US announces $65m bounty for arrest of president, who has led country since 2013 and failed to prove he won recent vote
Nicolás Maduro gestures next to his wife, Cilia Flores, after his swearing-in ceremony for a third term in Caracas, Venezuela, on 10 January.Nicolás Maduro gestures next to his wife, Cilia Flores, after his swearing-in ceremony for a third term in Caracas, Venezuela, on 10 January.
Maduro, who has led Venezuela in an increasingly repressive direction since being democratically elected in 2013, has failed to produce any proof that he won the 28 July vote. His opponents haveBut on Friday morning, it was Maduro – who has refused to relinquish power and been backed by military and security chiefs – who had Venezuela’s yellow, blue and red presidential sash draped over his shoulders at the national assembly.
In a rambling but defiant 90-minute speech, Maduro claimed he was spearheading “a democratizing revolution” in Venezuela and cast himself as the fearless anti-imperialist leader of an “eminently democratic project” inspired by Latin America’s independence heroes. Maduro’s swearing-in prompted a fresh outburst of international condemnation, including from members of the political left, which the Venezuelan strongman purports to represent.
The UK’s foreign secretary, the Labour party MP David Lammy, said: “Nicolás Maduro’s claim to power is fraudulent. The outcome of July’s elections was neither free nor fair and his regime does not represent the will of the Venezuelan people. González, a retired diplomat who only entered politics last year, had vowed to travel back to Venezuela from exile for an inauguration of his own. But there was no immediate sign of that happening on Friday afternoon.
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