The next ones are increasingly shaping up to be a farce presidential elections in Venezuela, scheduled for July 28 but at the moment with only one effective candidate, the outgoing president Nicolas Maduro. In fact, last week the current regime blocked the candidacy of the most accredited challenger, María Corina Machado, who had won the opposition primaries, and of her replacement, Corina Yoris, granting registration to the contest only to the former ambassador Edmundo González Urrutia, who however is a provisional candidate. The situation triggered a diplomatic crisis throughout South America, with the Brazilian president Lula, historically an ally of Chavismo, who was forced to dissociate himself, while the reaction of the Argentine president Javier Milei was even harsher, who called for free and democratic elections and offered asylum to the opponents of his Venezuelan counterpart. And again in the last few days, Milei - for other reasons, interviewed by the Spanish CNN - has lashed out against the Colombian president, the socialist Gustavo Petro, calling him a "terrorist murderer". The president of Mexico, Lopez Obrador, also got involved in the brawl, while Colombia expelled the Argentine diplomats and the whole affair is always monitored by the watchful eye of the USA, which had promised Caracas the end of sanctions on oil in exchange for transparent elections, all while Maduro insists on wanting to annex Essequibo, a part of Guyana's territory rich in offshore oil reserves which, however, the US company Exxon has already got its hands on.
The deep crisis in Venezuela
This is the state of the art a few months after a vote, however, very significant for the geopolitical balance of the area and beyond. But in what conditions does Venezuela present itself for the elections? After the death of the former president Hugo Chavez, now 11 years ago, the situation in the country has progressively worsened, reaching the peak of the economic and social crisis in 2018, when theinflation it had risen to over 130.000%, the highest figure in the world, only to then fall to 76% in February this year, a better result than that of Argentina. The relative recovery was possible because Maduro reopened the economy to the market starting from 2019, for example by re-admitting the circulation of US dollars. That surge in the cost of living in 2018, which lasted until 2021, however, left scars: Venezuela's GDP per capita, which exceeded 2015 dollars in 10.000, collapsed in 2018 to 2.400 dollars. Since then it has continued to fall, but less brutally, settling at $2022 in 1.600, according to estimates from the UCAB university. The wage minimum in Venezuela it is 3,6 dollars a month, by far the lowest in Latin America and among the lowest in the world: a public official earns an average of 64 dollars, an entrepreneur does not go much above 200 dollars. For this reason, the poverty index obviously remains very high, although slightly decreasing compared to 2021, when it reached 65%: today, again according to UCAB, 52% of Venezuelans live below the poverty line, more than half. In 2015 they were 41%.
Under the weight of inequality: Venezuela divided between flight and repression
Also the Gini index, which measures the inequalities, continues to be alarming: 51,2. In Brazil it is even higher, 52,9, but for example in Uruguay it is 40,8 and if we want to take a European country like Italy as a parameter, our figure is 35,2 (or better said 0,352, with 0 which represents absolute equality). The regime has tried to remedy this situation, so much so that 80% of Venezuelans receive subsidies from the state, but this has not prevented the great escape abroad in the last few years. Due to economic difficulties but also repression (over 2014 political dissidents, including soldiers, have ended up in prison since 15.000), according to the UN, around 7 million Venezuelans live outside Venezuela today, practically a quarter of the population. Most chose neighboring countries, particularly Colombia and Brazil. A deeply torn country, on the brink of a humanitarian crisis, will have the opportunity to express itself in a few months: but will it really be granted?
She says it will be a farce vote. You wrote a bunch of clichés.
Greetings. The use of the term “farce” may actually be a stretch, but the signs are there. We'll see, I'll be happy I was wrong. For the rest, no clichés, just data and facts. At least the official data processed by international institutions, who who knows, maybe lie but I can't know. However, they are data, not clichés