As Maduro stays put, onlookers fear worst

Despite widespread consensus that he lost last month’s election, the president seems intent on pursuing a path to full-blown dictatorship

By Tom Phillips CARACAS

It was election night in Venezuela in 2013, and at Caracas city hall the Chavista activists’ nerves were jangling as early results showed their candidate, Nicolás Maduro, trailing his charismatic rival for the presidency, Henrique Capriles. “We were totally surprised. We never thought Capriles would come so close,” said Andrés Izarra, a former minister for Maduro’s deceased mentor, Hugo Chávez, who recalls overhearing a disturbing conversation between two powerful Maduro allies. “They said: ‘We are not going to surrender power under any circumstances,’” Izarra claimed, adding: “I was surprised when I heard that … [I thought:] What the fuck do you mean, ‘We’re not going to give up power’?” In the end, Maduro narrowly won the 2013 election. He has governed ever since, in increasingly authoritarian style. But 11 years after that overheard…

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Guardian Weekly (Digital) - 1 Issue, 23 August 2024

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