Closing of campaign in Venezuela: opposition and chavismo have filled the streets of Caracas

“I’m going to my rooster Nico!”, “Edmundo president!”: Thousands of supporters of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and the opposition poured into Caracas, Venezuela, on Thursday, to close the campaign trail for next Sunday’s presidential elections, which are being watched with concern by the region.

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Maduro, in power since 2013, is seeking a third six-year term in this weekend’s elections. His main rival is Edmundo González Urrutia, who appears to be the favourite in the polls with the support of disqualified opposition leader María Corina Machado.

“We are back in the streets, from end to end!” the president said to the crowd on the emblematic Avenida Bolívar, which was packed to the rafters. “People in the streets saying: victory, popular victory!”

“We have formed a new political, social and cultural majority that will be expressed with a resounding electoral majority next Sunday, July 28, because we have not only united Chavismo, we are all united without a single fissure, a single block of force,” he added.

Earlier, Maduro led an event in Maracaibo, capital of the oil-producing state of Zulia (west), where he displayed the sword of Venezuelan hero Simón Bolívar.

González Urrutia and Machado closed the campaign in the commercial neighborhood of Las Mercedes, whose main avenue was also overflowing. “Yes we can, yes we can!”, “Caracas is present, Edmundo is president!”, people shouted as the flatbed truck passed by from which they both waved.

“We are winners. This is the time for change in Venezuela,” said Alan Berríos, a 24-year-old motorcycle taxi driver and food delivery man.

“Rooster always”

In his campaign, Maduro presents himself as a “gallo pinto”, a strong, fighting bird that faces a “pataruco” or weak one, as he calls González Urrutia.

“The rooster represents him well,” Sujei Rodriguez, a 38-year-old housewife, told AFP. “He has fought since he got on the horse (…), he has always been a rooster, no matter how difficult it is,” added this woman who painted her own rooster, upturned and with the colors of the Venezuelan flag: yellow, blue and red.

At the opposition march, Ramón Ramírez, 60, was ordering a hot dog at an informal stand. “I’m going to eat just one to leave room for the rooster we’re going to eat on Sunday,” he joked. “There’s no way they’re going to steal the election from us.”

Maduro accuses the opposition of planning to ignore the results in order to launch acts of violence. The re-election candidate has also said that the armed forces, which he says are loyal to him, could rise up against a possible opposition government.

“I choose Nicolás,” read the shirt of Raibert Pacheco, 28. “This is a feeling that runs through our veins”said this community leader of Chavismo, who danced and fervently chanted Chavista songs.

Some supporters of the pro-government rally told the AFP news agency, however, that they attended “under duress.”

Historical advantage in Venezuela?

The election will take place amid questions from the presidents of Brazil and Chile, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Gabriel Boric, to recent comments by Maduro about the possibility of a “bloodbath” if he loses the election.

The United States has warned that “any political repression and violence is unacceptable,” according to John Kirby, spokesman for National Security, who said he hoped the vote “reflects the will and aspirations of the people.”

Washington, along with the European Union and some Latin American countries, rejected Maduro’s re-election in 2018, following allegations of fraud by the opposition.

“The advantage we have is historic,” said González. “We are going to win and collect (the victory), and we trust that our Armed Forces will enforce the will of our people” at the polls.

The Armed Forces, however, are being questioned by experts. Although the Minister of Defense, Vladimir Padrino, denied on Wednesday that the military will be an electoral “referee.”

“Although the elections in Venezuela will hardly be free or fair, Venezuelans They have the best opportunity in more than a decade to elect their own government. “The international community should support them,” said Juanita Goebertus, director of the Americas Division at Human Rights Watch.

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