Venezuela regime displays all its capacity for repression and intimidation 72 hours before the inauguration

Venezuela’s Chavista regime has deployed all its capacity for repression and intimidation 72 hours before Inauguration Day on Friday. In a country sealed off by the police and the military, opposition candidate Edmundo González Urrutia’s son-in-law was arrested early on Tuesday, and just hours later drones began flying over the house of opposition leader María Corina Machado’s mother, who was left without electricity due to power cuts in that area. Hooded agents were stationed at the door of the homes of dissidents and critics, and throughout the country opponents were arrested in a number yet to be determined. In some neighborhoods of Caracas, residents protested by banging pots and pans from their balconies. President Nicolás Maduro said that seven foreigners had been arrested, describing them as “mercenaries,” and adding to the 125 individuals detained by the Chavista authorities in recent days. At this time, no one is safe in Venezuela.

Maduro spent almost the entire day on television. His government has responded to each and every complaint from countries critical of what is happening, especially the United States. The day before, Edmundo González Urrutia had been received by Joe Biden in the White House. González Urrutia, who won Venezuela’s presidential elections on July 28, according to the voter tallies verified by international organizations, left with the outgoing American president’s promise that they will support his fight. Donald Trump’s entourage has also made it clear to González Urrutia — who acts largely on behalf of María Corina Machado, the politician who has achieved a massive mobilization to achieve a transition in Venezuela — that they will support him in the same way once Trump takes office on January 20th.

González Urrutia insists that he will be in Caracas on Friday to be sworn in. Chavismo says it will arrest him as soon as he sets foot on Venezuelan soil, just like the former Latin American presidents who want to accompany him. María Corina Machado will face a similar risk on Thursday, when she plans to lead a protest. She will be seen in public for the first time after months of remaining in a secret location from which she interacts via telephone and video calls. Diosdado Cabello, the Minister of the Interior, has threatened her directly: “She is eager to be caught.”

In this new political crisis, Maduro has surrounded himself with his most loyal and radical supporters, those who would have no problem facing an international trial. Maduro himself has said that he is willing to die before stepping aside and believes that he must remain in office “by the will of God,” as if he had received a divine mandate. The Venezuelan State is preparing as if it were going into combat. The president has added a confusing statement in which he seems to imply that a defense mechanism has been activated at the national level: “I proceeded to sign a proposal from General Vladimir Padrino López (Minister of Defense) to immediately convene and activate the Comprehensive Defense Body of Venezuela, the ODI, which is the highest body at the national, state and parish levels.”

The new wave of repression has caused panic. People shared information about the pressure they are being subjected to with photos and videos on social media. The panic has also led to indignation: in several Caracas neighborhoods there were protesters banging pots and pans, according to eye witnesses consulted by telephone. The police went to these places to stop the protests. Citizens complained about issues such as the arrest, in broad daylight, of Rafael Tudares, González Urrutia’s son-in-law. Police pulled him out of a vehicle in which he was travelling with his children on their way to school, and took him away. Nothing is known yet about his whereabouts, nor about the fate of Carlos Correa, director of an NGO that defends journalists. Authorities have announced that on Friday the media will not be able to broadcast the inauguration live, and that their electronic equipment will be “checked.” Late in the day, it emerged that Enrique Márquez, a moderate opponent who had always advocated a negotiated solution with Chavismo, had also been arrested.

Given the current conditions, it is highly unlikely that González Urrutia will take office. He and people close to him are already talking about it happening “sooner rather than later,” implying that Maduro’s putting on the sash will not be the end of the opposition movement. The opposition candidate arrived in Panama City on Tuesday night, where on Wednesday he is scheduled to participate in an event with the president of that country and a significant number of Latin American leaders who support him — the same ones who say they will travel to Caracas if necessary. As of today, it is not known what the final plans are, for obvious security reasons.

In any event, the opposition says it will carry out something more than a symbolic act. That leaves room for speculation. Maduro has said that no one is going to undermine him with psychological warfare. For years, Chavismo has applied what is known as psychoterror, an exercise of verbal and mental intimidation that is added to the real one. There are those who say that the opposition, after suffering so much, has learned the trick and returns it like a boomerang. There is a feeling of an upcoming defining moment in the air. The world is waiting to see what will happen on Friday.

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