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Much of the world finds it hard to believe, but Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro is claiming victory yet again in what critics call a sham election.
CARACAS — Opponents and supporters of Venezuela ’s President Nicolas Maduro planned to rally on Tuesday as protests and clashes spread after athe United States said Maduro’s reelection had no credibility Protests began after the election board declared on Monday that Maduro had won a third term with 51% of votes to extend his “Chavista” movement’s quarter-century rule.
, said the 73% of vote tallies to which it has access showed its candidate Edmundo Gonzalez had more than twice as many votes as Maduro.Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua gives ‘green light’ to members to shoot US cops, Homeland Security memo warnsThe party posted and then deleted a video showing Superlano and two others being stopped outside a gated building and hustled into a car by armed men clad in black as neighbors screamed for them to stop.Opposition presidential candidate Edmundo Gonzalez and opposition leader Maria Corina Machado speaking at a press conference following the announcement of the election results.Venezuelan opposition supporters reacting to the reported election results outside of Venezuela’s Embassy in Mexico City on July 28, 2024.The attorney general Tarek Saab did not immediately respond to a request for comment about whether Superlano was detained and on what charges. At least six people have been killed around the country in incidents related to the election count or associated protests, according to rights group Foro Penal. Some protesters blocked roads, lit fires and threw petrol bombs at police, including near the Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas.A protesters running after Molotov cocktails exploded near police officers during a protest against Maduro in in Puerto La Cruz, Venezuela.“We are tired of this government, we want a change. We want to be free in Venezuela. We want our families to return here,” said one masked protester, referring to the exodus of about a third of Venezuelans in recent years.Henry Chirinos/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock Many demonstrators rode motorbikes and jammed streets or draped themselves in the Venezuelan flag. Some covered their faces with scarves as protection against tear gas.“We’ve seen this movie before,” said Maduro from the presidential palace, pledging that security forces would keep the peace. “We have been following all of the acts of violence promoted by the extreme right.”Defense Minister General Vladimir Padrino described the protests as a “coup.” “There is a coup in progress so President Nicolas Maduro has stepped up to stop it again and with him the people who elected him president, all the institutions, the Bolivarian armed forces and the democratic institutions,” Padrino said on state television on Tuesday. “We will defeat the coup.” In Coro, capital of Falcon state, protesters cheered and danced when they tore down a statue depicting former President Hugo Chavez, Maduro’s mentor who ruled from 1999-2013.A local monitoring group, the Venezuelan Conflict Observatory, said it had registered 187 protests in 20 states by 6 p.m. on Monday with “numerous acts of repression and violence” carried out by paramilitary groups and security forces. Saab said on state TV there had been 749 arrests and two deaths of security force members in Aragua state.Maduro, a 61-year-old former union leader and foreign minister, won election after Chavez’s death in 2013 and was re-elected in 2018. The opposition said both votes were rigged. He has presided over an economic collapse, mass migration, and deteriorating relations with the West, including U.S. and EU sanctions that have crippled an already struggling oil industry. Independent pollsters called Maduro’s victory implausible, while governments in Washington and around Latin America questioned the results and urged a full tabulation of votes.“Not even believes the electoral scam he is celebrating,” said Argentina’s President Javier Milei. Peru ordered Venezuelan diplomats to leave within 72 hours, citing “serious and arbitrary decisions made today by the Venezuelan regime.”“China will, as always, firmly support Venezuela’s efforts to safeguard national sovereignty, national dignity and social stability, and firmly support Venezuela’s just cause of opposing external interference,” President Xi Jinping said in a message. Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, who was barred from running in the poll but has spearheaded the campaign for Gonzalez, called for marches on Tuesday. “My dear Venezuelans, tomorrow we meet; as a family, organized, demonstrating the determination we have to make every vote count and defend the truth,” she said. The government is also planning pro-Maduro rallies. Many Venezuelans fear another bout of violence and bloodshed similar to others in its turbulent recent history. 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Simone Biles and Suni Lee overheard planning TikToks after winning gymnastics gold medal at 2024 Paris OlympicsVenezuela's election board claimed that President Nicolas Maduro won a third term with 51% of the vote.Opposition presidential candidate Edmundo Gonzalez and opposition leader Maria Corina Machado speaking at a press conference following the announcement of the election results.Venezuelan opposition supporters reacting to the reported election results outside of Venezuela's Embassy in Mexico City on July 28, 2024.A protesters running after Molotov cocktails exploded near police officers during a protest against Maduro in in Puerto La Cruz, Venezuela.Demonstrates setting up a barricade on a street in Valencia, Venezuela on July 29, 2024.A pile of tires getting set on fire in Valencia by opposition supporters.A demonstrators throwing a police teargas can during a protest in Caracas.AP Photo/Matias DelacroixPhoto by JUAN BARRETO/AFP via Getty ImagesPhoto by JUAN CARLOS HERNANDEZ/AFP via Getty ImagesAP Photo/Fernando VergaraDemonstrators riding motorbikes in the streets of Valencia to protest the election.Photo by JUAN CARLOS HERNANDEZ/AFP via Getty Images
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