Last Tuesday, an event titled “Venezuela: Chronicle of a predicted fraud and prospects for a way out,” organised by the Madrid office of the Hungarian Centre for Fundamental Rights, took place in a central hotel in the capital. The debate, moderated by Jorge González Gallarza, was attended by Edmaly Maucó Toro, from the Foro Madrid and the Fundación Disenso; David Placer, a Venezuelan journalist and the author of Los brujos de Chávez (Chávez’s sorcerers) and El dictador y sus demonios (The dictator and his demons); and Alejandro Peña Esclusa, the author of numerous books and a leading expert on the activities of the São Paulo Forum.
Fraud, as the title of the debate suggests, was a foregone conclusion. On this occasion, however, the opposition’s reaction had nothing to do with previous elections, as they were able to show everyone the evidence of fraud and that the winner of the elections was Edmundo González. For Maucó, who began by denouncing Chavismo’s repression and the plight of more than 1,800 political prisoners, Venezuela now has a real opposition for the first time:
Until now, the Venezuelan opposition has been a nest of interests and egos, and many of its members had close ties to the regime. But thanks to the figure of María Corina Machado, this dynamic is being broken. The mobilisation and support for the opposition leader has been unprecedented and has led to a situation that breaks with everything that has gone before. Another example of this support is the machinery she was able to drive to demonstrate Nicolas Maduro’s fraud.
The Venezuelan opposition has always underestimated Chavismo; today, for the first time, Chavismo has underestimated its political opponent. For Placer, this is one of the keys to the current situation. He also believes that the people have had enough of socialism and of living on government bonds. “I don’t want bonuses; I don’t want CLAPs [basic foodstuffs distributed by the Local Supply and Production Committees (CLAP)]; ‘I want you to leave, Nicolas,’ was the most popular slogan of these elections.” For the Venezuelan author, it is proof that “The people want to work; they don’t want more socialism. The change is much deeper, towards a capitalist and liberal model, towards a new Venezuela.”
“Will Maduro go? That is the question we are all asking,” said Peña Esclusa. “Maduro is politically dead, thanks to María Corina Machado and all those who accompany her. The great achievement of the opposition is that it was able to expose the fraud that killed Maduro, and to do so it needed the collaboration of part of Chavismo.” As for the Sao Paulo Forum, Maduro’s great international supporter, Esclusa noted that “We are seeing a confrontation between its members that has never been seen before. This is another very clear sign of the weakness of the regime.”
This split in the Sao Paulo Forum is all the more important because, in 2025, there will be elections in Honduras and Chile with real possibilities for change, and further elections in 2026 in Colombia. This is not even to mention the U.S. elections, in which Peña Esclusa clearly advocates for Trump’s victory because of the infiltration of the Sao Paulo Forum into the Democratic Party through the Progressive International. Maucó further argues that “in the defence of Western values, we must side with Venezuela,” having also come out in support of Trump, because Biden’s policy towards Venezuela had been “disastrous.”
But the big question, as Peña Esclusa observed, is whether Chavismo will come to an end. The regime’s internal fracture, which would have facilitated the opposition’s operation to expose fraud, and the division among its until recently unconditional supporters, lead us to believe that it will. Peña Esclusa adds to these factors the international recognition of Edmundo González as the legitimate president of Venezuela and the criminal proceedings against Maduro and his cronies by the International Criminal Court. The sum of all these factors is the key to the end of the regime in Venezuela and the defeat of 21st century socialism throughout the continent. As Peña Esclusa argues, “If there is a change in Venezuela, there will be a dramatic change in the whole region. Cuba is the brain, but Venezuela is the muscle.” The Venezuelans are doing their part; now we must hope that the international community is up to the challenge.
“Maduro is politically dead”: Voices from Venezuela in Madrid
A person wearing a Guy Fawkes mask takes part in a protest against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. Photo by Leonardo Munoz / AFP
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Last Tuesday, an event titled “Venezuela: Chronicle of a predicted fraud and prospects for a way out,” organised by the Madrid office of the Hungarian Centre for Fundamental Rights, took place in a central hotel in the capital. The debate, moderated by Jorge González Gallarza, was attended by Edmaly Maucó Toro, from the Foro Madrid and the Fundación Disenso; David Placer, a Venezuelan journalist and the author of Los brujos de Chávez (Chávez’s sorcerers) and El dictador y sus demonios (The dictator and his demons); and Alejandro Peña Esclusa, the author of numerous books and a leading expert on the activities of the São Paulo Forum.
Fraud, as the title of the debate suggests, was a foregone conclusion. On this occasion, however, the opposition’s reaction had nothing to do with previous elections, as they were able to show everyone the evidence of fraud and that the winner of the elections was Edmundo González. For Maucó, who began by denouncing Chavismo’s repression and the plight of more than 1,800 political prisoners, Venezuela now has a real opposition for the first time:
The Venezuelan opposition has always underestimated Chavismo; today, for the first time, Chavismo has underestimated its political opponent. For Placer, this is one of the keys to the current situation. He also believes that the people have had enough of socialism and of living on government bonds. “I don’t want bonuses; I don’t want CLAPs [basic foodstuffs distributed by the Local Supply and Production Committees (CLAP)]; ‘I want you to leave, Nicolas,’ was the most popular slogan of these elections.” For the Venezuelan author, it is proof that “The people want to work; they don’t want more socialism. The change is much deeper, towards a capitalist and liberal model, towards a new Venezuela.”
“Will Maduro go? That is the question we are all asking,” said Peña Esclusa. “Maduro is politically dead, thanks to María Corina Machado and all those who accompany her. The great achievement of the opposition is that it was able to expose the fraud that killed Maduro, and to do so it needed the collaboration of part of Chavismo.” As for the Sao Paulo Forum, Maduro’s great international supporter, Esclusa noted that “We are seeing a confrontation between its members that has never been seen before. This is another very clear sign of the weakness of the regime.”
This split in the Sao Paulo Forum is all the more important because, in 2025, there will be elections in Honduras and Chile with real possibilities for change, and further elections in 2026 in Colombia. This is not even to mention the U.S. elections, in which Peña Esclusa clearly advocates for Trump’s victory because of the infiltration of the Sao Paulo Forum into the Democratic Party through the Progressive International. Maucó further argues that “in the defence of Western values, we must side with Venezuela,” having also come out in support of Trump, because Biden’s policy towards Venezuela had been “disastrous.”
But the big question, as Peña Esclusa observed, is whether Chavismo will come to an end. The regime’s internal fracture, which would have facilitated the opposition’s operation to expose fraud, and the division among its until recently unconditional supporters, lead us to believe that it will. Peña Esclusa adds to these factors the international recognition of Edmundo González as the legitimate president of Venezuela and the criminal proceedings against Maduro and his cronies by the International Criminal Court. The sum of all these factors is the key to the end of the regime in Venezuela and the defeat of 21st century socialism throughout the continent. As Peña Esclusa argues, “If there is a change in Venezuela, there will be a dramatic change in the whole region. Cuba is the brain, but Venezuela is the muscle.” The Venezuelans are doing their part; now we must hope that the international community is up to the challenge.
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