Venezuelan opposition names placeholder candidate
March 27, 2024
Venezuela’s Democratic Unitary Platform, a coalition of opposition parties, obtained a last minute window of negotiation for a ballot space in July presidential elections, after electoral authorities prevented its candidate from registering by Monday’s deadline. Yesterday the PUD secretary general Omar Barboza revealed that an unnamed candidate (known as number 13) was a placeholder, after electoral authorities granted a 12-hour-extention to the opposition Mesa de la Unidad Democrática party, which denounced it had been blocked from registering a candidate ahead of the deadline, reports Efecto Cocuyo.
The opposition coalition provisionally nominated diplomat Edmundo González Urrutia to fill the spot, but plan to replace him with a consensus candidate over the next month. Venezuelan electoral regulations allow parties to modify their nominations until April 20. They can also substitute candidates up to 10 days before the election. This buys time for ongoing negotiations regarding who the government will permit to participate in the presidential elections, reports El País. (See also Efecto Cocuyo and El Pitazo)
It is the latest in a series of whiplash changes in a lead-up to fraught elections, which represent a slim chance to challenge Nicolás Maduro’s entrenched government.
“This opens the door for a stronger starting point for the rest of the opposition to negotiate what will happen,” the Inter-American Dialogue’s Tamara Taraciuk Broner told the New York Times. “There is no doubt that Maduro wants to choose who to run against and is afraid to run against anyone who represents a threat to him.”
Regional Relations
A number of Latin American governments have voiced concern over the candidate registration obstacles in Venezuela. Both Brazil and Colombia, which have been conciliatory with the Maduro government in an effort to encourage negotiations, struck a firm tone, reports the Guardian.
“Based on available information, the candidate put forwards by the Unitary platform … was prevented from registering, which is not compatible with the Barbados agreement,” Brazil’s foreign ministry said, in reference to a deal between Maduro’s government and the opposition last October intended to ensure free and fair elections. “So far, there has been no official explanation for this obstruction,” the Brazilian ministry added, voicing “concern” over the situation.
Colombia’s foreign ministry also voiced concern and warned that recent developments in Venezuela might “affect the confidence of some sectors of the international community in the transparency and competitiveness of the electoral process”.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro responded to Maduro’s characterization of the international left as “cowardly” saying there was no such thing, rather “the probability to, through deepening democracy, change the world.” — El Pitazo
Guatemalan President Bernardo Arévalo denounced the Venezuelan government’s “harassment and persecution” of its opponents. Such actions, Arévalo tweeted, reinforced an “anti-democratic system”.
Argentine President Javier Milei said it may be time for democratic Latin American nations to impose diplomatic sanctions on Venezuela’s dictatorship, reports Andres Oppenheimer in the Miami Herald.
Argentina accused Venezuela of cutting off electricity to its Caracas embassy after the diplomatic mission hosted a meeting with the country’s opposition leaders, reports CNN.
Argentina’s government announced that some Venezuelan opposition leaders have sought refuge at country’s Caracas embassy, adding that it was concerned over what it called a deterioration of institutions and persecution towards government opponents, reports Reuters.
Arévalo seeks int’l support in Washington
Guatemalan President Bernardo Arévalo appealed for international support in his quest to root out endemic government corruption in his country. This week he travelled to Washington DC, where he met with U.S. President Joe Biden. They discussed good governance, effective migration management, the importance of upholding democracy and other issues, according to the White House. (Associated Press)
Arévalo met separately with U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, who reiterated U.S. support for Arévalo and efforts to stem migration from Central America by expanding economic opportunities there. (Reuters)
The meetings “show the U.S. government’s latest attempt to find an associate in northern Central America,” notes El Faro.
Arévalo also spoke to the OAS Permanent Council, where he “made an unprecedented request for international observation of the selection of the Supreme Court of Justice and appellate courts, a process key to his pledge to uproot corruption,” according to El Faro.
More Guatemala
Arévalo told El Faro English that a campaign promise of a mining moratorium “still stands, totally.” “There may be those in the mining sector [who say it affects U.S. investments],” he said, “but it is a sector that attracts less investment. Meanwhile, there are broad possibilities in textile production, agriculture, energy, electrification, and hydrocarbons.”
Haiti
Gangs have intensified their rampage in downtown Port-au-Prince this week, nearly a month into an uprising by criminal organizations aimed at toppling the country’s skeletal government. The number of children in Haiti estimated to suffer from severe acute malnutrition has increased by 19% this year, according to UNICEF. (Associated Press)
Despite criticism, “the reality is that the US-Caricom plan is the only one on the table, with no obvious alternatives,” notes the Financial Times.
Brazil
The accusation that the former police officer in charge of investigating the 2018 assassination of Rio de Janeiro councillor Marielle Franco was actually the mastermind of the murder shocked Brazilians and put a spotlight on intersections between the city’s corrupt police and criminal underworld, reports the Guardian. (See Monday’s post.)
Brazil’s foreign ministry summoned the Hungarian ambassador to explain why former president Jair Bolsonaro spent two nights “hiding” at Hungary’s embassy in Brasília last month, reports the Guardian. (See yesterday’s briefs.)
Ecuador
Ecuador's youngest mayor, Brigitte Garcia, and a staffer were found shot dead on Sunday. (Reuters)
Migration
The six likely victims of the Baltimore bridge collapse in the U.S. yesterday all appeared to be construction workers from Latin American countries, reports the Guardian.
“A new Texas law that empowers state officials to detain and deport migrants will remain on hold, after a divided appeals court ruling late Tuesday that said the statutes “significantly impair the exercise of discretion by federal immigration officials.”” — Washington Post
Jamaica
Jamaica’s government condemned the racist remarks made by the country’s Conservative party’s biggest donor, Frank Hester, amid concerns about a contract it signed with his digital health company, reports the Guardian.
Culture Corner
The International Booker longlist signals a “second ‘boom’ in Latin American fiction”, according to judges, with a quarter of the nominated authors being South American — Guardian.
The Frank Hester story is taking place in the UK, not Jamaica.