Between “terrorist acts” and international support: Maduro’s theater elections

In the early hours of Monday, July 29, the announcement of the election results in Venezuela echoed. Nicolas Maduro, is declared the winner in Venezuela’s presidential election by the electoral authority, setting up a high-stakes showdown that will determine whether the South American nation transitions away from one-party rule. Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, banned from running for office, said opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez won 70 percent of the vote and urged the military to “respect the will of the people.”

Like other nations that call themselves bastions of socialism — such as the Democratic People’s Republic of North Korea, the Republic of Cuba, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, the People’s Republic of China and the Lao Democratic Republic — it has a constitution that prescribes free, popular, direct, universal and secret elections for the choice of its president. However, practical reality belies such precepts.

In all these countries, the official names bear the adjectives “Popular” and “Democratic” and proclaim themselves “Republics.” However, what transpires in their electoral elections are practices of corruption, fraud and aggression against opponents.

The patterns of these pseudo-elections are identical, and that is exactly what was repeated last Sunday in Venezuela. Newspaper reports indicated that the official vote count was sabotaged by an alleged “terrorist act” election information from various zones was not transmitted to the counting center. Opposition candidates with real chances of victory were barred from applications, government militants provoked clashes against opposition voters without police intervention, inspectors were obstructed from monitoring the count, and, mysteriously, several minutes disappeared. International observers were prevented from accessing polling places, and a European delegation was barred.

Official data showed that Nicolás Maduro won 51.2% of the vote, against 44.2% for the opposition’s Edmundo González, after 11 years in power since the death of Hugo Chávez in 2013.

Despite the evident irregularities, Maduro still had the support of international figures such as Kamala Harris. She says, “The United States stands with the people of Venezuela who expressed their voice in today’s historic presidential election.” Harris said. “The will of the Venezuelan people must be respected.” Lula showed support for Maduro, with former President Lula sending Celso Amorim as an observer, who noted the election as “quiet.” The statements of external observers, such as Celso Amorim, minimized the failures, celebrating the supposed “tranquility and high participation.” Meanwhile, Brazil’s Landless Rural Workers’ Movement (MST) held a demonstration in Brasilia providing “moral support” to dictator Maduro.

Socialism is the ultimate expression of the state in its most tyrannical form. Terms like democracy, republic, or popular are artifices used to mask the true intention of absolute control and to favor despots like Maduro. By defending it, Lula and Kamala Harris reveal their commitment to the path that leads from democracy to socialism and, inevitably, to dictatorship.

As Murray Rothbard teaches, “the State is a gang of thieves writ large.” In another place, he writes, “Thus, the State is a coercive criminal organization that subsists by a regularized large-scale system of taxation-theft, and which gets away with it by engineering the support of the majority (not, again, of everyone) through securing an alliance with a group of opinion-molding intellectuals whom it rewards with a share in its power and pelf.”

In this way, what we witness in Venezuela is the victory of fraud, deception and violence, perpetuated by unscrupulous individuals who are aligned with the same project of power. These scoundrels applaud Maduro now, hoping that they will be applauded in the same way in the future. The real tragedy is the continuous destruction of the freedom and well-being of the population, victims of a regime that despises justice and truth.

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