An interview with Alejandro Peña Esclusa ━ The European Conservative

Alejandro Peña Esclusa is an engineer, writer, analyst and political consultant. He was a pioneer of the first protests in his country against the leftist Chavista regime. He spent a year in El Helicoide (a prison notorious for its torture) and is now a political exile. An expert on the Sao Paulo Forum and the influence of cultural Marxism, he is the author of several books on these subjects.

In an August commentary on the Venezuelan presidential election for The European ConservativePeña Esclusa wrote:

Everyone knows that, despite the most difficult obstacles, opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez won an overwhelming victory (over socialist dictator Nicolás Maduro) with more than 37 points, as shown by 83% of the official counts, which are available to anyone who wants them at www.resultadosconvzla.com.

In this interview we discuss the sudden departure of Edmundo González from Venezuela, the Spanish Chavistas and how this ‘exile’ affects the current situation in the country.

What do you think about the sudden departure of Edmundo González from Venezuela?

To understand what is happening, we must realize that in Venezuela there is no government; there is a criminal organization in power. To this day, there is a U.S. arrest warrant for Nicolás Maduro for being the head of the “Cartel de los Soles” (Cartel of the Suns). (According to the U.S. Department of Justice, the cartel’s name refers to the sun insignia that adorn the uniforms of high-ranking Venezuelan military officials. Maduro … and the other accused cartel members have abused the Venezuelan people and corrupted Venezuela’s legitimate institutions, including parts of the military, the intelligence service, the legislature, and the judiciary.) Therefore, the logic of what is happening in Venezuela cannot be applied to a government, but to a criminal structure that behaves like a mafia. In the case of Edmundo González, there has reportedly been pressure, coercion, and threats, and it appears that his family is still being threatened. This is the key to understanding what happened.

Where does opposition leader María Corina Machado stand now that Edmundo González has left?

The international left is acting to ensure that Maduro remains in power. The first step was taken by some members of the Sao Paulo Forum: Lula da Silva, López Obrador and Gustavo Petro, who mobilized after the overwhelming victory of Edmundo González to ask Maduro for the results when María Corina Machado had already published them. This gave Maduro time to establish a reign of terror, persecuting, killing, torturing and imprisoning opponents, and to locate Edmundo González and his family and, in the second phase of the plan, force him to leave the country in precarious conditions.

María Corina Machado has said she will stay in Venezuela and that it all comes down to one thing: Edmundo González won the election and Maduro lost it. Edmundo’s departure will not change that, although María Corina Machado’s own situation is now more precarious.

Before González, we saw what happened with Juan Guaidó and the failure of the opposition to defeat Maduro. Apart from making María Corina Machado more vulnerable, can this situation weaken the fighting spirit of Venezuelans?

This is a very different case, because Guaidó never won an election, he was elected by parliament. Unlike Guaidó, Edmundo González wonalthough it was an election controlled by the regime. He is an elected president, and that is a very different scenario. What has also been demonstrated is the enormous resilience of the Venezuelan people in the face of all adversity. What we need is the guidance and support of the international community, regardless of what socialists like Borrell and Zapatero say, and pressure on the International Criminal Court to issue an arrest warrant for Maduro and his allies.

In Spain, the Socialist Party is using the departure of Edmundo González to whitewash the image of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero and portray him as a neutral mediator.

Zapatero played this role in the departure of Edmundo González because he is part of the structure of Nicolás Maduro and the Sao Paulo Forum. He is not neutral and it is known that he works for them. By forcing Edmundo González into exile, Zapatero and his collaborators wanted to break the fighting spirit of the Venezuelan people and undo the electoral defeat they suffered. They have not succeeded, all they have achieved is to demonstrate that we are dealing with a criminal regime, because the information about how Edmundo’s departure was forced is another element against Maduro and his allies to accuse them of crimes against humanity before the International Criminal Court. They have demonstrated the criminal nature of the regime.

There are ministers in Spain who call themselves ‘Chavistas’ and openly support Maduro. Why did Edmundo González choose Spain and not another country?

Edmundo González had no alternative for two reasons. First, because a logical and natural alternative, which would have been Argentina, has been made impossible by the break in relations with Milei, which has left those in the embassy imprisoned, as is the case with the six members of the María Corina team who are there at the moment. In other words, it is dangerous to go to an embassy that is in conflict with the regime. Second, although we do not have all the details, we must remember that there have been all kinds of threats and coercion, and that part of Edmundo González’s family is still in Venezuela and could be considered hostages. This situation is extremely complicated because we are dealing with the behavior of a criminal organization towards the elected president and his family.

Today the Spanish parliament will to vote on the question of whether Edmundo González should be recognized as president of Venezuela. How important is international recognition? Can it make a difference, or is it too late?

As María Corina Machado says, this is the time to recognize Edmundo González as president of Venezuela. The truth is that he has won, and this should not be presented as a political decision, as the socialist Josep Borrell has done. It is a technical decision, not a political one. If the world had recognized Edmundo González as president on July 29, the scenario would have been different, but Lula, Obrador, Petro, Zapatero, Borrell and the international left bought time and gave Maduro oxygen. This is what led to Edmundo’s departure.

What should the international community do? Just ask yourself who won the election. Edmundo González won, there is no more to talk about. He is the elected president.