On January 10, all eyes will be on Venezuela
Venezuelans anticipate large protests this week
Originally published on Global Voices
Image by Global Voices. On the left: Opposition candidate Edmundo González Urrutia (image credit: Wikimedia Commons/European Union CC BY 4.0). On the right: President-Elect Nicolás Maduro (image credit: Wikimedia Commons/Kremlin CC BY 4.0)
January 10 is much more than a simple calendar day in 2025 for Venezuela, as the date laid out in the constitution for the inauguration of new presidential terms. This year, the stakes are even higher, as the candidates who ran in July's highly contested presidential elections are preparing to make the day their own. Both President-elect Nicolás Maduro and opposition leaders María Corina Machado and Edmundo González Urrutia have called for nationwide mobilizations for that day, and the day before.
How did it come to this?
The National Electoral Council (CNE), Venezuela's highest office on electoral affairs, proclaimed current president Nicolás Maduro as the winner for a third consecutive term (2025–2031). Presidential periods in Venezuela have no legal reelection limits. This sparked a wave of protests and authoritarian backlash — today, more than 1700 people remain imprisoned in Venezuela after being detained for political reasons, including post-electoral protests.
No voter tallies have been shown since the election day on their website — which is still inactive — and the government has released promotional content centered on the slogan #YoJuroporMaduro (I Swear by Maduro), calling Maduro's followers to support his inauguration. The ceremony will be held in Caracas, the country's capital.
United! With our fist raised high, on #10Ene we swear with our hearts, for the trust and love we have for the Homeland. The date is scheduled to defend the vote!
The opposition claims that the rightful winner of the July elections is their candidate, Edmundo González Urrutia, who is currently touring the Americas after receiving political asylum in Spain last September. They base their claims on the voter tallies collected by volunteer witnesses on election day, which have been compiled in open data initiatives such as resultadosconvzla.com and macedoniadelnorte.com. At the time of publication, opposition leader María Corina Machado remains in hiding, in an undisclosed location. She called Venezuelans to the streets on January 9, a day before the inauguration.
This is the cue. This is the day!
The day we unite our flag in a single cry for FREEDOM!
Venezuela needs you.
All of you, TOGETHER. ALL OF US!I will go with you.
This January 9, EVERYONE in to the streets, in Venezuela and around the world.GLORY TO THE VALIANT PEOPLE!
The world has not turned a blind eye to the upcoming events. Only a handful of countries have recognized Maduro as the winner of the presidential elections, including Russia, China, Nicaragua, and Cuba. Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico — whose presidents were once poised to help mediate the electoral crisis by meeting with Maduro — will send high-level government representatives to the inauguration ceremony. On the other hand, the United States and the European parliament openly recognize González as president-elect.
Uncertainty could sum up the feeling of most Venezuelans. Caracas Chronicles, a Global Voices content partner, says it like this in their opinion piece “Something is Going to Happen in This Town”:
There is a shared feeling amongst all Venezuelans that something will happen in the coming weeks. Be it driven by the government’s military paranoia or by the opposition’s hopeful speech. Let’s just hope that someone with their head and heart in the right place actually does have a plan.