Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado on Wednesday called for supporters to “mobilize” after Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro vowed to hold on to power following a widely disputed election.
Machado’s message comes amid deep uncertainty in the South American country, after Maduro was declared the winner in Sunday’s election, but with electoral authorities failing to disclose detailed results to back up the claim.
Sixteen people have been killed in protests that erupted after the election, said the opposition, which claims its candidate Edmundo Gonzalez is the rightful victor.
Photo: AFP
The opposition has released a large set of voting data it says shows him defeating Maduro by a wide margin, as pre-election polls had suggested.
“We spent months building a robust platform that could defend the vote and unquestionably demonstrate our triumph. WE SUCCEEDED,” Machado, who was barred from running in the election, wrote on Wednesday on X.
“Now it is up to ALL of us to assert the truth that we ALL know. Let’s mobilize. WE WILL SUCCEED,” she wrote.
Numerous nations, including Brazil and the US, as well as the EU, have demanded Venezuelan authorities release detailed voting data, with the White House saying that the international community’s patience was running out.
Maduro said he was “ready to present 100 percent of the records,” as he addressed journalists outside the Venezuelan Supreme Court of Justice, where he filed an appeal against what he termed an “attack against the electoral process.”
However, he voiced outrage at Machado and Gonzalez, saying they “should be behind bars.”
On Monday, security forces fired tear gas and rubber bullets at Venezuelans after thousands took to the streets shouting: “Freedom, freedom,” and “This government is going to fall.”
Machado said there had been 177 detentions and 11 “forced disappearances,” while Venezuelan Attorney General Tarek William Saab said more than 1,000 people had been arrested at protests, some of whom may face terrorism charges.
He also said one military officer was killed and 77 officials were injured.
Undaunted, thousands gathered again on Tuesday for peaceful demonstrations of support for the opposition in several cities.
“We offered the regime to democratically accept its defeat and move forward in negotiations to ensure a peaceful transition,” Machado wrote on X. “However, they have opted for the route of repression, violence and lies.”
Sunday’s elections were held in the shadow of Maduro’s warnings of a “bloodbath” if he were to lose, and amid widespread fear the vote would be rigged.
Late on Wednesday, Organization of American States (OAS) Secretary-General Luis Almagro in a post on X said that he would ask the International Criminal Court to indict Maduro and issue an arrest warrant for him over the post-election violence.
“Maduro promised a bloodbath... And he is doing it,” Almagro wrote.
US Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs Brian Nichols, the top US diplomat for Latin America, said the polling results released by the opposition provided “irrefutable evidence” that Maduro lost “by millions of votes.”
However, an emergency meeting of the OAS bloc on Wednesday failed to adopt a resolution calling for the detailed results to be released “immediately,” with Colombia and Brazil notably abstaining.
Maduro has led the oil-rich country since 2013, presiding over a GDP drop of 80 percent that pushed more than 7 million of once-wealthy Venezuela’s 30 million citizens to emigrate.
He is accused of locking up critics and harassing opponents in a climate of rising authoritarianism.
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