Venezuela ex-pats in Wendover were happy but only cautiously so after the thrashing of the Socialist party.
“Yes I am happy,’ said Doctor Emilse Peraza, “But they pulled a dirty trick before and could again.”
The combined opposition forces have won at least 99 of 167 seats, with potentially more to come. Nicolás Maduro, a former bus driver and the country’s current president, is widely seen as ineffectual and totally lacking in either the drive or clever political instincts of his predecessor, Hugo Chávez, who died of cancer in 2013.
It was evident that the growing dissatisfaction with Chávez’s legacy programs would spill over into an electoral defeat, sealed by the tumble in oil prices to around $40 a barrel. The break-even point for Venezuelan oil is at least four times that, and the lack of consumer goods, tumbling black market price for the bolivar, and jailing of charismatic opposition leader Leopoldo López have all contributed to the election outcome.
In terms of the United States, first the country should do all it can to support López, who has been in jail since February 2014 and was sentenced to nearly 14 years for his role in last year’s protests by a clearly biased court. Prior to his incarceration, he was the mayor of the Chacao district of Caracas and leader of the Popular Will party. His moving letters and articles from the Ramo Verde prison are an inspiration to the opposition.
The entire system of “democracy” in Venezuela is under significant attack by the Maduro regime, and the United States should join its voice with other nations and organizations, especially in the Americas, to condemn this. Despite the recent parliamentary elections, there are still many candidates who are barred from running for office based on nonsensical charges, including other popular opposition leaders. The government’s ban extends to 10 highly visible opposition politicians, including two former state governors, Manuel Rosales and Pablo Pérez Álvarez, and other opposition leaders in addition to López, including María Corina Machado and Carlos Vecchio. Another group of political actors are either incarcerated or under house arrest like the mayor of Caracas, Antonio Ledezma, and the former mayor of San Cristóbal, Daniel Ceballos. The United States must call for their release and fair trials.