Carmen Beatriz Fernández, an expert on Venezuelan political issues, shared exclusively with the lapatilla.com editorial team her vision of the next presidential elections that will take place in Venezuela on July 28th, 2024.
By Ana C. Guaita Barreto / lapatilla.com
Her analysis reveals the complexity of this electoral process within the national and international context that is increasingly turbulent.
For Professor Fernández these elections represent a crucial opportunity for Venezuela, noting that this is a unique moment in these last two decades in when the country could achieve significant political change.
Despite the challenges and difficulties facing the country, including recent events such as the arbitrary detention of opposition leaders by Maduro’s regime, the expert highlights the emergence of a consensus around the possibility of achieving change through the electoral route.
In her statements, Professor Fernández highlights the change in attitude within Venezuelan society, indicating that the majority recognizes the importance of participating in the electoral process as a tool for political change. This new spirit, according to Fernández, has been strengthened throughout the year, especially after the primary elections that have awakened renewed hope and energy in Venezuelan society.
However, Ella Fernández emphasizes that the current electoral conditions in Venezuela are far from fair and free, which poses a considerable challenge to the democratic exercise. Despite this reality, she highlights the possibility of achieving significant changes through electoral participation, although she recognizes the obstacles and limitations that exist along the way.
And about María Corina’s replacement?
Corina Yoris Villasana, a Philosophy, Literature graduate with a PhD in History. She is a professor of Logic and Argumentation Theory at several university institutions (University of Salamanca). Master in Latin American Literature (USB), she was chosen by the Democratic Unity Platform to replace María Corina Machado as the opposition candidate in the next presidential elections.
Yoris has been president of the Venezuelan Society of Philosophy and member of the board of directors of the Inter-American Society and the Ibero-American Philosophy Network. She is a member of the Mexican Academy of Logic and the International Étienne Gilson Society. She is a professor of Logic and Argumentation Theory at different university institutions.
Another point in Yoris’ favor is that she was also a main member of the National Primary Commission of the Unitary Platform since November 2022.
During her academic career, she has been recognized by the Institute of Higher Studies of Estagira (Michoacán, Mexico), with the Andrés Bello Catholic University Order, the only class, also for her 30 years of service in that house of studies and with the award for Philosophical Research Federico Riu.
Recently, she was named a full member of the Venezuelan Academy of Language.
Regarding the appointment of Corina Yoris as Machado’s replacement for the elections, Professor Fernández believes that it is “a very good appointment.”
In Fernández’s opinion, Yoris is an academic with a brilliant career and a grandmother.
“She has not had a history of service in public administration or in partisan politics, which makes it more difficult to justify an eventual disqualification,” she said.
According to what our interviewee explained, the coincidence of names facilitates communication work. “In addition, her appointment surprised all and everyone, which is always positive in the dynamics of political communication,” she said.
July 28, a precalculated date?
According to the political communication expert, the announcement of the election date has three readings.
1 – It is the birthdate of Hugo Chávez:
According to what Fernández detailed, Chavismo is seeking to attract support from Chávez followers who until now had not identified with Maduro’s regime.
“After so many efforts throughout many years, almost since his 2018 re-election, Maduro has tried to eliminate all iconic remains of Chávez because he wanted to have his own ‘leadership’. He erased all the little eyes of Chávez that were on all the public building facades there all over Venezuela, he created the figure of Super Mustache to which he invested a lot of money and care, trying to create that autonomy in his leadership image,” the professor specified.
In Fernández’s opinion, Chavismo seeks to “lay hands” on Chávez in this situation, which shows that its strategies did not work. “It is great evidence of what the polls are saying: very low levels of popularity,” she pointed out.
2 – Barbados Agreement
The second observation that our interviewee made is that the date is within what was originally stated in the Barbados agreements, which said that the elections should be held during the second semester, and thus is being fulfilled.
“It is interesting that this is the case because one can see that there are some efforts to ‘respect’ or show that the Barbados agreements are respected, that is, to get out of the straitjacket that Barbados implies for the ruling party, but without disregarding it completely, and thus have some argument that can be presented at a possible continued negotiation table,” said Fernández.
3 – Long period between the election and the next inauguration
“The third observation has another even more striking spin and that is that when it is decided to hold the election so early, what is also being decided is that there is a very long period between the election date and the transfer of power,” Fernández highlighted.
She highlighted an important point that very few have talked about: there are seven months between July 28th, 2024 and January 10th, 2025, which would be inauguration day.
According to her explanation, this becomes an event worthy of attention and “it seems that in the management of those times the ruling party has wanted to have a few months for an eventual control of the transition and that is very striking in itself.”
In the midst of this electoral process, the parties agreed to accept the presence of international observers who would supervise the elections, including representatives of the European Union and the United Nations.