The announcement comes after a week of demonstrations, police clashes, and growing calls for the head of state to release election data.
Post-election demonstrations in Venezuela continue as pressure mounts against disputed leader Nicolás Maduro, who has firmly stood his ground amid ongoing calls to release voting details from the July 28 general election. In the streets, clashes between Venezuelan security forces and protesters have resulted in at least 20 deaths, according to Human Rights Watch.
On Aug. 3, Maduro announced that 2,000 civilian arrests have been made and denounced those who contest his administration.
“This time, there will be no forgiveness,” Maduro said
during an Aug. 3 rally of his supporters in Caracas, Venezuela. “We have 2,000 prisoners captured, and from there, they will go to Tocorón and Tocuyito [prisons], maximum punishment, justice.”
During what Maduro supporters called a “grand national march for the defense of peace,” allies of the disputed head of state gathered outside the presidential palace of Miraflores, while Maduro
delivered a fiery address that condemned the opposition-led protests.
Maduro called for the arrest of opposition leader María Corina Machado and presidential candidate Edmundo González for “electoral fraud,” and demanded criminal sentences of 15 years to 30 years in prison. Court authorities in Caracas
reportedly issued an arrest warrant for Machado on July 31 for challenging the accuracy of the election results and encouraging protesters.
However, demonstrators are
standing their ground after a week of protests, saying they believe that there is evidence that shows González won the July 28 general election.
Standing on a truck surrounded by other members of the nation’s largest anti-Chavez coalition, the Democratic Unitary Platform, Machado appeared before a crowd of opposition supporters on Aug. 3 to encourage Venezuelans to fight for election integrity in the country.
“After 6 days of brutal repression, they thought they were going to silence us, stop us, or intimidate us ... look at the response,” Machado posted alongside a video of the opposition rally on the social media platform
X.
“Today, the presence of each citizen on the streets of Venezuela demonstrates the magnitude of the civic strength we have and the determination to go to the end.”
Presidential candidate González also took to social media to show his support for the protesters and the calls for transparent election results.
“Today, united Venezuela came out, without fear, in peace and with family, to demand respect for its decision at the polls. We will ensure that your decision is respected and we will begin the re-institutionalization of Venezuela,” González
stated on his X account.
Venezuela’s post-election demonstrations come at a time when “Chavismo” advocacy, named after former socialist President Hugo Chavez, has hit an all-time low. In the months leading up to the presidential election, Maduro lost key
support among voters who have historically been loyal to the country’s entrenched socialist party.
Much of this is because of the
unprecedented economic crisis that has come to a head since Maduro became president in 2013. Venezuela’s gross domestic product contracted by more than 75 percent from 2013 to 2021, according to the International Monetary Fund. That
represents the single largest economic collapse for a nation not at war in nearly five decades.
This, in turn, has ignited an exodus of more than 7 million Venezuelans since 2014,
according to the United Nations Refugee Agency.
The United States is among the growing pool of international voices, which
includes Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the UK, that are pressuring Maduro to release election vote details.
On Aug. 1, U.S. Sens. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Rick Scott (R-Fla.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Bill Cassidy (R-La.), and Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) introduced a
resolution for the United States to recognize González as the president-elect of Venezuela.
“The Venezuelan people’s desire for freedom and democracy is admirable. The recent electoral process, which narco-dictator Maduro fraudulently claims he won, has been a testament to the tenacity of the Venezuelan spirit,” Rubio
said in a statement.
The following day, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken
called González and Machado to congratulate the opposition candidate for “receiving the most votes in Venezuela’s July 28 presidential election as documented by the democratic opposition’s extensive efforts to ensure a transparent accounting of the votes.”
