Venezuela: Maduro suspended for ten days as rivals and friendly countries put pressure on him

Brazil, Colombia and Mexico insisted on Friday that Caracas needed to make public the minutes of presidential election meetings following President Nicolas Maduro’s disputed re-election, with Washington warning him against any attempts to arrest opposition leaders.

Nicolás Maduro considers himself the victim of a conspiracy and announces that he will suspend the X platform (formerly Twitter) for ten days.

The three countries, led by leftist presidents such as Nicolás Maduro, “start from the principle that the National Electoral Council (CNE) is the legitimate authority authorized to transparently disclose electoral results,” a joint statement said.

They said they took note of the process initiated by Nicolás Maduro before the Supreme Court (TSJ Supreme Court) in order to “validate” his victory, but stressed that “it would be better to allow an impartial verification of the results” while respecting the fundamental principle of popular sovereignty.

Under the command of power

The CNE approved Nicolás Maduro’s victory on Friday, August 2, with 52% of the vote, but did not publish the exact vote count and minutes from the polling stations, claiming to have been the victim of a computer hacking attack.

The opposition published the minutes obtained by its censors, but their validity was rejected by Nicolás Maduro. Edmundo González Urrutia, who replaced opposition leader María Corina Machado at short notice, was declared ineligible, winning with 67% of the votes.

The opposition and many observers believe that the hacking of the CNE was a government invention to avoid publishing the minutes of polling stations. Both the CNE and the TSJ are considered to be at the behest of those in power.

2,200 people arrested

According to a report by a human rights group, 24 people were killed in the riots that followed the outgoing president’s victory declaration. Nicolás Maduro announced the deaths of two National Guard members and arrested more than 2,200 people.

Washington, which has been the party to tougher sanctions on Venezuela since 2019, raised its tone on Thursday, warning that the arrest of opposition leaders could “further mobilise the international community, including countries that do not want to make too many waves” against Venezuela.

“If Maduro does this, it will unite the international community in a way that he does not know,” said Francisco Mora, the U.S. ambassador to the Organization of American States (OAS).

Maria Corina Machado and discreet diplomat Edmundo González Urrutia have been in hiding for more than a week, with the opposition leader even saying she feared for her life.

Criminal Investigation

Prosecutors have launched a criminal investigation against both leaders, specifically for “usurpation of office, spreading false information, inciting disobedience of the law, sedition, criminal association”.

Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, 74, did not appear on Wednesday to answer the TSJ summons to all candidates and other officials, stressing his “absolute vulnerability” before the authorities. Nicolás Maduro was summoned at 12:00 noon (6:00 pm in Switzerland) on Friday.

Speaking to Mexican media via video conference, Maria Corina Machado warned of an unprecedented exodus if President Nicolas Maduro remains in power. “If Maduro chooses to remain in power by force (…) we can only see an unprecedented wave of migration: three, four, five million Venezuelans in a very short time,” she said.

According to the United Nations, about seven of the 30 million Venezuelans have left the country in a decade for Latin American countries as well as the United States due to the economic and political crisis Venezuela is experiencing.

Maduro and Musk

President Maduro announced Thursday evening in the heart of Caracas, in front of hundreds of supporters who came to support him, the suspension of the X network (formerly Twitter) for ten days. “No one can silence me, I will face the espionage of the tech empire. Nicolás Maduro has often accused the American billionaire of conspiring against him, Elon Musk (…) violated all the rules of the social network Twitter (now X) and violated them by inciting hatred and fascism.

The president announced on Monday that he would quit WhatsApp while harshly condemning the social network, which he accused of trying to stage a “cyber-fascist criminal coup” after his election.

Nicolás Maduro and the authorities have repeatedly accused Elon Musk of participating in a “massive cyberattack” on the CNE, in the words of Vice President Delcy Rodriguez, who criticized the “dictatorship of social networks” that seeks to “replace the will” of the government elected by its citizens.

Speaking to an audience of diplomats, she also attacked the international community: “There is so much hysteria in the international community about the proceedings, they could make a Netflix series out of it.” “I’m sorry, Mr. French ambassador, but the proceedings even eclipse the Olympics,” she quipped.

AFP

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