Maduro’s re-election in Venezuela deals a blow to Western ‘regime change’ plotters

By Musa Iqbal 

Venezuela’s presidential election concluded with the victory of incumbent Nicolas Maduro, who defeated the pro-US opposition figure Edmundo González, quite convincingly and unsurprisingly.

Maduro defeated Gonzàlez by bagging 51 percent of the vote to Gonzàlez’s 44 percent, with three other candidates totaling the remaining 4 percent of the votes cast.

The close victory was met with joyous celebration throughout the capital Caracas and other cities where the PSUV (Partido Socialista Unido de Venezuela, or United Socialist Party of Venezuela in English) enjoys considerable popularity and acceptance among people. 

Gonzàlez, however, has refused to concede defeat gracefully. Backed by imperialist powers and influencers in the West, he has sought to disrupt the election process and even challenge its integrity – clearly at the behest of his backers in the West.

Already, Gonzàlez supporters, very likely supported by the typical US intelligence playbook, are rampaging through some regions of Venezuela hoping for intervention. Maduro’s victory, however, is as certain as the foreign “regime change” plots that have a long history in Venezuela.

The 2024 presidential election in the South American country was attended by over 800 international observers and watched closely around the world as Venezuela has been subject to imperialist aggression for over a decade now.

Although imperialist hostility against Venezuela started more than two decades ago with the launch of the Bolivarian Revolution by late Venezuelan anti-imperialist and revolutionary hero Hugo Chavez, a more acute crisis unfolded during the mid-2010s as the Barack Obama administration subjected Caracas to extreme sanctions meant to destabilize the economy.

The administration of Donald Trump followed Obama’s path, upping the ante with harsher sanctions and even failed mercenary plots.

The PSUV knew that if they won, no matter how much the margin of victory would be, it would be challenged by a chorus of regime-change imperialists looking to introduce another round of tightening sanctions.

Maduro’s planning has driven down inflation by an impressive amount - from a six-digit 130,000 percent to just around 50 percent in a matter of four years.

The wounds of imperialism are still fresh, and the punishment for sovereignty is something that millions of voters recalled as they cast their votes Sunday night. 

It is to be noted that imperialist powers had their minds made up regarding the election before the first vote was even cast.

Years of anti-Maduro propaganda have created a narrative in Western audiences that there is no way Maduro could win - and if he did - the election would be rigged.

For Washington, which has led the campaign to topple the PSUV and the Bolivarian Revolution - either Maduro loses and the election is legitimate, or Maduro wins and the election is a farce. 

This can easily be observed by American politicians' general orientation to Maduro’s administration years leading to the election, the day of, and immediate reactions after the results. 

For example, in 2020, US Senator Chris Murphy outright admitted that the US policy towards Venezuela has been orchestrating a coup using forces already within the country that would back US puppet Juan Guaido.

But Murphy’s confession still was cloaked by a lie that the US was interested in a “democratic Venezuela.” A more outward truth was boasted by Trump, who conceded he was after Venezuela's oil reserves.

“When I left, Venezuela was ready to collapse. We would have taken it over; we would have gotten to all that oil; it would have been right next door.” 

This is perfectly in line with the US policy not only towards Latin America but the rest of the world. Wherever there are natural resources to be exploited, there is a crisis that can be manufactured, and when that crisis fails to take hold, then even mercenary plots are still on the table - such as the failed coup attempt using US mercenaries in 2020. 

The US has no intention of recognizing any Venezuelan result outside of a result where an opposition candidate, particularly someone who would bow to US demands, would win. 

This is despite independent and legally recognized observers, such as the National Lawyers Guild, praising the fairness of Venezuela’s election.

In a statement summarizing the election experience, NLG President Suzanne Adely states: “The Venezuelan elections today were not only fair and transparent but also represented an example of popular civic participation. Their successful outcome is a triumph for the Venezuelan people, especially considering the level of US interference and attempted sabotage of the democratic process, particularly through sanctions and coercive economic measures aimed at producing ‘regime change’ in Venezuela.”

Refusing to toe the line of US State Department officials such as Antony Blinken, who condemned the election results, the NLG instead pressed the US on its regime-change program of destabilization.

“Despite the soundness of the electoral process, the U.S. backed opposition, with support from an anti-Maduro western press, has refused to accept the results, undermining the stability of Venezuela’s democracy.”

Before the election results were announced, US Vice President and Democratic Party presidential candidate Kamala Harris released a statement urging “the will of the Venezuelan people must be respected.”

This message appeared as exit polls - which are not official in Venezuela and considered illegal - claimed Maduro was losing by a landslide.

These exit polls were likely created by regime change specialists to control the narrative around the election.

It is these fabricated polls that are being utilized to delegitimize the results of this election. Exit polls are illegal, so citing exit polls as a figure to prove election manipulation just proves that American interference was planned from the start. 

Another interesting element leading the attack on Venezuelan democracy is known imperialist and Zionist Elon Musk, who took to his social media platform X several times to write off Maduro as a dictator.

In the past, Musk has boasted publicly about supporting US-backed coups, such as the coup attempt in Bolivia - where Musk tweeted “We will coup whoever we want!”

Musk recently also shook hands with war criminal Benjamin Netanyahu, who gave him a tour of occupied Palestinian territories shortly after the October 7th Palestinian resistance Operation Al Aqsa Flood. 

Musk’s sentiments are agreed upon by a bulk of Western politicians and capitalists, who are quick to dismiss the election results. 

So what are Musk’s interests in Venezuela? And for that matter, why are imperialist powers so fixated on the country, especially as oil reserves can be found elsewhere too?

Musk’s orientation to Maduro and the PSUV is fundamental to understanding Venezuela’s political standing globally, as well as Musk’s own ilk of imperialist warmongers.

The West’s ambitions are not limited simply to Venezuela’s copious oil reserves and skilled labor surrounding it. It is a fact that under the Bolivarian Revolution kicked off by Hugo Chavez in 1999, Venezuela has played an extremely important anti-imperialist role - particularly within a shared hemisphere with the US. 

Venezuela has maintained close connections with longtime US targets Cuba and Nicaragua. It has supported the socialist paths taken by Bolivia with Evo Morales and Luis Acre and Peru with Pedro Castillo (despite Castillo being removed from power in a US-backed coup).

Much to the disdain of Washington, Maduro has kept close ties with Russia, China, and Iran - countries that the US has fiercely sought to dismantle and subjugate. Maduro famously recalled his visit with late anti-terror commander Qassem Soleimani, in which imperialist powers conducted attacks on Venezuela’s electrical grid. Soleimani brought in Iranian experts who quickly repaired the damage. 

In the broader sense of geopolitics, Venezuela led by Maduro and the PSUV is a Venezuela that refuses to bend to American interests. It seeks sovereign control over its land and people.

It is for this reason that the West has subjected Venezuela to crushing sanctions that have resulted in an immense migration crisis - a crisis that the West shames Venezuela over, but itself profits millions from exploitable undocumented labor. It is punishment for daring to pursue independence and not allowing American capitalists to run the country. 

Maduro’s victory, though by a close margin, signals that despite the horrific sanctions placed on Venezuela for daring to carve its path - much like Iran, Cuba, Syria, China, and so on - a majority of the people still reject imperialist rule. And that is what the choice came down to - sovereignty with the PSUV, or the next Latin American Imperialist puppet state with González. 

As coup plots are conducted and likely more sanctions are brought on, the Venezuelan people have spoken - they would rather fight the good fight rather than bow to imperialist subjugation. Venceremos! 

Musa Iqbal is a Boston-based researcher and writer focused on US domestic and foreign policy.

(The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of Press TV.)

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