El Pueblo: Understanding the history behind the contested presidential election in Venezuela, by Thomas Purcell – 1 August 2024

From King’s College London

Amid growing unrest in Venezuela, as critics both domestic and international accuse incumbent president Nicolás Maduro of forging election results to retain his grip on power, Dr. Thomas F. Purcell examines the history behind Maduro’s rise to power and why the election has caused such outcry.

Setting the scene

Before we get into this commentary on the recent Venezuelan elections, it is necessary to go back to 1989. In response to neoliberal austerity measures imposed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), a wave of spontaneous protests erupted from the barrios (working class neighbourhoods) of Caracas. The protesters were met with severe repression and violence and 400 Venezuelans were massacred in what is remembered as the ‘Caracazo’. Commentators agree that this was origin of Chavismo, the political movement named after the late president Hugo Chávez, that swept to power – after an aborted military coup in 1992 – in democratic elections in 1998. Chávez treated the Caracazo as a popular rebellion and, for the first time in Venezuelan democratic history, a new political project put “el pueblo” (the people) centre stage. This moment exploded the façade of liberal democratic politics that had treated Venezuela, and its oil wealth, as a revolving door of elite power shared by the two main parties since 1958.

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Dr Thomas F Purcell is a Senior Lecturer in International Political Economy at King’s College London.

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