Although the presidential elections in Venezuela were held on July 28, 2024, the consequences of it are still visible nowadays. Due to the official results the winner of the elections was Nicolás Maduro, who has stayed in power for more than 10 years. The unfair results presented by the National Electoral Council of Venezuela caused massive protests that occurred across the country and beyond its borders. In response, Maduro’s Administration started an operation “Tun Tun” against the protesters despite the wave of international support for the opposition leadership and a threat of imposing additional sanctions by the United States.
The elections were neither free nor fair and an actual winner and the main opposition leader Edmundo González needed to ask for asylum in Spain due to the politically motivated persecution by the Maduro government that started right after the protests were suppressed. González received an arrest warrant by the Supreme Court of Venezuela for the “alleged crimes” of “usurpation of functions, falsification of public documents, instigation to disobey the law, conspiracy and association”. Fortunately, in the beginning of September 2024 the opposition leader and his wife were received by the Secretary of State for Ibero-America and Spanish in the World, Susana Sumelzo. “From now on, the procedures for theasylum application will begin, the resolution of which will be favorable for the sake of Spain’s commitment to the political rights and physical integrity of all Venezuelans, especially political leaders,” the aforementioned department has reported. Additionally, Spain has given a special protection status for more than 100,000 Venezuelans escaping from their home country to Spain simultaneously defending a peaceful and negotiated solution between the Maduro government and the opposition.
At the same time Nicolás Maduro has announced that Venezuela is “already entering the new era of transition to socialism 2031”, however, in reality it is a “transition” into a more pro-authoritarian regime of the same leader.
Maduro first started from replacing old ministers from his cabinet with more loyal ones to him calling it a “profound reshuffle of the national government” into a “revolutionary government”. He appointed Delcy Rodriguez as an Executive Vice President of the Bolivian Republic of Venezuela and the Minister of Finance. Previously, Delcy Rodriguez has been holding positions of Minister of Petroleum, Minister of Popular Power for Communication and Information, Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Vice President of Venezuela (2017-2018). The European Union, the United States and Canada have placed sanctions on her for the massive human rights violations and her role in the political crisis in the country.
Diosdado Cabello Rondón was appointed as a Minister of the People’s Power of Interior, Justice and Peace and a Vice President of the government. A former leader of Chavez’s Movimiento V República and a former Minister of Infrastructure, Public Works and Housing, Diosdado Cabello has been alleged to be the head of an international drug trafficking organization “Cartel de los Soles” and was described as the second most powerful man in Venezuela in the year 2013. Although Diosdado Cabello has a military background, he has an undergraduate degree in engineering, a graduate degree in engineering project management and has been measured to had one of the highest IQ among all of the student of the Venezuelan Military Academy. However, from now Diosdado Cabello will be responsible for maintaining total control over the “peace” inside the country. During the Chavizmo era he was the one, who adapted the Cuban School of repressions in Venezuela, and nobody knows how far he can go in his actions in the future.
Vladimir Padrino López was appointed on the post of Vice President of Defense and Sovereignty. A former Strategic Operations Commander of the Bolivian National Armed Forces and a four-star general, who was loyal to the Chavez government the same way he is loyal to Nicolás Maduro. He has been sanctioned by several countries, including the United States, the European Union-countries and vast majority of the Latin America states. He also has a ban of entry into most of the neighboring countries, including Colombia.
Most of these personalities are on the warrant arrest list of the United States, however, all of them were loyal to the Chavez government and have been playing key roles in Chavez’s return to power. The whole dynasty right now will be helping Maduro to maintain his regime in the future. They are experts in repression and know how to make the regime not fall into the hands of the opposition.
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