Opposition takes to the streets to claim victory in Venezuela

Photo: Federic Parra Agence France-Presse Many protesters are waving Venezuelan flags or copies of the “minutes” of polling stations, which the opposition and part of the international community are demanding be published.

Andrea Tosta – Agence France-Presse and Barbara Agelvis – Agence France-Presse in Caracas

Published yesterday at 16:39

• Americas

Flags and minutes in hand, the Venezuelan opposition took to the streets Saturday to demand “victory” in the July presidential election against President Nicolas Maduro, who was declared the winner and whose supporters also planned to march.

Thousands of people greeted the arrival in eastern Caracas of opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, dressed in her traditional white top and perched on the bed of a truck.

She had climbed onto the vehicle a few hundred meters further on, wrapped in a black hooded coat.

“Freedom” and “Edmundo para todo el mundo” (Edmundo for all) shouted the crowd as she arrived. Opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, who has not been seen publicly since July 30, was not immediately present, however.

Many protesters are waving Venezuelan flags or copies of polling station “minutes,” which the opposition and part of the international community are demanding be published.

The National Electoral Council (CNE) ratified Mr. Maduro’s victory with 52% of the vote in early August, without providing the exact count or polling station minutes, claiming to have been the victim of computer hacking.

The opposition and many observers question the reality of this computer hacking.

According to the opposition, which has made public the electoral documents obtained through its poll workers, Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, who had replaced Maria Corina Machado who was declared ineligible, won 67% of the vote. voice.

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“Very scared”

“If we remain silent, it makes no sense. It makes sense to honor the dead, the lives that were lost because of a criminal government that wants to entrench itself in power,” Adriana Calzadilla, 55, a teacher and artist, told AFP, wearing a cap on which copies of the minutes are pasted. “This moment is historic,” she enthuses.

“I'm going out today to reclaim what belongs to me […] I'm very afraid, but this fear keeps me going, it doesn't paralyze me,” assures Alejandra, another teacher, aged 47, who prefers to remain anonymous.

A major security presence has been deployed in the capital, AFP journalists have noted.

“This is a historic day […] We must remain firm and united,” Ms. Machado had declared on social media before the demonstration.

“We have the votes, we have the minutes, we have the support of the international community and we have Venezuelans determined to fight for our country,” Mr. Gonzalez Urrutia wrote on X.

The announcement of Mr. Maduro's re-election for a third term sparked spontaneous demonstrations, which were brutally repressed. According to official sources, 25 people died, 192 were injured and 2,400 arrested.

The opposition, which has so far only organized one demonstration, on August 3, has called for large demonstrations on Saturday throughout the country and also in more than 300 cities abroad.

The rally kicked off in Sydney and Melbourne, Australia, where protesters gathered waving Venezuelan flags. Photos of rallies poured in from around the world on social media.

Grand national march

The government, for its part, has planned a “grand national march for peace” in Caracas in the afternoon. Hundreds of motorcyclists gathered in the western part of the capital, in Petare, not far from the opposition rally site.

Hundreds of other supporters also began marching in the town of San Fernando de Apure, according to images on public television.

Much of the international community has been skeptical after the CNE announced the official results. The European Union, the Permanent Council of the Organization of American States (OAS), Brazil and 22 countries called in separate statements on Friday for the publication of the “minutes.”

President Maduro once again brushed aside foreign criticism: “We do not accept […] interventionism or anyone putting their dirty hands in our beloved country.” He then quipped: “We are preparing the delegation of election observers for the November 5 elections in the United States.”