AGUA CALIENTE, Venezuela, July 23, (AP): At a crossroads not far from a gas station overgrown with weeds, young men and women in faded green fatigues stop vehicles returning from a rally for opponents of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, ask passengers for their identifications, and inspect their cars, trucks and motorcycles.
Such checkpoints have proliferated across the country’s vast tropical plains, forested highlands and beachfronts in the run-up to Sunday’s presidential election, aiming to intimidate and occasionally detain government critics. They often involve a request for a ride, bananas or "collaboration” - Venezuela’s euphemism for a small bribe.
But the power play frequently falls flat. When their superiors slip away from the scorching sun, the grunts betray their displeasure with Maduro and openness to a new commander in chief.
"Did the lady arrive? Were there a lot people?” one giddy soldier asks about opposition leader Maria Corina Machado.
"We wanted to watch, but there is no Wi-Fi here,” whispers another.
Since taking power in 2013, Maduro hasn’t hesitated to deploy troops to crush protests while rewarding senior officers with lucrative government jobs and control of key industries. But days away from a hotly disputed vote that threatens Maduro’s hold on power, the self-proclaimed socialist is working harder than ever to shore up the loyalty of the armed forces - the traditional arbiter of political disputes in Venezuela - and keep top commanders in line.
In recent days, the president has appeared on state TV attending a graduation ceremony for 25,000 police officers, praising them as the first line of defense against what he called attempts by rightwing hardliners to provoke a tragedy. He also promoted dozens of officers and bestowed a new title on his longtime defense minister, Vladimir Padrino López: ”General of the Sovereign People.”
"The destiny of Venezuela depends on our victory,” Maduro said at a rally this month. "If we want to avoid a bloodbath, or a fratricidal civil war triggered by the fascists, then we must guarantee the biggest electoral victory ever.”