Venezuela’s Maduro Promises ‘Bloodbath’ If He Loses Sham Election

The socialist dictator of Venezuela Nicolás Maduro threatened a “bloodbath” and a “fratricidal civil war” on Wednesday if Venezuelans do not “elect” him in the upcoming July 28 sham presidential election.

Maduro issued his warning during a campaign rally speech in the La Vega Parrish of Caracas, asserting that his victory is the only way to guarantee peace in Venezuela.

“The destiny of Venezuela, in the 21st century, depends on our victory on July 28. If you do not want Venezuela to fall into a bloodbath, into a fratricidal civil war, product of the fascists, let us guarantee the greatest success, the greatest victory in the electoral history of our people,” Maduro said.

“The more resounding the victory, the more guarantees of peace we will have,” he added. “The more resounding the votes, the more guarantees for the future we are going to guarantee to these children.”

Although the election is still ten days away, Maduro called for his sympathizers to gather in the Miraflores presidential palace on July 28 to celebrate his “triumph.”

“On Sunday the 28th, I invite you to the Miraflores Palace to celebrate the triumph there, in the presidential palace, your home, and to sing and shout, to the sound of the party, the song of our heart, and to tell the people of the world ‘Long live Venezuela, my beloved homeland,’” Maduro said.

The Maduro regime will hold a sham presidential election on July 28 in which Maduro will “compete” against eight hand-picked “opposition” candidates and 74-year-old former diplomat Edmundo González, the only opposition candidate that the regime-controlled electoral authorities allowed to sign up.

Maduro is seeking to secure a third six-year term for himself after clinging to power in a similarly fraudulent election in May 2018 where the opposition was banned from participating.

The next presidential term in Venezuela is slated to begin in January 2025.

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The sham election’s July 28 date was chosen as it marks the birthday of Maduro’s predecessor, late socialist dictator Hugo Chávez. Maduro’s socialist have attempted to turn the day into a national holiday celebrating their ideology.

The sham election is the result of the Maduro regime trashing an agreement signed in Barbados with the opposition in October that called for a “free and fair” election to be held sometime during the second half of 2024. The document, known as the “Barbados Agreements,” was signed by both sides under the observation of the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

Although Maduro never showed any indication that he would commit to the terms of the agreement and allow an actual free election, President Biden rewarded the socialist dictator for signing the now-broken deal with a broad six-month-long oil and gas sanctions relief package in a failed attempt to entice the rogue socialists to allow a “free and fair” election.

González, the only actual opposition candidate in the race, was originally intended to be on the ballot as a “placeholder” in the event that the Maduro regime fulfilled its promise to lift bans imposed on several opposition candidates that prevent them to to run for public office — which would have allowed María Corina Machado, the opposition’s frontrunner candidate, to run.

The Maduro regime imposed a ban on Machado as punishment for supporting international sanctions on the Maduro regime. Machado has accompanied González throughout his campaign across the country.

As part of the calendar established by the socialist-controlled electoral authorities, the presidential campaign for the election began on July 5 and will run through July 25. The Maduro regime, which over the past months has dramatically escalated its repression of dissidents, had at least 71 individuals arbitrary arrested during the first ten days of the campaign period. Of these, 48 are not part González’s campaign staff but have merely provided goods and services to the campaign such as lodging, food, or transportation.

Restaurants that have welcomed Machado and González as patrons have been forcefully shut down by the Maduro regime’s SENIAT tax authority agency and pro-regime sympathizers have been sent to harass the pair at other restaurants.

The Maduro regime has also actively prevented pro-González campaign events from taking place, ordering local police to block highway access or damaging roads or covering them with sand to prevent González and Machado from arriving at campaign events.

Machado denounced on Thursday morning that vehicles used by her and her team were vandalized in the city of Barquisimeto and had their brake hoses cut. Machado stated that Maduro regime officials had been following them from the nearby state of Portuguesa, where she had spent the night.

“Maduro’s campaign is violence and he is responsible for any damage to our physical integrity,” Machado said. “They won’t stop us.”

Machado’s complaint followed the arbitrary arrest of her security chief Milciades Ávila in the late evening hours of Wednesday. Machado claimed that the Maduro regime is accusing her security chief of committing “gender violence” against a group of women who attempted to harass Machado and González in a restaurant last Saturday.

“There are dozens of witnesses and videos that prove that this act was a planned provocation to leave us without protection 11 days before July 28,” Machado said. The Maduro regime has not publicly commented on Ávila’s arrest at press time.

Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.