Tipsheet

Is Venezuela on the Brink of Civil War?

Matt Vespa
Matt Vespa  |  July 30, 2024 6:00 AM

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro likely lost the recent elections in his country because no one believes the official result. He was declared the winner after reports of the usual shenanigans, which included police forces barring people from entering polling locations. The State Department voiced its concern about the legitimacy of the results because they were fugazi. 

As the sun set in the capital of Caracas, there were skirmishes in the streets. Elsewhere, police and military units were either surrendering to protesters, refusing to follow government orders to contain the protests or outright joining them. Meanwhile, the purported leader of a Venezuelan gang, Tren del Llano, threatened Maduro and his allies, urging them to listen to the will of the people lest there be bloodshed: 

Good evening people of Venezuela, 

We are making this video to call out the armed forces and the public forces of the state. We do not want to generate more violence. 

My advice is that, listening to the people, they should entrench themselves in their commands and let the people decide to put in and remove whoever they have to put in and whoever they have to remove. 

I have nothing more to tell you. This is a warning call. I don't want violence, I don't want to generate homicide. I don't want to generate death. We are not generators of death. 

If they do not entrench themselves in the commands, we will use everything we have and all my people throughout the Huárico State will begin to launch attacks on the officials 

Is Venezuela on the verge of civil war? Let’s hope not, but Maduro’s grip on the country appears to be loosening fast. We’ll keep you updated.