With Machado out of the picture, the opposition alliance fielded former diplomat Edmundo González Urrutia against Maduro. Although few voters outside diplomatic circles had heard of him, in the weeks before the election he attracted up to three times as much support as Maduro in some opinion polls.
The moment the official results gave Maduro 52% of the votes and González 43%, thousands of Venezuelans realised the election had been stolen. They angrily took to the streets, with the nearest statue of Hugo Chávez, Maduro's predecessor, role model and mentor, being a popular target.
According to one source, Venezuela has as many as 17 statues or busts of Chávez in public places. All of them were erected after his death from cancer in 2013, and against his express wishes. In 2008, he said in an interview: “I beg you, do not put my name on anything. No, no, no! No Hugo Chávez avenue, no Hugo Chávez bridge. No, for God's sake, it only brings bad luck. Such structures should rather be named after the heroes of our independence."
But when Maduro took over, he disregarded that plea. He began to elevate his deceased predecessor to almost mythological status: Chávez was, after all, the father of the “Bolívarian Revolution" in 1999, named after Simón Bolívar, the 19th century hero of Venezuelan independence from colonial Spain. Maduro and his supporters still refer to themselves as “Chavistas"; Chávez was the “supreme leader" who had continued Bolívar's struggle.
Protesters' attacks on Chávez statues in recent weeks are thus aimed as as much at Maduro as at his predecessor's legacy. But what exactly is that legacy?
Nationalisation of the oil industry was an important part of Chávez's revolution, and thanks to good international oil prices at the time, ordinary Venezuelans initially experienced a dramatic improvement in their standard of living. Per capita income quadrupled, but it has since fallen back to less than it was before 1999. Nationalisation was beneficial in the short term but too little money was reinvested in the oil industry. As a result, production has declined from 3.5 million barrels a day in 1999 to just over 800,000.
Combined with centralised economic management, overspending on large and corrupt state institutions, and poor monetary policy, the result has been runaway inflation and economic chaos.
Between them, Chávez and Maduro have left more than 80% of Venezuelans trapped in poverty. And this is in a country with the largest proven oil reserves, more than 300 billion barrels. Venezuela's only other noteworthy export products are cocaine and illegal immigrants to countries such as Colombia, Chile and the US. The annual murder rate in Caracas is close to 100 per 100,000 inhabitants. Shortages of food, medicine and other basic goods have become commonplace, and Venezuela is now nothing more than just another failed military dictatorship.
Yet Maduro's regime has bought Russian weaponry worth more than $20 billion in recent years, and he knows he cannot remain in power without the support and loyalty of the generals. Although he was never a soldier, he often appears in military uniform and even camouflage battle dress.
While Chávez was a tank commander and paratrooper, Maduro is still sometimes mocked for having started his working life as a bus driver in Caracas. As an employee of the capital's bus service, he became a union leader, attracting Chávez's attention. He later became Chávez's parliamentary leader, foreign minister and eventually vice president.
To comment on this article, register (it's fast and free) or log in.
First read Vrye Weekblad's Comment Policy before commenting.