The Latin American Report # 315: midnight breaking edition on Venezuela

Opposition candidate Edmundo González, who claims to have been the winner of the presidential elections of last July 28, is flying right now to Madrid in a Spanish Air Force aircraft, as confirmed by Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares via X. González had been taking refuge in the Spanish embassy in Caracas for days, Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez said on her Instagram account. Then, after negotiating with Madrid, Miraflores guaranteed him safe conduct to leave the country. The opposition people thus receive a blow from which I do not think they will recover for many years. There are too many disappointments for an electorate that once again had hopes for a leadership that—once again—let them down. I summarize below the main blunders by my account of the Venezuelan opposition in the recent electoral process, characterized—let us not forget—by the lack of transparency of the electoral authority, controlled by Chavism.

_{Edmundo González (source).}

• In the so-called Barbados Agreement, where the Government and the opposition fixed points in common in view of the elections, the latter never committed Chavismo to the solution of its main demands, mainly that of having María Corina Machado approved as candidate. All the points of the agreement depended on the compliance with the current institutionality and the laws. As I have said before, either the opposition is very stupid or plays that role. Finally, Chavismo's #1 enemy accepted that she would not be a candidate.
  

• Machado's replacement could not have been more counterproductive. Edmundo González Urrutia was not presidential. The campaign was at Machado's expense, who transferred all her political capital to him. Look, González babbles instead of speaking, and was clearly not prepared for the onslaught of Chavismo, which, intelligently, concentrated on him the artillery of the Public Prosecutor's Office. Miraflores smelled blood and attacked where the vulnerability was. While María Corina was seen in public in the great days of demonstrations, Edmundo hid himself, literally. The people needed a brave and vibrant candidate, protesting with them, confronting Chavismo in a direct and sincere way, risking his freedom.
  

• The other big problem of the opposition leadership is that it continues to be anti-Venezuelan, far from the notion of sovereignty. I represent it as that little boy who cannot solve the problems that arise with others by himself, but by calling the big guys in the neighborhood (United States) to beat, punish and sanction whoever is bothering him. And I'm not disregarding here how hard it is to deal with PSUV. So now, game over?
  

And this is all for our report today. I have referenced the sources dynamically in the text, and remember you can learn how and where to follow the LATAM trail news by reading my work here. Have a nice day.