Today, Saturday, December 12, celebrates the last day of the Popular Consultation impulsed by the interim government of Juan Guaidó, with a presential vote in more than 3.000 centers in Venezuelan and other 50 countries.
“Let’s got, together, to speak aloud. I have the historic feeling that we are going to achieve our goal and make a difference. All the Venezuelans inside the country and abroad matter. We meet on the streets,” said Guaidó in a political event yesterday in Caracas.
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Three questions mark what would be the roadmap of the interim government, the current National Assembly, and the principal opponent’s parties to face 2021: holding free and independent parliamentary and presidential elections, the ignorance of the vote made last December 6 by the Venezuelan Electoral Council, managed by Maduro and the Venezuelan people’s authorization to go further with the international community, to rescue democracy and to assist the complex humanitarian emergency in the country.
The interim government is looking to contrast its participation with the one registered last Sunday in the controversial Maduro vote when the abstention was 69,5%, according to the figures of the Venezuelan Electoral Council itself. Organizers have no figures yet. This Saturday night will be the official announcement.
A manifestation of will
It is not the first time that political opposition in Venezuela calls this kind of vote. In 2017, July 16, citizens were consulted if they ignore the Constituent National Assembly (ANC in Spanish) besides demanding the National Army Forces stick to the Constitution and the Parliament’s decisions and to renew public powers to conform to a national unity government. Although citizens approved the three questions with 98%, the goals were not fulfilled.
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Detractors of the new consultation use these 2017 results to plead that nothing will change. However, the lawmaker Freddy Guevara not everything was in vain because even if they got not the military support, there was national and international recognition to that will.
In an interview with whit El Pitazo, the member of the organization committee of the consult, Blanca Mármol Leon said that even when the two consultation looks similar, they occur in different political circumstances, the new one has a more legal character.
“The goal of this consultation is not other that get international support. We make clear our rejection of the Nicolás Maduro regime. We make clear that Venezuelans have a democratic spirit. We make clear we reject electoral fraud,” she said.
Guevara recognizes that the future of the National Assembly is uncertain since that from January 5, the regime will try to seat its lawmaker in the Legislative Palace, with or without the support of the current board. He anticipates that 2021 would be a conflictive year with more political persecution.
