Within hours of polls closing in Venezuela, the US began to circulate claims that incumbent President Maduro had stolen the election. There was just one problem—these claims emanated from outside the country before election results were even announced. The absence of evidence didn't stop corporate media outlets from running with the story. The accounts of more than 800 international election observers on the ground, however, paint a very different picture. While there is certainly political division within Venezuela, opposition to Maduro and the Bolivarian Revolution does not constitute an overwhelming majority. To understand why, it's crucial to examine the sides of the story left out in the corporate media narrative: the impact of US sanctions, the multiple US-backed coup attempts in Venezuela in the past 20 years, and the political and economic factors driving both support for and opposition to the Bolivarian Revolution.

In this exclusive interview, The Real News speaks with three election monitors and journalists who were present on the ground in Venezuela during the election and its aftermath: Manolo de los Santos, Executive Director of The People's Forum; Zoe Alexandra, Editor of People's Dispatch; and journalist Andreína Chavez, a staff writer for Venezuelanalysis.

Read the transcript of this podcast here.

Studio Production: Dave Hebden, Cameron Granadino
Post-Production: Alina Nehlich

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'Maduro won Venezuela's elections'—what election monitors saw