Putting an opposition candidate into power wouldn’t solve Venezuela’s current political turmoil following allegations of fraud in the country’s presidential election, but it would be a strong first step, experts told Fox News Digital.
“I think they are absolutely patriots,” Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., told Fox News Digital during a digital press conference. “Maria Corina Machado is one of the bravest people I’ve ever met and one of the greatest statesmen in the world.”
“She stayed firmly in the country,” Rubio continued. “She allowed herself to put aside any personal ambitions that she may have had and be the opposition candidate and didn’t let that get in the way.”
“They are extraordinary people and the only reason they do this is because they love their country,” he added.
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Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro interfered in the November 2023 primary elections, blocking the hugely popular Machado from running as an opponent and instead forcing her to step down and allowing Edmundo Gonzalez to carry the opposition flag.
Pre-election polls (illegal in the country) gave Gonzalez twice the support of Maduro and his United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), but the National Electoral Commission, controlled by Maduro, gave him a 51% chance of winning, compared with 44% for the opposition.
Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado and opposition presidential candidate Edmundo Gonzalez hold hands during a demonstration protesting the results of the presidential election in Caracas, Venezuela, on July 30, 2024. (Alfredo Lasry R/Getty Images)
Venezuelans held peaceful protests in response to the decision, but President Maduro sent in police to crack down on them and occupy roads, leading to violent clashes and escalation.
Ultimately, the Biden administration declared Gonzalez the rightful winner of the election on Thursday, asserting that “given the overwhelming evidence, it is clear to the United States, and most importantly, to the Venezuelan people, that Edmundo Gonzalez received the most votes in the July 28 Venezuelan presidential election.”
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“Real change in Venezuela will take more than one election, but this is a start,” stressed Joseph Fumir, executive director of the Center for Safe and Free Societies.
“After 25 years of authoritarian socialist regime, the Venezuelan people have lost most, if not all, of their freedoms,” Humir told Fox News Digital.
Supporters shout slogans during a demonstration against the results of the presidential election in Caracas, Venezuela, July 30, 2024. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has been declared the winner of the 2024 presidential election, defeating rival Edmundo Gonzalez. (Jesus Vargas/Getty Images)
“They have almost no economic freedom, almost no political freedom, and even freedom of speech is severely restricted,” Humile explained. “The main reason Venezuelans voted in such large numbers for Edmundo Gonzalez in this election (and despite the fact that Machado was effectively barred from voting as well) is because they want their freedom back.”
“Venezuela is run by criminal organizations that are embedded in most state institutions and have equal networks of power outside the government through armed non-state actors,” Humiré continued. “Maduro’s defeat and removal from power are necessary, but not sufficient, conditions for real change in Venezuela.”
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“But even if Maduro and his cohorts leave Venezuela, Chavista criminal gangs will remain and will undoubtedly try to subvert and manipulate the transition process,” he added, pointing to Bolivia as a country where leaders stepped down only to return after failing to dismantle the power structures they had created.
Humir suggested Machado and Gonzalez continue to work on “delegitimizing the Chavista regime,” a reference to the government structure established in Venezuela by Hugo Chavez and inherited by Maduro when he became president in 2013. He warned that there could be “adaptable proxies” within the opposition sympathetic to Maduro’s party.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro speaks at a press conference at Miraflores Palace in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, July 31, 2024. (Gabby Ola/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“The opposition has always been populated by what Venezuelans call ‘entufados,’ which means in Spanish people who are ‘connected’ to the regime,” Jumire said. “They are fake opposition members who are making backroom deals and political deals with the Maduro regime.”
“My concern is that these ‘entufados’ will either a) change the narrative to justify Maduro’s election fraud or b) subvert Venezuela’s transition process, even if Edmundo Gonales is recognized as the next president,” he warned.
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Supporters of Venezuelan opposition presidential candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia and opposition leader Maria Corina Machado hold up a photo during a campaign rally in Maracaibo, Zulia state, Venezuela, on July 23, 2024. Venezuela will hold presidential elections on July 28, 2024. (Raul Albordea/AFP via Getty Images)
Isaias Medina III, a former UN Security Council diplomat and Edward Mason Fellow at Harvard University, told Fox News Digital that the “massive protests” in Venezuela this week “reflect a grassroots demand for change,” but acknowledged the difficult challenges that come with “challenging a brutal regime that uses force against its people.”
“Venezuela’s politics are in need of fundamental reform,” Medina said. “Unfortunately, an exit strategy for Venezuela is necessary. But is it really President Maduro’s decision to agree to negotiations and amnesty proposals? Many questionable interests are manipulating Venezuela’s lost sovereignty and turning the situation into a cross-border crisis that threatens peace and security in the region.”
Opponents of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s government protest in Caracas on July 29, 2024, the day after Venezuela’s presidential election. Demonstrations broke out in parts of Caracas on Monday in protest of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s claimed re-election victory, which has been contested by the opposition and questioned internationally, an AFP reporter observed. (Raul Arboleda/AFP via Getty Images)
“Venezuela needs a new political approach, free from the paternalistic policies of ‘politicians’ and governments that put personal interests above the welfare of the nation. Governments should serve their people, not the other way around,” he argued. “The focus must shift to education, job opportunities, and a truly representative parliament to discuss problems and find effective solutions.”
“If Messrs. Gonzalez and Machado can’t resolve the ‘expulsion’ of the puppet power-grabbers from ‘Miraflores’ (Venezuela’s White House), they will have a hard time rebuilding the country,” he argued. “But I hope they will prove me wrong.”
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“Venezuela needs more than a messianic ‘president’; it needs a transitional government with a strong purpose: to restore the rule of law, overturn perverse governance and oust the illegal pirate occupiers,” Medina added.
“Real change requires the integration of meritocratic talent in all sectors and the transformation of the state’s patriarchal socialist practices into an opportunity for the self-reliant development of an impoverished, resource-rich country,” he stressed. “Venezuela needs a ‘new path’ from socialism in the 21st century that effectively combines national and public-private policies and incentives for economic development.”
