Sceptics argue it is all a waste of time, and that Nicolás Maduro has no intention of agreeing to anything that could see him lose power. But another view is that he has his eyes on retirement
“HERE WE ARE. The winners!” boomed Nicolás Maduro at a ceremony broadcast on state television on May 20th. It was the third anniversary of what the Venezuelan president describes as his “popular victory”: an election in 2018 which secured him a second presidential term. “The election had such an important impact for us,” agreed his wife, Cilia Flores, amiably. She was more right than she perhaps intended to be.
Mr Maduro, a former bus driver snobbishly dismissed as a “donkey” by his enemies, has proved far wilier than they had imagined. “He has uncanny situational intelligence, and is ruthless when necessary,” says a former senior official in his government. “If there are three people in a room and one must die, it won’t be him.” The key to his political survival has been his strategy of using the state for patronage. “The government is more like a clan now,” says the ex-official.
In preparation for regional elections, the government and some elements of the opposition have agreed to empanel a new electoral council . It is still skewed in the regime’s favour, but two out of its five members are friendly to the opposition . The announcement has, as intended, divided the opposition. Mr Guaidó initially rejected it as an “imposition of the regime”, but others seem keen to participate.
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