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The legislative elections of next December 6 in Venezuela will leave a critical panorama and greater tensions in the border regions with Colombia. This is the conclusion of the report ‘The 6D elections in Venezuela and their impact on the border’, presented this Friday by the Peace and Reconciliation Foundation.
Colombia and Venezuela share a 2,219-kilometer border, a porous region with a high flow of migrants and in which smugglers and drug traffickers proliferate. The Colombian departments bordering Venezuela are La Guajira, Cesar, Norte de Santander, Boyacá, Arauca, Vichada and Guainía.
According to the research carried out by Peers, for the elections this Sunday, the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) has a steamroller that will achieve a parliamentary majority, while political instability, institutional parallelism and the opposition make a landscape.
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“Meanwhile, the borders maintain their own microclimate of insecurity; difficult conditions abound at the level of corruption; and the exodus continues to affect neighboring countries. In turn, the absence of binational relations with Colombia is the breeding ground for illegality, criminality and violence on the border, ”the report indicates.
The document ensures that in the case of the candidates analyzed in the nominal and national lists of the states of Zulia and Táchira, none have a clear horizon, an established agenda or a concern about the Colombian-Venezuelan borders in Zulia and Táchira.
“For the most part, they are unknown candidates. Some pro-government candidates, those with the greatest political strength, have strong questions about alleged acts of corruption, international sanctions, links with armed groups, or are heirs of the current political leaders of these states, ”says the text presented by the foundation.
The border was closed to the passage of vehicles in August 2015 by order of President Nicolás Maduro.
Meanwhile, the borders maintain their own microclimate of insecurity; difficult conditions abound at the level of
corruption
The movement of people was suspended after the rupture of relations decided by Maduro on February 23, 2019, when the opposition leader Juan Guaidó, whom more than 60 countries including Colombia recognize as president, tried to enter from Cúcuta, capital of Norte de Santander , leading a caravan of humanitarian aid.
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The document adds that, both in Zulia and in Táchira, the preponderant border security speeches will be consolidated since 2017.
“Speeches focused on the confrontation with the Colombian government and the logic of the external enemy, especially the influence that the United States (USA) can exert on Colombia on the borders of La Guajira and Norte de Santander. A scenario that could have great uncertainty with the arrival of Joe Biden to the presidency in 2021 “, says the report.
With regard to the relationship between the institutions on both sides of the border, a tension mediated by subnational communications and agreements is expected, at the head of the governments of Norte de Santander and La Guajira with the government of Zulia and the protectorate of Táchira, as they have been since the closing of the border.
“A tacit recognition of the Chavista institutions, the only one with de facto control of Venezuelan territory,” the document says.
COVID-19
The National Assembly of Venezuela, which will have a mandate for the next 5 years, will be elected amid a global pandemic, the economic blockade by the United States, the sanctions and diplomatic isolations, as well as the various scandals that surround the Venezuelan government officials.
One of the biggest concerns that the foundation’s text shows has to do with the future situation of covid-19 in Venezuela and its possible expansion due to the little care taken during the campaign.
“It should be noted that the electoral cycle does not begin or end with the 6D. Prior to this, there was a political campaign that meant agglomerations without any control, since the CNE and the government did not establish any prevention plan for this pre-electoral cycle. Nor were any recommendations observed beyond the use of face masks and hand washing for 6D, something that is outside the recommendations for social distancing and the biosecurity measures required by the World Health Organization (WHO) “, concludes the report.
POLITICS
With information from EFE
