María Corina Machado's rally in Caracas draws only a few hundred people
A rally by María Corina Machado in Plaza Venezuela gathered several hundred people, according to circulating estimates. The figure falls far short of even 0.02% of the population.
English · Original discussion in Spanish · Published
María Corina Machado's call for a rally in Plaza Venezuela brought out several hundred people, not millions. A circulating estimate puts attendance at around 0.02% of the population of the Caracas metropolitan area.
Venezuelan opposition leader **María Corina Machado** called for a "great mobilization" and the result, in the eyes of her critics, was a modest rally in Caracas's **Plaza Venezuela**. Images released from above show attendance of several hundred people, with estimates that, generously, fall short of a thousand.
## The circulating estimate of attendance
The metropolitan area connected by bus, metro and train is home to some **5 million people**, a population comparable to Ireland's. If **1,000 people** attended the rally, that represents **0.02%** of that total. It is the calculation used by those who consider the call-up a failure.
It should be taken for what it is: a partisan estimate, not a census. There is no official count of attendees and crowd figures are always disputed.
## Press framing called into question
The criticism goes beyond the numbers. Several people point out that press coverage used **tight angles** and wide-angle lenses to compress the space and create a sense of depth. The technique exists and is used in photography, though attributing political intent to it is an interpretation, not a proven fact.
## From the march to electoral suspicion
The leap comes afterwards. With such a weak ability to mobilize, some are starting to doubt that the opposition won an election in which fraud was alleged. It is a suspicion, not a conclusion: the distance between a march and an election result depends on many factors, and none of them is proven here.
Venezuelan opposition leader **María Corina Machado** called for a "great mobilization" and the result, in the eyes of her critics, was a modest rally in Caracas's **Plaza Venezuela**. Images released from above show attendance of several hundred people, with estimates that, generously, fall short of a thousand.
## The circulating estimate of attendance
The metropolitan area connected by bus, metro and train is home to some **5 million people**, a population comparable to Ireland's. If **1,000 people** attended the rally, that represents **0.02%** of that total. It is the calculation used by those who consider the call-up a failure.
It should be taken for what it is: a partisan estimate, not a census. There is no official count of attendees and crowd figures are always disputed.
## Press framing called into question
The criticism goes beyond the numbers. Several people point out that press coverage used **tight angles** and wide-angle lenses to compress the space and create a sense of depth. The technique exists and is used in photography, though attributing political intent to it is an interpretation, not a proven fact.
## From the march to electoral suspicion
The leap comes afterwards. With such a weak ability to mobilize, some are starting to doubt that the opposition won an election in which fraud was alleged. It is a suspicion, not a conclusion: the distance between a march and an election result depends on many factors, and none of them is proven here.
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Summary of a discussion on Burbuja.info - Foro de economía, actualidad y política., translated from Spanish and reviewed before publication. Read the full discussion (4 replies).
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