Andrés Villavicencio, a 31-year-old lawyer, had just a minute to think about the decision that changed his life. As in the last eight elections that have taken place since he came of age, on July 28, 2024, he was an electoral observer for the opposition coalition at the Paraguaná Institute, in the municipality of Carirubana. This is an impoverished area between the Caja de Agua and Antiguo Aeropuerto sectors of the oil-producing state of Falcón, on Venezuela’s west coast.However, this past election was the only time in which he ever had to demand the records that must be given to each observer… a struggle with the electoral authorities that he faced by reciting (again and again) what the law says. This confrontation lasted a little more than half-an-hour, before it was his time to shine.On election night, he went out to the voting center and read aloud the local results in front of hundreds of local residents. Some recorded him with their cell phones. President Nicolás Maduro: 195 votes. Opposition candidate Edmundo González Urrutia: 1,046 votes. His voice was lost amid shouts and applause. The video went viral… and the authorities went to his house to look for him.Hace tres meses que este video cambió mi vida. Defender las actas y leer el resultado.🔴 Maduro 195🔵 Edmundo 1046El costo personal de esto fue el exilio, pero lo volvería a hacer sin dudarlo. No será en vano todo lo que sacrificamos. GANAMOS y vamos a cobrar esta victoria. pic.twitter.com/TG8WUzrB5X— Andrés Villavicencio (@AndVilla1) October 28, 2024
The intimidation grew, as did the number of people arrested amid protests following the results that were announced by the National Electoral Council. More than 2,000 were jailed. Villavicencio had his passport revoked. This punishment has been imposed on activists, electoral observers, and journalists, according to testimonies collected in reports such as those published by the UN’s Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Venezuela.After several weeks of seeing unmarked cars stop in front of his house — with those inside taking photos — he received a phone call. Someone tipped him off, informing him that a specific van, which had been parked in front of his residence for over four hours, was there to take him to the notorious Helicoide prison, which has been filled with political prisoners throughout the Maduro administration (2013-present). That’s when the clock started ticking.“I thought about what to do for a minute. Then, I spoke with my family. We packed our bags in half an hour. I arranged for someone to hide me until dawn the next day. I disconnected my phone, because that’s how they can locate you. The night I left, there was a blackout: this helped me get out without being seen. The next morning, I crossed into [the Colombian town of Maicao] from the state of Zulia.”This was how Andrés Villavicencio escaped from Venezuela. He has been in exile in Madrid for the past four months. The story that he tells EL PAÍS resembles what has been experienced by an incalculable number of people who have left the country after July 28, forced out by threats from the Maduro government.Villavicencio was a municipal leader for the Primero Justicia opposition party. As a lawyer, he has been denied his ability to practice his profession in a country that has a fragile rule of law. Hence, this young man has survived with remote work in the marketing sector. He’s part of a generation that has practically only known the rule of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), first under the administration of the late Hugo Chávez, (1999-2013), and then Maduro.The electoral observers were key players in the machinery that allowed the opposition to demonstrate that they won the 2024 Venezuelan presidential elections. On other occasions that saw close results, they hadn’t been able to achieve this. As a result, the observers have been targeted by the security forces.The decision that Villavicencio had to make in just a minute separated him from his family. Still, he doesn’t regret it. The tens of thousands of official ballots that the opposition managed to collect — while making an effort to show them to the international community — are documents that will rattle the legitimacy of Maduro’s inauguration on January 10, 2025. That’s when a new presidential term begins… a date shrouded in uncertainty for Venezuelans.Venezuelans take part in a demonstration called by the opposition in Madrid’s Plaza de Cortés, in October of 2024. Foto: Rodrigo Jiménez (EFE)Villavicencio fought to gather the results from the three tables in his polling station, as did thousands of other observers that the opposition managed to train. They were able to compile the results from at least 83.5% of ballot boxes. According to such a high figure, Edmundo González’s victory would be irreversible.“In my polling center, in 2012, Chávez won with 56% of the votes. [The PSUV] has always won [this district]. When I read the [2024] results, I knew that this was a thermometer of what had happened in the country. At midnight, when they announced the results, we learned that they had committed fraud… and they had done it behind the backs of the PSUV electoral observers themselves. That night, they knew they had lost.”Part of the plan devised by former congresswoman and opposition leader María Corina Machado was unknown to supporters of the government. The vote tallies were collected by officials from the opposition campaign headquarters the next day and taken to local centers. Few people knew about these locations, which contained satellite internet and professional scanners. Villavicencio found out about this later.In exile, Villavicencio still hasn’t unpacked the suitcase he took with him, although he’s begun his asylum application process. “Each week, I think that I’ll return the following week,” he shrugs. “My expectation is to return, when Edmundo [González] is sworn in.” Like almost everyone, he doesn’t know how it will happen… even though the opposition leader himself foresees this outcome with complete certainty.“I have confidence in María Corina Machado’s plans and in Edmundo’s convictions,” Villavicencio tells EL PAÍS by phone. “He said that he’ll be sworn [into power] in Venezuela. We cannot turn the page. Every day is July 28, until Edmundo is sworn in.”Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAÍS USA Edition
