The victory of Nicolás Maduro in the Venezuelan presidential elections on Sunday has brought thousands of supporters of the opposition to the Chavista government out onto the streets. In the case of the capital, Caracas, they have had to protect themselves from the tear gas and pellets launched by the Venezuelan military deployed to stop all the spontaneous protests rejecting the result announced by the National Electoral Council (CNE) and which grants the Venezuelan president a third term after obtaining 51.2% of the votes, a figure questioned by the opposition of the Democratic Unity Platform and by a large part of the international community.
Spontaneous caceroladas of discontent have been seen in several Caracas neighbourhoods, such as Petare, Altamira, Chacaíto, Bellas Artes, La Vega, El Valle, Catia and La Candelaria, according to videos posted on social media whose authenticity has not been verified. The protests have been repeated in other cities such as Maracay, Valencia or in the state of Barinas. Likewise, videos recorded at the Simón Bolívar International Airport in Maiquetía or in the O’Leary square in El Silencio have also been spread, where a group of protesters say they intend to head to the Miraflores Palace, the presidential headquarters.
There were also demonstrations and marches on the Petare-Guarenas highway in the state of Miranda and on the Caracas-La Guaira highway, where rows of tires were burned. It was here that the first clashes between the military and the protesters took place. After covering about 10 kilometers in the east of the Venezuelan capital, the protesters encountered members of the Bolivarian National Guard (GNB, militarized police) and the Bolivarian National Police (PNB), who prevented the demonstration from proceeding naturally.
During the marches of rage and anger against the election result, several protesters have taken down the posters of Nicolás Maduro’s campaign that were still on the streets of Caracas and, tied to their motorcycles, have dragged them along the ground. Alongside them, thousands of people have been banging pots and pans in protest.
In the Caracas protests, according to data provided by the NGO Criminal Forumat least 13 “arbitrary arrests” have been recorded. In a preliminary report on “repression by the Venezuelan State” that it has published on ‘X’, the NGO also points out that between July 26 and 28, 48 “arbitrary arrests” and “one murder” were recorded in Venezuela, although it did not specify whether there were any arrests in this regard.
In addition to this, at least 23 members of the Bolivarian National Armed Forces have been injured, some “with firearms”, having been “victims of violent acts”. Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino has indicated that “we will not allow Venezuela to return to the darkness of 2014, 2017 and 2019”.
Padrino has called on the citizens and political forces of Venezuela to remain calm: “Yesterday the Venezuelan people decided and gave us a demonstration of civility. Let us not fail the people who voted for peace yesterday,” the minister insisted.
Maduro denounces an attempted coup
A supporter of the Chavista opposition was arrested during spontaneous protests against the election results in Venezuela.
As the streets of Venezuela fill with protests against the election results, Nicolás Maduro has described these spontaneous demonstrations as a “new” coup attempt that would re-enact “a kind of Guaidó 2.0,” in reference to the self-proclamation of opposition leader Juan Guaidó as Venezuelan president.
“An attempt is being made to impose a fascist and counterrevolutionary coup d’état in Venezuela once again. I could call it a kind of Guaidó 2.0,” the Venezuelan president said in his speech after the Venezuelan National Electoral Council (CNE) officially proclaimed him as president-elect.
Regarding the spontaneous demonstrations that are taking place in cities across the country, he said that “today they are rehearsing the first failed steps to destabilise Venezuela,” the Venezuelan president warned. “But I tell those involved and those who support this operation against Venezuelan democracy that we already know the story and this time there will be no weakness of any kind. This time in Venezuela the Constitution will be respected, the law will be respected and neither hatred, nor fascism, nor lies, nor manipulation will prevail,” Maduro said in a prayer in which he placed special emphasis on the figure of Juan Guaidó.
“Guaidó is an imbecile who has deceived us a thousand times. This group has built the conspiracy into a big business to become multimillionaires. Guaidó, Ledezma, Borges, López at the expense of seeking and sowing hatred in the Venezuelan people. Let no one doubt the devilish and decrepit face of fascism,” Maduro appealed. “We saw this film. The same film, with a similar script. The protagonists are the same. On the one hand, the people who want peace, democracy, prosperity, progress. And on the other hand, elites full of hatred with a fascist counterrevolutionary project,” he said.
The opposition only recognizes Edmundo González
Meanwhile, in a press conference called while the streets of Venezuela were filled with supporters of the Chavista opposition, the leader María Corina Machado again indicated that the electoral victory on Sunday corresponds to the candidate of the Democratic Unitary Platform, Edmundo González Urrutia, who, according to the data handled within the party, would have won with an “overwhelming” difference with respect to Maduro after having obtained 73% of the minutes issued in the presidential elections this Sunday. “We have 73.20% of the minutes and, with this result, our president-elect is Edmundo González Urrutia. (…) The difference was so big, so big, the difference was overwhelming, the difference was in all the states of Venezuela,” Machado assured.
Machado also explained that all these minutes were verified, totaled and digitalized, to be published on a “robust” web portal that will be public in the next few hours, but that “several global leaders are already consulting” so that everyone can see the “proof of the victory” of González Urrutia last Sunday.
Disqualified opposition leader María Corina Machado, with the candidate of the Democratic Unitary Platform of Venezuela.
“We have in our hands the records that prove our categorical and mathematically irreversible victory,” said the candidate of the Democratic Unitary Platform, Edmundo González, who thanked the international community for its solidarity and support.
International pressure has led to the convening of an extraordinary meeting of the Permanent Council of the Organization of American States (OAS) to analyze the results of the elections in Venezuela. The meeting, which will take place on Wednesday, has been called at the request of 12 member countries, including the 7 countries whose diplomats have been expelled by the government of Nicolás Maduro for not recognizing the victory of Chavismo on Sunday: Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, Peru, the Dominican Republic, Uruguay and Panama.
On Monday morning, Venezuela’s Attorney General, Tarek William Saab, accused opposition leaders Lester Toledo, Leopoldo López and María Corina Machado of being responsible for an attempt to “adulterate” the election results by hacking the Venezuelan voting system. “The attack was allegedly carried out from North Macedonia and was intended to manipulate the data being received by the CNE (…). According to the information gathered,” the prosecutor said.
Saab explained that on Sunday “a computer attack was detected against the National Electoral Council’s data transmission system, which slowed down the sending of records for the national vote count” during the early hours of the morning. “This action was stopped, it was avoided, but they managed to pause and slow down” the transmission of the electoral data. “They did not want to slow down but to adulterate the transmission records of the system,” he explained.
Leopoldo López, who lives in Spain, has responded to Saab’s claims through his account on the social network X. “The only TRUTH is that yesterday Edmundo won by a THROTTLE (70/30) and you set up a FRAUD. Let’s be clear, this chapter is just beginning and all of Venezuela is with Edmundo González and María Corina Machado,” he said.
Source: www.huffingtonpost.es
