BOGOT脕, Colombia 鈥� Every morning they wake up and look at the mountains of Caracas, Venezuela. On days when protests fill the streets, they can hear the chants. But they know that if they take one step outside their compound, they could be arrested and thrown in prison.
For the past five months, five top aides for the party of Venezuela鈥檚 opposition leader, Mar铆a Corina Machado, have been living in an Argentine diplomatic residence where they sought asylum after the country鈥檚 attorney general announced warrants for their arrest.
And it is from this house, nestled between the diplomatic residences of Russia and North Korea, that Machado鈥檚 top aides have run one of the most consequential presidential campaigns in the country鈥檚 history.
Somehow, despite the constraints on their liberty, the five officials not only managed to help organize a voter turnout drive that brought millions to the polls on Election Day but also mobilized thousands of monitors to collect tally sheets that could prove their candidate had won.
Their efforts helped lead the United States to recognize the opposition candidate, Edmundo Gonz谩lez, as the winner, while many other countries have refused to recognize President Nicol谩s Maduro鈥檚 claim of victory.
And yet, despite all this, Maduro remains in power, and the five remain trapped inside the Argentine compound. They await official permission to leave the country.
It all started March 20, when two top leaders of Machado鈥檚 party, Vente Venezuela, were arrested and sent to a notorious Venezuelan detention center known as the Helicoide.
The campaign had been on high alert for months. The autocratic Maduro government had agreed to free elections in October as part of a deal with the United States to lift crippling sanctions.
But officials had been throwing up obstacles ever since, including intimidating opposition politicians.
Some opposition officials had previously gone into hiding temporarily, and most lived in a state of paranoia.
After the March 20 arrests, one opposition campaign official, Pedro Urruchurtu, worried that he and other top party officials would be next.
Moving quickly, he reached out to all his diplomatic contacts in search of any embassy that would give them asylum.
One of those contacts was the deputy chief of mission for Argentina鈥檚 embassy, Gabriel Volpi.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e looking for us,鈥� Urruchurtu recalls telling him over the phone.
鈥淕ive me 15 minutes,鈥� Volpi responded.
鈥淚f you can, make it 10,鈥� Urruchurtu said.
鈥淥K, deal.鈥�
A plan was in action by the time Venezuela鈥檚 attorney general announced at a news conference that he was issuing arrest warrants for Urruchurtu and four other party officials: Magalli Meda, Humberto Villalobos, Claudia Macero and Omar Gonz谩lez. He also named Fernando Mart铆nez Mottola, an adviser for a coalition of opposition parties.
Those who were in the capital, Caracas, immediately went into hiding and Volpi sent cars to bring them to the ambassador鈥檚 residence, where they would be granted protection by the Argentine government. (Argentina does not have an ambassador posted in Venezuela.)
Omar Gonz谩lez, 74, who heads Machado鈥檚 campaign branch in his home state of Anzo谩tegui, was about to board a plane to Caracas for a work trip when his son called to tell him about the arrest warrant, he said in an interview.
He had to make a split-second decision: Leave the airport or board the plane. He chose to stick with his travel plans, figuring he would be less recognizable in Caracas.
After he landed, he said he walked quickly through the airport without looking at anyone and got in the first cab he saw.
鈥淪tart driving,鈥� he told the driver. 鈥淎nd then I鈥檒l tell you where we鈥檙e going.鈥�
Within 30 minutes, he said, he received instructions to head to the Argentine residence. When he arrived, he found that some of his colleagues were there.
鈥淚t was as if I had seen angels,鈥� he said.
As they settled into their new lives, the sense of relief was replaced by a sense of urgency. They still had a campaign to run, and so their time was filled with virtual meetings. They sometimes slept as little as four hours a day as the July 28 election neared.
Meda, Machado鈥檚 right-hand woman, once rode alongside the opposition leader as she traversed the country. Now she was making video calls in isolation.
鈥淚 like human contact,鈥� Meda said. 鈥淚 need to work with the teams. I am used to touching them, to seeing them, to knowing how they feel. To have headphones attached all day, I really feel sometimes that I鈥檓 going deaf. It is not my nature.鈥�
In interviews, the five campaign officials said they felt lucky to have narrowly avoided the fate of their imprisoned colleagues, but described living in a state of constant tension and uncertainty knowing that at any moment their circumstances could change.
鈥淚t is a landscape that you have grown up with, a landscape that you know somehow belongs to you,鈥� Urruchurtu said. 鈥淏ut at the same time, what tires you is that you can鈥檛 go beyond it.鈥�
For Volpi and his wife, who had been living by themselves with their two dogs in the 41,000-square-foot residence, the asylum-seekers were welcome company. The eight of them quickly became like a family, he said.
They spent meals, birthdays and holidays together. The opposition leaders were not left alone without an Argentine diplomat present, in case the Maduro government tried to come in, Volpi said.
But after two months, Volpi left the residence for his planned retirement.
鈥淚 would have liked to stay with them until the end,鈥� he said. They still have a group text chat where they talk each day, he said.
When the Venezuelan Supreme Court banned Machado from the ballot, the opposition party threw its weight behind an unknown candidate, a retired diplomat named Edmundo Gonz谩lez, and persuaded their voting base to vote for him.
As the vote grew closer, they watched as the Maduro government did still more to undermine the election, arresting not only activists and politicians but hotel and restaurant owners who offered services to the opposition campaign.
Then on election night, they watched as Maduro declared victory but did not provide any evidence to support the claim.
Tallies collected by election monitors showed that in fact Gonz谩lez had won 鈥� and in a landslide.
鈥淲e moved a whole country to make decisions in a single route and with a single agenda,鈥� Meda said.
The night after the election, Venezuelan police officers appeared outside the Argentine residence. The campaign officials spent three nights watching through the windows as officers in bulletproof vests and face masks stood outside, sometimes dangling handcuffs, they said.
Meda said those three nights 鈥渢ook years off my life.鈥�
On Aug. 1, Maduro ordered the Argentine diplomats to leave the country and Brazil assumed responsibility for the embassy and the asylum-seekers. The police left.
The opposition leaders have watched as the Venezuelan government has unleashed a wave of repression against anyone challenging their declared results. Human rights groups say it is more brutal than anything the country has seen in decades.
鈥淭hese are very long nights of great pain,鈥� Meda said. 鈥淚t is madness what is happening.鈥�
This article originally appeared in. 漏 2024 The New York Times
