Gisela Salim-Peyer: “On Sunday, an estimated two-thirds of Venezuelans, according to exit polls, voted for the opposition candidate—a brave, if fanciful, thing to do in a country ruled by a 25-year-old regime that gave no indication it would honor the results. ‘To face a dictatorship with hope is a bit like facing a bullet with a flower,’ an activist from Voto Joven, an organization that encourages young people to vote, told me on condition of anonymity out of concern about reprisals. [~https://theatln.tc/gM3rRXuY~](https://theatln.tc/gM3rRXuY)
“Sure enough, the government has declared a narrow victory for President Nicolás Maduro but will not release the detailed results, despite the calls of national and international election observers as well as foreign leaders. Maduro, a widely hated autocrat whose economic mismanagement has produced one of the world’s biggest refugee crises, appears to have secured less than half as many votes as his opponent, but is to govern for a third term.
“A moment during the campaign of María Corina Machado, the opposition leader, encapsulates both the hope and the repression that characterized this election cycle. María Corina, as Venezuelans call her, traveled in May to the ‘llanos,’ a swampy green lowland that is home to wild buffalo and small farms. In a ‘llanero’ state in the very center of Venezuela—the heartland, if you will—is a village of no political, historic, or economic importance called Corozo Pando. María Corina and her team made a quick stop there for breakfast, at a restaurant called Pancho Grill, where they ordered 14 meals, including a few empanadas.
“This seemingly unremarkable transaction could not be ignored, either by Maduro’s regime or by observers on social media. That is because, the Venezuelan dictatorship being what it is, the meal implied multiple acts of defiance.”
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Gisela Salim-Peyer: “On Sunday, an estimated two-thirds of Venezuelans, according to exit polls, voted for the opposition candidate—a brave, if fanciful, thing to do in a country ruled by a 25-year-old regime that gave no indication it would honor the results. ‘To face a dictatorship with hope is a bit like facing a bullet with a flower,’ an activist from Voto Joven, an organization that encourages young people to vote, told me on condition of anonymity out of concern about reprisals. [~https://theatln.tc/gM3rRXuY~](https://theatln.tc/gM3rRXuY)
“Sure enough, the government has declared a narrow victory for President Nicolás Maduro but will not release the detailed results, despite the calls of national and international election observers as well as foreign leaders. Maduro, a widely hated autocrat whose economic mismanagement has produced one of the world’s biggest refugee crises, appears to have secured less than half as many votes as his opponent, but is to govern for a third term.
“A moment during the campaign of María Corina Machado, the opposition leader, encapsulates both the hope and the repression that characterized this election cycle. María Corina, as Venezuelans call her, traveled in May to the ‘llanos,’ a swampy green lowland that is home to wild buffalo and small farms. In a ‘llanero’ state in the very center of Venezuela—the heartland, if you will—is a village of no political, historic, or economic importance called Corozo Pando. María Corina and her team made a quick stop there for breakfast, at a restaurant called Pancho Grill, where they ordered 14 meals, including a few empanadas.
“This seemingly unremarkable transaction could not be ignored, either by Maduro’s regime or by observers on social media. That is because, the Venezuelan dictatorship being what it is, the meal implied multiple acts of defiance.”
Read more: [~https://theatln.tc/gM3rRXuY~](https://theatln.tc/gM3rRXuY)