Far-right ‘Great International Protest’ Fails, Undermining Opposition Narrative of ‘Huge Support’ – Orinoco Tribune – News and Opinions on Venezuela and Beyond

Caracas (OrinocoTribune.com)—Caracas and several cities in Venezuela saw a new round of demonstrations in support of the Bolivarian Revolution, as well as a few small far-right demonstrations called by those who were defeated in the July 28 presidential election but still claim victory. The low turnout at the opposition demonstrations stands in stark contrast to their claim of receiving 7.3 million votes in the presidential election.

The “massive” march that the far right promised for this Saturday, August 17, was a clear failure. The call for protests failed to draw large crowds in Caracas and other cities as planned, despite the appeals of María Corina Machado and an army of influencers and paid journalists on social media platforms asking Venezuelans to join the marches.

Images and videos from the various rallies organized by the Venezuelan far-right part of the country showed a very low turnout. The streets where the opposition demonstration in Caracas took place reflected the general failure of the far-right leaders María Corina Machado and Edmundo González, who relied on digital platforms to massively promote their appeal. In fact, Venezuelan far-right rallies were better attended in Miami, Madrid and other foreign cities than in Venezuela.

They say 7 million voted for them, but they can’t fill 4 blocks in Caracas after a week of massive calls for this protest. Common! https://t.co/8JGfM6azUJ

— Orinoco Tribune (@OrinocoTribune) August 17, 2024

Since last week, María Corina Machado has been calling on social media for the “great international day of protests.” The call, which was massively disseminated by mainstream media around the world, along with social media influencers, and the failure of opposition protests in Venezuela reflect the disconnect between the Venezuelan far-right narrative spreading outside Venezuela and the reality on the country’s streets.

This is not the first time that a far-right opposition call for protests after a presidential election has ended in low turnout. On August 3, a similar attempt saw a slightly better turnout but was generally labeled a failure by both the opposition and Chavismo.

Violent opposition riots on July 29-30 claimed 25 lives and left nearly 200 wounded, most of them passers-by or police officers. This violence has been proven to be linked to Venezuelan criminal gangs such as The Llano Route And Aragua trail who openly expressed their support for Machado and Venezuelan far-right ideology.

Following reports from Venezuelan intelligence services of a new attempt by the far-right to provoke violence on Saturday, Caracas was heavily secured. Two armored vehicles and 40 troops mounted on motorcycles controlled access to the poor neighborhood of Petare, which is a few kilometers from the opposition rallying point. Security was also heavy in other areas where violence broke out after election day.

Venezuelan Vice President Highlights Low Turnout at Opposition Demonstration in Caracas

“They are trying to scare us, divide us, paralyze us, demoralize us, but they can’t do it because they are completely entrenched in their lies and violence,” Machado wrote on social media, minutes before she arrived at the rally in Caracas. According to some analysts, she made the post after realizing that there was little popular support on the streets of Caracas.

A fake news campaign has been launched on social media platforms to create the impression that there is instability in Venezuela, when in reality the only days of violence were the two days following the presidential elections. This fake news campaign attempts to present a false narrative of heavy police repression and persecution of political dissidents, but the measures taken by law enforcement in the days following the elections were targeted against those criminal gangs that spread violence and those on social media who openly incited violence and hatred or called for the assassination of Chavista leaders and grassroots activists.

President Maduro, addressing a massive Chavista demonstration in defense of peace, declared that the Miami-based “influencers” who called on fascists to take to the streets had been defeated. “The fascist right has failed,” he said. “They believed that with the influencers from Miami they would mobilize the people, but they failed!”

President Maduro also congratulated the Venezuelan people who took to the streets to march in defense of peace in 100 cities in Venezuela, adding that when the Chavista people take to the streets, peace is guaranteed. “We won again because peace prevailed, they could not defeat us and never will,” he stressed.

Specially for Orinoco Tribune by staff

OT/JRE/SC