Venezuelan far-right opposition politicians Henrique Capriles (left) and María Corina Machado (right) at a political event, October 2023, Caracas. Photo: Federico Parra/AFP.
By Misión Verdad – Oct 11, 2024
The growing public confrontation between Henrique Capriles and Julio Borges, leaders of the right-wing Justice First (PJ) party, highlights the serious and profound internal crisis in the party which currently does not officially exist as a recognized political entity.
On April 22, the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice appointed José Brito as president of the ad hoc board of directors of PJ, a decision that authorized him to “use the electoral card, the logo, the symbols, the emblems, the colors, and any other concept specific to said political party.”
This confrontation within the PJ takes place amid a broader crisis affecting the Venezuelan opposition linked to the far-right coalition Unitary Platform (PUD), marked by Edmundo González Urrutia’s departure from Venezuela and the fading of María Corina Machado’s leadership.
Brief summary of what happened in Justice First
On September 23, Henrique Capriles resigned from the PJ board of directors, but he remains a member. In his resignation statement, he alleged that the board has “lost vision, internal unity, and collective leadership.”
Capriles’ criticism focused on the absence of a “clear plan or solid policy that opens democratic pathways for the country,” and he decried that the party has been affected by the imposition of interests from a group within the leadership itself.
Capriles’ resignation followed PJ’s announcement of the “self-exclusion” of former deputy Eudoro González Dellán, who is accused of having acted “unilaterally” to facilitate González Urrutia’s departure to Spain.
Accusations and counter-accusations
Accusations and counter-accusations between the Borges and Capriles factions of PJ, reported by journalist Celina Carquez, further complicate the political landscape of the party.
In a statement via WhatsApp, Borges told Carquez that the internal struggle focuses on those “who think we need to turn the page on July 28” and “those of us who think that in Venezuela today is July 28, and it will not be July 29 or 2025 until we make the votes of 8 million Venezuelans count.”
With this statement, Borges targeted Capriles and other representatives of PJ, such as Juan Requesens, Ángel Medina, Alfonso Marquina and others, whom he accused of trying to “normalize” the government of President Nicolás Maduro and to hope for the party’s participation in the legislative, regional, and local elections of 2025.
On the other hand, the Julio Borges faction, which is closer to María Corina Machado’s pressure strategy, consists of Juan Pablo Guanipa, Carlos Ocariz, Juan Carlos Caldera, María Beatriz Martínez, and Paola Bautista.
Capriles accused Borges of opaque management and lack of transparency in PJ. “Borges refuses to inform the party how and in what he uses the money for financing activities or how the country’s frozen funds are being handled,” said Capriles.
He also accused Borges of using party funds for smear campaigns on social media against other PJ members. “The coward Borges uses paid webpages and influencers to discredit members of the ‘party’,” Capriles claimed.
Capriles also directed his comments against Juan Carlos Caldera, whom he accused of “leaking information to the SEBIN [Venezuelan intelligence agency] about Edmundo González during the campaign.”
Juan Pablo Guanipa criticized Capriles for making public his resignation from the national board of PJ before addressing the differences in vision within the party internally, a discussion that, according to Guanipa, had been agreed upon to take place after July 28.
On the other hand, Juan Requesens described the conflict from a perspective of “intolerance” and “lack of respect for diversity.”
“When someone who thinks differently from you is identified—within the collegiate body—as a person who contradicts party values and is an ‘enemy,’ and a moral conflict arises within the collegiate body, where we are all together, the differences become more pronounced,” he said.
In this way, both factions are pointing fingers at each other in a more general context where the opposition’s base sees their leaders distancing themselves from María Corina Machado and her agenda.
July 28: breaking point
A crisis that was dragging on for several years before the July 28 elections has now reached its peak.
Julio Borges is a prominent representative of the anti-political agenda that rejected the electoral path and institutional dialogue while supporting the unilateral coercive measures and the promotion of foreign pressure against Venezuela, which ultimately led to the “Guaidó project” in which he, from abroad, acted as the “foreign minister” of the fake government. He participated in the blockade and the theft of Venezuelan assets abroad.
The accumulated grievances among the groups excluded from that operation and harmed by adhering to the line of self-exclusion from Venezuelan politics only worsened around what was supposedly an attempt at absolute cohesion towards Edmundo González’s candidacy.
Given the lack of consensus on a unified leadership, the opposition decided to call for primary elections to select a single candidate for the presidential elections. However, during this stage, which was presented as an exercise in unity, clashes emerged among the opposing sectors, while the lack of organization in the lead-up to the event was also visible.
In this scenario, the idea of considering disqualified candidates became solidified, with María Corina Machado, having an extremely radical approach, emerging as the predominant figure within this movement. In this way, she won the primaries in a process plagued with controversies.
Aware of the impossibility of making her candidacy viable, Machado took the prerogative of unilaterally deciding on her replacement, which further deteriorated the relationship between her and the traditional opposition parties.
Capriles himself was ignored by Machado when he repeatedly suggested considering other options for designating a candidate, from among those who had participated in the primaries as well as those who had not.
Her complaints of “treason” regarding the registration of Manuel Rosales and Edmundo González as “provisional” candidates also highlighted her intention of exerting unilateral control over the process.
Thereafter, she took the reins of González’s campaign and projected herself as the real candidate, which intensified the struggles not only within the PUD but also within PJ and fueled divisions regarding her actions.
According to Juan Requesens, as quoted by Carquez, the campaign for July 28 was marked by internal tensions of this kind. He recounted that an event in Petare, which he organized together with González, was sabotaged by María Beatriz Martínez, who, according to him, caused a scandal by recording a video and posting it on social media.
Requesens also claimed that Martínez, along with Tomás Guanipa, excluded PJ leaders like Capriles, Alfonso Marquina, and himself from activities with María Corina Machado and Edmundo González, arguing that the former were part of Machado’s “inner circle.”
Critical decisions for survival
There is a widespread trend among the parties that supported Machado and González Urrutia to set aside their agenda since, following the brief episode of political violence that occurred after July 28, the mobs have been demobilized by the Venezuelan security forces, and the criminal violence operation with terrorist overtones that sought to bring about regime change has been dismantled.
The uncertainty regarding the consequences of continuing with Machado’s agenda, which bears similarities with the “Guaidó project,” intensifies this trend. In particular, in the case of PJ, where factions that still defend this approach coexist with those that do not, and hence, the internal struggle intensifies.
The lack of determination in the opposition leadership in the face of Machado’s strategy to establish herself as the undisputed leader of the opposition in the post-electoral context, taking advantage of the public attention that she received, has led them to the current crossroads.
Now that the opposition’s “Until the end” narrative is collapsing, some sectors of the opposition have returned to electoral calculations and pacts with the Venezuelan government. This is clearly reflected in the crisis that PJ is going through, in which María Corina Machado stands as a central figure, since her extremist agenda has fueled divisions and internal conflicts within the party.
For PJ, both its survival and its political relevance are at stake. This also applies to the rest of the PUD. They face the dilemma of exploring the electoral and negotiation routes or yielding to the pressures of the more radical sectors, with their own promises of a supposed imminent “transition” becoming more unachievable as time passes.
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/SC/DZ
Misión Verdad
Misión Verdad is a Venezuelan investigative journalism website with a socialist perspective in defense of the Bolivarian Revolution
