Thousands of people led by a top opposition leader gathered in Venezuela on Saturday to protest against the widely disputed re-election of President Nicolas Maduro, as his supporters responded to a call for competing rallies called by him.
Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado thrilled supporters in Caracas when she suddenly appeared on a truck carrying a banner that read “Venezuela has won!” She said she had been in hiding all week after Maduro threatened her with arrest.
Machado had backed the candidacy of Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia even though she herself was barred from running, and supporters say he received 67 percent of the vote. She was not immediately seen on Saturday.
As Machado’s truck passed, supporters chanted, “Freedom!”
He told the crowd, “We have never been stronger than we are today,” adding that “the regime has never been weaker.”
“Seeing him gives me hope, despite the threats. He is a light for Venezuela,” shopkeeper Adrian Pacheco, 26, told news agency AFP.
But opposition supporters were fearful, as they still had fresh memories of a wave of repression under Maduro’s government in 2017 that left nearly 100 people dead.
“We have dead, wounded, detained, missing … people know that. They’re scared,” said Catiuska Camargo, an activist in Caracas.
‘The mother of all marches’
Maduro called on his supporters to come out in the afternoon for the “mother of all marches.” He accused the opposition of plotting to attack security forces during rallies.
Thousands of his supporters gathered in the city centre to march to the Presidential Palace in the name of “national peace”.
Venezuela’s CNE election authority, which is loyal to Maduro, on Friday declared him the winner with 52 percent of the vote, while Gonzalez Urrutia got 43 percent.
But this result has been rejected by countries like the United States, Argentina, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Panama and Uruguay.
The opposition has launched a website with copies of 84 percent of the ballots, showing Gonzalez Urrutia’s easy victory. The government claims these are fake.
On Saturday, the leaders of EU member states France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal and Spain expressed their “grave concern” and called on Venezuela to “immediately publish all voting records to ensure full transparency and integrity of the electoral process.”
Maduro, 61, has reacted sharply to international criticism, calling allegations of voting fraud a “trap” staged by Washington to justify a “coup.”
Maduro has led the oil-rich, cash-strapped nation since 2013, which has seen its gross domestic product plummet by 80 per cent, forcing more than seven million of Venezuela’s once-wealthy 30 million citizens to flee.
Experts blame economic mismanagement and US sanctions for the collapse.
‘Fear’
Saturday’s rallies appeared peaceful, in contrast to the chaotic protests that followed last Sunday’s election.
The NGO Foro Penal said 11 people were killed as angry Venezuelans took to the streets on Monday and Tuesday. Machado said at least 20 people were killed. Authorities said a soldier was also killed and more than 1,000 people were arrested.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke to Machado and González Urrutia on Friday, expressing “his concern for their safety and well-being” and congratulating González Urrutia “for receiving the most votes,” the State Department said.
Meanwhile, three countries that maintain good relations with the Maduro government – Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico – issued a joint statement urging “impartial verification” of the result.
Hundreds of Venezuelan migrants came together in Bogota’s central Plaza de Bolivar on Saturday to sing and pray and protest Maduro’s election. Around three million people live in Colombia, of which seven million Venezuelans have fled the country since he came to power.
“We don’t want violence, we want them to go away, we just want peace,” said Maudy Lopez, a 43-year-old craftsman. “I want to return to my country.”
Maduro’s previous re-election in 2018 was rejected by dozens of Latin American countries as well as the United States and member states of the European Union.
He enjoys the loyalty of the military leadership, electoral bodies, courts and other state institutions, as well as the support of Russia, China and Cuba.