Venezuela’s capital, Cairo Despite protests and strong proof that his opponent won the election, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro was inaugurated in on Friday to a third six-year term, prolonging his increasingly authoritarian rule until 2031.
He was sworn in and gave a scathing address at Venezuela’s legislative palace, which was tightly guarded by intelligence, military, and police personnel. In the surrounding streets and a plaza, crowds of people gathered, many of them wearing pro-Maduro T-shirts.
Maduro declared that the opposition’s inability to block his inauguration was a huge triumph for Venezuela and accused them of attempting to make it into a global conflict. He pledged to uphold peace and national sovereignty while accusing outside forces of targeting Venezuela, particularly the US administration.
I feel the weight of my commitment, the power I represent, and the power the constitution gives me more now than ever before, he added. Neither the US government nor the pro-imperialist regimes of Latin America have elected me president.
After the July 28 election, the opposition gathered tally sheets from over 80% of electronic voting machines, uploaded the results online, and claimed Gonz Lez had twice as many votes as Maduro. The opposition-published tallies were deemed valid by the Carter Center, a U.S.-based organization that watched the election at the government’s invitation. According to other election specialists who were permitted by the government to observe the vote, the opposition’s online polling records seem to have all of the original security safeguards.
15 senior Venezuelan officials involved in the country’s 2024 election were sanctioned by the European Union on Friday. These officials included the president and vice president of the Supreme Court, the electoral agency, and others. According to the 27-nation group, such officials have endangered the country’s democracy. A fresh set of sanctions was also imposed by the U.S. Treasury Department on Venezuelan officials, including Maduro’s minister of transportation, the president of the country’s state oil company, and the state-owned airline.
Aides of opposition leader Mar a Corina Machado claimed she was temporarily arrested by security authorities and forced to film tapes on Thursday as hundreds of anti-Maduro demonstrators flocked to the capital, Caracas.
The well-liked former politician, who has been prohibited by the government from seeking reelection, came out of hiding for months to attend the gathering and demand that González be sworn in in Maduro’s place.
Machado gave a speech at the gathering before riding off on a motorcycle with her security detail. Later, Machado’s press team posted on social media that her convoy had been forcibly halted by security authorities. The Associated Press was informed by her advisers that the opposition hardliner was in custody.
Leaders in Europe and the Americas called for her release and denounced the administration for stifling dissenting opinions. Donald Trump, the incoming president of the United States, stated his support for Machado and González.
These freedom warriors must remain safe and alive and should not be hurt! Trump stated on Truth Social.
Supporters of Maduro disputed that Machado had been arrested, claiming that opponents of the regime were fabricating stories to cause a global catastrophe.
The commotion leading up to Maduro’s inauguration complemented the long list of accusations of vote fraud and violent crackdowns to quell opposition.
Hours after votes closed on July 28, ruling party-aligned electoral officials proclaimed Maduro the victor, but they did not release precise vote totals, in contrast to past presidential elections.
Maduro requested that the nation’s high court, which is also composed of supporters of his United Socialist Party of Venezuela, conduct an audit of the election results in response to international censure of the lack of transparency. Without offering comprehensive proof, the court upheld Maduro’s victory and urged the electoral council to make the vote totals public. However, despite their polling center officials’ right to tally sheets from all voting machines, neither the ruling party nor the council provided any proof that Maduro had won.
Nationwide protests and international indignation were sparked by the controversy surrounding the results. The government reacted forcefully, detaining nearly 2,000 protesters and urging citizens to report anyone they believe to be an enemy of the ruling party. During the disturbances, around 20 individuals were killed, and numerous demonstrators claimed they had been tortured while in detention.
The followers of Maduro were ecstatic outside the inaugural ceremony on Friday. Maricarmen Ruiz, an 18-year-old who was unable to control her tears, was one of them.
“I’m happy,” she remarked, expressing pleasure that opposition leader Edmundo González wasn’t forced to serve as president. “I don’t have words to express my emotion.”
The number of heads of state who attended Maduro’s swearing-in, which was held in the National Assembly, which is controlled by the ruling party, remains unknown. Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua and Miguel Diaz-Canel of Cuba were captured on camera, and Maduro welcomed representatives from what he claimed were more than 120 countries.
A close supporter of Maduro, Colombian President Gustavo Petro, announced he would not attend, citing the arrests of a human rights lawyer and another longstanding Venezuelan opposition member earlier this week.
The presidents of Cuba and Bolivia, Miguel Diaz-Canel and Evo Morales, respectively, attended Maduro’s most recent inauguration in 2019. Because his government prohibited major opposition parties from running in the 2018 election, it was mostly regarded as a fraud.
Gonz lez fled for exile in Spain in September, but it’s still uncertain if he’ll keep his word to return to Venezuela by Friday.
González has been regularly threatened by government officials with arrest if he enters Venezuelan territory. Gonz Lez announced on Tuesday that Rafael Tudares, his son-in-law, had been abducted in Caracas. Mariana Gonz lez de Tudares, Gonz lez’s daughter, implied in a statement that her husband’s abduction was orchestrated by the government.
When did it become illegal to be related to Edmundo Gonz lez Urrutia? “I said,” she said.