The faith of Venezuela’s presidential candidates: A crucial decision for Catholic voters

Venezuelan opposition presidential candidate for the Plataforma Unitaria Democratica party, Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia (left) and current Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro appear to have the lead in that country’s upcoming elections, which will take place July 28, 2024. / Credit: UAN BARRETO/AFP via Getty Images; AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP via Getty Images

ACI Prensa Staff, Jul 20, 2024 / 07:00 am (CNA).

Next Sunday, July 28, presidential elections will be held in Venezuela. Various candidates are vying for victory, but according to the Voice of America, several pollsters point out that two in particular seem to have the lead: current president Nicolás Maduro and Edmundo González Urrutia.

With a little over a week until the elections, Venezuelan Catholics must take a much closer look into which option best represents their moral and religious convictions.

Various activists and organizations inside and outside the country, such as the International Crisis Group, have charged that in Venezuela the elections will not be completely free or fair, since in recent months, Maduro’s forces have been arresting opposition leaders and closing businesses and establishments that have provided any type of logistical support to González.

In addition, there are serious complaints against the Venezuelan electoral system. In 2017, the company Smartmatic, in charge of providing the software and machines used in the elections, accused the regime of manipulating participation figures, the BBC reported, and questioned the result of that year’s elections in which the opposition decided not to participate.

Nicolás Maduro

Maduro is once again seeking reelection, aspiring for a third term that would keep him in office until 2031.

Maduro was serving as vice president under President Hugo Chávez when the latter died in office and Maduro assumed the presidency. He was subsequently elected president in a 2013 special election.Throughout his years as president, Maduro has been harshly criticized by leaders around the world and has been accused, along with his family and friends, in different cases of corruption.

Since 2020, the United States Department of State has offered a reward for information that leads to the capture of Maduro and other Chavista (pro-Maduro) leaders for crimes related to drug trafficking and terrorism. Under his government, millions of Venezuelans have left the country and hundreds of dissidents have been murdered, according to the nongovernmental organization Human Rights Watch.

Furthermore, due to the country’s economic collapse, millions of people are mired in extreme poverty, suffering from hunger and all kinds of deprivation. Maduro has blamed this on an alleged “economic war” against Venezuela, orchestrated mainly from the United States.

In religious matters, Maduro claims to have been raised Catholic and that his paternal family ancestry is of Sephardic Jewish origin, the Jerusalem Post reported. However, in 2005 he visited India — along with his wife and prominent Chavista figure, Cilia Flores — to meet the questionable guru Sai Baba and advance the establishment of a branch in Caracas to follow his teachings, according to the Indian Express.

In addition, over the last few years, Maduro has strengthened his ties with the evangelical church, announcing plans of financial support and appearing on national television alongside pastors in the midst of prayer sessions, while harshly criticizing the efforts at dialogue promoted by the Vatican in Venezuela and while it has persecuted and attacked the country’s bishops on numerous occasions.

In 2020, Reuters reported that Maduro expressed his support for same-sex unions and asked the country’s legislature, the National Assembly, to consider legalizing such unions in Venezuela, falsely claiming the alleged support of Pope Francis in this regard. On the issue of abortion, Chávez’s successor has not expressed himself openly.

Edmundo González Urrutia and María Corina Machado

Edmundo González Urrutia became relevant on the Venezuelan political scene in recent months when he was chosen as a stand-in candidate for María Corina Machado, who this year was disqualified by the Chavista justice system from running for any public office. González, 74, held various and important diplomatic positions during the 20th century.

Despite González’s experience, it is Machado who has assumed leadership of the campaign, touring the country with massive rallies and voicing strong opposition to Chavismo (the socialist policies of Chávez and his successor Maduro). Machado, the coordinator of the Vente Venezuela party, with a center-liberal tendency, has stood out as a political leader since 2002.

During the events of the last decade in Venezuela, Machado never managed to establish herself as the leader of the opposition coalition until, in 2023, she was elected by an overwhelming majority in the opposition’s primary elections to find a unity candidate to face Maduro in the presidential election.

The national coordinator of Vente Venezuela has affirmed her Catholic faith on numerous occasions. However, at the same time she has spoken out in favor of euthanasia, in a 2023 interview with Politiks, “only” in certain cases.

On the issue of abortion, Machado affirms that “a national, rational debate must take place” and that despite being clear about her religious convictions, she would “never impose” her religious vision on society. “That would be absolutely contrary to what a liberal society deserves and demands,” she said.

Likewise, she has been clear about her position in relation to homosexual unions: “I am in favor,” she stated in the same interview. Regarding allowing adoption for homosexual couples, Machado responded that she is in favor of “the well-being of children” and added that she knows firsthand “the drama of abandoned children.”

The bishops’ call

In recent days, the Venezuelan episcopate has highlighted the “majority will” of Venezuelans who wish to participate in the elections on July 28 to achieve a change that allows all citizens to “live in peace and justice.”

On behalf of the bishops, Archbishop Jesús González de Zárate, president of the Venezuelan Bishops’ Conference (CEV), stated that as pastors they must accompany this desire and actively contribute so that it can be realized.

“Like Elijah’s, the road is long and difficult. There is still a long way to go to achieve a better Venezuela, but we must not give up on this endeavor,” González de Zárate said in his homily at a Mass renewing Venezuela’s consecration to the Holy Sacrament of the Altar.

On July 11, the CEV published a new pastoral exhortation in which it encouraged Venezuelans to participate in the elections in order to overcome the very serious situation in which basic services, education, the economy, freedom, and justice in the country find themselves.

In addition, they called for a careful evaluation of the ability of each of the candidates to solve Venezuela’s problems. 

“The vote thus assumes a vital importance in the current reality we live in: Only by overcoming abstentionism and political apathy will we be able to make progress in the reconstruction of the country,” the bishops said.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.