Last Friday, as expected, Nicolás Maduro was sworn in for a third term as Venezuela’s president. The regime he presides over lacks both domestic and international legitimacy. It has been reduced to a virtual police state, relying on repression and terror to keep itself in power. The inauguration was a travesty. It was fitting that only two Latin American presidents attended: Daniel Ortega and Miguel Díaz-Canel, Maduro’s fellow dictators in the region.
The day before, María Corina Machado — Venezuela’s most popular political figure — was forcibly detained while speaking at an anti-government protest. Her quick release revealed divisions within the regime. It appears that Diosdado Cabello, Venezuela’s hardline Minister of the Interior, had ordered police to capture her, only to have the decision countered, presumably by Maduro. In this way, Maduro was able to avoid the costs for the regime that would come with jailing the country’s foremost symbol of resistance.
Most Venezuelans would have preferred that Edmundo González Urrutia — the candidate Machado selected after she was barred from running — had taken the official oath on January 10. After all, it was Gonzalez, not Maduro, who won — decisively — the presidential election nearly six months ago. On July 28, the will of the Venezuelan people was clearly expressed — and brazenly violated — in one of Latin America’s most egregiously fraudulent elections. Since then, repression aimed at opposition and civil society leaders has escalated, and Cabello’s position within the government has strengthened.
