Venezuela's president, Nicolás Maduro, has promised that "the time for the new democracy begins", as the mandate of the next five years will be "time for peace and prosperity." He will be president for the third time. He has advocated Chavism, with the Constitution approved during Hugo Chávez’s term of office. The mechanisms for renewing the Constitution will be put in place next week with the establishment of a committee.

The months after the elections have been filled with conflict and also the last hours before taking office. In fact, opposition leaders María Corina Machado and Edmundo González do not accept the results because they do not present the minutes of the votes and because they believe that Chavism committed an electoral fraud. They say that 80% of the minutes they have at their disposal say that it is the most voiced by the opposition candidate, but they have not presented these minutes either. Maduro has insisted that the process was "clean" and that it won.

The last complex weeks

Once again, after Juan Guaidó, the opposition initiative, which has broad international support, has failed. After the elections, González left Venezuela in September, claiming that he suffered a "political persecution" and was consolidated in Spain. The political cause came to the Congress of Deputies and the PNV voted with pp, Vox and UPN that the Spanish Government recognized González as president of Venezuela. However, the Spanish executive has not been in favour of either Maduro or González or the Public Prosecutor’s Office.

Gonzalez has not been in the Spanish state in recent weeks. He has been touring several countries in South America campaigning against Maduro, to which international media voted. Gonzalez had promised that on 10 January, the day of Maduro’s inauguration, he would appear in Caracas, but, of course, this has not happened. He has recorded a video and has proclaimed himself President of Venezuela, and has called on the Army to neglect Maduro and to position itself in his favor.

For her part, María Corina Machado, who remained hidden for several months at the U.S. embassy in Venezuela, appeared publicly on Friday, on the eve of Maduro’s inauguration. He made a public act in which he went to Maduro to tell the four winds that González was going to be president. Machado was arrested by the police, according to the opposition, while the Government of Venezuela denied him.

Support received by Maduro

Chavism and Maduro have international allies; not everything is critical. Several countries have sent their delegations to Caracas to be present at Maduro ' s inauguration ceremony.

The Cuban President, Miguel Díaz-Canez, has sent Viacheslav Volodin, the lower chamber of Russia in his Federal Assembly, in the state of Duma, to which delegations from Nicaragua, Algeria, Serbia, Uganda and Belarus have come.

This year’s representation, however, has not been the strongest among the strongest. Countries like Brazil or Colombia, which have historically positioned themselves in favor of Maduro, have not come this year, as they do not believe that the votes have been "clean". However, they have denounced the economic pressures on Maduro and Venezuela by the most powerful countries internationally. Colombia and Brazil do not support this "blockade" of Venezuela by several international countries, since "they will not let a family people die".

Atmosphere of international tension

Following the holding of the elections, in addition to the Spanish Parliament, the Basque Government has also proclaimed González as "legitimate president", and not Maduro. For example, on the day that Maduro had to take over, lehendakari Imanol Pradales wrote a message on the networks in favor of González.

Gonzalez was also appointed President by the European Parliament. And in addition, last Saturday the European Union (EU) sent a commission to Maduro: "We call on Venezuela to end all unjust and arbitrary arrests and release all political prisoners," he added.

The United States is one of the countries that has had the most influence in the fight against the governments of Chavism. In a week, the president’s change will take place on January 20, and it will be Trump who takes the lead. The Trump administration was the engine that launched the Guaidó operation in 2019. There is a lot of expectation, to see what kind of attitude and what action it takes against Maduro once again, but it is possible that, as the American media The Wall Street Journal said in November, Trump takes another stand. Because Venezuela is a big oil producer, and big oil companies seem to be pushing Trump to change his attitude against Venezuela.