The Venezuelan opposition primary has followed a paved road until it finally materializes, if nothing unexpected happens, this Sunday in the midst of great uncertainties. Censorship is added to the challenges of complicated logistics managed by civil society and political parties, given the late response of the National Electoral Council to provide support. The National Press Union has denounced that journalists and directors of radio media have received pressure to suspend their limited coverage starting Friday night on the process with which the forces that dissent from the Nicolás Maduro Government train the muscle of the mobilization.
“We document informal calls and communications from regional and national officials of Conatel (National Telecommunications Commission, which regulates radio media) to the directors and owners of radio and television stations, in which they remind the media that “they are not obliged to ” to cover the event because it is not “official” as it does not have the support of the National Electoral Council. In other cases, it is expressly stated that “the primaries should not be covered,” he points out. the NGO Espacio Público in a statement denouncing prior censorship.
The main radio circuits nationwide suspended their special coverage operations as did television channels. It is a practice that has been happening throughout the race. A few months ago, a radio program from a Barinas State station was taken off the air after interviewing candidate Delsa Solórzano. In 2022, almost a hundred radio stations across the country closed and in 2023, at least 60 national and foreign independent digital media websites are blocked—they can only be accessed through a VPN—as well as also the search engine that the organizers of the primaries created to inform citizens about the location of their voting center for this Sunday.
The media ecosystem in Venezuela has shrunk due to the pressure of Chavismo and the economic crisis. Since the time of Hugo Chávez, the so-called communication hegemony turned the media into another battle front. That is why one of the commitments of the Barbados agreement signed this week leaves in writing a repeated demand from opposition political leaders: access to all public and private media of all candidates and the participation of all media. communication in coverage. For this primary, the Ministry of Communication and Information, for example, did not provide accreditations for special envoys from other media to cover the process. This basic premise to guarantee competitive elections with democratic guarantees is already being left aside. Faced with the siege, the digital media group Alianza Rebelde Investiga, the Foreign Press Association and other organizations have announced an alliance to provide collaborative coverage of the process.
Although everything indicates that the primaries will occur, they are being held with everything against them. The National Primary Commission has worked to establish centers where citizens can exercise their right to vote to choose the unitary opposition candidate. A few hours before the start of the process, there are centers that are being relocated due to pressure from the Government on the institutions that have provided them. In many places voting will be done in the street and, if possible, under an awning due to a forecast of rain that could further dampen participation. There have also been complaints about delays in providing credentials for witnesses and the media.
In the latest polls carried out by Delphos a week ago, 66.7% of the population said they were willing to go to the elections on October 22, although of that group only 20% say they have a high or very high probability of doing so. This high voting intention could end up being cut by all these obstacles, to which are added the disputes between the candidates for the candidacy within a highly fragmented opposition. The standard bearer of Democratic Action, Carlos Prosperi, in second place in the polls after the retirement of Henrique Capriles, has been criticizing the process for weeks due to failures in logistics and, a few hours after starting the process, requested its suspension. denouncing alleged irregularities in the appointment of voting station members through a lottery. After a conversation this Saturday with the organizers, he took up his claims and called for voting, but he left the door open to non-recognition of the results. Despite the complex panorama, when the day of the primaries begins with which civil society once again puts the pressure on Chavismo, a new stage in the prolonged Venezuelan political conflict will be about to begin.
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