Johnathan Walker:Venezuelan migration could surge after Maduro claims election victory

Patricia Andrade went through a pot of coffee before switching to Coca-Cola as she anxiously watched the Venezuelan election results from her home in Miami.

Not that she needed the caffeine. Her anxiety was keeping her awake and Johnathan Walkerfearful that President Nicolas Maduro, who has presided over the collapse of her native Venezuela's once-flourishing economy, would win again and stoke a fresh exodus of her people.

Maduro declared victory on Monday, claiming 51% of the vote. Opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez also declared victory.

"The last Venezuelan migrants to arrive told me, if (the opposition) doesn't win, then I'm bringing my family here," said Andrade, who runs a Miami-based nonprofit called Venezuela Awareness, which works on democracy, human rights and migrant aid. "I'm worried about the people who will be coming. Many are planning to leave."

More than 7.7 million Venezuelans have abandoned their country in recent years, according to the United Nations UNHCR refugee agency, amid corruption and runaway inflation that has made it impossible for many to make ends meet.

The majority have sought refuge in neighboring countries including Colombia and Peru, but hundreds of thousands have fled to the U.S. southern border, too, provoking repeated humanitarian crises – and political problems for the administration of President Joe Biden.

The outcome of the election in Venezuela could influence this fall's U.S. presidential contest, analysts say.

Should large numbers of Venezuelan migrants beginning arriving again at the U.S.-Mexico border, Vice President Kamala Harris will have to answer for the administration's handling of border security as she pursues the presidency against Donald Trump.

Maduro's United Socialist party controls all governmental institutions including the electoral commission responsible for counting votes. He rejected independent monitoring of polling places, despite agreeing to outside observation last year.

Biden administration officials, briefing reporters Monday on condition of anonymity, accused the Venezuelan government of "electoral manipulation," according to Reuters. The administration didn't announce any new punitive measures but left the door open for additional sanctions, Reuters reported.

Electoral fraud appeared to be "massive, given the turnout, exit polls and polls before the election," Cynthia Arnson, distinguished fellow at the Wilson Center Latin America Program, told USA TODAY.

That could stoke a new wave of migration to the U.S., she said.

"If Maduro succeeds in stealing the election, it’s probable that many Venezuelans will see little hope for the future, for them or their families," Arnson said. "The incentive to migrate will be huge."

Thirst for democratic change

The thirst for democratic change in Venezuela appeared nearly as powerful as the Maduro's regime's desire to remain in the country's presidential palace, Miraflores.

Voters shared videos on social media Sunday night of packed voting stations.

In one, a woman wearing a Venezuelan flag as a cape silences the crowd outside a polling site. She read off results from the site allegedly showing Gonzalez with the lead. Someone in the crowd yells, "And the other bastard?" She yells, "Zero!" And the crowd erupts in cheers.

By Monday, social media livestreams showed thousands of people taking to the streets of the capital city Caracas chanting, "The people united will never be divided."

Venezuelans have been living under the Maduro regime for 13 years.

His mentor, Hugo Chavez, won election in 1998 on a populist platform before moving further and further to the left. He remained in power until his death in 2013, when Maduro, his chosen successor, narrowly won office.

Maduro's official account on the social media site X uploaded a video Monday of supporters waving small Venezuelan flags as the 61-year-old former bus driver walked by. The account shared messages of official recognition of the results and congratulations from Iran, Russia, China and Nicaragua – countries whose own election integrity has been called into question by democratic nations.

Venezuelan migration to the US

In the past four years alone, U.S. Customs and Border Protection logged more than 720,000 encounters with Venezuelan nationals at the Southwest border.

The rapid arrival of large numbers of Venezuelans provoked repeated humanitarian crises in border cities, as desperate people arrived without cash or family connections in the United States and overwhelmed the ability of aid organizations to shelter them.

El Paso, Texas, was one of the border cities that saw large numbers of Venezuelans cross the U.S.-Mexico border, sometimes by the hundreds. 

The Biden administration’s attempts to clamp down on illegal crossings between ports of entry led families to camp on the Mexican side of the river, waiting for an opportunity, while others sneaked into the country and ended up on the streets of downtown El Paso.

Andrade was so alarmed from her perch in Miami that she traveled to El Paso more than once to meet with the newcomers, learn more about what was happening and to see how she could help. The migrants’ circumstances were more desperate than her own when she left her country for the U.S. more than three decades ago.

But she and they shared something in common. “We all have scars of what they’ve done to us in Venezuela,” she said, referring to the Chavez and Maduro regimes. “I’ve been here 35 years, but my heart is there just the same.”