On January 10th, 2025, in one of the most detestable anti-democratic acts in the modern history of politics took place in Venezuela: the establishment of a dictatorship at the expense of citizens who believed in voting, participation, and respect for the sovereign popular will.
lapatilla.com
The inauguration of Nicolás Maduro took place in an atmosphere of solitude, without celebrations, but with a lot of disappointment and resentment, which could be seen in the mood of the citizens with closed businesses in all the cities of the country. A consequence of the false expectations of violence that the spokesmen of Chavismo argued were planned by the opposition.
On Monday, January 27th, Elvis Amoroso, President of the CNE, the same one who proclaimed Nicolás Maduro President of the Republic without having published all the official voting records of July 28th, 2024, the same one who disappeared for 71 days after the vote, announced that on April 27th, 2025, Venezuela will have a new electoral event to elect deputies to the National Assembly, governors and regional legislative councils.
For political analysts, this process evidently seeks the recognition and validation of Maduro as president and of all those accommodating political organizations with aspirations that nominate candidates for these elections and all those who aspire to these positions of popular representation, to try the impossible: to counteract international ignorance and make people believe that there is a internal national backing behind the Chavista regime.
That same Monday, the leader of the Venezuelan opposition, María Corina Machado, published on her X social network account (formerly Twitter): “Venezuela has already decided. The mandate of July 28th must be respected”, accompanied by “the seven principles of freedom”, based on: sovereign mandate, citizen co-responsibility, fighting by all means established by the Constitution, national unity, elections to choose, negotiation for change and democratic governance.
Previously, Machado had spoken out against Maduro’s intentions to call for new electoral processes during the year 2025, calling on the people not to participate and thus avoid the fraudulent presidential victory fading away.
Given the current situation in Venezuela, lapatilla.com consulted constitutional lawyer Juan Carlos Apitz, Dean of the Faculty of Legal and Political Sciences at the Central University of Venezuela (UCV), about what this country faces after January 10th, 2025.
The inauguration
For lawyer Juan Carlos Apitz, the inauguration of Nicolás Maduro on January 10th, is the typical case of a “usurpation of authority,” because the citizens who voted infer who won from what was observed at the polling stations, but about Maduro “nobody knows how many votes he got” and thus continue in office as President of the Republic.
The background is that “the CNE did not total all the official records (actas) and nobody knows why it has not been done as required by the Electoral Process Law,” Apitz recalled, saying that it is one of the questions that Venezuelans who did not vote for Maduro are still asking themselves and who insist that this result must be published to show who was the winner.
On this point he said: “There is a contradiction, because according to the president of the CNE there was a hack, to later appear with supposed records that accounted for 96% (of the records), which allows us to presume that there was no hack or Amoroso is lying.”
Another important aspect is that, according to the Electoral Process Law, after counting 100% of the records, the CNE has 30 days from this date for the proclamation of the winner, but Elvis Amoroso “irresponsibly” proclaimed Maduro “alone, without the presence of the all the other principal rectors.” So, the official recordsa should have been published immediately, “as has always and historically been done.”
“My argument is supported by the fact that the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ) itself, in the ruling of August 22nd, 2024, number 031, which decides that strange appeal presented by Mr. Nicolás Maduro to certify the electoral results, there the Electoral Chamber that heard that appeal tells the CNE that they have to publish the results in a tabulated form in the Electoral Gazette of Venezuela, but that was never done either,” he recalled.
“There are no official results, it is a mystery, so the Constitution cannot be applied and the elected president cannot be sworn in on January 10th. That swearing-in is not valid,” so all the acts that derive from that mandate are null, based on article 138 of the Constitution of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, which states: “Any usurped authority is ineffective and its acts are null.”
Given all that has been previously detailed, the question arises as to whether currently in Venezuela with the swearing-in of Nicolás Maduro in the way it was done, can now be considered that there is no government? To which the lawyer Juan Carlos Apitz responded: “Yes, there is a government, a ‘de facto’ (government).”
Allies, investments and business
In the face of Maduro’s swearing-in, which concretizes a “usurpation of authority” described by Apitz, the governments of the world have turned their backs so as not to be complicit witnesses of what happened and, on the contrary, have given recognition to his electoral opponent Edmundo González Urrutia, considering him favored by the votes, believing in the records published by citizens on social networks and by the opposition on the website “resultadospresidencialesvenezuela2024.com” and in the absence of legal information from the CNE on the true itemized results.
“Externally, I don’t see any country negotiating with Venezuela, none would dare, because they are all recognizing Edmundo González Urrutia as president,” Apitz believes.
Taking a look at the international panorama with the position of the United States, Canada, which is going down the same path, the countries of the European Union and the Organization of American States (OAS), the lawyer believes that Venezuela has only five countries left to negotiate with, which are the ones that have recognized its investiture so far: Russia, China, Turkey, Nicaragua and Cuba.
Having an economy dependent on oil, Venezuela’s negotiations with them would be unprosperous, because Russia is an oil producer, taking it directly to China would represent a high cost for both countries, but with Nicaragua and Cuba that is not negotiable, because it has been proven in the past that the oil is given away (for free) to them, and Turkey has its own sources of supply nearby. “In addition, Venezuela has a very limited oil production, and that does not make it reliable,” he added.
Domestically, Venezuela cannot have economic development, “because dictatorships do not invest in the people, because their stay in power does not depend on popular acceptance, it depends on their consent to the whims of the political and economic groups that support them.”
In any case, Maduro’s government will invest its money in “the ‘colectivos’ (armed gangs), police forces, national armed forces that are loyal to them, in public officials who have quotas of power that can make decisions or support the government’s policies, for example, magistrates of the TSJ, some judges, officials of the Comptroller’s Office and the Public Ministry.”
After January 10th, the economic situation is extremely complicated, according to Apitz. All citizens will find themselves in increasingly deplorable conditions, with more threats of taking away their gas cylinders, eliminating the CLAP (food support) and the ‘war’ bonus that not all citizens receive, only a part, “because their source of support is not there.”
2025 Elections
“These cannot be called electoral processes, this is a façade, because Venezuela demonstrated (in 2024) that it does not have a reliable electoral system, and all citizens know what the results of the presidential election were. Hence, reliable and serious opinion studies say that Venezuelans do not want to turn the page on July 28th,” he revealed.
For Juan Carlos Apitz, “calling to (other) elections does not make sense, because this government is promoting the Communal State, which undermines the mayors and governors.”
“In Venezuela and the whole world, the results (of July 28th, 2024) are known, not because the CNE has published them, but because a big portion of the official records (actas, minutes) have been shown where the winner (of the presidential election) is not Mr. Maduro,” he stressed.
“I have a feeling that the voters will condemn those opposition leaders who lend themselves to these rigged elections,” he said.
The future of the people
Since Nicolás Maduro has again taken office as president, affected by doubts about his electoral victory, Apitz believes that Venezuelans have a very sad and frustrating future, because Venezuelans do not recognize Maduro as president, due to the fact that there are more than 25,000 official records that have come to the public’s attention that “show that he is not the President of the Republic.”
Economically, the situation of the citizens of this country “is increasingly pressing,” taking into account the devaluation, inflation, unemployment, lack of housing, expensive and poor quality public services.
“There is no economic activity,” says Apitz, considering that this is the cause of an overwhelming feeling that leads citizens to be clear in their conscience that “the culprit of all this situation that they suffer is the government of Nicolás Maduro.”
“In the social/civic sphere, there is a persecution of NGOs, which are the ones that are truly active in supporting the suffering of Venezuelans in the different issues that each of them endure: in matters of food, family planning, defense of human rights, health, among others.”
Likewise, “Venezuelans are aware that anyone who opposes government policies is persecuted. That is why the feeling is one of disappointment, sadness, because they do not see clearly a short-term exit of this government.”
Is Venezuela democratic?
In the explanations of Juan Carlos Apitz, “the notion of democracy was lost a long time ago, because it implies some basic requirements: first of all, respect for human rights; second, respect for popular sovereignty; third, coexistence in a State of Law; fourth, respect for civil and political liberties; fifth, the full validity of the Constitution.”
“In Venezuela, none of these requirements are met, so we can responsibly say that we do not live in democracy here,” said Apitz.
What to do in Venezuela?
The Dean of the Faculty of Legal and Political Sciences of the UCV pointed out that after the fraudulent inauguration of Maduro, two clearly differentiated paths are proposed in Venezuela: autocratic continuity or transition to democracy.
“For there to be no autocratic continuity and for there to be a transition to democracy, four factors must be met: first, internal pressure from citizens; second, international pressure and persuasion. The other two requirements are a process of dialogue and negotiation with the military and police forces, and I also include the economic factors that support the government, and a political negotiation with those who lead the government.”
“The Venezuelan refuses to lose hope and that keeps him encouraged, because if we lose it, that would be the greatest victory of Nicolás Maduro’s regime,” he concluded.