Brian Winter on Public Radio Exchange about Venezuela's Post-Electoral Scenario
Brian Winter on Public Radio Exchange about Venezuela's Post-Electoral Scenario
Nicolás Maduro is "using the police and threats to try to intimidate the opposition back into silence," said AS/COA's vice president for policy.
Brian Winter, vice president for policy at Americas Society/Council of the Americas and editor-in-chief at Americas Quarterly, was interviewed by Marco Werman on The World, a program by the Public Radio Exchange, about the electoral fraud in Venezuela, regional reactions to the situation, and the repressive actions taking by the regime of Nicolás Maduro to suppress dissent.
Winter explained the regime is “using the police and threats… to try to intimidate the opposition back into silence,” which has resulted in a “diminishing amount” of dissent and protests in the country. That includes recent threats to arrest opposition candidate Edmundo González.
How have regional leaders responded? Winter categorized countries into two camps.
“You have one group of nations that includes Chile, Argentina, some others, including Peru, that have recognized Edmundo González as the rightful winner and said that Maduro lost. There's then a second group that includes Brazil, Colombia and, to some degree, Mexico. They're not recognizing Maduro's win, but they're also trying to keep some bridges of dialogue open.”
Finally, Winter talked about the dynamics of Maduro's relationship with his country's armed forces. “They spy like crazy on each other, and they have help, that's been demonstrated, by Cuban intelligence and others to make sure that anybody who might be thinking of dissent, to make sure that they are discarded,” said Winter.
