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Opinion Delaying free elections in Venezuela only benefits the regime Opinions - International | 19 minutes ago

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Delaying free elections in Venezuela only benefits the regime

Just over a month ago, Nicolás Maduro was captured. Operation Absolute Resolve was carried out flawlessly. It was a lesson in power, technology and military superiority. Now Venezuela urgently needs free elections this year.

A new and fair election is the only way to eliminate the soft dictatorship still in place, which wants to change everything so that nothing really changes.

The regime headed by interim President Delcy Rodriguez — formerly Maduro’s vice president — released political prisoners, rolled out the red carpet at Miraflores Palace for the CIA chief, privatized the oil industry, imprisoned Chavistas leaders, dismantled social programs, exported oil to Israel and said cut off support for Cuba. All this in just six weeks. Rodriguez has said that will rectify anything that needs to be resolved. 

So Trump’s strategy seems to have tamed the beast and started a new chapter in Venezuela, with a stronger leverage on the American side. Trump called Rodriguez “a terrific person,” who is “somebody that we’ve worked with very well.”  

Elliot Abrams, former special envoy to Venezuela during President Trump’s first term, recognizes the massive changes in Venezuela but believes that elections and the return of democracy are urgent tasks. In his view, this process should take place within the next six months and with all necessary guarantees.

The interim government recognizes the strong leadership of the U.S. But it is trying to avoid establishing an electoral calendar in the coming months, using any available excuse or pretext. That’s because the current leaders would never win competitive, fair and transparent elections. To call an election would be political suicide.

Rodriguez has also said that if Maria Corina Machado returns to the country she will have to “answer to Venezuela” for her actions — in other words, face the regime’s justice. 

A recent poll shows that Machado could win the elections with 67 percent of the votes. Only 25 percent would support Rodriguez. The study published by the Financial Times also noted that seven out of 10 Venezuelans are more optimistic after Maduro’s extraction. Hope is in the air. 

Although the U.S. has a clear path in Venezuela, tyranny also has one. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has outlined three fundamental phases for change in Venezuela: stabilization, economic recovery and transition.

The dictatorship, on the other hand, is betting on resisting, buying time and consolidating its power. The Rodríguez siblings — the interim president and her brother Jorge — know that the current administration, like all others, will undergo changes in Congress after the midterm elections. Three years later, there will be presidential elections. That is why they wait, resist and do not relinquish power.

Given this reality, Machado’s return to Venezuela is crucial. Her mere presence is a threat to the dictatorship’s master plan and will help trigger the transition that has yet to begin. In a real democracy, this should not be a concession, but an elemental human right that the regime continues to deny.

The dictatorship also refuses to guarantee the full and unconditional release of all political prisoners. They still hold 644 innocent people behind bars, and those who have been released are forced into silence and subjected to a conditional freedom.

In the midst of this new post-Maduro Venezuela, full of unprecedented changes and challenges, thousands of students have started to exercise the right to free protest. This has only been possible thanks to Operation Absolute Resolve.

Meanwhile, Rodriguez dresses in pastels, smiles and tones down her inflammatory rhetoric to sell a watered-down version of tyranny. She seems to emulate the style of Deng Xiaoping, the communist leader who abandoned socialist economic policy and launched China into the free market, but who also maintained an iron fist when it came to personal freedoms and free elections. This version of dictatorship in Venezuela is just unacceptable.

The U.S. has worked a miracle in Caracas. Operation Absolute Resolve has opened a real opportunity for democratic transition, stability, security and prosperity. The winds of change are unstoppable no matter how hard Maduro’s left-wing Chavismo tries to fight them.

But it’s time to get those elections on the calendar and finish the job. 

Arturo McFields is an exiled journalist, former Nicaraguan ambassador to the Organization of American States, and a former member of the Norwegian Peace Corps. He is an alumnus of the National Defense University’s Security and Defense Seminar and the Harvard Leadership course. 

Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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