Supporters of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro attend a July 2024 campaign event in Caracas. Photo: Ariana Cubillos / Associated Press.
By Tulio Camacho – Jul 26, 2024
Venezuela is experiencing one of the most complex political and social situations in its history since its founding. This Sunday, July 28, presidential elections will be held in which not only will the person who will govern the destiny of the nation for the next 6 years be chosen, but also the direction that our country will take between two antagonistic models of society, economic management and conception of the human being.
On the one hand, the Bolivarian model, initiated after the rise to power of Commander Hugo Chavez in 1999 and which has been developed since the beginning of the 21st century, will be put to the test once again, before popular scrutiny, as it has done in a democratic way from its beginnings until today. This model of social inclusion, national sovereignty and vindication of the exploited majorities is embodied by President Nicolás Maduro, who has managed to lead a nation that has suffered one of the most perverse sieges that any country has ever endured and has not allowed the republican order to be brought to a breaking point. On the contrary, despite all predictions, Venezuela has experienced a gradual economic recovery in recent years.
The Bolivarian Revolution is a political process that has undertaken important transformations and social demands, having as one of its greatest merits, the defense of national sovereignty against the pretensions of imperial powers and transnational corporate powers.
This historic position has cost the Bolivarian Government of Venezuela, having to face during years of political process, various maneuvers aimed at annihilating it: coup attempts, assassination attempts, economic war, actions to destabilize the country at all levels, treacherous betrayals and more recently, a package of unilateral coercive measures imposed by the Government of the United States, the European Union and other imperial powers, which has generated a situation of calamity and suffering for the common Venezuelan people, those who constitute the core of fundamental support for the revolutionary process.
In contrast, the opposition option most favored by transnational capital and the powers that attack the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela with sanctions and other mechanisms is represented by Edmundo González Urrutia, as the figurehead of María Corina Machado, who embodies precisely the most faithful representation of that oligarchy, at the service of foreign financial interests, which during the 21st century has not hesitated to attack the integrity of the nation in all aspects: economic, political, social, psychological, territorial, diplomatic, etc. Reaching the very serious level of encouraging not only unilateral coercive measures abroad, but also a direct military aggression by the United States against our country.
In this sense, it is more than clear that we have two clear options:
The first, focused on the survival of a sovereign Republic, which aims towards its economic recovery, guided by the patriotic principles bequeathed to us by the Liberator, Simon Bolivar, the Commander, Hugo Chavez and the martyrs and heroes of our history; oriented towards a social model that aims towards the protection of the working classes and the common people, having the human being as its center; which is embodied in President Nicolas Maduro Moros and Bolivarian Socialism.
The second, in contrast, directed towards the establishment in Venezuela of a model of surrender of national sovereignty to global corporate power and hegemonic powers, of renouncing historically won social rights and guarantees and the subordination of human dignity and condition to the interests of capital, as preached by savage neoliberalism that has caused and continues to cause so much havoc against the peoples of the world.
Beyond many criteria that could be considered in this election, this is the real dilemma in which we Venezuelans find ourselves at this decisive hour for the country and its historical future. We have the opportunity to reaffirm the emancipatory path that has cost so much effort, sacrifice and struggle, in line with a world that is moving towards great transformations, or to allow those who represent those who have mercilessly attacked our nation to finally get their longed-for spoils, at the cost of what could constitute the most shameful and deplorable historical setback in our history. It is essential that the Bolivarian clarion sound victoriously again this Sunday, July 28, as it has done for years of Revolution.
Tulio Camaco is a Venezuelan journalist and political analyst.
TC/OT
