>>52248 (self-reply)
The most plausible excuse for the official 80% why not 79,53 or 81,49%, this is also a bit suspicious results is that the vote counts were approximations innocently derived from the percentages. But if electoral authorities had the percentages, they had the real vote counts, why didn't they announce these? If 5,150,092 is merely an approximation, then Maduro was declared a winner without a public vote count at all. And if this excuse was truly the case, couldn't they have issued an explanation? The official results are as transparent as a brick wall.

In any case, the 96.87% results make it foolish to believe in innocent approximations. Each candidate now has properly broken percentages, so their supposed vote counts purport to be raw data rather than an approximation. So why would the invalid vote count be an approximation? How did they calculate total votes?

I'd speculate the 80% numbers were hastily devised on napkin math in the presidential palace on the very day of the election, or otherwise they'd look more plausible - the CNE's website wouldn't go down and the government would provide detailed results. Maduro's associates likely expected a demoralized opposition or prepared a different method of fraud which didn't work out as expected.

>>52271
>Cuban troops
These have been mentioned for years >>25565. It's difficult to confirm these claims, but they might explain Venezuela's oil subsidies to Cuba. According to a 2005 report:
>Venezuela is sending approximately 90,000 barrels per day (bpd) of oil to Cuba. Venezuela’s oil contribution to Cuba represents less than 3.5 percent of its total oil production, and it is easily affordable. For Cuba, on the other hand, 90,000 bpd represents an invaluable lifeline that more than meets the island’s energy needs. Much of this Venezuelan oil is subsidized. Because payment terms are so favorable to Cuba, analysts estimate that Venezuela is providing Cuba approximately 20,000 to 26,000 bpd of free oil, for a total “gift” of $6 to $8 billion over the next 15 years.
>In return for oil, Cuba is sending Venezuela between 30,000 and 50,000 technical staff. As many as 30,000 Cubans in Venezuela are presumably medical doctors. Some are sport coaches, teachers, and arts instructors. An undisclosed number consists of intelligence, political, and military advisers.

There's an ideological explanation, Cuba is the Holy Land of Latin American leftism, which is a particular kind of internationalism despite its nationalist rhetoric. But the self-interested explanation is that the Bolivarian government relies on Cuban intelligence and military assistance as a sort of Varangian guard. The two regimes have a symbiotic relationship which might not be equally beneficial to their countries.
Further points to consider: Chávez sought medical treatment in Cuba and Maduro's inner circle is allegedly involved in santería (Afro-Cuban paganism). Some accuse the exhumation of Simón Bolívar's body in 2010 to have involved a santero ritual.