By Earl Bousquet

Venezuelans have been to the polls 31 times in the last 25 years -a rate of one election every 10 months- and the PSUV has won all but two.

Chavez was succeeded by Maduro, who’s led Venezuela since Chavez’s death in 2013, despite the country facing perhaps the most-severe punishment by the US, which has imposed 936 unilateral coercive measures (sanctions) against the South American nation with the world’s largest certified oil reserves.

Successive presidential and municipal elections have seen the parties opposing Chavez, Maduro and the PSUV receive open support from the US, which has never hidden its interest in reclaiming control of Venezuela’s oil and gas, once controlled by the US-based oil company Chevron and other ‘Seven Sisters’ multinationals based in the US.

Chavez and Maduro have accelerated the nationalization of the nation’s energy resources and Venezuela has since been punished through the hundreds of sanctions that have stifled its ability to import essential medicines for hospitals, as well as food supplies, also preventing its purchasing of COVID vaccines and importing essential parts for electricity, water and other essential public utilities.

Thanks to the US sanctions, millions of Venezuelans have been forced to emigrate -mainly to the US, only to be blocked at official entry points and deported forcefully if caught crossing borders illegally.

The country suffered hyper-inflation of 150,000% and the GDP was reduced by 150%, but Maduro and the PSUV undertook and implemented hard decisions that eventually allowed the nation to survive the economic onslaught sufficiently, thanks to their confidence in attracting international support form friendly nations ready to purchase oil and gas despite the sanctions, such as China, India, Iran, Russia, South Africa and other developing nations.

The US came closest -under the Trump administration- to stamp Washington’s mark on Caracas when the PSUV lost its National Assembly majority in 2015 and the then-US President threw all America’s weight behind the infamous parliamentarian Juan Guaido.

Recognized by the US and at least 50 nations -despite Maduro being the sitting elected President- as an illegitimate ‘alternative president’ and without electoral regime change, Guaido disappointed his backers, even accused of different forms of corruption, including pilfering of donated funds raised for political support from abroad and plotting undemocratic means with right-wing elements to remove and replace Maduro.

With Guaido gone, the US and its allies are supporting the major current opposition presidential candidate Edmundo Gonzales, who replaced the original Maria Corina after she was found to have fallen short of the nation’s electoral laws, especially for her advocacy and invitation of US sanctions against her country, in violation of its sovereignty.

Maduro is supported by 13 left and progressive parties, while the ultra-right-wing nine opposition candidates are divided, but the extent of external US support for the opposition is strong-as-ever, as Washington keeps its eyes fixed on Venezuela’s infinite energy resources.

With the value of Venezuela’s endless billions of gallons oil reserves amounting to endless trillions of US dollars, some Venezuelans even boast that ‘We have more oil than Saudi Arabia has sand.’

But the July 28 Presidential elections is not only a matter between the US and Venezuela, but seen by the PSUV as a choice between yesterday and tomorrow, between continuing progress and reversing to the past regresses Chavez, Maduro and the PSUV campaigned against -and won repeatedly.

Venezuela has a well-oiled electoral machine that was most-highly praised by none other that ex-US President James ‘Jimmy’ Carter as the best and most transparent he’d seen; and the national electoral authorities also organize mock pre-election trials -simulations- to ensure every voter understands everything about how and where to cast their ballots.

The PSUV faces an opposition this time that’s making blanket promises like ‘Government for All’ should they win -with no specifics- but is also already starting to offer excuses for not winning.

Earlier this week, in the final days leading to the polls, the opposition and its foreign media backers have been circulating online rumors about the PSUV planning ‘violence’ should it lose.

The opposition are also planning to offer their own so-called ‘exit poll’ results -separate and apart from the official counts by the national electoral council.

There have also been ‘secret polls’ by the opposition claiming Gonzales is leading Maduro, but offering no figures; and plans are also reportedly underway to claim ‘election fraud’ -even before the official counting starts or ends.

But Maduro and the PSUV are confident of victory, pointing to the experienced ruling party’s well-organized presence in all voting districts across the country, unmatched by any other -plus the fact that the electorate has consistently showed understanding of and support for the government and ruling party’s efforts to overcome the 900+ US sanctions.

Besides, Time and History are on Maduro and the PSUV’s side: the election will take place four days after the 241st Anniversary of the Birth of The Liberator Simon Bolivar -and at a time when the PSUV administration has registered seven successive quarters of economic growth, thanks to several specific economic programs undertaken to circumvent the US sanctions.

Venezuelans went about their daily business quietly in the first days of the last week before the poll, with foreign observers and press reporting persons they encountered and questioned mainly expressed support for Maduro, many openly-saying they simply mistrust the Gonzales-Corina electoral pact that’s supported by the very country responsible for almost-a-thousand sanctions.

Venezuelans who left are also now returning in droves from disappointment over having left their homeland in search of elusive ‘opportunities’ they expected. Meanwhile, PSUV supporters the-world-over are simply waiting to exhale when tomorrow’s results are announced.