Aerial photo of the "great protest" called by María Corina Machado in Caracas; the truck carrying her can be seen at the intersection of two avenues, Caracas, Venezuela, August 17, 2024. Photo: X/@JanusNoticias.
Caracas (OrinocoTribune.com)—Caracas and several cities in Venezuela witnessed a new round of demonstrations supporting the Bolivarian Revolution as well as a few small far-right demonstrations called by those who got defeated in the presidential elections held on July 28 but claim victory nonetheless. The low turnout in the opposition demonstrations contrast sharply with their claim of having received 7.3 million of votes in the presidential elections.
The “massive” march promised by the far right for this Saturday, August 17, was a clear failure. The call for protests was unable to attract large crowds in Caracas and other cities as planned, despite the calls of María Corina Machado and an army of influencers and paid journalists on social media platforms asking Venezuelans to join the marches.
Images and videos from the various rallies called by the Venezuelan far-right across the country showed very low attendance. The streets where the opposition demonstration took place in Caracas reflected the overall failure of the far-right leaders María Corina Machado and Edmundo González, who relied on digital platforms to massively promote their call. In fact, Venezuelan far-right rallies were better attended in Miami, Madrid and other foreign cities than in Venezuela.
They say 7 million voted for them, but they cannot fill 4 blocks in Caracas after a week massibly calling for this protest. Common! https://t.co/8JGfM6azUJ
— Orinoco Tribune (@OrinocoTribune) August 17, 2024
Since last week, María Corina Machado has been calling on social media for the “great international day of protests.” The call, spread massively by mainstream media around the world along with social media influencers, and the failure of the opposition protests in Venezuela reflect the disconnect between the Venezuelan far-right narrative spread outside Venezuela and the reality in the streets of the country.
This is not the first time that a far-right opposition call for protests after the presidential elections has ended up with a low turnout. On August 3, a similar attempt saw a slightly better turnout but was overall labeled as a failure by the opposition as well as by Chavismo.
Violent opposition riots during July 29-30 claimed 25 lives and left nearly 200 injured, most of them passersby or law enforcement agents. This violence has been proved to be linked to Venezuelan criminal gangs like Tren del Llano and Tren de Aragua that publicly expressed their support for Machado and the Venezuelan far-right.
Amid reports from Venezuelan intelligence agencies about a new far-right attempt to generate violence on Saturday, Caracas was wrapped up in heavy security, with two armored vehicles and 40 motorcycle-mounted troops controlling access to the low-income Petare neighborhood, several kilometers away from the opposition’s gathering point, as well in other location where violence occurred after the election day.
Venezuelan VP Highlights Low Turnout in Opposition Demonstration in Caracas
“They are trying to scare us, to divide us, to paralyze us, to demoralize us, but they cannot do that because they are absolutely entrenched in their lies and violence,” wrote Machado on social media minutes before arriving at the demonstration in Caracas. According to some analysts, she made this post upon realizing the lack of popular support reflected in the streets of Caracas.
On social media platforms, a fake news campaign has been launched to create the impression that there is instability in Venezuela while in reality the only days when there was violence were the two days following the presidential election. This fake news campaign is trying to present a false narrative about heavy police repression and persecution of political dissent, but the measures adopted by law enforcement during the days following the elections were directed against those criminal gangs that spread violence and those on social media who publicly incited violence and hatred or called for the assassination of Chavista leaders and grassroots activists.
President Maduro, addressing a massive Chavista demonstration in defense of peace, stated that the Miami-based “influencers” who called on fascists to take to the streets had been defeated. “The fascist right has failed,” he said. “They believed that with the influencers from Miami they were going to mobilize the people, but they failed!”
President Maduro also congratulated the Venezuelan people who took to the streets on Sarurday to march in defense of peace in 100 cities across Venezuela, adding that when the Chavista people take to the streets, peace is guaranteed. “We won again because peace triumphed, they could not defeat us and will never be able to do so,” he stressed.
Special for Orinoco Tribune by staff
OT/JRE/SC
