CARACAS.– During the months of March and May of the electoral pre-campaign in Venezuela38 victims of the violence political-electoralthat is, one victim every two days, and 25 incidents, in which the armed and security forces managed by the Venezuelan regime appear responsible, according to the first report on the subject of presidential elections.
The report, prepared by the Peace and Reconciliation Foundation and presented by Alianza Rebelde Investiga and the Pares Foundation, indicates that of the total victims, 17 belong to the Vente Venezuela political movement of opposition leader María Corina Machado.
“No possible victims of political-electoral violence who are part of the official parties or the government bloc of Venezuela were found,” which would indicate another sign of advantage and control of the regime questioned by opponents.
The NGOs warn “of the few guarantees there are to exercise democracy in Venezuela”, which is why they consider that the report is “a clear emergency call to the international community” to warn about the existing conditions for the opposition and its followers “of participate in clean elections in the country.”
The report begins monitoring since March 5, when the electoral calendar began. The electoral campaign runs from July 4 to July 27, one day before the elections, according to the CNE schedule.
Machado, target of political-electoral violence
Political-electoral violence, according to the report, is directed not only at the political bases of the parties in campaign activities and that mobilize the vote in the localities, but also at sympathizers and potential voters, “in high numbers.”
“This implies that the logic of competition is not reduced to the candidacies and party structures, but also to the potential electoral base that these candidates have.”
The NGOs specify in their first study that of a total of 38 victims, 14 are “ordinary citizens or journalists” with no known “official coalition” (36.8%), while the remaining 24 (63.2%) “ “They are part of the opposition of one of the political parties that make up the Unitary Platform, the Democratic Unity Roundtable or one of the signatory parties of the Barbados Agreement of October 2023.”
“The largest number of victims (17) and victimizing events (9) was concentrated in the month of March during the pre-electoral phase and registration of candidates, almost all of them militants of María Corina Machado’s campaign and the Vente Venezuela (movement) ”, he highlights.
It also points out that anti-hate laws were applied to “journalists and content creators who support candidates opposed to the regime” and that they were detained. Between March and May, merchants who provided services to Machado during his tours around the country were also attacked.
PRE-CAMPAIGN X-RAY
Of the total victims, 84.21% are in the Capital District (18). Others in the states of Monagas (3), Portuguesa (3), Aragua (2), Falcón (2), Guárico (2) and Miranda (2). The Capital District concentrates the largest number of victims. So far, no murders have been recorded, the report clarifies.
The report, which makes an evaluation of the electoral period, states that electoral political violence in Venezuela, in addition to being a mechanism of competition with a view to the elections, “is a dynamic of control and generation of social order, in which the strategies violent (..) they discipline the electorate from the State seeking that their political impact only favors a series of political groups that hold power or remains outside of abstentionism.”
For this reason, it recommends observing the political participation of candidates and parties that could be targets of electoral political violence.
The Peace and Reconciliation Foundation, founded in 2013, has participated in and prepared reports on electoral political violence in Colombia and other countries since 2019.
Source: First Report on Political-Electoral Violence: Presidential Elections in Venezuela
