Venezuela’s opposition on Tuesday dismissed the likelihood of a civil war if it defeats President Nicolas Maduro in Sunday’s presidential election, its leaders said during their final campaign rally in Zulia, the state with the most voters in the country.
The Bolivarian National Armed Forces are “the last institution that wants a conflict” and “are clear that the government of Edmundo González Urrutia represents stability and peace,” said leader María Corina Machado upon arriving in Maracaibo to participate in a rally on 5 de Julio Street with the opposition presidential candidate.
“They don’t want to shoot at each other or at the people,” he added.
Machado accompanied González Urrutia, a 74-year-old diplomat, to close his campaign in Maracaibo, the capital of the state with the largest number of registered voters, some 2.6 million.
Both opposition leaders insisted that a civil war in Venezuela is unlikely if the government loses the election, as President Maduro warned days ago, assuring that the opposition’s project is one of “transformation, order and peace.”
The candidate, for his part, highlighted that the former president of Argentina, Alberto Fernández, expressed himself on Tuesday in terms similar to those of the president of Brazil, whom he thanked for “such firmness and assertiveness” when referring to Maduro’s remarks.
On Monday, Brazilian president Luis Inácio Lula da Silva said he was “scared” by Maduro’s claims that there would be a “bloodbath” in Venezuela if the opposition wins the election and called on him to accept the result and leave power if that happens.
González Urrutia invited the military to comply with Article 328 of the Constitution, which speaks of their professional and nonpartisan essence, as well as their exclusive service to the nation, not to individuals.
Message to Lula?
Maduro, for his part, insisted on Tuesday that he has “saved Venezuela from civil war several times” and called on his supporters to vote in favor of “peace,” not “war,” denouncing that the opposition is preparing to “cry fraud” in the election on Sunday.
“We are the peace, stability and tranquility of the country. I did not tell lies, I only made a reflection,” he said at a rally in Cojedes, regarding his mention in recent days of the possibility of “a bloodbath” and “a civil war” if he loses the election.
“I know your plans, fascist right, but peace will triumph in Venezuela and they will not be able to tarnish the process (…) I don’t want a show, or crying,” he added.
Maduro appeared to be referring to Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva for his remarks on Monday. “Whoever is scared should drink some chamomile tea (a drink to calm nerves), because the people of Venezuela are cured of fear,” he said.
“I predict to those who were scared: in Venezuela we are going to have the largest electoral victory ever seen,” said Maduro, who then traveled to Valencia, in Carabobo, for another rally.
From Valencia, the Venezuelan head of government said that the opposition “will regret it for 200 years” if they “suck up the light” on Sunday. “Do whatever you want because there will be elections here, peace will triumph and we will have the greatest electoral victory in history,” he stressed.
“Incidents” in Zulia and a demand for witnesses
María Corina Machado’s party, Vente Venezuela, reported that the opposition leader had to cross part of the long Lara-Zulia highway on foot, in the west of the country, due to a “traffic jam” in Ciudad Ojeda, on the eastern coast of Lake Maracaibo. They released videos where she was seen walking with motorcyclists, between parked trucks.
Machado crossed the iconic bridge over the lake accompanied by dozens of people on foot, who surrounded her truck shouting “this government is going to fall” and “freedom” and singing the national anthem, among the military officers who usually guard the road.
Spokesmen for the opposition command in Zulia reported the arrest of six members of the logistics team and the “retention” of two trucks that were to be used in the rally in Maracaibo and to transport González Urrutia.
They celebrated that Machado was able to overcome “a series of incidents” on his way from Lara state to reach Maracaibo.
The leader of Vente Venezuela, for her part, complained that the government intends to “prevent” table witnesses from printing their credentials from the National Electoral Council system.
He claimed that the government “has gone so far” as to prevent the credentials of those who are called to “defend” each vote on election day, which they have denounced to international observers, he said.
“It is a confession by the regime, which knows it has been defeated,” he told reporters minutes before heading to the rally on 5 de Julio Street.
In the morning, González Urrutia was named an “honorary member” of the Un Nuevo Tiempo party, founded in Zulia by the current governor Manuel Rosales and whose card is considered the second most important of the opposition on the electoral ballot.
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