Massive Chavista rally in support of President Nicolás Maduro in Maturín, Monagas state, July 20, 2024. Photo: Rosana Silva.
By Misión Verdad – Jul 25, 2024
The campaign for the re-election of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, dubbed “Our Venezuela,” has focused on sustained mobilization, a decision that has not only been visible during the three official weeks of the campaign—from July 4 to 25—but has had an anticipated and sustained character, from the very moment of the electoral call.
The approach to the mobilization could easily be classified as epic due to the intensity of the mobilization, which involved covering over 250 cities across the 24 states of the sovereign nation.
The adjective “epic” takes on special relevance when considering the titanic challenge that President Maduro faced in leading such an atypical electoral campaign, marked by the constant threat of conspiracies and repeated assassination attempts against him over the past six years.
It is important to remember that the US empire’s State Department still offers a reward of $15 million for his capture, which further intensifies the heroic dimension of his feat.
This level of mobilization and organization speaks of a well-articulated political machinery, which reveals the deep politicization and strong motivation of this sector of the Venezuelan population, which transcends the limits of Caracas and extends to every corner of the country.
This territorial presence has offered an unquestionably recorded truth, able to be seen and heard clearly: that of Chavismo as a political force throughout the national geography, that of a political movement that exists and works against what many national and foreign spokespeople wanted to make the axis of their discourse, failing. There is Chavismo across all the streets and sidewalks of the country.
The intensity of the dynamic is accentuated by the tight government agenda of President Maduro, who has maintained an overwhelming pace of meetings with productive sectors, such as acts of inauguration of infrastructure works of decisive importance, including but not limited to outpatient clinics, hospitals, and schools.
The mobilization covered the entire national territory, from Guajira in the state of Zulia to Upata in the state of Bolívar, and taking care to visit through places like Cumanacoa, an area recently affected by Hurricane Beryl, alternating the campaign calendar with the response to that emergency up to the border state of Táchira.
Rural communities are key in this dynamic, as the movement encompasses the geographic diversity of the country, and the Chavista movement holds its roots in the diversity of the realities of its entire territory.
Another notable aspect involves the multiple figures leading the mobilizations. While President Maduro’s presence has been surprisingly constant in recent weeks, other actors in Chavista leadership have taken a central role in the dynamics of the movement, which has promoted the mobilization in different parts of the country. This is evidence of the collective nature of the campaign.
In this dynamic, it must be said, the main features of the national consensus of the moment are also at work, which extends beyond the limits of the party and involves alliances with various political organizations and social movements.
It even reached elected leaders who went from being part of the opposition to calling themselves independents and joining the movement led by the Gallo Pinto, the campaign battle name taken by President Maduro.
Regardless of who takes the floor, the talks given by these leaders can cover a wide range of Chavismo’s victories, revolving around the nation’s economic recovery and how the lethal accumulation of effects that sanctions and general destabilization had caused in previous years has been overcome and reversed.
Control of inflation, exchange rate stability, and economic growth are the pillars of these messages, but all of them, taken together, become signifiers of something bigger: the most destructive plan of imperialism imposed on Venezuela has been defeated. The Nuestra Venezuela (Our Venezuela) campaign is one of peace and stability, more precious than ever.
The structure of Chavismo as a dynamic center, forged through years of political work, containment, resistance, and creativity in the face of urgency and with so little—after so much was taken away, stolen, usurped—has once again demonstrated its ability to mobilize its bases, and beyond them, in all regions of the country. This structure is a key factor that has dispelled the shadows of the discourse that has been imposed on the reality of the country.
It is clear that, both nationally and internationally, in the traditional media and on today’s digital platforms, there is a schematic and artificially manufactured attempt to obscure the magnitude of the strength of Chavismo. They seek to minimize the impact of its participation and the support it has managed to consolidate.
The imposition of a mendaciously triumphalist narrative that they intend to fictionally generate from the candidacy of Edmundo González Urrutia, with the aim of questioning the electoral results and discrediting them with unfounded accusations of electoral fraud, suffers from exposure when contrasted with what has been recorded from the field of the Revolution.
The reality is irrefutable. The mobilization and the explicit and unqualified support for the option of the homeland push back the artificial front made up by the axis of the Machado-González far-right campaign.
The demonstration of confidence in the population, in everyday Chavismo, in the closeness and mutual belonging of a prolonged war that was tamed by the fact that to exist is to resist, is the powerful added value. Without a doubt, the image that remains from these 21 days of campaigning contrasts with what has been projected about the support for the re-election of the presidential candidate: the fallacy of a leader without popular support or the nonexistence of Chavismo as a political force. The numbers, the footage, and the energy brought by the people are the perfect counter-narrative to these lies.
The Bolivarian Revolution, led by President Nicolás Maduro and steered by all the people of Venezuela, once again disconcerts its self-declared enemies, and energizes those who know that there is no safer and more peaceful path than this one, that of Commander Chávez and his successor in revolutionary legacy.
Once again, Venezuela shows that it refuses to accept what is imposed on it from actors seeking to destabilize the nation, both within and from outside. Once again, peace and stability will win. Once again, life will win.
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/JRE/AU
Misión Verdad
Misión Verdad is a Venezuelan investigative journalism website with a socialist perspective in defense of the Bolivarian Revolution
