Is the Church in Venezuela facing new risks of persecution?

In the aftermath of the election, it is possible that the government’s fragile relationship with the Church could erupt into a full-blown persecution.

After a presidential election this week that has widely been denounced as fraudulent, Venezuelans took to the streets to demand the regime publish full electoral results and acknowledge its defeat.

Protests follow the 2024 presidential election in Venezuela. Credit: Jimmy Villalta / VWPics via AP Images

The protests have been met with violence, with almost 20 people killed and hundreds more arrested, including Freddy Superlano, the national coordinator of one of the most important political parties of the opposition, Voluntad Popular.

The Catholic bishops of Venezuela are among those taking a strong stance in calling for the detailed publication of the electoral results. Some bishops, like Víctor Hugo Basabe of the Archdiocese of Coro, have publicly called the election a fraud.

In the past, Nicolas Maduro and his government have maintained a fragile peace with the Catholic Church. 

But with the already tenuous situation in Venezuela now particularly unstable, it is possible that the government’s relationship with the Church could erupt into a full-blown persecution.

On the evening of the Venezuelan presidential election, the National Electoral Center (CNE) announced that Nicolás Maduro had won re-election with almost 51.2% of the vote. In second place was Edmundo González, a former diplomat and the main opposition candidate, with 42.2%.

However, the opposition claims to have a different result. Its leaders say the automatic tally sheets printed by the election machines - which are supposed to be available to party representatives - show that González won the election with 67% of the vote, while Maduro had only 30%.

To justify their claims, they have posted what they say are images of more than 80% of these tally sheets online. This had led to calls for the CNE to publish full images of the tally sheets, which are considered by electoral experts to be a reliable source of election data.

Aside from the potential fraud, the Catholic Church and many international organizations have accused the government of irregular electoral conditions: of the more than 8 million Venezuelans living abroad, only 70,000 were allowed to vote; María Corina Machado, the original opposition candidate, was banned from running; and many international electoral observers were prohibited from observing the election. 

The day after the election, Venezuelans took to the streets all over the country, especially in poorer areas in which the opposition won by a wide margin, according to the tally sheets published by opposition leaders. 

Whenever there have been widespread protests in Venezuela, repression has followed soon after. This was especially true in the 2014 and 2017 protests. 

But the brutality of the repression this time has been particularly intense.

In five days, as many as 19 people have been reportedly killed in protests, and almost a thousand have been arrested, many for sharing anti-government posts on social media or WhatsApp, or for having pictures of protests on their phones.

Reports of police checkpoints in large cities are widespread.

In previous times of upheaval, most of the arrests occurred while people were actively involved in protests. Now, many human rights NGOs have reported that Venezuelan law enforcement officials have arrested people in their homes, sometimes in the middle of the night.

Venezuelan clerics, especially in big cities, are not shy in denouncing the regime in their homilies, public appearances, and social media.

Archbishop Basabe is widely seen as the staunchest critic of the dictatorship within the Venezuelan episcopate.

Basabe was threatened by the Maduro regime in January 2023, when he denounced government corruption, the economic situation in the country, and lack of human rights. 

“I invite you to put in the heart of our prayer, our dear Venezuela: hurt, beaten, betrayed, and ransacked to the utmost, and [to pray] for the end of the bubbles of economic falsity that seek to hide the horrid situation in which most of our Venezuelan brothers are,” he during a homily, drawing applause from the congregation.

In recent days, Basabe has called the election fraudulent and voiced messages of support on social media for the protests that are taking place.

“I see Venezuela and I can't but think of the mystery of the Passion. The tyrants thought they had finished with Jesus, and after three days of silence Christ rose victorious from the tomb. The hour of your resurrection has arrived Venezuela! May your silence precede your victory,” he said on July 29.

“Venezuela is in the streets demanding truth and respect for its will. The world is asking for clarity. There is not a single result published by [The CNE] about the process. They are attacking the peace of the Republic and the answer cannot be repression,” he said a day later.

While the immediate future of Venezuela remains uncertain, it is possible that the post-election volatility could contribute to an increased backlash against the Church.

One way in which this could happen is in the appointment of future bishops.

Venezuela has a concordat agreement with the Vatican dating back to the ‘60s, which states that the Venezuelan government must give its approval, or placet, to episcopal appointments.

Although his predecessor, Hugo Chávez, refrained from doing so, Maduro has used this privilege to delay and effectively block bishop appointments in the country. 

For example, Basabe served as apostolic administrator of Barquisimeto for five years, but was never appointed as archbishop. Pope Francis eventually named him Archbishop of Coro, a much smaller and less influential see.

Cardinal Baltazar Porras was apostolic administrator of Caracas for four years before he was eventually appointed as archbishop. His successor, Raúl Biord, can hardly be called a friend of the regime, but takes a less adversarial stance than Porras.

Biord’s appointment was viewed by many as a compromise: He is not a friend of the regime, which pleases Francis and the Venezuelan faithful, but he has a less confrontational profile, which pleases the regime.

“He’s the best we could do, considering the circumstances,” a Vatican source told The Pillar.

Still, Maduro has not blocked the appointments to the extent that he could in the past decade. 

And he has largely avoided direct confrontation with the Church, preferring to throw insults and exert indirect pressure.

This may be because the Church is the only institution in the country that has some legitimacy with all political actors, and therefore has potential as a mediator with the opposition and international actors. 

But as the regime fights to maintain control in the country, the Catholic Church may find a target on its back if its leaders continue to speak out.

At least one Catholic priest has come close to becoming one of the political prisoners of the regime in recent days.

Police vehicles were recently seen outside of the Las Mercedes Church in the city of Maracaibo. Initial reports indicated that law enforcement was looking for Father Lenín Naranjo, the 61-year-old parish priest, after he took part in an opposition protest the day before.

Naranjo has repeatedly decried the Venezuelan regime in his homilies, saying last year that “[t]he deaths that Maduro is causing with this conflict to save his skin will lead him to hell.”

However a diocesan source told The Pillar that the priest had been tipped off and had left the parish and gone into hiding before the police arrived at the church.

His whereabouts are still unknown.

As the fallout from the disputed election continues, it remains to be seen whether Maduro will view the Church as a potential mediator to resolve political disputes or an obstacle to be overcome. 

But if he decides the latter, Catholics in the country may find themselves facing new levels of oppression and brutality.