The steam that rose from the burning pavement in the square adjacent to the Basilica of La Chinita, Maracaibo (Zulia) caused several people to faint. “If these people are enduring that sun, they will surely vote on Sunday,” said Calixto Ortega watching the rally for the closing of the electoral campaign of candidate Nicolás Maduro in Zulia. “Everything has already been said here,” said Francisco Ameliach, member of the national leadership of the PSUV. “The streets will not respond to them when they call for violence,” said Rafael Lacava, governor of Carabobo. “They will surely try to convince the military,” he predicted.
The “Let’s go Nico / let’s go Nico” was played loudly at 2:20 pm to welcome the candidate who was already behind the platform. Maduro advanced to the rhythm of the slogan and the song La Esperanza está en la Calle (Hope is on the Street) performed by Omar Enrique, Omar Acedo, Los Cadillac, La Melodía Perfecta, Potro Álvarez, Mabel Riviera, among others.
Maduro partially ends his reelection campaign in the same state where he started it 22 days ago. On July 4, the rally was in San Francisco, the municipality that together with Maracaibo brings together 2.5 million voters, the equivalent of 16 states.
The platform was set up in the heart of Alto Saladillo, with the Virgin of Chiquinquirá behind it and the site where the indigenous woman found this Marian devotion framed on a small board to one side.
Maduro closed the event by displaying three swords, including that of the Zulia general Rafael Urdaneta, in whose house Spain signed the capitulation after being defeated in the Naval Battle of the Lake (1821) according to the reminder made on stage by the President of the Republic.
From Zulia, candidate Maduro flew to Caracas, where his supporters were waiting for him on several avenues, including Bolívar Avenue, where they tried to assassinate him on August 8, 2018, with the activation of two drones loaded with explosives. This time, the platform spanned four channels across, pointing to the Towers of the Simón Bolívar Center, an iconic building in Caracas that is precisely celebrating its 457th anniversary.
Maduro arrived at the back of the platform at 6pm. But he waited until the singers of Chávez Corazón del Pueblo, the song that accompanied Hugo Chávez’s campaign in 2012, came on stage. While the song was playing, images of the tour of towns, villages and cities that Maduro visited during the 22 days of the campaign were projected on a screen. The singers continued singing the songs that accompanied him at the rallies while the candidate greeted those present on the platform: athletes, artists, ministers, deputies.
“On the stage on Bolivar Avenue, we saw the faces of Jorge Rodriguez, Diosdado Cabello, Rafael Lacava, Elias Jaua, Rosines Chavez, his uncles Adan and Argenis Chavez, the ministers Remigio Ceballos (Interior), Magaly Gutierrez (Health), Rafael Vasquez Araguayan (Transport), among others.”
“Caracas,” Maduro said at 6:27 pm to begin his interaction at the closing rally of his campaign. He paused for a while to wait for the sound system to be fixed.
