July 27, 2024, 11:30 AM
July 27, 2024, 11:30 AM
Less than 24 hours before the operations are carried out presidential elections in VenezuelaVenezuelan journalist Gabriela Rojas reported that in addition to the five former presidents of Latin America who were prevented from arriving in that country, Journalists and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) also suffered the same fate. who were planning to closely observe this “unprecedented” electoral process. However, today and tomorrow, the world has its eyes on Venezuela.
“Yesterday, the former presidents were returned, they were not allowed to enter Venezuela and the same has happened with journalists and organizations that have arrived (to Venezuela), who They even had an approved Visa, That is to say, they had already approved their arrival in Venezuela with all the legal procedures and at the airport from Immigration denied them entry“, reported journalist Reyes in contact with EL DEBER Radio.
This fact sets off alarm bells for the independent press in Venezuela, sees the electoral process as a “risk” most important in recent years.
“This decision by the government (of Nicolás Maduro) to limit entry or declare it as ‘interference’ – this is how the Minister of Communication has described it, which are ‘interventionist acts’ – in some way shows that international observation will have to be more alert still, but from the outside,” Rojas explained.
This is part of the scenario that Venezuelans are experiencing, who this Sunday will experience a historic day with the presidential elections in which 21.3 million citizens will go to the polls to decide the future of that country and choose between the continuity of Nicolás Maduro, or a change with Edmundo Gonzáles, who represents the opposition bloc that is united in this electoral contest.
Rojas described the situation Venezuelans are experiencing hours before D-Day, and aware that the eyes of the world are watching what will happen this Sunday.
“We are quite moved because There are a lot of interesting things happening In terms of mobilization (…) We are just a few hours away from starting an unprecedented electoral process,” Rojas said.
He reported, for example, that yesterday Friday the National Electoral Council began to install the electoral tables, the same ones that at this time are now ready for the start of voting in all the centres of the country. “Less than 1% of irregularities were reported,” an aspect that does not represent a risk for the elections.
“At this moment all the tables are already installed, practically everything is ready for the process that It must formally start at six in the morning July 28,” Rojas said.
That means that tomorrow, Sunday, the polls will open throughout Venezuela at 6:00 a.m., which is the same time as Bolivia.
With everything, Venezuelans are living these hours with emotion on the surface after a chain of events, after witnessing for a quarter of a century the irregularities committed by the Maduro government that dominates all institutions, including the National Electoral Council.
“We come from something we call ‘learned helplessness’, we have too many electoral processes that have had complexities, limitations and excesses that show that we are not equal in the game, that the forms have not been fulfilled and that there is a flagrant violation of established rules. This is important because people have taken it as an impetus to go out and participate in the rallies and to be more determined than ever in everything that this process entails, which has a very positive energy,” said the Venezuelan journalist.
