Andrés Villavicencio is a young Venezuelan who was compelled to flee his country after a video of him reading the results from a polling station—showing the opposition candidate leading incumbent president Nicolás Maduro—went viral.
Maduro, a successor to Hugo Chávez, became president after Chávez’s death in 2013. He has faced growing accusations of authoritarian rule and repression, particularly since 2015, with his version of Chavismo socialist policies leading to a severe economic and political crisis. 7.7 million Venezuelans have fled the country, driven by violence, poverty, and human rights abuses, including crackdowns on political opposition, censorship of the press, and the erosion of democratic institutions.
In the 2024 Venezuelan presidential election, Maduro was declared the winner by the National Electoral Council, an outcome widely condemned as fraudulent by the international community.
Villaviencio talked to europeanconservative.com about fleeing his journey to Spain and his hopes for the future of Venezuela.
It all started on July 28th, when, after participating in the electoral process as a witness, you read out the results in public. In other words, you simply narrated a fact.
That’s right, I was an election witness at the “Instituto Paraguaná Privado” centre in the Carirubana municipality in my city, Punto Fijo. It was the eighth time I had been an election witness there, and I can testify that, for example, in the elections that pitted Capriles against Chávez, the latter won with 55% of the vote. However, on July 28th, Edmundo González won 82% of the vote. Nicolás Maduro only got 195 votes, while Edmundo González got 1,046.
My polling station is not in a conservative middle-class neighbourhood, it is a working-class neighbourhood, where there is a lot of social tension and Chavismo has played a lot with hunger, using the distribution of ration cards for coercion and for its political ends. Edmundo’s result in such a neighbourhood is proof enough to know that we had won the elections.
Why do you think this video upset the regime so much?
Because they did not want the minutes to be read and the electoral fraud they were committing to be seen. A fraud they committed even behind the backs of the socialist election witnesses, who in many cases went home crying because they knew they had lost. Hours later they announced their victory without showing the results, and eight months after the elections, Maduro’s government has still not presented a result broken down by states and localities. Why don’t they do it? Because there are 32,000 tally sheets and it is impossible to commit fraud by matching the numbers with those tally sheets, of which we have 85% and we have made them public. In that 85%, Edmundo wins 70 to 30, and the difference is so big that even if Maduro had all of the remaining 15%, he would still lose the elections.
The day after, you started being watched and your passport was cancelled.
Yes, first it was a vehicle without number plates and two people with masked faces who tried to enter my house pretending to be technicians, but when they didn’t succeed, they started to take photos and record videos of the house. This is repeated on different occasions, although they do not try to enter again. Then, on August 6th, I saw on social networks that many Venezuelans, basically critical journalists, opposition politicians, and electoral witnesses had their passports arbitrarily cancelled. It was no surprise for me to see that mine had been cancelled, even though it expired in October 2031, and I understood the message: you can’t leave.
Is that when you ran away from home?
No, I still decided to stay, but on August 10th, a van parked in front of my house, and this time it had a number plate. I took a photo of it and contacted a friend in a state agency. Five minutes later, I received a brief phone call: “If you can go, go, because your arrest is imminent and they are going to take you to the Helicoide [a prison run by the intelligence service]”.
At that moment, I knew I had only two options: Give myself up to go to the Helicoide—a centre known for torture—or escape. The decision was clear. I said goodbye to my family and made two calls before removing the card from my phone—one to find a place to hide and the next to someone to help me get to Colombia. I was lucky that there was a blackout, something quite common in Venezuela, and I took advantage of the darkness to leave my house. Finally, I arrived in Maracaibo, the last big city near the border, and using a “trocha,” an irregular path through the jungle, I entered Colombian territory.
Once in Colombia, how did you manage to get around?
I took a taxi and went to the border town of Maicao. There I bought a phone card and called my family to tell them I was safe. I then called a person in Medellín who had contacted me because of a video in which I denounced the harassment against me and who had offered to help me in case I had to flee to Colombia. This friend gave me directions to Medellín and, once in his house, I was able to consider what I was going to do next. I had two options in mind: The United States or Spain. The U.S. option, without a visa, posed many risks and I finally decided to fly to Madrid.
Were you able to fly even though your passport was cancelled?
Yes, because the annulment was arbitrary and only took effect inside Venezuela. If you are inside you cannot leave, and if you are outside you cannot enter, but outside Venezuela, the passport is valid until its expiry date.
Once in Madrid, did you ask for political asylum?
Yes, although before taking the plane in Medellín, I uploaded a video on social networks telling what had happened in the last few days and the reasons that had led me to leave Venezuela. The video went viral and helped me with my asylum application, although I won’t have a definitive answer until April 22nd.
I saw your speech at the massive demonstration in September in Madrid in support of democracy in Venezuela. I see that you have no intention of forgetting what is happening in your country.
No, of course not. I dream of returning to my country the week after the fall of the Maduro regime and when freedom is restored. The reconstruction of Venezuela is the greatest undertaking and opportunity for all of Latin America because we have an enormous amount of natural resources and wealth. I always say that God created Venezuela one afternoon when he was particularly happy but unfortunately, we have had socialist governments that have deliberately impoverished us in order to exercise social control. And they have done this by colonising the institutions so that there is no counter-power.
The degradation in Venezuela began when they hijacked the judiciary and appointed a militant socialist as attorney general to end the separation of powers. The regime’s institutions do not protect the people from abuses of power, they serve to shield Maduro and entrench him in power. That is why every country that feels it is entering a totalitarian drift must defend the judiciary, because that is the door that opens Pandora’s box.
Have you felt supported in Spain?
Yes, I am very proud and grateful to the vast majority of Spaniards who understand and support the Venezuelan people, and only a small group on the extreme left has sided with the regime. Like the former minister Irene Montero, who on July 28th posted a tweet claiming that Chavismo had won and that the results had to be accepted—when she has never in her life seen an electoral register and had no proof of Maduro’s victory. This is only evidence of her anti-democratic character. Another case is that of Juan Carlos Monedero, who a few months ago gave a course on human rights, in the Helicoide! It is hard to imagine greater moral bankruptcy and spiritual misery than giving a human rights course in a torture centre.
Despite international pressure, Maduro’s government does not seem likely to fall in the short term. Chavismo has allies on the continent and abroad, such as Russia, which has just expanded its cooperation with the regime. How do you see the situation?
First of all, I vindicate the work of María Corina Machado and I am very proud to have voted for her in the October 2023 primaries. I also vindicate Edmundo González who has been forced into exile, but who is still the elected president of the Venezuelan people. Not forgetting those who continue to exert internal pressure, demonstrating true heroism. The regime has still not presented the electoral records, it lacks legitimacy and it is impossible for it to perpetuate itself in power. I do not know when it will happen, but I am certain that the regime will break down and that freedom will return to Venezuela.
Do you think the Trump administration is going to show a more aggressive policy towards the Maduro regime?
I don’t agree with everything the Trump administration does, but his foreign affairs team is made up of people like Senator Diaz-Balart, who is the son of Cuban exiles and whose family knows first-hand what the misery of communism is. Or Congresswoman María Elvira Salazar, who represents a district with many Cubans and Venezuelans in Florida. Also that the Secretary of State is Marco Rubio, a descendant of Cuban rafters, is something that many Venezuelans would not have believed possible. They know what the Venezuelan people are suffering and I am confident that this administration will exert much more pressure to help liberate Venezuela.
