People demonstrate to defend opposition’s victory claim

CARACAS (AP) :

Venezuelans across the world — some with flags and other patriotic paraphernalia — responded to a call from their country’s political opposition on Saturday and took to the streets to defend the faction’s claim to victory over President Nicolás Maduro in last month’s disputed presidential election.

The demonstrations in Tokyo, Sydney, Mexico City and several other cities were an effort by the main opposition coalition to make visible what they insist is the real outcome of the election. They also called on governments to throw their support behind candidate Edmundo González and express support to Venezuelans who are fearful in their home country of speaking against Maduro and his allies during a brutal repression campaign.

As thousands of Venezuelans waved the national flag, opposition leader María Corina Machado made her way through the streets of Caracas on a truck while shouting “Brave” and “Freedom.” Then, before a crowd, she said it was the moment “that every vote is respected”.

“Let the world and everyone in Venezuela recognise that the president-elect is Edmundo González,” she said, while being applauded by thousands of cheering supporters.

Earlier, González, the opposition candidate, wrote on his X account: “They will not be able to cover up the reality of July 28: we won resoundingly.” He didn’t show up at the demonstration in Caracas.

In Mexico City’s Monument to the Revolution downtown, hundreds of people young and old alike loudly repeated the chants for “Freedom! Freedom!” that dominated the opposition’s rallies ahead of the election. “Maduro out! Maduro out!” they then screamed as motorists going by honked their horns.

“What is happening right now is that Venezuela woke up ... so much so that the government doesn’t dare to show the tally sheets,” Antonia Imbernon said, referring to the voting results documents that are considered the ultimate proof of results. “What are they afraid of?”

DECLARED WINNER

Venezuela’s National Electoral Council, whose members are loyal to the ruling party, declared Maduro the winner of the July 28 election hours after polls closed. Unlike previous presidential elections, the electoral body has not released the tally sheets’ detailed voting data to back up its claim that Maduro earned 6.4 million votes while González, who represented the Unitary Platform opposition coalition, garnered 5.3 million.

But González and opposition leader Maria Corina Machado shocked Venezuelans when they revealed they obtained more than 80 per cent of the vote tally sheets issued by every electronic voting machine after polls closed. The documents, they said, showed González winning by a wide margin and were uploaded to a website for anyone to see.

Machado urged supporters to print the tally sheet from their voting station and take it to Saturday’s demonstrations. In Mexico City, some held signs reproaching the decision by Mexico’s government to not participate in a Friday hearing of the Organization of American States focused on Venezuela’s election crisis.

“Mexico, we missed you at the OEA,” a sign stated, using the acronym in Spanish for the regional body.

The opposition has consistently expressed the need for the international community’s help to get Maduro to accept the unfavourable results of the election.

“The derision is worse this time because there is proof; anyone can see them,” said Janett Hurtado, 57, who left Venezuela two years ago, referring to the tally sheets. “(The government) took away other elections from us again.”

Hurtado said she has noticed Venezuelans’ fear to speak against Maduro following the widespread arrests across the South American country in connection with protests sparked by the election results. She said she has friends who have not sent her a single text message since then.

Security forces have rounded up more than 2,000 people for demonstrating against Maduro or casting doubt on his claim he won a third term, despite strong evidence he lost the vote by a more than two-to-one margin. Another 24 have been killed, according to Venezuela-based human-rights group Provea.

The spree of detentions — urged on by Maduro himself — is unprecedented, and puts Venezuela on pace to easily exceed those jailed during three previous crackdowns against Maduro’s opponents.

Those arrested include journalists, political leaders, campaign staffers and an attorney defending protesters. Others have had their Venezuelan passports annulled trying to leave the country. One local activist even livestreamed her arrest by military intelligence officers as they broke into her home with a crowbar.

“It pains us to see what’s happening,” said Hurtado’s daughter, Veronica Guédez, 19. “We are here to support us as brothers and sisters.”

The opposition was dealt a blow on Thursday when Brazil and Colombia — countries that had been pressuring Maduro to release vote tallies backing his claim to victory — began suggesting a repeat of the contest instead. But Machado categorically rejected any plan to redo the election, and she said that it would be “an insult” to the people.