Protests Continue in Venezuela over Election Fraud

“We Do Not Accept Blackmail,” says opposition leader Maria Corina Machado

“We do not accept the blackmail that defending the truth is violence. Violence is outraging the truth,” says opposition leader.

By Confidencial

HAVANA TIMES – Venezuelans took to the streets for the second consecutive day on Tuesday to protest against the presidential election results issued by the National Electoral Council (CNE), which declared President Nicolás Maduro the winner. Meanwhile, the opposition and Maduro’s top officials have accused each other of the violence reported in some of the protests.

The Democratic Unity Platform (PUD), the largest opposition coalition in Venezuela, gathered thousands of Venezuelans in Caracas, where opposition leader María Corina Machado and the coalition’s presidential candidate, Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, whom the opposition defines as the real winner of the contest, participated.

This was the first large-scale organized activity after numerous protests were recorded in several regions of the country on July 29, rejecting the results provided by the electoral body, with 80% of the count completed and without showing the tally sheets, while more than two million votes remain uncounted, whose allocation is still unknown.

Meanwhile, Chavismo also gathered its supporters in different regions of the country and Caracas, where EFE confirmed that independent media were not allowed access, to “celebrate in peace” what they consider Maduro’s victory, to whom the CNE awarded 704,114 more votes than Gonzalez Urrutia, a margin much smaller than the number of votes yet to be counted.

Maduro, from the government palace, asked for daily mobilizations to “restore peace, tranquility, and normalcy.”

Detentions and Deaths in Venezuela

Four Venezuelan NGOs reported that at least 11 people died on Monday during protests against the official election results.

The president of the Penal Forum, Alfredo Romero, also reported that as of 7:00 PM local time (11:00 PM GMT), 278 arrests had been recorded since Monday in the context of the demonstrations.

EFE confirmed that detentions continued Tuesday during clashes between protesters and security officials, shortly after the opposition’s rally in Caracas ended.

Venezuelan Attorney General Tarek William Saab reported that at least 749 people have been detained in the past hours following numerous protests.

Saab stated that the arrested protesters are being charged with crimes such as public instigation, obstruction of public roads, incitement to hatred, resistance to authority, and in the most severe cases, terrorism.

He also reported that 48 police officers and military personnel have been injured in the protests, and a member of the Armed Forces died “as a result of shots fired by these protesters” in the northern state of Aragua.

Machado: “We Do Not Accept Blackmail”

Chavismo and opposition leaders accused each other of the violence reported in the protests, while President Nicolas Maduro challenged Gonzalez to come out of “hiding” and go to the Miraflores Palace to “face the truth,” despite the fact that the Gonzalez, who is not in hiding, participated in the public rally in Caracas. “Come for me, coward,” he said.

Maduro also blamed Gonzalez and Machado for the violence in the protests, as well as for the deaths of protesters, and ordered the Armed Forces and police forces to “develop a patrolling protection plan for streets and avenues” to act against those causing damage.

For her part, Machado stated that the majority opposition bloc does not accept “the government’s or blackmail that defending the truth is violence.”

Machado challenged the CNE to publish the tally sheets “immediately” and asked: “What are they afraid of? Why are they taking so long? What are they doing? If we did it with the people (witnesses and poll workers who were provided tally sheets), why don’t they publish them?”

The opposition created a website where they have published, so far, “81%” of the electoral tally sheets, which, according to the Machado, show that Gonzalez defeated Maduro by nearly four million votes.

Threats of Imprisonment

Jorge Rodriguez, parliament president and Maduro’s campaign chair, called for the imprisonment of opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez and leader Maria Corina Machado, whom he accused of being responsible for a “fascist conspiracy” against the presidential election.

Meanwhile, Maduro’s Socialist Party leader Diosdado Cabello threatened several members of the opposition, including Gonzalez and Machado, saying they would “get them.”

Following these statements, the Costa Rican government offered political asylum to both opposition leaders, which Machado responded to with gratitude but said she would continue “this struggle alongside the people.”

Machado Thanks Asylum Offer, but Will Stay “Alongside the People”

Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado thanked Costa Rica’s offer of political asylum for her and opposition presidential candidate Edmundo Gonzalez, but assured that she would continue “this struggle alongside the people.”

“I appreciate the generous hospitality offered by the Costa Rican government in response to the brutal repression by the Maduro regime against citizens defending the results of the July 28 presidential election,” Machado wrote on her social media.

She noted that her priority “is the protection” of her six collaborators who have been granted asylum at the official residence of the Argentine Embassy in Caracas since March, and that her “responsibility is to continue this struggle alongside the people.”

“From Venezuela, thanks to the dear people and government of Costa Rica,” reiterated Machado, who rejects the official results of Sunday’s election, which declared President Nicolas Maduro the winner with 51.2% of the votes, compared to the 44.2% attributed to Gonzalez, the candidate of the Democratic Unity Platform (PUD), the largest opposition bloc.

The Costa Rican government offered political asylum to both opposition leaders on Tuesday after learning that “there are warrants for their arrest and capture,” information that has not been confirmed by Venezuelan authorities, although they refer to both opposition leaders as “criminals.”

In a video, Costa Rican Foreign Minister Arnoldo Andre extended the offer to “any other politically persecuted person in Venezuela, especially those who are refugees at the Argentine Embassy in Caracas.”

Gonzalez Claims He Received Over Eight Million Votes

Presidential candidate Edmundo Gonzalez asserted that once the tally of the Sunday presidential election results is completed, it will show that he won the elections with more than eight million votes, despite the National Electoral Council (CNE) declaring the victory for incumbent Nicolas Maduro with 5,150,092 votes.

“Remember this number well: when the tally sheets are counted, this servant will have more than eight million votes, and with that figure, we will begin the reconstruction of Venezuela,” stated the Democratic Unity Platform (PUD) candidate during a rally in Caracas, surrounded by thousands of supporters who greeted him with cries of “president.”

The former ambassador insisted that the voting results are known because the opposition already possesses copies of more than 80% of the tally sheets, which have been scanned and uploaded to a website (ganovzla.com), where citizens can check their corresponding voting precinct using their ID number. This public site has the voting totals for all the tally sheets in the possession of the opposition.

Gonzalez asked his supporters who were cheering him during the event not to worry because “the results” are already known to the voters, as well as “the international community,” and that “very soon” there will be “a decision.”

He also addressed the electoral body: “Gentlemen of the CNE, don’t worry about looking for the tally sheets anymore. Here are the copies.”

Thousands of Venezuelans gathered at the event organized by the Democratic Unity Platform to reject the official CNE results for the second consecutive day.

With information from EFE.

Read more from Nicaragua here on Havana Times.