In Venezuela the minority won; the opposition must unite to achieve the departure of Nicolás Maduro with the recall referendum, says Luis Magallanes, leader of Popular Will

Venezuela held regional and local elections on Sunday to choose 23 governors, 335 mayors, 253 legislators from legislative councils and 2,471 councilors, and the Nicolás Maduro regime achieved a landslide victory. He will govern 20 states, plus Caracas, compared to the 3 that the opposition won. European Union observers have already found irregularities in the process despite having “better conditions” compared to the previous ones. Faced with this situation, Luis Magallanes, leader of the Popular Will party, says that if the opposition had not arrived divided, it would have obtained better results.

What do you think is the cause of the fragmentation suffered by the Venezuelan opposition that makes it unable to consolidate?

First, we must make a deep analysis of this electoral process and that is, if we add the number of votes of the division that the opposition has today, in this case the Democratic Alliance and the Democratic Unity Table, add a significant number of votes that it could have had a better result of going united in terms of the number of governorates that could have been conquered. Unfortunately, given the situation of what happened in previous electoral processes, where a group decided to participate, where political cards were taken from leaders of Popular Will, of Democratic Action, a division was generated that has brought very great consequences for the opposition … The message that is clear here is that the citizen is asking politicians, one, the issue of new leaderships, and two, to agree, because the citizen is tired of wasting time as has been happening in recent years. processes.

Given the result of the last elections, do you think the opposition will unite again, especially in the face of the next presidential elections?

Not everything is negative, the opposition was at its worst, it had left the municipal chambers, the legislative councils, today in many states, in almost all, it is starting to have a spokesperson or two spokespersons and has managed to retake in some municipalities having a majority … That gives us an important position in the face of what is coming, which is the activation of a recall referendum on Nicolás Maduro, which is next year and in which this year and the next should be to evaluate and reconcile positions … The interim president, Juan Guaidó, has to add to the different factors, regardless of whether they recognize him as president or not, in order to bring together all sectors and be able to go to the recall referendum as a mechanism that citizens have to be able to seek Maduro’s democratic exit.

And in case they do not achieve the referendum, what should the opposition do by 2024?

If it is not possible to work, to articulate all the sectors of the opposition for the referendum, it would be appropriate to wait for a presidential election that after this result, we could say that the best mechanism to encourage voting, to achieve unitary candidacies, is through a primary process that allows the opposition sectors unique candidacies in each of the spaces, in this case for the Presidency of the Republic.

In these elections Juan Guaidó did not vote, why is this position due?

He has publicly stated that he was not going to validate the dictatorship in this electoral process … This too, in one way or another, affected the process, because there was no motivation … Beyond the people who participated or who did not voted, today’s scenario is an urgent call, shouting, from the Venezuelan people that the opposition, once and for all, sit down and set a clear, forceful strategy and a mechanism for Maduro’s exit. What the people expressed on Sunday was great discontent and apathy towards the politics of many leaders who are in the country and a call to the Maduro regime so that in the coming months or elections we have truly free elections. The opposition had four years without going to elections, four years in which no machinery was established, there was no direct contact with the popular sectors. This electoral process, within all the bad things that happened, allowed the reconnection of the leadership with the population in their basic problems, which no governor of Chavismo has resolved and that we are convinced that in these next four years they will not solve, as It is the issue of water, electricity, shortage of gas, gasoline, etc.

Despite this return, the Maduro regime managed to win the elections, what happened?

In Venezuela the minority won and also the numbers in the National Electoral Council (CNE) express that the minorities won, because if you add the second with the third, the governorates would beat you in many states. That was what happened, you can see the discontent towards Maduro’s political class, who remains in the country, a product of fear and the myths that have been generated on the issue of voting. If we, as an opposition, organize ourselves to take care of the vote as such, there is much that could be achieved. Electoral conditions in Venezuela did not improve in this election, but it is important to note that the return of international observers generates a bit of tranquility.

These elections have left the reading of Maduro’s opening to the international community, would he be seeking the withdrawal of sanctions?

Sanctions have been necessary in Venezuela for two reasons. Venezuela today is a de facto dollarized country … They also stopped the corruption that the regime had been handling with respect to the management of Venezuelan resources, despite the fact that it is sold that the sanctions have been the evil of the Venezuelan people, it is not true, That evil has been the Maduro regime and it is important to make it clear. Maduro claimed that by creating conditions he was going to get the US to remove the sanctions, but it has not been like that and it will not be like that, that country has already stated it.

And if the sanctions are not going to be lifted, what is Maduro looking for?

I believe that he is not only seeking to soften the issue of sanctions, but it must also be remembered that he has the sword of Damocles, which is the trial that is being followed in the International Criminal Court (ICC) that continues to advance on the issue of rape. of human rights that have been systematic. The ICC has been able to speak with victims. This issue does not let Maduro sleep and is already affecting his close circle, because many are afraid of what may happen in the future. After he was the prosecutor of the Court, cases of human rights violations were reopened. H H. and the military were tried and there are judges who are under the scrutiny of the regime to try them. I believe that the trial at the ICC, the sanctions, and a possible political negotiation may generate that the game that has been locked for so long can give the Venezuelan people a light at the end of the tunnel. There are almost six million Venezuelans who are outside the country. In the popular sectors, in the political sectors, they talk about what may happen with the trial, but it must be clear that this is not going to happen tomorrow, nor that it is such an easy procedure, it takes time. (I)