The Venezuelan opposition confirms its triumph in the fiefdom of the Chávez dynasty

The Venezuelan opposition won again in the state of Barinas.

The candidate of the Democratic Unity Table, Sergio Garrido, was elected governor in the repetition of the elections ordered by the Supreme Court after annulling the victory of the opposition Freddy Superlano in the regional elections on November 21, a juague that has come out bad to Chavismo.

The victory was obtained with 57.6% of the votes, an advantage of 16 points and a participation of more than half of the electorate, according to the brief report given by the National Electoral Council.

The result was initially known through the statement of the loser Jorge Arreaza, Hugo Chávez's ex-minister who was promoted by the Government.

“Barinas dear.

The information we receive from our PSUV structures indicates that, although we increased in voting, we have not achieved the objective.

I warmly thank our heroic militancy.

We will continue to protect the Barinese people from all spaces, "he wrote in a tweet after 10 pm, when the CNE had not yet announced the results.

After the recognition of Arreaza, Sergio Garrido and Freddy Superlano gave a press conference in which they confirmed their victory.

"Barinas has set an example of how we can get out of the obstacles in unity," said Superlano, who took over as short-term campaign manager after he was stripped of the victory in November and disqualified.

The Venezuelan opposition achieves an important victory, against the overwhelming power of Chavismo. Not only has it put an end to the Chávez dynasty, who ruled the state for 20 years, but it has also defied the government in all its maneuvers to try to distort the results that began with the annulment of the Superlano victory. Sergio Garrido won against all the waste of resources of the State led by several ministers of Nicolás Maduro, who settled in Barinas to push their candidate. The new elections saw a huge military and police deployment of more than 25 thousand officials for just under a thousand polling stations, which was considered intimidation. Chavismo distributed refrigerators and electrical appliances and supplied the region with gasoline and gas that are scarce throughout the country.

Barinas joins Zulia, Guárico and Nueva Esparta among the governorships won by the opposition, plus a third of the mayoralties.

The election in Barinas became a common objective for the opposition, amid divergences in the platform of support for the leadership of Juan Guaidó.

National leaders of different opposition parties joined Garrido's campaign.

Now the result serves as the basis for a change of direction in the opposition strategy, weakened by its failures in the search for a political transition in Venezuela and blurred by abstaining in the elections of recent years.

The triumph of Barinas in a second attempt strengthens them in the face of the electoral scenario of the presidential elections of 2024 or a possible recall of Maduro that some sectors promote for this year.

The new vote in this plains region 500 kilometers from Caracas became a national matter. The one who was defeated in November was Argenis Chávez, brother of the former president and part of the dynasty that has ruled this state for two decades. Chávez was running for re-election and resigned after the Supreme Court suspended the recount of votes and ordered a repeat of the elections. He also declined to be a candidate in this new opportunity. The Government of Nicolás Maduro placed on him all the responsibilities of a defeat that has a national reading, as it expresses the level of rejection that exists in Venezuela of Chavismo and Maduro, with less than 15% approval and an increasingly reduced number of votes .

For Barinas, as a political symbol, the Government has decided to jettison the small advances made during the past year in negotiations with the opposition to find a way out of Venezuela's long political crisis.

In the November elections, the presence of an electoral observation mission from the European Union was achieved, something that had not happened for 15 years, although it was expelled after presenting a preliminary report of the electoral process in which it recognized an improvement in conditions. , but they denounced various government irregularities and abuses. This was one of the concessions given by Maduro for his adversaries to agree to run again in elections, after remaining abstained as a boycott in recent years. The electoral referee was also changed and for the first time two rectors with no ties to Chavismo were incorporated. Maduro also promised to eliminate the figure of the "protectors", full of powers and resources, who have been appointed in the territories controlled by the opposition.It remains to be seen whether in this contested territory he will fulfill his promise.

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