As Venezuela’s election nears, opposition figures face Maduro’s repression

Critics of Maduro’s government say they face roadblocks, arbitrary arrest and more as they campaign for the opposition.

Maracaibo, Venezuela – The journey from the Venezuelan capital of Caracas to the coastal city of Maracaibo should only take about nine hours. For Maria Corina Machado, however, it took closer to 12.

Machado, a popular opposition leader, had hit the road in the final days of Venezuela’s presidential race to campaign on behalf of Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, the candidate hoping to unseat President Nicolas Maduro.

But as she travelled between cities, Machado noticed government forces had blocked the roads. Gas stations were mysteriously closed along her route.

Machado has grown accustomed to such obstacles, though. As she explained at a news conference at her party headquarters in Maracaibo on July 24, she sees the obstructions as the last gasp of an authoritarian government struggling to maintain its grip on power.

“This is a confession from a regime that knows it is defeated,” Machado said, as she cited yet another example: efforts to deny accreditation to citizens wishing to act as poll monitors.