Why Every American Should Have Their Eyes on Venezuela

Venezuela held their elections earlier this week, and has fallen victim to the most brazen election fraud in the Western world to date.

Socialist dictator Nicolas Maduro claimed to win by 51% while independent exit pollers determined his opponent Edmundo Gonzalez won by a staggering 71%. The election results Maduro claims are mathematically impossible, with him receiving 51.2%, Gonzalez receiving 44.2%, and eight other candidates receiving exactly 4.6% each, totaling 132.2%. But math has never been a socialist strong suit.

Major protests have swept the country. In widely circulated videos, Venezuelan citizens can be seen toppling statues of Hugo Chavez – the dictator widely credited for introducing socialism to what was once the most prosperous country in the region. In other videos, law enforcement can be seen tearfully removing their uniforms, refusing to fight or discourage the protesters, and in some cases even surrendering their weapons to protesters or joining the protests themselves.

Gonzalez hasn't conceded, and has urged the Venezuelan armed forces to “respect the will of the Venezuelan people” and stand down.

One of his supporters gave the following statement: “I'll fight for my country's democracy. They stole from us, because he (President Nicolas Maduro) is genocidal. We must fight for democracy in this country. We need to keep on fighting, for the young people, the youth and my grandchildren, and my children who left this country.”

The situation in Venezuela has grown more dire over the years, and as a result, the United States is seeing a spike in both legal and illegal migration from the country.

Thousands have taken to the streets in peaceful protests, but some of these protests have taken a violent turn.

Maduro has cut ties with multiple countries that have publicly questioned his “victory,” including Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Panama, Peru and Paraguay, demanding the immediate removal of their representatives from Venezuela.

Gonzalez was scheduled to give a televised speech at the UN headquarters in Caracas, but Maduro had their signal blocked, not only censoring the speech, but cutting internet access from five news stations.

This comes two years after a controversial election in Brazil where an unpopular leftist candidate was declared the winner despite credible evidence of foul play, and four years after the highly contested American presidential election in 2020.

Joe Biden lifted sanctions on Venezuela, demanding that Venezuela hold “free and fair” elections in exchange.

This was in stark contrast to former President Trump, who refused to acknowledge Maduro as president following another highly contested Venezuelan election in 2018, imposing harsh sanctions, and publicly referring to the “illegitimate Maduro regime.”

While many leftists claim that Venezuela's economic crisis is the result of sanctions, refusing to acknowledge the real world consequences of their belief system, the country was in decline long before President Trump took action, and has been since socialists took the reins at the turn of the century.

What's happening in Venezuela should remind Americans exactly what's at stake and how fragile our freedoms are. As the saying goes “you can vote your way into communism, but you can't vote your way out.”