Venezuelan political commentator Nicmer Evans analyses the first month of Nicolas Maduro’s presidency, arguing that despite the opposition challenge to his legitimacy Maduro is setting the country’s political agenda.
One prominent Venezuelan intellectual and activist’s perspective on the current political situation and tasks ahead, Denis argues that there is a larger opening now for the opposition to take power, and that the grassroots are talking of regrouping, and are at a “critical crossroads”.
With 50.75% of the votes, Nicolás Maduro was elected president of Venezuela. In 14 years, it is the sixth presidential election victory by the revolutionary process.
I just returned from Venezuela where I was one of 170 international election observers from around the world, including India, Brazil, Great Britain, Argentina, South Korea and France.
We condemn the opposition-initiated violence against innocent supporters of President Nicolas Maduro as an attempt to destabilize Venezuela. In line with UNASUR, we call on the opposition to respect the will of the people and to recognize the results of the CNE.
By Julia Buxton - Latin American Bureau, Apr 28th 2013
Julia Buxton has been an observer at elections in Venezuela for nearly twenty years. In April 2013 this was the first election without Hugo Chávez since 1999. This is her report.
By Center for Economic and Policy Research, Apr 26th 2013
A statistical analysis by the Center for Economic and Policy Research(CEPR) has shown that if Venezuelan opposition claims that Nicolás Maduro's victory was obtained by fraud were true, it is practically impossible to have obtained the result that was found in an audit of 53% of electronic voting machines that took place on the evening of Venezuela’s April 14 elections. The odds of this occurring would be far less than one in 25 thousand trillion.
Framed in a historical and political context, Segarra describes a soft war, a psychological and multifaceted war, waged by foreign interests and local elites against Venezuelans following death of Hugo Chavez.
The guy in the cheap brown windbreaker walking up the dirty tenement steps to my New York office looked like a bus driver. Nicolas Maduro, elected President of Venezuela last Sunday, did indeed drive a bus, then led the drivers’ union, then drove Chávez’s laws through the National Assembly.
By Joe Emersberger - ZCommunications, Apr 22nd 2013
Amnesty USA called on the Venezuelan government to eliminate post-election violence. The small matter that the violence has been directed at government supporters was comically evaded.
The reality, already difficult in itself to decipher, is becoming all the more so through the work of the media who, far from being a means of communication, have transformed themselves into veritable cannons in this war that our country is now suffering.
By Reinaldo Iturriza - Saber y Poder, Apr 21st 2013
A couple of friends agreed that the close result of 14 April was equivalent to starting again. “It’s as if we were just beginning” and “it’s like going back to 2002” each one commented to me in different moments. I think that this assessment, correct in my opinion, encloses one of the keys to treading firmly in such a shifting political moment.
Nicolas Maduro's victory in the Venezuelan presidential election was narrower than anticipated. Nonetheless, it was clear enough. Yet the US government now seems to be playing politics with the outcome, emboldening Venezuela's opposition coalition by refusing to accept the results and trying to discredit Maduro's mandate.
By Chris Carlson - Venezuelanalysis.com, Apr 20th 2013
Opposition candidate Henrique Capriles has refused to acknowledge the results of the election, claiming the government committed fraud. In what follows, I will list all of the alleged evidence of fraud cited by Capriles, and explain why every single example is either demonstrably false, or extremely implausible.
