US election 2024: Kamala Harris campaign raises $200m in a week
Harris has quickly coalesced Democratic support after President Joe Biden announced his exit from the November 5 election. US Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign has raised $200m since President Joe Biden announced his exit from the presidential election race and endorsed her as his successor. The campaign, which announced its latest fundraising total on Sunday, said the bulk of the donations — 66 percent — came from first-time contributors in the 2024 election cycle. Over 170,000 volunteers have also signed up to help the Harris campaign with phone banking, canvassing and other get-out-the-vote efforts. “The momentum and energy for Vice President Harris is real — and so are the fundamentals of this race: this election will be very close and decided by a small number of voters in just a few states,” Michael Tyler, the campaign’s communications director, wrote in a memo. Donald Trump’s campaign said in early July that it raised $331m in the second quarter, topping the $264m that Biden’s campaign and its Democratic allies raised in the same period. Trump’s campaign had $284.9m in cash on hand at the end of June while the Democratic campaign had $240m in cash on hand at the time. ‘Close race’ Harris quickly coalesced Democratic support after Biden, whose candidacy fizzled following his disastrous June 27 debate performance against Trump, exited the race. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, former House Minority Whip Jim Clyburn, former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton were quick to announce their support. Prodigious Democratic fundraisers former President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle Obama announced their endorsement on Friday. The Democratic National Convention next month will, however, decide if Harris will become the party’s nominee. At her Saturday fundraiser, Harris said she remained the “underdog” in the race but that her campaign was picking up steam. Her takeover has re-energised a campaign that had faltered badly amid Democrats’ doubts about Biden’s chances of defeating Trump or his ability to continue to govern had he won. Meanwhile, in his campaign appearance in St Cloud, Minnesota on Saturday, Trump called Harris a “crazy liberal,” and accused her of wanting to “defund the police” and said she was an “absolute radical” on abortion. Polls over the past week have shown Harris and Trump essentially tied, setting the stage for a close-fought campaign over the 100 days left until the election. On Sunday, Mitch Landrieu, a campaign co-chair, said on MSNBC that Harris “had one of the best weeks that we’ve seen in politics in the last 50 years”. “This is going to be a very close race,” he said. Adblock test (Why?)
Wade Davis: US social and political landscape points to decay
Canadian-American social anthropologist Wade Davis says the US empire is showing major signs of decay. In an interview recorded days before United States President Joe Biden dropped out of the presidential race, Canadian-American social anthropologist Wade Davis argues that both Biden and his rival Donald Trump “ought to have stepped off the stage a long time ago”. Davis tells host Steve Clemons that there is no question that the 20th century was the American century, but the question now is, “Who’s going to rule in the next century?” With Americans on the left and right demonising each other, there is no room for a middle ground, and the country has become unrecognisable to many Americans, says Davis. Adblock test (Why?)
Mali rebels claim major victory over army, Russian mercenaries
Tuareg separatists say they ‘obliterated’ enemy columns and seized a large amount of equipment and weapons. A mainly Tuareg separatist coalition has claimed a major victory over Mali’s army and its Russian allies following three days of intense fighting in a district on the Algerian border. “Our forces decisively obliterated these enemy columns on Saturday,” said a statement by Mohamed Elmaouloud Ramadane, spokesman for the Permanent Strategic Framework for Peace, Security and Development (CSP-PSD) alliance on Sunday. “A large amount of equipment and weapons were seized or damaged”, and prisoners were taken, the statement said, adding that seven rebels were killed and 12 wounded in the fighting in the Tinzaouatene district. Mali’s military rulers, led by Colonel Assimi Goita, took power in 2020 and turned to Russia’s Wagner Group of mercenaries for security assistance, after expelling French forces in 2022. The Tuareg are an ethnic group who have been fighting for independence since 2012. Large-scale fighting broke out on Thursday between the West African nation’s army and the separatists in Tinzaouatene after the army announced it had retaken control of several districts. Tinzaouatene is almost entirely surrounded by Algerian territory and has been the scene of other battles between separatist forces and the army over the past decade. The CSP-PSD also said it damaged a helicopter, which crashed in Kidal, a rebel stronghold. Separatist groups lost control of several districts in 2023 after an offensive that saw forces from the military government take Kidal. The Malian army said in statements that two soldiers had been killed and 10 injured. One of its helicopters crashed in Kidal on Friday while on a routine mission, but no one was killed, it said. Adama Gaye, a journalist, author and former director of the Economic Community of West African States, told Al Jazeera on Sunday that Tuareg forces could be receiving outside help, including from the French military and regional armed groups with “allegiance to al-Qaeda”. Wagner fighters reportedly involved In some of the videos shared by the rebels with the AFP news agency, white soldiers were visible among the prisoners, the agency said in a report on Sunday. A local official and a former worker with the United Nations mission in Kidal told AFP the Malian army had retreated with at least 15 fighters from Russia’s Wagner Group killed or arrested. Mossa Ag Inzoma, a member of the separatist movement, claimed that “dozens” of Wagner fighters and soldiers had been killed or taken prisoner. Several Russian military bloggers reported that at least 20 from the Wagner Group were killed in an ambush near the Algerian border. “Employees of the Wagner PMC [Group], who were moving in a convoy with government troops, were killed in Mali … Some were captured,” said a prominent Russian military blogger Semyon Pegov, who uses the name War Gonzo. The Baza Telegram news channel, which has links to Russia’s security structures, reported that at least 20 Wagner fighters have been killed. Al Jazeera could not independently verify the blogger’s or the AFP’s reports. Mali has said Russian forces are not Wagner mercenaries, but trainers helping local troops with equipment bought from Russia. Baza’s report said on Sunday that Wagner fighters have been in Mali since at least 2021. Meanwhile, there have been several accusations of rights abuses of the civilian population by the Malian army and Wagner forces. Malian authorities deny the allegations. Violence by rebels linked to al-Qaeda and ISIL (ISIS), as well as community self-defence and criminal organisations, has also rocked Mali since 2012. Adblock test (Why?)
Paris Olympics 2024: Day one medal wrap – rugby sevens, cycling, judo
France won its first gold medal of its home Games in the men’s rugby sevens, while Belgium’s Remco Evenepoel continued his meteoric rise with a gold in the men’s individual time trial. France, the host nation of the Paris Olympics 2024, was among the countries that won a gold medal on the opening day of the Games. Here’s a summary of some of the medal winners from Saturday: Dupont the hero in France’s emphatic gold medal rugby win France claimed their first gold medal of the Paris Olympics, and first of any kind in men’s rugby sevens, when Antoine Dupont led them to a stunning 28-7 win over double-defending champions Fiji on an unforgettable night in the Stade de France. Fiji had won all 17 of their previous matches in the Olympics and went ahead through Joseva Talacolo. But the home fans exploded when Rayan Rebbadj, who scored twice in the semifinal win over South Africa earlier, dived between the posts to level the scores at halftime. It took Antoine Dupont and his status as his sport’s best player to finally end Fiji’s dominance of Olympic rugby sevens, helping France win a gold medal at a raucous Stade de France [Vadim Ghirda/AP] Superstar scrumhalf Dupont then came off the bench to set up Aaron Grandidier Nkanang, who barrelled over himself to make it 21-7. The 67,000 crowd could barely control themselves as France then controlled the ball in the final minutes and almost took the roof off when Dupont crashed over in the final play of the match to make the final score 28-7. The Fijians settled for the silver, while in the earlier bronze medal match, South Africa beat Australia 26-19 with the last play of a pulsating third-place playoff. American Perry Baker also made headlines, becoming the all-time leading men’s scorer in Olympic rugby sevens when he claimed his 10th try in the United States’s 17-14 loss to Ireland in their 5-8 placing playoff. Evenepoel and Brown grab golds in cycling road events On the wet and slippery roads of Paris, Belgium’s Remco Evenepoel won the gold medal in the men’s individual time trial, while Australia’s Grace Brown triumphed in the women’s competition. Evenepoel added an Olympic gold to his world title with the 24-year-old clocking 36 minutes and 12.16 seconds over 32.4km (20.1 miles) in driving rain to beat Italy’s Filippo Ganna by 14.92 seconds. Evenepoel’s fellow countryman Wout van Aert completed the podium with a third-place finish. Just a week after he won the white jersey for the best young rider and finished third overall at the Tour de France, world champion Remco Evenepoel added an Olympic gold to his collection [Ricardo Mazalan/AP] In the women’s road cycling, Brown earned Australia’s first gold medal at this year’s Olympics as she destroyed the field, her power and bike handling abilities unmatched by her rivals throughout the contest. The Australian won on the course at Pont Alexandre III by a whopping 1 minute and 31.59 seconds, while the UK’s Anna Henderson took the silver. Several riders slid and fell on wet and cobbled corners, with world champion Chloe Dygert settling for bronze. Two medals for France in judo Japan’s Natsumi Tsunoda won gold in the women’s under 48kg (105.8 pounds) category. Three-time champion Tsunoda defeated reigning world champion Baasankhuu Bavuudorj of Mongolia, who took the silver medal. Shirine Boukli, who won France’s first medal of their home Games, shared the bronze with Sweden’s Tara Babulfath. Kazakhstan’s Yeldos Smetov was the champion in the men’s under 60kg (132.2 pounds) event. Smetov won Kazakhstan their first gold medal in Paris, with France’s Luka Mkheidze collecting a silver medal. The bronze medals went to Japan’s Nagayama Ryuju and Spain’s Francisco Garrigos. From left to right, Mongolia’s Baasankhuu Bavuudorj, silver, Japan’s Natsumi Tsunoda, gold, France’s Shirine Boukli, Sweden’s Tara Babulfath, bronze, pose on the podium of the women’s under 48kg event at Champ-de-Mars Arena [Eugene Hoshiko/AP] Adblock test (Why?)
What did Benjamin Netanyahu’s US trip achieve?
Israeli prime minister’s visit comes amid the Gaza war and a US presidential race. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was welcomed by a cheering US Congress this week as thousands of people took to the streets in Washington, DC, to protest against Israel’s nine-month-old war on Gaza. How is Netanyahu’s visit being viewed in the US and in Israel? Presenter: Sami Zeidan Guests: Phyllis Bennis – Fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies Gideon Levy – Columnist for the Israeli newspaper, Haaretz Niall Stanage – White House columnist for the US newspaper, The Hill Adblock test (Why?)
Paris Olympics 2024: ‘Terminator’ Titmus defends 400-metre freestyle title
Ariarne Titmus knocked off the USA’s Katie Ledecky again at the Olympics, defending her 400-metre freestyle title in one of the most highly anticipated races of the Paris Games. Titmus, the Australian star known as “The Terminator,” prevailed in an event the American won at Rio de Janeiro in 2016, handing Ledecky a second straight defeat in the event. With her fingernails painted Aussie yellow, Titmus led from start to finish. The 23-year-old faced her stiffest challenge from Canadian phenom Summer McIntosh but won comfortably in three minutes and 57.49 seconds. Gold medalist, Ariarne Titmus, stands with silver medalist, Summer McIntosh, left, and bronze medalist Katie Ledecky after the women’s 400-metre freestyle final at the Paris Olympics, in Nanterre, France. [Martin Meissner/AP] “I probably felt the expectation and pressure for this race more than anything in my life, to be honest, and I’m pretty good at handling the pressure but I’ve definitely felt it,” Titmus said. “I’m just happy to get the result for myself and I feel so honoured to be a part of the race and be alongside legends like Katie. “I look up to her so much as an athlete and there’s certainly not a rivalry beyond the races. I really respect her as a person,” Titmus added. Canada’s 17-year-old McIntosh claimed the silver in 3:58.37, while American Ledecky was left in her wake and got the bronze in 4:00.86. Ledecky remains at six individual gold medals in her brilliant career – still the most of any female swimmer in Olympic history. Titmus now has three individual Olympic victories on her growing resume. She swept the 200 and 400 free in Tokyo and is favoured to pull off the same double in Paris. Ledecky is not done yet. She skipped a chance to face Titmus again in the 200 free, but the American is favoured to take gold in both the 800 and 1,500-metre events. Maertens wins men’s 400-metre freestyle gold for Germany Lukas Maertens of Germany became the first swimming champion at the Paris Olympics after he won his first Olympic gold in the men’s 400-metre freestyle, which was held shortly before the women’s event. Emerging triumphant from a final stacked with world champions, Maertens touched the wall in three minutes and 41.78 seconds to finish ahead of Australian silver medallist Elijah Winnington and South Korean bronze-winner Kim Woo-min at La Defense Arena. Lukas Maertens’ victory erases his record as a nearly-man in men’s swimming, following two bronzes and a silver at the last three world championships. [David J. Phillip/AP] Maertens, 22, came into the race with the fastest time this year and duly converted on the biggest stage to become the first German winner in the event since Uwe Dassler took the title for East Germany at the 1988 Seoul Games. The German raced at world record pace until the final 50 metres, and that proved enough despite a fast finish by Winnington, who claimed his second Olympic medal. Australia set Olympic record in women’s 4×100-metre freestyle relay Australia made it two-for-two against the rivals from the US in the women’s 4×100 freestyle relay, claiming their fourth straight Olympic title in that event. The quartet of Mollie O’Callaghan, Shayna Jack, Emma McKeon and Meg Harris set an Olympic record with a winning time of three minutes and 28.92 seconds. The Americans — Kate Douglass, Gretchen Walsh, Torri Huske and Simone Manuel — rallied to take silver in 3:30.20. They edged China’s team of Yang Junxuan, Cheng Yujie, Zhang Yufei and Wu Qingfeng by a tenth of a second. From left to right: Emma Mckeon, Meg Harris, Shayna Jack and Mollie O’Callaghan of Australia, celebrate after winning the women’s 4×100-metre freestyle final [Ashley Landis/AP] Dressel leads USA to gold in men’s 4x100m freestyle relay A US team spearheaded by Caeleb Dressel stormed to the men’s 4×100-metre Olympic relay gold medal. The quartet of Jack Alexy, Chris Guiliano, Hunter Armstrong and Dressel came home in three minutes and 9.28 seconds with Australia taking silver in 3:10.35 and Italy bronze in 3:10.70. But the US had their work cut after the opening leg with Chinese 100-metre world record holder Pan Zhanle putting in a scorching two laps. The dominant Americans hauled themselves back into contention with Dressel powering them to the finish line. Kyle Chalmers put in a cracking final leg to hand Australia silver, with his 46.59 the fastest split of any swimmer. The US has long dominated the event, winning 10 of the 14 times it has been on the Olympic programme before Paris. They only missed top spot in 2000 (Australia), 2004 (South Africa) and 2012 (France), and as a result of the boycott in 1980. The United States men’s 4×100-metre freestyle relay team celebrate after winning the gold medal [Petr David Josek/AP] Adblock test (Why?)
Martyr Biden, Saviour Kamala
Washington has never seen a week quite like it. On Sunday, President Joe Biden took himself out of the presidential race. By Tuesday, his vice president, Kamala Harris, had picked up the torch and was on the campaign trail. The pace at which this story has unfolded across the US media has left liberal commentators gasping for air. They quickly dispensed with their criticism of Biden for selfishly clinging to power and started eulogising him for his selfless change of heart. What is next now that Harris is the presumptive nominee? Contributors: Alex Shephard – Senior editor, The New RepublicSabrina Siddiqui – White House reporter, The Wall Street JournalAkela Lacy – Politics reporter, The Intercept On our radar In Bangladesh, there has been a heavy-handed response to protests centring on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, her government and corruption. Meenakshi Ravi looks at the media restrictions and communications blackout imposed by the state. For months – even years – much of mainstream US media downplayed or ignored the obvious – the unmistakable signs of Biden’s cognitive decline. One commentator who can fairly say he dissented from mainstream opinion and saw this coming is Cenk Uygur. The host of The Young Turks spoke with us about why the liberal media got it wrong on this story. Featuring Cenk Uygur – Co-creator and host, The Young Turks Adblock test (Why?)
The pro-Palestinian student movement is alive and well
University campuses across the United States are quiet as the school year ended more than a month ago: most encampments have been cleared, campus protests have been discontinued and the mainstream media have all but forgotten about student-led demonstrations. The spirit and the cause, however, are very much alive. And that is because the encampment movement was not the start of the struggle towards Palestinian liberation, nor was it its end. Rather it was a pivotal shift, as it made the general public aware of the complicity of elected officials and public institutions in the Israeli genocide of the Palestinian people. It also expanded and solidified the solidarity network of the Palestinian movement well beyond its usual supporters. Whereas, before, pro-Palestinian protests were overwhelmingly attended by Palestinians and other Arabs, there is now a whole community of new allies that have been introduced to the Palestinian cause and show up at events. Americans across socioeconomic and racial backgrounds now believe that Palestinian life has value, that it is not anti-Semitic to say Palestine, and that Palestinians – like all other people – have inalienable rights to life and self-determination. Given that the impact of the student encampments has gone way beyond the confines of university campuses, it cannot be undone with the suppression of the protests. Pro-Palestinian action has continued mostly off-campus and taken a variety of different forms: from local protests to teach-ins and conferences to various modes of mobilisation, including online. At the end of May, just as the school year was wrapping up, the Palestinian Youth Movement, along with a number of other organisations, held a three-day conference in Detroit, Michigan. Thousands gathered to learn more about the role of technology in apartheid, solidarity with labour unions, and the importance of media in shifting the Palestinian narrative. “We will be here, in the streets, on our campuses, in our classrooms, in our workplaces, every day until Zionism is defeated and until the total liberation and return of our people,” read the final statement of the conference. A few days later, an estimated 100,000 – many of them students and youth – converged on Washington, DC to denounce the Biden administration’s unconditional support for Israel. Protesters held up a 2-mile-long red banner symbolising President Joe Biden’s non-existent red line, which has allowed the Israeli government and army to commit unimaginable atrocities in Gaza. And most recently, thousands of youths, students, and allies gathered again in Washington, DC to protest against the visit to the US and the speech of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the US Congress. Although he is the architect of a genocide and a war criminal with a likely arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court, his address was met with applause from members of Congress from both parties. As he spewed lies about his genocidal war on Gaza, American youth made clear their rejection of this political farce and of the US government’s complicity in the Palestinian genocide. There has also been mobilisation to defend and support those who still face charges over their participation in encampments and occupations. According to The Appeal, a nonprofit news outlet, more than 3,000 students have been arrested for their involvement in campus protests against the genocide of Palestinians. While charges in many cases have been dropped, in others local prosecutors have decided to push forward with them, which could have serious consequences for the accused. The way this has been done has also illustrated how the Palestinian issue ties to various layers of injustice within the US and why so many non-Arabs have joined our cause. In the case of the 22 people arrested at the City University New York (CUNY) and slapped with criminal charges, observers pointed out early on that those detained in the wealthier Columbia University in similar circumstances only faced misdemeanour charges. In June, the Manhattan district attorney dropped felony charges against 12 CUNY students and staff but pressed forward with the cases of 10 community members, who are mostly Black people and working-class. People have rallied in their defence, trying to bring more attention to this injustice and the clear attempt by the authorities to come after the most vulnerable among us. Much is also being done on other fronts, not just on university campuses and in the streets. One area of particular note is boycotting. We know that boycotts have historically been successful in putting political pressure on occupying countries: they contributed to the dismantling of apartheid in South Africa, helped Algerians during their war of independence against the French, and put pressure on the Dutch economy during the Indonesian National Revolution against Dutch imperial rule. The Boycott, Sanctions, Divestment (BDS) movement picked up significantly over the past nine months and its efforts are bearing fruit. We have seen global sales of companies on the boycott list slump significantly, which has affected their valuation. McDonald’s shares have fallen by more than 7 percent, and Starbucks – by 17 percent. In some countries, the boycotts have been so effective that they have sent corporations into a frenzy. In Bangladesh, after sales fell by 23 percent, Coca-Cola released an advertisement denying any links to Israel, which spectacularly backfired. In US cities like Dearborn, where the Arab population makes up half the city, places like Starbucks and McDonald’s are all but empty, with local businesses being supported like never before. Elsewhere in the US, where the Muslim and Arab-American communities are smaller, students and youth are at the forefront of the BDS movement, spreading the word through social media and actively promoting the boycott of corporations complicit in the Israeli occupation of Palestine. Students also know the power of voting, and not voting. Since the start of the genocide last year, various political strategies have been deployed to ensure that our demands are heard. The “Abandon Biden” and “Listen to Michigan” campaigns were launched to convince voters to respectively withhold their vote or send a “warning” vote to Biden by voting uncommitted. Many youths and students participated in
As Venezuela’s election nears, opposition figures face Maduro’s repression
Maracaibo, Venezuela – The journey from the Venezuelan capital of Caracas to the coastal city of Maracaibo should only take about nine hours. For Maria Corina Machado, however, it took closer to 12. Machado, a popular opposition leader, had hit the road in the final days of Venezuela’s presidential race to campaign on behalf of Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, the candidate hoping to unseat President Nicolas Maduro. But as she travelled between cities, Machado noticed government forces had blocked the roads. Gas stations were mysteriously closed along her route. Machado has grown accustomed to such obstacles, though. As she explained at a news conference at her party headquarters in Maracaibo on July 24, she sees the obstructions as the last gasp of an authoritarian government struggling to maintain its grip on power. “This is a confession from a regime that knows it is defeated,” Machado said, as she cited yet another example: efforts to deny accreditation to citizens wishing to act as poll monitors. “But just like we have overcome all these obstacles, we’re also going to overcome this one.” On Sunday, Venezuelans head to the polls to vote for the presidency. But Maduro, the socialist president who has been in power since 2013, has struggled in the polls, trailing Gonzalez by wide margins. An opposition victory could bring nearly a quarter century of socialist rule to a close. Opposition leaders like Machado, however, warn that Maduro will not leave office without a fight. They anticipate the Maduro government will continue to sabotage their efforts — even if it means subverting democracy at the ballot box. Presidential candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia greets the crowds in Maracaibo, Venezuela, ahead of a rally [Mie Hoejris Dahl/Al Jazeera] Haunted by hurdles Machado, however, is no stranger to Maduro’s tactics. The 56-year-old, a former member of Venezuela’s National Assembly, was once a frontrunner in the presidential race herself. Last October, she swept the opposition primary with 92.5 percent of the vote. The Democratic Unitary Platform — the main opposition coalition — declared her its nominee for the presidency. But Maduro’s allies in government sought to bar her from holding office, accusing her of having supported US sanctions, being involved in corruption and losing money for Venezuela’s foreign assets. In January, Venezuela’s Supreme Court upheld the ban: Machado was effectively ousted from the race. She has been barred from air travel, too. Machado has nevertheless sought to rally voters on behalf of her replacement, Gonzalez. One of her recent campaign events in Maracaibo, Venezuela’s second largest city, drew an estimated 200,000 spectators, according to Vente Venezuela, her political party. But she remains a target, as does Gonzalez. Ahead of last Tuesday’s rally in Maracaibo, Venezuelan national police detained six people for arranging sound systems and transport for her team. Their equipment was ultimately confiscated. Machado and her team had to make do without a sound system, sometimes yelling to be heard over the crowd. But her voice was largely swallowed up in the din. Even members of her campaign have faced harassment. Since March, five of her staffers have sought refuge at the Argentinian embassy in Caracas to avoid arrest. They have been coordinating Machado’s campaign remotely from within the embassy walls. Just last week, Machado’s security chief was also arbitrarily detained in what Machado described as “a kidnapping”. He was released the following day. In addition, her campaign vehicles were vandalised, and their brake hoses were cut. Motorcyclists accompany Maria Corina Machado’s caravan of cars as she travels between cities [Mie Hoejris Dahl/Al Jazeera] Her team has grown accustomed to bringing hoses and jerrycans of fuel on the road whenever they travel, just in case the government forces gas stations along the route to close. “It is not a typical campaign,” Oliver Lopez Cano, a campaign staffer, told Al Jazeera. Still, Machado told Al Jazeera in a private conversation after the Maracaibo rally that she has received unexpected support as Maduro’s popularity tailspins. For years, motorcycle groups known as “motorizados” used to prowl the streets, harassing members of the political opposition. But Machado said some of the motorcyclists have switched sides, fed up with the economic and political instability under Maduro. “All the motorcyclists used to be chavistas,” Machado explained, using a term that refers to followers of Hugo Chavez, Maduro’s predecessor and mentor. She described how thousands of motorcyclists — mostly men — have helped protect her campaign as she navigates across the country. Even at government roadblocks, security forces sometimes hesitated to obstruct her progress when they saw the motorcyclists she travels with, Machado said. “They went from being a threat to being a shield.” Crowds gather in Maracaibo, Venezuela, to hear opposition leaders speak ahead of Sunday’s election [Mie Hoejris Dahl/Al Jazeera] Targeting the grassroots But opposition leaders are not the only individuals facing government backlash. Critics accuse the Maduro government of attacking low-level political workers and even small business owners for their association with the opposition. In the three weeks since the start of the campaign season on July 4, the Venezuelan human rights organisation Foro Penal has documented 149 cases of politically motivated arbitrary detention. One of those cases involved a man named Aldo Roso Vargas, an activist from Voluntad Popular, an opposition party. He was arrested en route to an opposition campaign event in Caracas earlier this month, charged with attempting to destabilise the electrical system. Gonzalo Himiob Santome, co-founder and vice president of Foro Penal, said examples like Roso’s are an illustration of how far the Maduro government is willing to go to stay in power. “The government’s intention is to intimidate anyone who shows closeness to the opposition movement in one way or another,” Himiob said. Even restaurant owners and chauffeurs who have served opposition figures have reportedly faced intimidation from the government and its allies. That was the case for the Plaza Real Grill in San Cristobal, the capital of Venezuela’s Tachira state. Cesar Perez Vivas, the brother of the grill’s owners, said that Venezuelan tax
Maduro’s greatest test? All you need to know about Venezuela’s election
On Sunday, voters in the South American nation of Venezuela will take part in what may be one of the most consequential elections in the country’s modern history. After 11 years in power, President Nicolas Maduro is facing steep odds as he seeks a third term against opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia. Polls show Maduro trailing Gonzalez by nearly 40 points, as voters express exhaustion over Venezuela’s economic crisis and political repression. But critics question whether Maduro will accept defeat if he is indeed trounced at the polls. The socialist leader has been accused of wielding his power to suppress potential rivals, arresting some and barring others from holding office. Who are the candidates, what developments have we seen so far, and under what circumstances will voting take place? We answer these questions and more in this brief explainer. Supporters of opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez in Caracas wave a flag showing a cartoon of President Maduro’s face crossed out [Alexandre Meneghini/Reuters] When is the election taking place? The election will take place on July 28, the birthday of the late Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, Maduro’s mentor. What do the pre-election polls show? Maduro appears to be lagging behind his rival Gonzalez by a seemingly insurmountable margin. The polling firm ORC Consultores shows Maduro with 12.5 percent support, compared with a whopping 59.6 percent for Gonzalez. Another poll from the data firm Delphos and Andres Bello Catholic University showed Maduro with a slightly higher approval rating, about 25 percent. But he was again far behind Gonzalez, who pulled in more than 59 percent support in that poll as well. Why is Maduro so unpopular? Maduro has long struggled to muster the popularity of his predecessor, Chavez. Since the mid-2010s, Venezuela’s economy has been in dire straits, as the price of its main export, oil, cratered. The economic crisis triggered hyperinflation and severe economic strain. An exodus of people started to leave the country in search of opportunities elsewhere. Some critics blamed Maduro and his allies for corruption and economic mismanagement as well. Sanctions imposed by the United States — in response to alleged human rights abuses and democratic backsliding — have compounded the economic crisis, according to experts. Laura Dib, the Venezuela programme director at the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA), a research and rights advocacy group based in the US, told Al Jazeera that people in the country are desperate for an improvement to the crushing economic circumstances. “The minimum wage in Venezuela can be around $130 per month, but what a family needs just to cover their basic needs is around $500,” she said. Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro holds the sword of independence hero Simon Bolivar during his final campaign rally in Maracaibo, Venezuela, on July 25 [Isaac Urrutia/Reuters] How many people have left the country? Perhaps the best indicator of how dire the economic situation has become is the number of people leaving the country. According to the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR), more than 7.7 million have left the country since 2014, in one of the largest instances of mass displacement in modern history. About 2,000 people continue to leave each day. Some experts fear that number may spike if Maduro claims victory in a third successive election. Who is running? Maduro, the 61-year-old successor of former President Chavez, is seeking a third six-year term as the candidate for the United Socialist Party. He seeks to continue Chavez’s legacy of offering social programmes to the poor and taking an antagonistic stance towards the US. Facing off against Maduro is a group of opposition parties that call themselves the Unitary Platform coalition. The coalition brings together an array of political views, but its defining goal is to bring Maduro’s time in power to a close and improve relations with the West. By winning sanctions relief and boosting investments, officials in the Unitary Platform hope to improve conditions in Venezuela, allowing members of the diaspora to return home. The opposition is represented on the ballot by Gonzalez, a 74-year-old former diplomat. For his part, Maduro has painted the opposition as stooges of foreign powers who would privatise the social programmes that many poor residents rely on for economic support. Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado and presidential candidate Edmundo Gonzalez participate in a closing campaign rally in Caracas, Venezuela, on July 25 [Enea Lebrun/Reuters] What happened last time Maduro ran? The opposition largely sat out the 2018 election in protest of what it said was a biased electoral system. Maduro ultimately won that election with more than 67 percent of the votes. But groups like the Organization of American States warned that the election failed to meet the standards for a “free, fair, transparent and democratic process”, and observers noted that voter turnout was at a record low. Has this year’s election process been fair? In short, no. While the opposition is running with Gonzalez at the top of the ticket, he was not the coalition’s first choice to take the lead. In fact, he wasn’t even the second choice. Gonzalez was selected only after the government barred the popular opposition figure Maria Corina Machado from competing in the election, as well as Corina Yoris, who was initially named as her replacement. Other opposition figures have been detained in the lead-up to the vote, on what critics consider sham charges. In January, Venezuela’s Supreme Court upheld a decision to bar Machado from holding public office for 15 years. How does the government defend those actions? The government has defended its decision by alleging that opposition figures like Machado were involved in efforts to overthrow Maduro and encouraged US sanctions against Venezuela. While Machado remains widely popular, those charges lean into anxiety over a history of US support for efforts to undermine the government in Caracas and install a new one more favourable towards Washington. Maduro and his allies have also accused Machado of being corrupt. Guards stand outside of the National Electoral Council headquarters in Caracas, Venezuela,