Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro looks on as he speaks during a press conference about the presidential election at the Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas on August 2, 2024. The ruling TSJ summoned candidates of last presidential election, accused by the opposition of being fraudulent, after accepting an appeal by the proclaimed winner Nicolas Maduro for the highest court to certify the process. (Photo by JUAN BARRETO / Agence France-Presse)
Agence France-Presse
CARACAS, Venezuela — Venezuelan authorities on Friday ratified Nicolas Maduro’s election victory as a growing number of nations recognized his opposition rival as the true winner.
Gripped by anxiety after Sunday’s disputed presidential vote, the oil-rich nation braced for fresh protests as both Maduro and the opposition called for their supporters to demonstrate this weekend.
Argentina, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Panama, and Uruguay on Friday recognized opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia as the president-elect of Venezuela, joining the United States and Peru in rejecting the official results.
Venezuela’s election authority, meanwhile, ratified Maduro’s win with 52 percent of the vote and said Gonzalez Urrutia had garnered 43 percent of ballots.
Maduro, 61, has reacted fiercely to criticism of his victory and threatened opposition leader Maria Corina Machado and her presidential candidate Gonzalez Urrutia, saying they “should be behind bars.”
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Gonzalez Urrutia did not show up to a hearing at the Supreme Court after Maduro requested the tribunal investigate and certify the election result.
However, other opposition candidates summoned to the hearing called for a detailed vote count to be made public.
Voting records “are fundamental for transparency, they are fundamental for peace,” said Enrique Marquez, who also ran against Maduro, as part of a smaller opposition group.
Venezuela opposition: ‘Fearing for my life’
Machado, who had been barred from running herself, wrote in the Wall Street Journal that she was in hiding and “fearing for my life,” along with other opposition leaders.
She called on supporters to gather on Saturday in cities across the country to “assert the truth” about the opposition’s victory.
“We have the evidence and the world already recognizes it,” Machado wrote on social media platform X.
Maduro, for his part, has called for daily mobilization, with “the mother of all marches to celebrate the victory of peace” to be held Saturday.
He accused the opposition of plotting “an attack” and ordered police to protect Caracas “and these areas that are under threat.”
In a news conference from the presidential palace, Maduro denounced “a coup led by the United States, the international far right and unbridled capitalism.”
The NGO Foro Penal reported 11 dead in protests Monday and Tuesday as Venezuelans took to the street in anger, saying their votes had been stolen. Machado said at least 20 people had been killed.
The crackdown on protests has sparked fear among opposition supporters.
“We have dead, wounded, detainees, missing people… People know it. They are afraid. They know they are going to find themselves facing armed people … ferocious wolves,” said Katiusca Camargo, an activist in the Petare slum in eastern Caracas.
The opposition this week launched a website with copies of 84 percent of ballots cast, showing an easy win for Gonzalez Urrutia. The government claims these are forged.
‘Overwhelming evidence’
Top US diplomat Antony Blinken said Thursday there was “overwhelming evidence” that Gonzalez Urrutia had won the election.
On Friday, Argentine Foreign Minister Diana Mondino said that Gonzalez Urrutia was the “legitimate winner and president-elect.” Peru has also recognized the 74-year-old retired diplomat as the rightful winner.
Uruguay said it was “clear” Gonzalez Urrutia had obtained the majority of votes. Ecuador called him the “legitimate winner” and Costa Rica said his victory was “indisputable.”
In a joint statement, Brazil, Colombia and Mexico urged an “impartial verification” of the result, also calling for Caracas to publish voting data broken down by polling stations.
Sunday’s elections were held in the shadow of Maduro’s warnings of a “bloodbath” if he were to lose, and amid widespread fear the vote would be rigged.
Authorities said more than 1,000 people were arrested in post-election protests.
READ: ‘We were robbed’: Despair in Venezuela after Maduro victory
Maduro has led the oil-rich country since 2013, presiding over a GDP drop of 80 percent that pushed more than seven million of once-wealthy Venezuela’s 30 million citizens to emigrate. Experts blame economic mismanagement and US sanctions for the collapse.
He is accused of locking up critics and harassing opponents in a climate of rising authoritarianism.
On Friday, prominent opposition figure Roland Carreno — a journalist who was previously accused of “terrorism” and imprisoned from 2020-2023 — was arrested in Caracas, his party Popular Will said.
Maduro’s previous reelection, in 2018, was rejected by dozens of Latin American as well as the United States and EU members.
Years of damaging US sanctions have failed to dislodge the president, who enjoys loyalty from the military leadership, electoral bodies, courts and other state institutions, as well as the backing of Russia, China and Cuba.