Miami Herald Logo

Andres Oppenheimer: Maduro’s dirty tricks to rig Venezuela’s elections | Miami Herald

×
  • E-edition
  • Home
    • Site Information
    • Contact Us
    • About Us
    • Herald Store
    • RSS Feeds
    • Special Sections
    • Advertise
    • Advertise with Us
    • Media Kit
    • Mobile
    • Mobile Apps & eReaders
    • Newsletters
    • Social
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Google+
    • Instagram
    • YouTube

    • Sections
    • News
    • South Florida
    • Miami-Dade
    • Broward
    • Florida Keys
    • Florida
    • Politics
    • Weird News
    • Weather
    • National & World
    • Colombia
    • National
    • World
    • Americas
    • Cuba
    • Guantánamo
    • Haiti
    • Venezuela
    • Local Issues
    • Crime
    • Education
    • Environment
    • Health Care
    • In Depth
    • Issues & Ideas
    • Traffic
    • Sections
    • Sports
    • Blogs & Columnists
    • Pro & College
    • Miami Dolphins
    • Miami Heat
    • Miami Marlins
    • Florida Panthers
    • College Sports
    • University of Miami
    • Florida International
    • University of Florida
    • Florida State University
    • More Sports
    • High School Sports
    • Auto Racing
    • Fighting
    • Golf
    • Horse Racing
    • Outdoors
    • Soccer
    • Tennis
    • Youth Sports
    • Other Sports
    • Politics
    • Elections
    • The Florida Influencer Series
    • Sections
    • Business
    • Business Monday
    • Banking
    • International Business
    • National Business
    • Personal Finance
    • Real Estate News
    • Small Business
    • Technology
    • Tourism & Cruises
    • Workplace
    • Business Plan Challenge
    • Blogs & Columnists
    • Cindy Krischer Goodman
    • The Starting Gate
    • Work/Life Balancing Act
    • Movers
    • Sections
    • Living
    • Advice
    • Fashion
    • Food & Drink
    • Health & Fitness
    • Home & Garden
    • Pets
    • Recipes
    • Travel
    • Wine
    • Blogs & Columnists
    • Dave Barry
    • Ana Veciana-Suarez
    • Flashback Miami
    • More Living
    • LGBTQ South Florida
    • Palette Magazine
    • Indulge Magazine
    • South Florida Album
    • Broward Album
    • Sections
    • Entertainment
    • Books
    • Comics
    • Games & Puzzles
    • Horoscopes
    • Movies
    • Music & Nightlife
    • People
    • Performing Arts
    • Restaurants
    • TV
    • Visual Arts
    • Blogs & Columnists
    • Jose Lambiet
    • Lesley Abravanel
    • More Entertainment
    • Events Calendar
    • Miami.com
    • Contests & Promotions
    • Sections
    • All Opinion
    • Editorials
    • Op-Ed
    • Editorial Cartoons
    • Jim Morin
    • Letters to the Editor
    • From Our Inbox
    • Speak Up
    • Submit a Letter
    • Meet the Editorial Board
    • Influencers Opinion
    • Blogs & Columnists
    • Blog Directory
    • Columnist Directory
    • Andres Oppenheimer
    • Carl Hiaasen
    • Leonard Pitts Jr.
    • Fabiola Santiago
    • Obituaries
    • Obituaries in the News
    • Place an Obituary

    • Place an ad
    • All Classifieds
    • Announcements
    • Apartments
    • Auctions/Sales
    • Automotive
    • Commercial Real Estate
    • Employment
    • Garage Sales
    • Legals
    • Merchandise
    • Obituaries
    • Pets
    • Public Notices
    • Real Estate
    • Services
  • Public Notices
  • Cars
  • Jobs
  • Moonlighting
  • Real Estate
  • Mobile & Apps

  • el Nuevo Herald
  • Miami.com
  • Indulge

Andres Oppenheimer

Andres Oppenheimer: Maduro’s dirty tricks to rig Venezuela’s elections

It’s no secret that Venezuela is a cosmetic democracy in which President Nicolás Maduro resorts to all kinds of dirty tricks to retain absolute powers, but his latest move — designing ballot sheets designed to confuse opposition voters — would be almost amusing if it weren’t so devious.

Earlier this week, Venezuela’s government-controlled National Electoral Commission released the ballot sheets for the crucial Dec. 6 legislative elections, which place the opposition’s “Unidad” (Unity) coalition, best known by its MUD acronym, next to two other non-related parties that — surprise, surprise — are also named “Unidad.”

“It’s another government trick,” MUD secretary general Jesus “Chúo” Torrealba told me in a telephone interview. “The government has invented and financed micro-parties that are posing as opposition parties and use the same name, but in reality are government satellite parties created to confuse voters.”

Indeed, the ballot sheet’s three “Unidad” boxes are next to each other. While the first “Unidad” box at the bottom left of the ballot sheet corresponds to the real MUD opposition coalition, the other two are respectively named “Min-Unidad” and “UnidadDR” and look very similar.

Sign Up and Save

Get six months of free digital access to the Miami Herald

SUBSCRIBE WITH GOOGLE

#ReadLocal

But that’s only the latest of the Maduro regime’s ploys to rig the election process, and perhaps even induce a “self-coup” to suspend the elections, opposition leaders say. Consider these seven other government moves in recent weeks:

▪ The Maduro regime has declared a “state of exception” in 10 towns of Táchira state along the Colombian border, amid an escalating diplomatic conflict with Colombia. The diplomatic spat began after Maduro closed the border and deported thousands of Colombians living on the Venezuelan side of the frontier, claiming that a Colombian criminal group had attacked Venezuelan soldiers.

Much like in a separate Venezuelan spat with Guyana, many oppositionists suspect that Maduro is creating border conflicts as an excuse to either cancel the December elections, or declare a wider “state of exception” to prevent opposition meetings in large parts of the country.

▪ At least 10 opposition leaders, including prominent former congresswoman Maria Corina Machado, who was stripped of her congressional seat by government-controlled electoral authorities, have been banned from running for congressional seats in the Dec. 6 elections under dubious legal charges.

▪ One of Venezuela’s most charismatic opposition leaders, Leopoldo López, has been held in a high-security jail for the past 18 months under flimsy government charges that he “instigated” violent opposition protests on Feb. 12, 2014. López is one of at least 40 high-profile political prisoners in Venezuela who have been jailed in an effort to silence them, human rights groups say.

▪ Maduro has said he will not accept international electoral observers from the 34-country Organization of American States, as the Venezuelan opposition is requesting. Instead, the Maduro regime has said it will only allow foreign “electoral escorts” from the Union of South American countries, UNASUR, an organization that has been supportive of the Venezuelan government.

▪ As in previous elections, Maduro is virtually controlling television time with mandatory broadcasts of presidential speeches and an avalanche of state-paid pro-government ads. The regime, which in recent years took over RCTV and other electronic media, is now trying to close the independent daily El Nacional through a tax investigation, El Nacional editor Miguel Henrique Otero said Wednesday, denouncing the move.

▪ Government-controlled electoral authorities have, as in previous elections, designed electoral districts so as to give pro-government states greater representation than opposition states. In the 2010 legislative elections, official results showed that the government PSUV party virtually tied with the MUD coalition, but the PSUV won 96 seats in the National Assembly, whereas the opposition won only 65 seats.

▪ Maduro is intimidating voters by virtually threatening a civil war if the opposition wins in December. On June 22, Maduro said that there would be “chaos,” and that “I will be the first one to take to the streets if the right [wing] were to take the National Assembly.”

My opinion: The Maduro government is becoming desperate, and with a 180 percent annual inflation rate and the economy expected to collapse by nearly 7 percent this year, is resorting to increasingly dirtier schemes to steal the election.

There is no excuse for Latin American countries not to demand that Venezuela allow OAS observers to make the election results credible. In light of Maduro’s latest dirty tricks, they should do so now, and say that they would not accept a government victory otherwise.

  Comments  

Videos

Pro-government groups beat up woman in Venezuela

Pro-government protesters storm Venezuelan National Assembly

View More Video

Trending Stories

Federal prosecutors broke law in Jeffrey Epstein case, judge rules

February 21, 2019 02:51 PM

Americans arrested in Haiti with arsenal of guns won’t face U.S. charges

February 21, 2019 04:06 PM

Patriots owner Robert Kraft is among the hundreds charged in Florida sex traffic sting

February 22, 2019 12:23 PM

These players Miami Dolphins are discussing in team’s plans. These they probably aren’t

February 21, 2019 03:08 PM

Florida man forced 5-year-old to perform sex acts on him, deputies say

February 21, 2019 08:16 PM

Read Next

Put pressure on Mexico to recognize Juan Guaidó as Venezuela’s legitimate president

Andres Oppenheimer

Put pressure on Mexico to recognize Juan Guaidó as Venezuela’s legitimate president

By Andres Oppenheimer

    ORDER REPRINT →

February 20, 2019 02:17 PM

The world’s biggest democracies are supporting Juan Guaidó as Venezuela’s legitimate president. But Mexico’s President López Obrador is the exception. He is tacitly supporting the Maduro dictatorship.

KEEP READING

Sign Up and Save

#ReadLocal

Get six months of free digital access to the Miami Herald

SUBSCRIBE WITH GOOGLE

MORE ANDRES OPPENHEIMER

Amid Washington’s partisan battles, Trump and Democrats find rare common ground on Venezuela

Andres Oppenheimer

Amid Washington’s partisan battles, Trump and Democrats find rare common ground on Venezuela

February 15, 2019 05:22 PM
Mexico’s new president’s popularity is at an all-time high. But how long will the honeymoon last?

Andres Oppenheimer

Mexico’s new president’s popularity is at an all-time high. But how long will the honeymoon last?

February 13, 2019 03:15 PM
Of the three major scenarios for Venezuela, U.S. military intervention is the least likely

Andres Oppenheimer

Of the three major scenarios for Venezuela, U.S. military intervention is the least likely

February 10, 2019 08:36 AM
Trump delivered a schizophrenic State of the Union address: levelheaded on Venezuela, unhinged on Mexico

Andres Oppenheimer

Trump delivered a schizophrenic State of the Union address: levelheaded on Venezuela, unhinged on Mexico

February 06, 2019 04:01 PM
Left-wing Democrats who parrot dictator Maduro’s propaganda are doing Trump a huge favor

Andres Oppenheimer

Left-wing Democrats who parrot dictator Maduro’s propaganda are doing Trump a huge favor

February 01, 2019 06:52 PM
Trump is doing the right thing in Venezuela. He shouldn’t ruin it by encouraging talk of military action.

Andres Oppenheimer

Trump is doing the right thing in Venezuela. He shouldn’t ruin it by encouraging talk of military action.

January 30, 2019 08:12 PM
Take Us With You

Real-time updates and all local stories you want right in the palm of your hand.

Icon for mobile apps

Miami Herald App

View Newsletters

Subscriptions
  • Start a Subscription
  • Customer Service
  • eEdition
  • Vacation Hold
  • Pay Your Bill
  • Rewards
Learn More
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Newsletters
  • News in Education
  • Public Insight Network
  • Reader Panel
Advertising
  • Place a Classified
  • Media Kit
  • Commercial Printing
  • Public Notices
Copyright
Commenting Policy
Privacy Policy
Terms of Service


Back to Story