of an alleged self-aggression with grenades that the opponents were preparing against themselves, a classic of Chavista literature. But if there is one thing that defines this national liberation movement, it is its courage.
Since the «warrior of love» appeared on television at night, in front of a group of friendly journalists, revolutionary agents have been deployed throughout the protest area. Drones flew until very late and swarms of motorized They landed with their walks like new death squads. Chavismo did everything, even circulating the cancellation of the march with the falsification of a false declaration. THE fake news They are a house specialty, even Western experts have verified that the revolutionaries have cyber aid from Russia and even Iran.
And despite the threats and the assault on his political headquarters, Mara Corina Machado was in front of the protestersalways in tandem with the big winner of the elections, the diplomat Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, shouting «Win Venezuela».
«After six days of brutal repression, they thought they could silence us, stop us, or scare us… Look at the response. The presence of every citizen in the streets shows the greatness of the civic strength we have and the determination to get to the end,» Machado reflected after crushing the government siege of Caracas with a demonstration for History.
«We are living in the most important hours, we all knew that this process is very complex, we knew all the proposed scenarios. This fight is civic and peaceful, but it is not weak.«We will not abandon the streets, we will not stop protesting,» the opposition leader addressed all Venezuelans who did not surrender, «heroes of our victory.»
The mega-fraud of 28J led thousands of Venezuelans to take to the streets on Monday and Tuesday, for a total of 300 citizen demonstrations in 20 of the country’s 21 states. Of them, more than a third, 115, were repressed, according to the Venezuelan Observatory of Social Conflict.
The ferocious repression carried out by paramilitaries, who shot at groups of protesters, and the brutality of the Bolivarian National Guard and several police forces caused the death of 20 young people from the country’s popular areas. Seven of them fell in Caracas. The regime’s agents began to carry out attacks from the very beginning. arbitrary arrests without any judicial orders involved.
«There is no legal maneuver that can cover up the truth»the opposition leader responded. According to the electoral data collected by the opposition through testimonies at the tables and the results received at the tallying room of the National Electoral Council (CNE), the democratic opposition candidate overwhelmingly defeated Nicolas Maduro at the polls, with 68% against 30%. A four million advantage. Figures even higher than those achieved by Hugo Chávez in his best historical moment.
The official minutes were also drafted by some military personnel from Plan República and the campaigners for Enrique Márquez, former rector of the CNE supported by the critical Chavista leader Juan Barreto, within the electoral body. Márquez is the only candidate, apart from Edmundo, who dared to denounce the pitfalls of Chavismo.
Moreover, until now the government has only presented a result made in Excel, which guarantees Maduro a “victory” of one million votes, without any support of the vote from either the polling stations or the constituencies. The “son of Chvez” has filed a colorful appeal for protection before the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ), which summoned the candidates (Edmundo was not present) and then claimed the same results.
Maduro’s strategy is to keep electoral fraud trapped in the labyrinth of his Supreme Court while he gives way to presidents Lula da Silva (Brazil), Andrés Manuel López Obrador (Mexico) and Gustavo Petro (Colombia). The four will hold a videoconference meeting on Monday.
in the riscountry, the citizens of Cuman and Cagua suffered once again the famous «good gas»as Hugo Chêne named the tear gas he fired at the students. There have also been selective arrests, such as the one suffered by the journalist Jos Gregory Cameroforcibly removed from a vehicle near the protest in Valle de la Pascua.
In San Cristóbal del Tchira the streets overflowed again and many thousands more gathered in Maracaibo, Valencia and other large cities in the country.
In parallel, Chavismo counter-programmed in Caracas with its usual logistics and followers transported with public money. So few people compared to what was happening in the rest of Venezuela, despite having all the advantages, that Diosdado Cabello, the number two of the revolution, was forced to announce the broadcast of a special episode of Con el Mazogiving, a television program that serves to persecute and harass dissidents and opponents. A way to lift the spirits of his few followers.
