Consider This from NPR - Venezuelans foresaw a new chapter. Then Maduro claimed victory

Episode Date: July 29, 2024

For a brief moment, people in the Venezuelan diaspora felt a surge of hope as reports indicated the opposition party was polling way ahead of Nicolas Maduro's party. Then, Venezuela's electoral authority declared Maduro the winner. Members of the opposition have cried foul. And the US and other international observers have questioned the integrity of the election.So where does Sunday's election leave Venezuelans, who are living in the midst of a humanitarian emergency? And where does it leave the nearly 8 million people who have left Venezuela during President Maduro's time in office?For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.Email us at [e-mail] more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

For a brief moment on Sunday, people in the Venezuelan diaspora felt a surge of hope. As I drove around Washington, D.C. running errands, the radio played reports showing that the opposition was pulling way ahead of authoritarian President Nicolas Maduro's party. At a stoplight, I pulled up behind a scooter. The driver was flying a Venezuelan flag. She'd made a sign saying, Venezuela is free today. But her optimism was premature. Within a matter of hours, Venezuela's electoral authority declared Maduro the winner. Members of the opposition cried foul. That's the opposition's most popular leader, Maria Corina Machado.

She called the results a gross disregard and violation of popular sovereignty. We won and the whole world knows it, she told reporters. The U.S. and other international observers have questioned the integrity of the elections. Here's Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaking from Tokyo Sunday night. We have serious concerns that the result announced does not reflect the will or the votes of the Venezuelan people. Nearly a quarter of Venezuela's population has left the country since Maduro took power 12 years ago. Even though Venezuela sits on massive oil reserves, the country's economy has imploded in the last decade. Consider this. Many Venezuelans who left their country hoped that this week would mark the start of a new chapter. Instead, they're left wondering whether the future will be any better than the past.

From NPR, I'm Ari Shapiro. It's Consider This from NPR. Venezuelans live in the midst of a humanitarian emergency. The country has the highest prevalence of undernourishment in South America. Some two-thirds of the population can't access public health services. There are shortages of medicine, electricity, and close to 8 million people have left Venezuela during President Nicolas Maduro's time in office. So what could Maduro's continued rule mean for those millions of people who have had to flee? I talked about that with Venezuelan journalist and novelist Karina Sainz-Borgo, who lives in Madrid now.

She told me she wasn't at all surprised by the way this played out. I know it sounds kind of cold, and it sounds as if I was distanced from this, because the fact is that we have 25 years of authoritarian regime. I mean, it's unbelievable to think that someone as Nicolás Maduro would be able to have clear elections. So when I saw this, one of the things I really thought in the beginning, it was, I'm very afraid of a new repressive blow. Because it's true that he did not recognize the elections, but he may also use the force against people to obligate them to accept that. You mean if people protest in the street saying we object and don't believe these results,

he might crack down with violence as his government has done in the past? I do. I do believe that because he already did that in 2017 and 2018 against students. I don't know if you remember, there was a terrible, terrible, huge wave of repression and violence against people. And that's what makes me feel afraid in this moment. It's true that this is a very important political moment in Venezuela because, you know, this opposition with Machado and Gonzalez, they claim they had a 70% of support. It's important to prove that. I mean, the electoral records of, you know,

it's 218,000 voting stations in the country. As the results of this election come in and it's sinking in that Maduro has another six years in power, what are your friends and relatives in Venezuela telling you? Especially if there's a fear that street protests and objections could be met with violence. Well, there's a fear that street protests and objections could be met with violence. Well, there's a new feeling of frustration between people, but most of the people, including people that vote for Maduro and for Chavez as well, they want to leave the country.

Because I insist, this is a popular feeling. It's a popular feeling of they want a change. They need an economical change. The most important reason of all is an economical change. People are trying to mobilize because the economy is absolutely broken. I mean, it's part of the daily life in the country, not only because of authoritarianism, which is true, but it's true because of the economic crisis and the economic situation. About a quarter of Venezuela's population has left the country in the last decade or so as the economy imploded. Millions of Venezuelans live in Latin America, the United States and

Europe. Can you tell us about the conversations happening today in chat groups and Facebook pages among Venezuelan expats? You know, everyone has this feeling of being robbed. It's a very huge frustration. But at the same time, people are saying, it doesn't surprise me. Because I insist, Arti, it's been too many years of frustration. It's very difficult to fight against an authoritarian regime.

One of the things that was very surprising of this election with Maria Corina Machado and Edmundo Gonzalez candidates is that people really recovered the feeling of it might be possible to have a solution to this. This is a very important situation and it it's a very, very huge frustration for people. That's why everyone is expecting to have to be listened to, to have to be seen, to make possible to denounce the fraud with elections. You're saying people allowed themselves to feel hopeful and optimistic, but you didn't. Is that just because you're a cynical, jaded journalist or what?

Maybe. It might be. Maybe it's possible. I have a very difficult situation with Venezuela. I feel frustrated in a way. And the other part, I try to be realistic. And we have to try to understand this rationally. Too much emotions are not good to understand what's happening.

So that's why we're so weak against all these robberies, against all these frauds. We need to have a very more rational thinking about what's happening. And it's very, very, very, it's very hard to reconstruct Venezuela. In the case, we were able to do it. So that's why I always, I always insist in, as a journalist, as a novelist, as a commentator? I mean, you have so many different roles, it must be difficult to keep the feelings in separate boxes. I think I'm broken. Really, I'm broken. Since since too many years ago, I've of course, I feel Venezuelan and I feel part of Venezuela. But it's been so difficult for me to talk about this and try to understand.

And I really try to separate myself from that process. I know it sounds weird, but I had to do this. Of course, everything I write and everything I do as a novelist is very related to Venezuela because it's my own feelings there. As a journalist, I try to be very, very, very rational, as I told you. I need to be rational to try to keep my mind safe, you know, of insane or maybe of a big frustration. Am I correct that the last time you visited Venezuela was 2013, more than a decade ago? Indeed, yeah. It was more than a decade ago, really.

As you saw the polls showing that the opposition was ahead, did you ever allow yourself to dream about returning to the country under a different leadership? No, I don't want to go back because I understand it sounds terrible. But, you know, the huge damage of the Venezuelan society, it has so big dimensions that we can't solve that in five years. There's a very deep, deep, deep and strong feeling of disease in the Venezuelan society. I feel, I don't feel near that anymore. For me, it's very difficult. I know it sounds terrible,

but what I do really think is that people, a lot of people that really wanted to go back need and they really need to go back to reconstruct things. I do not feel that, but a lot of people outside really does. Karina Sainz Borgo is a Venezuelan journalist living in Madrid, and she is the author of the novel It Would Be Night in Caracas. Thank you so much. Thank you, Adi.

This episode was produced by Catherine Fink and Kira Joaquim. NPR's Carrie Khan contributed reporting from Caracas. The episode was edited by Courtney Dorning and Christopher Intagliata. Thank you. hosts and some moments of joy from the All Things Considered team. You can sign up at npr.org slash consider this newsletter. It's Consider This from NPR. I'm Ari Shapiro.