Masked assailants ransack Venezuela opposition leader's headquarters as post-election tensions mount

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — A half dozen masked assailants ransacked the headquarters of Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado in the latest escalation of violence against opponents of Nicolás Maduro following the country's disputed presidential election.

The raid occurred around 3 a.m., Machado's party said, adding that the assailants broke down doors and hauled away valuable documents and equipment. Images published by Machado's party on social media show several walls covered in black spray paint.

The arrest comes as top officials, including Maduro himself, have threatened to arrest the opposition leader, who has gone into hiding as she seeks to rally Venezuelans to challenge last Sunday's election results.

The Biden administration has thrown its support firmly behind the opposition, recognising last-minute candidate Edmundo González as the victor, discrediting the official results of the vote proclaiming Maduro the winner.

The US announcement late Thursday followed calls from multiple governments, including close allies of Maduro, for Venezuela's electoral authorities to release precinct-level vote counts, as it has done during previous elections.

The electoral body declared Maduro the winner Monday, but the main opposition coalition revealed hours later that it had collected copies of 80 per cent of the country's 30,000 voting tallies and that they show González prevailed by a more than 2-to-1 margin.

"Given the overwhelming evidence, it is clear to the United States and, most importantly, to the Venezuelan people that Edmundo González Urrutia won the most votes in Venezuela's July 28 presidential election," US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement.

Maduro responded with a quick admonishment: "The United States needs to keep its nose out of Venezuela!"

The US government announcement came amid a flurry of diplomatic efforts by Brazil, Colombia and Mexico to convince their fellow leftist to allow an impartial audit of the vote. On Thursday, the governments of the three countries issued a joint statement calling on Venezuela's electoral authorities "to move forward expeditiously and publicly release" detailed voting data.

But it's unclear what leverage the countries have over Maduro, who has shown little inkling to rethink his entrenched position.

While no ally or anyone in the crucial armed forces has yet to break with Maduro over the contested elections, he faces huge obstacles righting Venezuela's economy without the legitimacy that can only come from a credible election result.

Venezuela sits atop world's largest proven crude reserves and once boasted Latin America's most advanced economy, but it entered into free fall marked by 130,000 per cent hyperinflation and widespread shortages after Maduro took the helm in 2013. More than 7.7 million Venezuelans have left the country since 2014, the largest exodus in Latin America's recent history.

US oil sanctions have only deepened the misery and the Biden administration — which had been easing those restrictions — is now likely to ramp them up again unless Maduro backs down and agrees to some sort of transition.

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