As Venezuela enters a new set of presidential elections, dissatisfaction, protests, and corruption continue to headline news sources worldwide. President Nicolas Meduro became president in 2013 after the the death of former president Hugo Chavez. Since then, Venezuela has experienced great turmoil. In the last four years, the economy has decreased by 25%, and the country is facing serious hyper inflation. Poverty has struck the streets, and people are struggling to feed their families. Violent protests started breaking out in 2014, and have continued into 2017. Still, the people of Venezuela feel muted under Menduro’s rule.
Increasingly, Venezuela’s opposition party has began speaking out and creating gridlock within the government, in order to prevent Meduro from passing measurements through parliament. Meduro responded to this in May 2017 by proposing an alternative assembly that would basically allow him unchecked and infinite power. While the opposition coalition, MUD did their best to fight back, the 2017 constitution assembly was sworn in on August 4th.
Now, going into the 2018 election MUD is going to have an more difficult time winning the votes. The constitution assembly has now created a system where two thirds of the representatives are elected by the municipal government, while only one third is elected by the remaining Venezuelan citizens. During last Sundays election on the 15th, the president won by a ratio of 17 to 5, completely contradicting the predicted outcome of 18 to 5. Venezuela was horrifically shocked by the results, and analysts are really questioning the integrity of the election. Recent evidence states that the government moved around 200 voting stations, in order to make it more difficult for voters to access. They also added the names of opposition candidates who had already lost in the primaries to the ballot.
The people of Venezuela are beginning to feel very desperate, and are even wanting to give up. While they want to fight and stand up for their rights, there is also a sense of reality and practicality that the citizens must consider. They are already facing devastating times, and people must consider their families who must be fed and protected. Protesting has caused very little change, and the Venezuelan people people are tired. People are even questioning whether or not to vote in the future. The system is so corrupt anyway, and voting can display a fake representation of Venezuela’s supposedly Democratic society.
I think that this event really shows how confusing governments in Latin America can still be, and how Western concepts can really confuse their systems of rule. While Venezuela is trying to use the Western Democratic system, people in high places are abusing their powers which has created a very flawed democracy that is doing more harm than good. I also found that like previous historical events, the people of country are the ones who face the most series consequences, and yet have the smallest voice. While they speak out and protest, they are risk their lives and jobs, and can easily be thrown down by people of higher powers.
https://www.ft.com/content/30a0ca04-0e1e-4170-a685-26417ee4fbf4