Members of Venezuela’s opposition MUD coalition.
Appeal by Socialists against some election results offers Venezuela’s MUD a new footing
Barely a month after scoring a landmark, landslide win in Venezuela’s parliamentary elections, the opposition Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD) coalition is failing to live up to ideal cited in its name, with disagreements over the grouping’s next move emerging in the local press.
A split between the more hardline elements of the opposition alliance and those who wish to overthrow Chavismo at the ballot box has become more exposed, with two key opposition figures at the centre of the controversy — leaders Henrique Capriles, who has lost the last two presidential races to Bolivarian candidates, and Leopoldo López, the jailed former mayor who has become the poster boy for those opposed to President Nicolás Maduro. The split is threatening to overshadow the opposition’s victory in the election earlier this month.
López is currently jailed for almost 14 years under controversial circumstances. He was convicted earlier this year for promoting violence in a trial critics say was biased. An international campaign calling for his release has so far failed to achieve a positive outcome, but patience is running thin among the 17 opposition groups that make up the MUD.
After vowing to unite in a bid to remove the ruling Socialist Party (PSUV) from power, the question of how to carry out such a change is dividing the coalition, casting doubts over their claims that Venezuela is on the verge of a new dawn. The disagreement concerns the MUD’s tactics over the coming 12 months and how the grouping plans to successfully remove Nicolás Maduro from Miraflores Palace.
In an interview last week, former presidential candidate and opposition leader Henrique Capriles hinted at a split in the movement when he branded “La Salida” (“The Exit”) — the aggressive 2014 strategy led by López which called for a “popular explosion” and mass barricades — “a failure.” Capriles called for responsibility and said the opposition had to avoid a “social explosion,” arguing that the economic crisis facing the country is the biggest priority.
“If we had followed his (López’s) strategy, we could not have achieved the December 6 victory,” Capriles said in the local press. “I don’t see Leopoldo Lopez as my contender, we both pursue very different things, however he has the right to want to be president” he added, in a nod to the different ideological backgrounds of the coalition’s parties.
After vowing to unite in a bid to remove the ruling Socialist Party (PSUV) from power, the question of how to carry out such a change is dividing the coalition, casting doubts over their claims that Venezuela is on the verge of a new dawn.
The comments were met with anger by the father of the jailed leader, Leopoldo López Gil, who said that every time Capriles speaks, he “adds another lock” to the door of the cell holding his son. The jailed politician’s supporters have called the election win “The Exit, part two,” and López Gil said Capriles failure to recognize this was “a major national failure.”
“The dictatorship is weak and we must not give them respite,” Lopez Gil declared, calling on deputy Henry Ramos Allup to become chair of the new National Assembly. “I say thanks be to God he’s (Capriles) just a state governor and not one of the brave new lawmakers.”
The stand-in leader of Popular Will, Carlos Vecchio, also slammed Capriles’ comments, retweeting critical messages and statements against the former presidential hopeful. López himself meanwhile shows no sign of altering his hardline stance, which has the tacit backing of fellow influential opposition figures Antonio Ledezma and Maria Corina Machado.
“I have decided to confront this dictatorship on all fronts, legitimately protesting in the streets and in elections and on moral grounds,” López told the America Group of Daily Newspapers this week.
The comments were met with anger by the father of the jailed leader, Leopoldo López Gil, who said that every time Capriles speaks, he “adds another lock” to the door of the cell holding his son.
‘Only united’
In the wake of the very public split, Lilian Tintori, López’s wife and persistent campaigner for his release, called for unity among the opposition yesterday.
“Only united can we convert Venezuela into this country of respect and compromise with the human rights that we deserve,” she posted on Twitter.
Respect and compromise will be important in the coming week. On January 5, the first day of the new incarnation of the National Assembly, the opposition will have its first chance in 15 years to elect a new head of the chamber, one opposed to Socialist government.
The MUD announced this week that the vote will be a “universal, direct and secret ballot.” Refuting speculation that the coalition is facing fractures, the MUD promised to offer a single candidate with “one strategy.”
January 5 looks set to be potentially explosive day both inside and outside the chamber, with both Chavismo and the opposition calling on supporters to mobilize and support their repective deputies on day one, when over 100 new lawmakers are scheduled to be sworn in.
MUD Secretary General Jesus Torrealba, speaking at his press conference yesterday, called for unity among voters and politicians, saying the government was tirelessly working “against the Constitution, against the law and against common sense” and should be the focus of energies.
Ramos, the leader of the Democratic Action (AD) party tipped to be the new speaker, wrote in an article last week that the MUD will “procure within a period of six months following the inauguration of the new National Assembly a constitutional, democratic, peaceful and electoral solution to the change of government.”
@URLgoeshere
This column was published in the Buenos Aires Herald, on Thursday, December 31, 2015.
Link: http://www.buenosairesherald.com/article/205875/opposition-unity-in-doubt-as-2016-draws-closer