Sitting president Nicolás Maduro has warned of “bloodbath” if he doesn’t win…
Portuguese MEP Sebastião Bugalho and other members of the European People’s Party were prevented from entering Venezuela yesterday on a mission to monitor the Venezuelan presidential elections on Sunday.
This was a mission that had all the conditions “to go smoothly”, Bugalho told reporters, before he and his delegation set out.
The euro MPs were invited by the Venezuelan democratic opposition after sitting president Nicolás Maduro withdrew his invitation to an official election observation mission by the European Union.
But the replacement invite was not accepted: the delegation arrived in Caracas to be told it would not be allowed out of the airport.
The Portuguese delegation has decried the turn of events as “unjustified”, saying it disrespects the mandate of elected MPs, the presidency of the European People’s Party parliamentary group and, ultimately, the European Parliament and the European Union”.
But it wasn’t just the European mission that has been barred entry to Venezuela. A group made up of former Latin American presidents was also unable to fly into the country after the plane they were traveling in was prevented from taking off from Panama.
In the midst of an economic, social and political crisis, 21 million Venezuelans are eligible to vote in tomorrow’s elections. It has been an electoral campaign marked by tension. Sitting president Nicolás Maduro – a man that has managed to remain in place for the last 11 years, despite enormous pressure to the contrary – has warned that defeat for his socialist PSUV party could trigger “a bloodbath”.
His original adversary, María Corina Machado, was barred from running for office after winning an opposition primary last October (with 93% of the votes), which is why the current candidate Edmundo González has taken her place (with Ms Machado remaining beside him on the campaign trail).
Opinion polls suggest González’s lead over Maduro is so overwhelming that it will thwart any potential attempts by the government to steal the election… but right now, nothing is certain. (One has to recall that a man few can remember today was ‘recognised’ in 2019 by ‘the West’, including Portugal, as the interim president of Venezuela. Nicolás Maduro made sure that never came to anything. Within a year, Portugal had been forced to accept that Maduro and his political party were Venezuela’s ‘de facto leaders’.
UPDATE: arriving back in Europe (Madrid) today, Sebastião Bugalho said: “As a Portuguese I’m hurt, offended, worried about what might happen in Venezuela tomorrow (Sunday). Because I, as a Portuguese MEP, have to defend democracy, human rights and free and transparent elections. Which free and transparent country expels visitors before the elections? None.”
natasha.donn@portugalresident.com
