Facing an imposing statue of Venezuela’s 19th-century independence hero Simón Bolívar, Lilian Tintori, wife of imprisoned opposition leader Leopoldo López, prepares to deliver a message to voters: the government is trying to kill her but she will not yield in her quest to help “liberate” her country. With the ruling Socialist party expected to be given a drubbing in congressional elections on December 6, the woman who has become a leading voice for Venezuela’s opposition, although she is not seeking office, is anxious. “If anything happens to me, it will be the direct responsibility of President Nicolás Maduro,” she tells the FT in an interview at her husband’s family home. Ms Tintori’s fears are becoming commonplace among opponents of Mr Maduro’s crisis-hit government, as a spiral of violence ahead of Sunday’s elections grips the Opec nation and leaves it scarred by polarisation and bloodshed.