I myself do not have the slightest element to contradict what Brian Mier saw in the Andrés Bello polling station. So I take this with me... His generalization to the whole of Caracas is immediately more problematic because he does not provide the slightest evidence for it.
But: "Maria Corina Machado, Edmundo Gonzalez, and the PUD announced weeks before the election that they were not going to respect the democratic rule of law and would tally their own election results." is immediately a very low-level accusation. What she said, among other things, was; "The regime will try to steal the election. But I have trust, full confidence in what the Venezuelan people voted for. We have built a platform to defend our votes; it’s unprecedented." She acted accordingly and the facts now prove that it was more than necessary. In the same style, I attach only a little bit more importance to what Lula said about Maduro's threats before the elections himself; https://www.theguardian.com/ world/article/2024/jul/22/ lula-maduro-venezuela- election-result ( https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/jul/22/lula-maduro-venezuela-election-result ) "Brazilian leader says he was ‘frightened’ by counterpart’s warnings of ‘bloodbath’ if he loses to Edmundo González." What Madura said, he is now making good; he is deploying his efficient repressive apparatus where it is needed; "Maduro,..., urged military chiefs to order a “total deployment” of their troops in response to the opposition challenge. " Earlier, Venezuela’s president told troops equipped with rifles and riot shields: “You can be certain that we will go after all of the criminals and all of the fascists because fascism will not seize power in Venezuela. I am willing to do anything and I am counting on you to ensure order, law and the constitution prevail.”... "This time there will be no forgiveness," Maduro told supporters at a rally in Caracas, where he said some 2,000 people had been detained in connection with "crimes" during the protests. He pledged "maximum punishment." And that's 30 years! But unfortunately, neither statement gets us much further than that both leaders knew in advance how the elections would go: Maduro knew that he had to threaten the population, I repeat, " *threaten"* , to give the appearance of being able to win. Machado of course also knew, as virtually everyone (Maduro included), from wherever the wind came. For her, it was not just about winning the election, she also had to prove it and she put all her efforts into that; https://apnews.com/article/venezuela-election-maduro-machado-edmundo-chorizo-6d9f3999c60c09eb30e69c757ce80b11 "Tens of thousands of volunteers participated in training workshops nationwide in recent months. They learned that under the law they could be inside polling centers on Election Day, stationed near voting machines, from before polls opened until the results had been electronically transmitted to the National Electoral Council in the capital, Caracas. .. Organizational discipline was key to their success because the ruling party wields tight control over the voting system. Polling places are guarded by soldiers, civilian militia, police and loyalists of the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela." The Herculean task reported in this article was not to win the election but to try to make the results known and respected! And whether she succeeded ! N ow it is more than a week after the elections and the only tallies I have seen are those that the opposition made public on a special website. Where everyone could check them. "Could" because Maduro had this website taken off the air... Sorry, I can't prove that. Of course, it could also be " those hackers from North Macedonia ; " ( https://balkaninsight.com/ 2024/07/30/north-macedonia- baffled-by-venezuelan-claims- of-hacking-attack/ ( https://balkaninsight.com/2024/07/30/north-macedonia-baffled-by-venezuelan-claims-of-hacking-attack/ ) ) who, among other things, prevent the electoral commission from publishing analogous figures... Furthermore, I am very disappointed about the attitude of top contributors to Marxmail, from whom I have learned a lot over the years. For people who follow Marxmail, the name Clay Claiborne will ring a bell...Here is his analysis of how Maduro " won " the previous elections; https://claysbeach.blogspot. com/2019/05/support-for- maduro-shows-what-democracy. html ( https://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2019/05/support-for-maduro-shows-what-democracy.html ) Claiborne is really not a superhuman and has to earn his living every day. Moreover, he follows world news in a broad sense. And I assume that someone who is a top contributor to Marxmail, and who is also active in the solidarity movement with Venezuela, is aware of the majority of the above facts... Facts that should give Trump a wet dream, but which would make the "white left" scream bloody murder if this happened to them in the US... At his conclusion, Claibourne bids them farewell with a kiss of death: "I'm sure Kevin Zeese wouldn't know anything about that. I'm sure the Maduro government is "democratic" enough for people of color as far as the representatives of the US white Left in the Embassy Protection Collective are concerned, but they would never accept this "democracy" for themselves." Are they never concerned about the fact that "the socialist" Maduro, in word and deed, only relies on his repressive apparatus, and that the great imperialist bogeyman as well as " the "fascist" opposition is doing everything possible to get as much clarity in the election results as possible? ffff -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#31484): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/31484 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/107722031/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. #4 Do not exceed five posts a day. -=-=- Group Owner: marxmail+ow...@groups.io Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/8674936/21656/1316126222/xyzzy [arch...@mail-archive.com] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
