But in Venezuela the penalty can be more severe than most: If you don't vote, you don't eat. In the barrio of Petare, Venezuela and Latin America's largest slum, residents say soon after Cabello's speech, they started receiving threats. Sunday's election happens against the backdrop of one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world. "I reiterate to the Venezuelan opposition, I accept the challenge, if they win the parliamentary elections this December 6, I will leave," he said in a televised speech on Tuesday. The voting results were widely dismissed as fraudulent by the European Union, the United States, the Organisation of American States and other groups.

Source: The Nation December 05, 2020 21:33 UTC