The inauguration of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro left his opponents to grapple with conflicting feelings of hope and disappointment yesterday, pondering why the self-described socialist leader could not be stopped despite credible evidence that he had lost the election last year.
Some described their mood after Friday’s ceremony at the legislative palace in Caracas like an emotional hangover, while others said they feel abandoned.
Many expressed cautious optimism, finding a measure of comfort in the social media videos released by two opposition leaders — former lawmaker Maria Corina Machado and Edmundo Gonzalez, the opposition’s candidate in the vote — who had promised to topple Maduro.
Photo: Reuters
“In the end, it feels as if the soup got cold,” college professor Nelson Perez said. “We’ve been on the subject of not losing hope for a while. But then you realize it’s more of the same.”
That realization is hard to process for millions of Venezuelans who, like Perez, had imagined a different Jan. 10 — one with Gonzalez receiving the presidential sash and Machado giving one of her signature fiery speeches before the Venezuelan National Assembly. Instead, Gonzalez and Machado sent messages on social media while Maduro placed his hand on Venezuela’s constitution and took the oath of office, defying overwhelming evidence contradicting his victory claim in the July presidential election.
Venezuela’s National Electoral Council, stacked with government loyalists, had declared Maduro the winner of the July 28 election last year. However, unlike in previous contests, electoral authorities did not provide detailed vote counts to back the announced result.
Photo: Reuters
The opposition collected tally sheets from 85 percent of electronic voting machines and posted them online — showing its candidate, Gonzalez, had won by a more than a two-to-one margin. UN experts and the US-based Carter Center, both invited by Maduro’s government to observe the election, said the tally sheets published by the opposition are legitimate.
Machado, in a message on social media on Friday, said Maduro was guilty of a coup by not leaving office by Jan. 10, when by law, Venezuela’s presidential term begins.
She also said she was confident that the country’s “freedom is near,” but stopped short of saying anything about future steps the opposition could take to end Maduro’s presidency.
“You see people, and they look like they have a hangover,” bricklayer Luis Carlos Moreno, 55, said of the mood among those who had stayed away from the inauguration ceremony. “We have to wait until next week to see how things go and if … everyone goes to work and the kids go to school.”
Meanwhile, Gonzalez in a video message told supporters that Maduro’s government would end “soon, very soon” and promised to return to Venezuela.
Those struggling with the idea of Maduro’s rule for six more years included poll workers — many of them were harassed or arrested following the election.
“I’m very disappointed,” said Caracas resident and poll worker Marlyn Ruiz. “Reality is not as we were led to believe.”
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