CARACAS (AFP) — Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado called Wednesday for supporters to “mobilize” after President Nicolas Maduro vowed to hold on to power following a widely disputed election.
Machado’s message comes amid deep uncertainty in the South American country, after Maduro was declared the winner in Sunday’s election but with electoral authorities failing to disclose detailed results to back up the claim.
Sixteen people have been killed in protests that erupted after the election, according to the opposition, which claims its candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia is the rightful victor.
The opposition has released a large set of voting data it says shows him defeating Maduro by a wide margin, as pre-election polls had suggested.
“We spent months building a robust platform that could defend the vote and unquestionably demonstrate our triumph. WE SUCCEEDED,” Machado, who was barred from running in the election, said Wednesday evening on X.
“Now it is up to ALL of us to assert the truth that we ALL know. Let’s mobilize. WE WILL SUCCEED,” she said.
Numerous nations, including Brazil and the United States, as well as the European Union, have demanded Venezuelan authorities release detailed voting data, with the White House warning Wednesday that the international community’s patience was running out.
Maduro said he was “ready to present 100 percent of the records,” as he addressed journalists outside the Supreme Court of Justice, where he filed an appeal against what he termed an “attack against the electoral process.”
But he voiced outrage at Machado and Gonzalez Urrutia, saying they “should be behind bars.”
On Monday, security forces fired tear gas and rubber bullets at Venezuelans after thousands took to the streets shouting “Freedom, freedom!” and “This government is going to fall!”
Machado said there had been 177 detentions and 11 “forced disappearances,” while Attorney General Tarek William Saab said more than 1,000 people had been arrested at protests, some of whom may face terrorism charges.