Venezuelan opposition leader says she fears for her life

Photo: Federico Parra Agence France-Presse Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado in Caracas on July 29, election day in Venezuela

Patrick Fort – Agence France-Presse in Caracas

Published at 6:57 p.m.

• Americas

Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado said Thursday that she “fears for [her] life” and is forced to “go into hiding,” after calling for mobilization against the re-election of Nicolas Maduro as the country’s leader.

“I am writing these lines in hiding, fearing for my life, my freedom and that of my compatriots,” wrote Ms. Machado, in an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, the day after threats were made against her by Mr Maduro.

“I could be captured as I write these words,” she assures.

An opposition source told AFP that the leader “is safe” and that she would address Venezuelans in the coming hours.

“After this farce [the proclamation of Mr Maduro's election], spontaneous demonstrations broke out, particularly in poor neighborhoods in Caracas and other cities. Mr Maduro responded with brutal repression,” according to Ms Machado. This repression “must stop immediately, so that an urgent agreement can be reached to facilitate the transition to democracy […] We will not rest until we are free,” she concludes.

On Wednesday evening, the opposition leader, declared ineligible by the government and who had been replaced at short notice in Sunday's presidential election by the discreet diplomat Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, launched an appeal to Venezuelans to take to the streets, the first of its kind since the start of this presidential crisis.

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“I'm counting on you!”

More than 1,200 people were arrested and a dozen killed during spontaneous protests that broke out across the country in the two days following the vote. The opposition reported twenty deaths and eleven forced disappearances.

Heir to the socialist and Bolivarian leader Hugo Chavez, Mr. Maduro, 61, in power since 2013, was re-elected for a third term until 2031, following Sunday’s election, which he won with 51.2% of the vote against 44.2% for his opponent, according to official results.

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The National Electoral Council, which reported computer hacking, has not published the detailed results by polling station, while the opposition says it has gathered more than 80% of the polling station ballots. According to this count, Mr. Gonzalez Urrutia received 67% of the votes.

Ms. Machado and candidate Urrutia denounced “massive fraud” and demanded a transparent recount, a demand echoed by many Western countries, but also Latin American ones.

For his part, Mr. Maduro threatened on Wednesday to put the two opposition leaders “behind bars,” swearing that his opponents would “never come to power.”

In the evening, he went to meet riot police deployed with helmets on their heads and batons in their hands, denouncing the “criminals” contesting his re-election, of whom “more than 1,200 have been captured.” “I’m counting on you!” “, he told the police.

Stocking up

On Thursday, life returned to near-normal in Caracas, and public transport was running again.

“Life is returning to normal. I come home from work and buy a few things to eat for home,” Reinaldo Garcia, 55, a small businessman in the working-class neighborhood of Petare, told AFP.

“We don’t know what can happen. With this uncertainty, people are stocking up. Like everyone else, I went out to do some shopping, sugar, a bit of everything. “The country is in limbo,” commented Carmen, 50, still in Petare.

In the city, the police presence remains discreet, although a little more visible than usual, with nighttime deployments in the most protesting neighborhoods.

The funerals of several of the demonstrators took place, such as that of Victor Bustos, killed by a bullet in the chest in Valencia (north), the third largest city in the country.

“They took his life unjustly,” said the relatives of this 35-year-old worker, accusing the police of having “fired live ammunition.”

“With speed”

According to the Venezuelan NGO Foro Penal, 46 people were arrested in Valencia, some of whom were “transferred to military sites completely illegally,” according to the same NGO.

According to Attorney General Tarek William Saab, 1,062 people were arrested for “fascist behavior,” facing up to thirty years in prison.

Several NGOs, including Amnesty International, denounced in a press release “the disproportionate use of force by Venezuelan security forces.”

Colombia, Brazil and Mexico, all three of which have relatively good relations with Chavist Venezuela, called on Thursday for “an impartial verification of the results “, and this “with speed”.

Brazil has announced that it will provide security for the Argentine embassy in Caracas, where six opposition figures are sheltering, while its staff has been ordered to leave the country. It has also pledged to protect the representation of Peru, which has recognized opposition leader Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia as president-elect.

According to a senior US diplomat, Mr. Gonzalez “clearly” beat Nicolas Maduro, with a margin of “millions of votes.”