Venezuelan opposition won again in Barinas. Democratic Unity Table candidate Sergio Garrido was elected governor in a re-election ordered by the Supreme Court. After canceling the victory of the opponent, Freddy Superlano At the Argonneals on November 21, the guajada that went wrong with Chavismo. The victory received 57.6% of the vote, with an advantage of 16 points and the participation of more than half of the electorate, according to the summary report of the National Elections Council.

The outcome was initially known through the statement of loser Jorge Arreaza, Hugo Chávez’s former minister promoted by the government. “Dear Barinas. The information we receive from our PSU structures indicates that although we increased the vote, we did not achieve the goal. I heartily thank our heroic struggle. “We will continue to protect the people of Barynes from all places,” he wrote in a tweet after 10pm, when the English National Council had yet to announce the results.

After Ariza’s confession, Sergio Garrido and Freddy Suberlano held a press conference in which they confirmed their victory. “Barinas has set an example of how to get through the hurdles in Unity,” said Soberlano, who took over as campaign manager for a short time after being stripped of the win in November and disqualified.

The Venezuelan opposition achieves an important victory over the overwhelming force of Chavismo. Not only did he put an end to the Chávez dynasty, which had ruled the country for 20 years, but it also challenged the government in all its maneuvers to try to skew the results that began with the annulment of the Superlano victory. Sergio Garrido triumphed over all the waste of state resources led by several ministers of Nicolás Maduro, who settled in Barinas to advance their candidate. The new elections saw a massive deployment of the army and police of more than 25,000 officials in just under a thousand polling stations, which was considered intimidation. Chavismo distributed refrigerators and electrical appliances and supplied the region with gasoline and scarce gas across the country.

Barinas joins Zulia, Guarico and Nueva Esparta among the states won by the opposition, as well as a third of the municipal councils. The elections in Barinas became a common goal of the opposition, amid discrepancies in Juan Guaido’s leadership support program. The national leaders of the various opposition parties joined the Garrido campaign.

The result is now the basis for a change of direction in the opposition’s strategy, weakened by its failures to seek a political transition in Venezuela, and obliterated by abstentions in recent years’ elections. The victory 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 promoted by some sectors 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 Argenes Chávez, brother of the former president and part of the dynasty that ruled this country for two decades. Chávez was running for re-election and resigned after the Supreme Court suspended a recount and ordered a re-run. He also refused to be a candidate in this new opportunity. The government of Nicolás Maduro has put upon himself all the responsibilities of the defeat that has a national reading, as it expresses the level of disapproval that exists in Venezuela for Chavezmo and Maduro, with less than 15% approval and a growing drop in the number of votes.

For Barinas, as a political symbol, the government decided to abandon the small achievements of the past year in negotiations with the opposition to find a way out of the long political crisis in Venezuela.

In the November elections, the attendance of the European Union Election Observation Mission was achieved, something that had not happened in 15 years, although it was expelled after submitting a preliminary report on the electoral process, in which it acknowledged the improvement of conditions. , But they denounced many abuses and abuses of the government. This was one of the concessions Maduro made to his opponents to agree to run again in the elections, having abstained from voting as a boycott in recent years. The electoral provision was also changed, and for the first time two mayors unrelated to Chavismo were merged. Maduro also promised to abolish the “protectors”, full of power and resources, who were assigned to opposition-controlled areas. It remains to be seen if he will keep his promise in this disputed region.

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