The protestors took to the streets in Venezuela On Tuesday, protesters marched and waved flags demanding President Nicolas Maduro admit he lost Sunday’s election to the opposition, which says it won in a landslide.
The protests, which the government denounced as an attempted “coup,” began on Monday after the South American country’s election authority announced the results. Maduro won a third term with 51 percent of the vote To extend a quarter century of socialist rule.
The opposition, which sees the electoral body as being in the pocket of the dictatorial government, says its candidate, Edmundo Gonzalez, received more than twice as many votes as Maduro, based on 90 percent of the ballots counted.
Human rights group Foro Penal said at least 11 people had been killed in vote-counting or related protests in different parts of the country since Sunday’s election.
On Tuesday, Maduro and his top legislative aides accused Gonzalez and opposition leader Maria Corina Machado of inciting violence after the vote.
In a lengthy speech broadcast on state television, Maduro declared that opposition protesters had attacked civilians and committed arson, and demanded that Gonzalez be held accountable for them.
“Answer this, you cowards!” Maduro shouted, then added that both González and Machado must be held accountable.
Jorge Rodriguez, the head of Maduro’s ruling Congress of Socialists, said more bluntly in a speech earlier in the day that both opposition leaders should be arrested for the crimes of the protesters.
“Their bosses should go to jail,” he told lawmakers, accusing Gonzalez of leading a “fascist conspiracy.”
Several countries have called on Venezuela to make the vote count public, and US sources have said Washington is considering new sanctions on individuals connected to the election if greater transparency is not brought.
Costa Rica said it was willing to grant political asylum to Machado and González. On the eve, Machado thanked the government but said his priority was to “continue this struggle” with Venezuela.
In a speech calling for more marches, the embattled Maduro said his government was contacting both China and Russia for help with alleged attacks on the electoral authority’s systems, and blamed billionaire Elon Musk without offering any evidence.
Maduro’s Defense Minister, General Vladimir Padrino, declared that “a coup attempt is underway” but stressed that the country’s armed forces would help defeat it.
The 61-year-old president is a former union leader and foreign minister who won elections following the death of former President Hugo Chavez in 2013. Maduro was re-elected in 2018 in a vote that the opposition says was fraudulent.
He has overseen economic collapse and a mass exodus of Venezuelans, while US and EU sanctions have further weakened an already struggling oil industry.
A Maduro victory could trigger further migration from Venezuela, once the continent’s richest country, which has seen a third of its population flee in recent years.
‘Fraud by the government’
Opposition leader Machado was barred from running in the election but led Gonzalez’s campaign. On Tuesday, for the first time, she accused Maduro’s government of corrupt vote counting.
Urging peaceful protests, Machado said, “What we are fighting against here is the betrayal by the regime.”
A large crowd, many waving Venezuelan flags, chanted: “We are not afraid!”
“Edmundo is the president. We know he won the election,” said Andrea Garcia, a 27-year-old brokerage worker. “We want to live in a Venezuela like our parents’, where there wasn’t hunger in the streets.”
But the mechanisms open to the opposition appear limited, as the military has given no indication it will break with its long-standing support for Maduro and previous cycles of anti-government protests and sanctions have failed to oust him.
Opposition protesters marched in several cities on Tuesday. In some places, Reuters witnesses saw security forces attack protesters. Many shops remained closed.
A protester in Valencia spray-painted the words “fraud” on the street.
Meanwhile, in pro-Maduro demonstrations, protesters danced and motorcyclist supporters revved their cars, insisting that the election was over.
“We are here to support a peaceful election whose results are already in,” said Carmen Torres, a 36-year-old teacher, adding that despite some doubts she prefers Maduro to the “neoliberal” government.
On Monday, protesters blocked roads, set fire and threw petrol bombs at the police, who responded by firing tear gas shells.
In Coro, the capital of Falcon state on the Caribbean coast west of Caracas, protesters celebrated as they toppled a statue of Chavez, Maduro’s mentor, who ruled from 1999-2013.
Amid fierce protests, security agents arrested at least two more opposition leaders.
The parties said in posts on X that Freddy Superlano, national coordinator of Voluntad Popular, had been detained, as well as Ricardo Estevez, a senior official of Vente Venezuela.
Many Venezuelans have said any decision they make about whether to join the exodus from the country will depend on the election.
“It feels like I have nothing to do in Venezuela anymore,” said Jorge Salcedo, a 23-year-old graduate in Caracas.
“We would be starting from scratch in another country … We live in a country with oppression, and we live in a country with a dictatorship. This was our last chance.”