Protests have broken out across Venezuela against authoritarian President Nicolás Maduro’s disputed re-election, with the opposition claiming to have proof that it won Sunday’s vote and the government responding with a crackdown.
Only hours after Maduro’s victory was certified by the government-controlled election authority, the CNE, opposition leader María Corina Machado declared her candidate Edmundo González the real victor, with 6.2mn votes to Maduro’s 2.7mn, based on tallies that she said were obtained by the opposition from 73 per cent of voting stations.
“I speak to you with the calmness of the truth,” González said as he stood by Machado’s side at a news conference. “We have in our hands the tally sheets that demonstrate our victory.”
The CNE said Maduro had won with 51.2 per cent of the vote compared with González’s 44.2 per cent, with 80 per cent of the votes counted. González, a retired diplomat, had led Maduro by at least 20 points in independent polls and had a clear lead in exit surveys and quick counts on Sunday.
On Monday, protesters marched across Caracas towards the centre of the capital and the Miraflores presidential palace. Many were carrying Venezuelan flags and some had their faces masked and were carrying large wooden sticks. Police responded by firing tear gas in some areas, sending large clouds of smoke into the afternoon sky.
In Santa Capilla, a few blocks from the palace, men in plain clothes were firing live ammunition from pistols towards demonstrators, according to videos shared on social media.
“We’re fed up. We want a change,” said Leydis Mojares, 33, one of the marchers. “We want a better life for our children. Maduro isn’t our president any more. The result last night was such a disappointment . . . I cried, I screamed. I saw my daughter, who is 13, crying. I said to her, ‘How long is this going to go on for?’”
In cities across the country, unrest spilled on to the streets. Video shared on social media showed protesters in the town of Coro, in north-western Venezuela, toppling a statue of Maduro’s predecessor and mentor, Hugo Chávez, as crowds cheered them on. Maduro had called Sunday’s election on what would have been Chávez’s 70th birthday.
Maduro’s close allies Russia, China, Iran and Cuba hailed his victory while the US, the EU and the UK demanded to see a detailed breakdown of voting. Regional power Brazil is attempting to mediate between Maduro and the opposition.
The CNE ignored calls to publish a detailed vote tally, saying the compilation of results had been disrupted by hackers, and instead organised a ceremony to proclaim him president until 2031.
Maduro, a former bus driver and union activist, said in a pugnacious 90-minute speech: “Yesterday Venezuela fought and definitively defeated fascism, hatred and demons in these lands.”
“There is an attempt to impose in Venezuela once again a coup d’état of a fascist and counter-revolutionary character,” he added.
Opposition representatives said in many polling stations, soldiers had removed ballot boxes and tallies of results, instead of providing copies to party witnesses.
Machado was disqualified from running in the election by the Supreme Court and instead campaigned on González’s behalf, holding rallies across the country. On Monday, Venezuelan attorney-general Tarek William Saab accused her of involvement in an alleged cyber attack on the country’s electoral system, alongside two opposition leaders living in exile.
The results stirred tension across Latin America. Venezuela ordered diplomats from Argentina, Chile, Peru and four other countries to leave immediately, accusing their governments of being “openly committed to the most sordid ideological postures of international fascism”.
Argentina’s libertarian president Javier Milei refused to recognise the results, calling them an “electoral scam”, while Chile’s leftist president Gabriel Boric said they were “hard to believe”.
Maduro’s disputed election victory also poses a dilemma for Joe Biden’s administration, which had negotiated with Maduro to run a competitive election and temporarily relaxed sanctions on state-owned oil company PDVSA in October.
The US reimposed the oil sanctions in April, though it has granted exemptions, allowing individual companies, including Chevron, Maurel & Prom and Repsol, to continue operating in Venezuela.
Senior US administration officials said Washington had yet to make a decision on any response. “It is not currently under consideration that we would retroactively alter licences that have previously been given,” one official said.
Eric Farnsworth, vice-president of the Council of Americas, a business lobby, said there were not many good options for the US as Washington was preoccupied with its own election and “loath to take on another messy global crisis”.
The oil-rich country’s economy, buoyed by a relaxation of price and currency controls, has seen a slight recovery after contracting by three-quarters between 2013 and 2021. During that time, it faced hyperinflation, regular power outages and shortages of food and medicines. About 7.7mn Venezuelans — about a quarter of the population — have fled.
Additional reporting by Ciara Nugent in Buenos Aires
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