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Thousands of Venezuelan opposition members gathered in Caracas and elsewhere on Saturday, vowing to “fight to the end” after claiming their presidential election victory was stolen from strongman Nicolás Maduro.
People gathered in cities across Venezuela and as far away as Spain, Belgium and Australia to take part in “protests for the truth” in response to opposition leader Maria Corina Machado’s call.
Machado herself is out of hiding, leading a rally in the capital in an attempt to increase pressure on Maduro to recognize what she and others say was a landslide victory in the July 28 election by opposition candidate Edmundo González Urrutia.
“We will not leave the streets,” Machado told thousands of demonstrators, many of whom waved national flags and copies of election records from polling stations as proof of the opposition’s victory.
“Peaceful protest is our right,” she said, as demonstrators chanted “Freedom! Freedom!” and clamored to get as close to the popular politician as possible.
Previously, Machado called on the anti-Maduro movement to “remain steadfast and united” in the face of the regime’s “lies and violence.”
Venezuela’s National Electoral Council (CNE) declared Maduro the winner of a third six-year term until 2031, with 52 percent of the vote, but did not provide a detailed breakdown of the results.
The opposition said polling station results showed González Urrutia had more than two-thirds of the vote.
He replaced Machado after the latter was barred from running by institutions loyal to the regime.
“This is a criminal government that wants to stay in power. I smell freedom, I have nothing to be afraid of,” protester Adriana Calzadilla, 55, a teacher, told AFP in Caracas, where a heavy National Guard and police presence was in place.
Another economist, Iliana Alvarean, 42, admitted she did “feel terrified”.
“Because of the repression, people can’t stop feeling. But we want him (Maduro) to go. We will hold out until the end.”
– ‘We are with you’ –
“We have the votes, the record, the support of the international community and the fighting determination of the Venezuelan people. Now is the time for an orderly transition,” González Urrutia said in a post on Saturday.
His last public appearance was at a protest on July 30.
Maduro called for the arrest of Machado and González Urrutia, accusing them of trying to incite a “coup.”
Anti-Maduro protests have so far left 25 people dead, nearly 200 injured and more than 2,400 arrested since election day.
More than 100 Venezuelans rallied in Sydney on Saturday, waving flags and balloons in one of the first overseas demonstrations in Australia.
“This is a strong message to the Venezuelan people,” said protest organizer Rina Rivas. “We are with you and we want the whole world to hear our voice.”
Thousands more protested in cities across Spain, home to about 280,000 Venezuelans, who have fled their country since Maduro came to power in 2013 amid the economic collapse.
“My family is in Venezuela and I want it to be a free country, full of opportunities,” Darwin Linares, a 23-year-old who has lived in Europe for six years, told AFP in Madrid.
Opposition rallies were also held in countries including Belgium, Colombia and Mexico.
– ‘Very unpleasant’ –
Maduro’s claim of victory was rejected by the United States, the European Union and several Latin American countries.
But thousands of his supporters gathered in Caracas and other cities on Saturday.
“The Venezuelan people have suffered too many blockades, too many attacks, and we will repel this new attack,” community leader Aurimar Nieves, 46, told AFP, referring to the U.S. sanctions.
Carmen Bolivar, a 63-year-old seamstress, said the opposition’s insistence that it had irrefutable evidence of victory was “pure lies.”
The CNE said it could not release its findings because of a “cyber terror attack” on its systems, but the Carter Center Watch said there was no evidence to support that claim.
The opposition said it had received 80% of the paper ballots, which showed González Urrutia winning easily.
Maduro’s re-election as president in 2018 was also rejected by the United States, the European Union and several Latin American countries.
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