A judge issued an arrest warrant for Venezuelan opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia yesterday, just over a month after the regime of President Nicolas Maduro stole the country’s presidential election from him. The warrant accuses Gonzalez of various crimes including conspiracy, falsifying documents and usurpation of powers. (AP)
Our Take
The arrest warrant issued yesterday is just the latest in a post-election campaign of repression by the Maduro regime, known as Operation Knock-Knock, that has cracked down brutally on all forms of dissent. Since the vote on July 28, thousands of Venezuelans have been arrested and dozens killed, while most of the opposition leadership remains in hiding. In fact, Gonzalez hasn’t been seen in public in over a month, and opposition leader Maria Corina Machado has only made a handful of appearances.
There was some optimism before the election that, in the face of a clear opposition victory and mass protests, Maduro’s regime might splinter. But it appears that Maduro’s loyalists—and, crucially, security forces—are sticking by him. That leaves the two sides at an impasse, with both essentially adopting the same strategy: keep the pressure on longer than the other.