Bishops call for Venezuelan vote to be respected

(OSV News) -- Venezuela's bishops called for the country's electoral decision to be respected on the eve of the Jan. 10 inauguration of President Nicolás Maduro, whose victory in the July 28 election is disputed by the opposition and not recognized by the United States.

"The people of Venezuela, in exercising the sovereignty guaranteed by the constitution … expressed, with their participation and vote in the presidential elections of July 28, their clear and decisive choice for democracy," the Venezuelan bishops' conference said in a Jan. 9 statement. "This decision must be respected."

In his Jan. 6 homily for the feast of the Epiphany and the inauguration of the 2025 Jubilee Year, Archbishop Raúl Biord said, "I call for respect for human and civil rights within a democratic framework of freedom of thought, expression and social action, and also for the cessation of all forms of intimidation and hatred, wherever they come from."

The Venezuelan regime, however, ramped up the repression of the opposition ahead of the inauguration. Opposition leader María Corina Machado -- who was banned from running as a presidential candidate -- was detained Jan. 9 after her motorcade came under gunfire upon leaving a mass demonstration in the national capital, Caracas. She was subsequently released the same day, though her team said she was forced to record several videos, CNN reported. Machado said on X that she would provide details Jan. 10 on what transpired.

Machado promoted Edmundo González, a former diplomat, as the presidential candidate after her disqualification. But she remains the opposition's figurehead with the ability to rally wide swaths of the population unhappy with 25 years of Chavista rule.

"(She) is the primary political threat to the regime due to her popular standing and moral authority, and they have proven willing to do virtually anything to silence her," Eric Farnsworth, vice president at the Americas Society/Council of the Americas, a think tank, told OSV News. "At this point, it appears nothing is off the table as the Maduro regime attempts to maintain its authoritarian rule despite losing badly at the polls over five months ago."

Machado's arrest drew international condemnation. U.S. President-elect Donald Trump said in a post on Truth Social, "Venezuelan democracy activist Maria Corina Machado and President-elect Gonzalez are peacefully expressing the voices and the WILL of the Venezuelan people. … These freedom fighters should not be harmed, and MUST stay SAFE and ALIVE!" He also noted, "the great Venezuelan American community … support a free Venezuela, and strongly supported me."

Some 7 million Venezuelans have fled the once-prosperous oil-producing country as the economy collapsed under the self-declared "21st century socialism" of Maduro and his predecessor, President Hugo Chávez. Trump has promised mass deportations, which could include Venezuelans, sparking speculation that he might try to work a deal with Maduro on receiving returned migrants.

"Trump will attempt to force Maduro to take them back and reinstate sanctions regardless of the immigration decisions," Daniel DiMartino, a Venezuela native and fellow at the Manhattan Institute, told OSV News. "The new administration will attempt a deal with third countries to relocate some Venezuelans."

Maduro claimed victory after the election, but the government-controlled electoral authority never released the tally sheets -- fueling suspicions of fraud. The opposition, meanwhile, collected tally sheets from 79% of the polling stations. The tally sheets showed González receiving double Maduro's support, according to The Associated Press.

Cardinal Baltazar Porras, retired archbishop of Caracas, and Cardinal Diego Padrón, retired archbishop of Cumaná, said in a leaked August letter to fellow prelates after the election that the church "cannot be neutral."

The cardinals added, "The government, instead of building bridges with the opposition … has widened the abyss in front of it, considering enemies all those who do not approve of its behavior. And it has decided to annihilate (opponents) with repression, prison, violence and death."

The Venezuelan bishops' conference has kept a low profile since the letter's release.

Government repression also escalated -- with González fleeing the country. González refers to himself as "president-elect" and is recognized as such by the United States and other countries.

In their Jan. 9 statement, the bishops called for "placing the common good before particular or partisan interests, for overcoming the temptation to remain indifferent to national events and the use of persecution for political reasons, and for each of us to contribute, from our own possibilities and responsibilities, the responses to the difficult situation we are experiencing today."