Maduro opponents take to the streets to resume protests challenging Venezuela’s election results

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Opponents took to the streets on Wednesday to renew protests against President Nicolas Maduro’s growing power following last month’s election results.

The demonstrations in the capital, Caracas, came exactly one month after a tense July 28 vote in which Maduro was declared the winner despite strong evidence that the opposition candidate had won. Edmundo Gonzalez He won by a nearly two-to-one margin, but the vote was criticized internationally for lacking transparency.

Amid weeks of on-and-off protests, there have been consistent but so far ineffective calls from the opposition, who have demanded that authorities publish the results of each polling station, saying it would expose Maduro’s attempts to rig the election.

“Voting records undermine judgments,” is how the opposition has referred to the recent protests. Thousands of spreadsheets The group has collected and posted online documents that contradict a recent ruling by the pro-Maduro Supreme Court that affirmed his victory.

Wednesday’s protests were smaller than previous demonstrations, with small groups of Venezuelans also gathering in other Latin American capitals.

Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, who had been in hiding with Gonzalez since the election, re-emerged at a rally on Wednesday, waving Venezuelan flags and cradling small children from the back of a truck as supporters chanted “Freedom!”

The conservative politician, who was barred from running against President Maduro, spent weeks crisscrossing the country to support the election of Gonzalez, a previously unknown former diplomat.

Machado acknowledged that removing Maduro from power would be a difficult task but said his movement was strategic in calling for more demonstrations, but he said international pressure on Maduro was unlikely to let up anytime soon and noted that no Western democracy had acknowledged his “fraud”.

“Anyone who says the times are in Maduro’s favor is wrong,” Machado told a crowd of supporters who filled the streets of Caracas. “Every day he becomes more isolated and more harmful.”

Not to be outdone, Maduro’s supporters are also planning a rally on Wednesday, vowing to “defend” his victory in what they say is an attempt to sow fears across South America.

As the crisis continues, President Maduro has relied heavily on security forces to stay in power. On Tuesday, he Hardline ruling party leader Diosdado Cabello became interior minister, overseeing the police, and vowed to show no mercy to opponents of the government.

Cabello’s appointment has raised concerns that a crackdown that has already seen more than 2,000 arrests, including of journalists, politicians and students, could intensify.

The arrests were a major talking point at a special meeting of the Organization of American States held in Washington on Wednesday to discuss a report on human rights violations by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.

“The commission firmly condemns the systematic acts of violence during Venezuela’s electoral process,” commission member and Barbadian lawyer Roberta Clarke said at the conference. “Democracy and the rule of law must be restored.”

The committee called on Venezuelan authorities to end all actions that “instill fear” in the Venezuelan population, including arbitrary detentions and the use of violence by non-state actors loyal to President Maduro, and to respect the will of the Venezuelan people who call for democratic change.

“The Venezuelan crisis has reached a new nadir,” Ambassador Frank Mora, head of the Organization of American States (OAS), told the meeting. “The situation in Venezuela demands our urgent response and joint action.”

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Goodman reported from Miami. Associated Press writer Gisela Salomon in Miami contributed to this report.