Presidential Challenge

Juan Guaidó challenged Maduro to a presidential election. During the first six months of the year, there were 125 femicides in Venezuela. Erika Farías resigned to the Caracas mayorship.

Photo: InfoBarcelona

 

  • Juan Guaidó challenged Maduro to a presidential election, to end the usurpation of the presidency. Guaidó has no doubt the opposition he leads will win a presidential election and that’s where they’re taking the negotiation process in Mexico: “I also challenge him to abandon power, I’ll resign the caretaker government and let’s compete,” he said in an interview with AFP. 
    • Guaidó swore his oath of office on January, 23rd, 2019, and took on the caretaker presidency as a response to the usurpation since the elections in 2018 weren’t recognized by the opposition or the international community for the lack of transparency and guarantees. “The origin of the conflict is the non-election of 2018, the conflict is a usurpation (…) An electoral calendar that transforms one election into a real solution to the conflict is part of the process,” said Guaidó.
  • Opposition participation in the election is imminent, regarding the G4 (Acción Democrática, Un Nuevo Tiempo, Primero Justicia and Voluntad Popular) and the unitary platform, even though there hasn’t been an official statement yet. VP, Encuentro Ciudadano and La Causa R have strongly opposed and it’ll be a challenge, nominating over 4,000 candidates before midnight on Sunday. The parties will only be able to use Un Nuevo Tiempo, MUD and ADelante’s spots on the ballot.  
  • PSUV leadership imposed candidates in five states, disregarding their own primaries, after an alleged “review process” that angered members of the party. 
  • Henri Falcón said that he expects the opposition to interpret the people’s feelings regarding the November election, which he called “an important moment to recover spaces.” 

Only three months before November, Erika Farías resigned to the Caracas mayorship, and the PSUV nominated former Interior Minister and former Lara governor Carmen Meléndez. 

  • ANC-imposed prosecutor general Tarek William Saab announced three people have been arrested for “illegally transporting” 80,000 million bolivars, with which they wanted to generate a cash shortage, he said. Meanwhile, alleged PNB officers robbed an armored truck property of BOD with 70,000 dollars that had just been withdrawn from the BCV. 
  • Commerce minister Eneida Laya reminded the National Supermarket Association the obligation to keep “balanced prices” following the list of 27 essential products elaborated in 2020. 

During the first six months of the year, there were 125 femicides in Venezuela according to CEPAZ’s Digital Observatory of Femicide: there were 57 femicides in June, a total of 57 children lost their mothers, 46% of victims were between 19 to 36 years old, 7% were girls, 11.5% were teenagers and 10.7% were women between 55 and 69 years old. 

  • During the first semester of 2021, there were 74 cases implying 150 violations of freedom of expression, assured Un Mundo Sin Mordaza. Luciana Denicio said that Venezuela is facing a wave of attacks on independent media and arbitrary detentions to silence journalists and citizens. 
  • U.S. Ambassador to Venezuela James Story demanded the release of Roland Carreño ten months after he was arbitrarily detained. 
  • Foreign ministerFélix Plasencia congratulated his Iranian counterpart Hosein Amir Abdolahian and expressed his willingness to work “shoulder to shoulder”. 
  • Athlete Clara Fuentes won a bronze medal in the Tokyo Paralympics. Olympic athlete Yulimar Rojas won in the Liga Diamante and set a new triple jump record. She was the only athlete to surpass the 15 m. mark in every valid jump. 

Naky Soto

Naky gets called Naibet at home and at the bank. She coordinates training programs for an NGO. She collects moments and turns them into words. She has more stories than freckles.