Hundreds of Venezuelans, responding to the worldwide call for the “Great World Rally”, gathered at Manco Capac Square in Lima, Peru on August 17, 2024, to protest the recent re-election of Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela. The ‘World Rally for Truth’ is a global event organized by opposition leader Maria Corina Machado to protest the disputed results of the presidential election in which Nicolas Maduro was re-elected both domestically and internationally.
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Venezuela’s political opposition and supporters gathered in cities across the country on Saturday to demand recognition of their candidate’s landslide victory in a presidential vote nearly three weeks ago.
The country’s electoral body, seen by the opposition as an arm of the ruling party, declared President Nicolas Maduro won a third term in the July 28 election, with nearly 52% of the vote.
But the opposition, led by former lawmaker Maria Corina Machado, posted online what they said were 83% of the votes from voting machines, showing candidate Edmundo Gonzalez with 67% support.
The controversial vote has plunged the economically struggling country into political crisis, and a government crackdown on protests has led to at least 2,400 arrests. Clashes related to the protests have also resulted in at least 23 deaths.
The international community has offered a series of proposals to overcome the nearly three-week-long election crisis — including a new vote — but most have been roundly rejected by both the ruling party and the opposition.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro (C) speaks next to First Lady Cilia Flores (3rd R) and Vice President Delcy Rodriguez (2nd R) during a rally at the Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas on July 30, 2024.
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In the capital Caracas, thousands gathered in the east of the city along the main avenue.
Standing on a truck in the middle of the crowd, Machado called for an independent and international verification of the election and urged her supporters to continue taking to the streets.
“Nothing is more important than the voice of the people and the people have spoken,” she said.
Jesus Aguilar, a 21-year-old theology student, said he supported the opposition in hopes of a better future: “We know that with this government, there will be no possibility of development. I even thought about leaving the country.”
In cities across the country, Venezuelans took to the streets. Hundreds gathered at 9 a.m. (1300 GMT) in Maracaibo, a once oil-rich city in the northwest of Venezuela.
“We have been through the worst, we are no longer afraid,” Noraima Rodriguez, 52, told Reuters. “My daughter died because there were no medical supplies in the university hospital. I have nothing to lose, but I want a future for my grandchildren.”
Hundreds of protesters rallied in the cities of Valencia, San Cristobal and Barquisimeto, many waving Venezuelan flags, protest signs or copies of ballot papers. In Maracay, about 110 kilometers (70 miles) west of Caracas, about a hundred protesters were dispersed with tear gas.
From Bogota to Madrid, Venezuelan emigrant communities poured in. In downtown Mexico City, nearly 1,000 people gathered at the central Plaza de la Revolucion.
“This is the moment for a free Venezuela,” said Jesus Mata, 30, a street vendor who came to Mexico two years ago.
A man waves a Venezuelan flag as protesters clash with police during a protest against the government of President Nicolas Maduro in Caracas on July 29, 2024, a day after Venezuela’s presidential election. Protests erupted in several areas of Caracas on Monday over the re-election victory claimed by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro but disputed by the opposition and questioned internationally, AFP journalists observed.
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Driven by economic and political crisis, he is one of tens of thousands of Venezuelans crossing the dangerous jungle between Colombia and Panama known as the Darien Gap, notorious for robberies, kidnappings, rapes and other dangers.
“I hope that 25 years of darkness will end, that there will be freedom so that the nearly 8 million Venezuelans abroad can return home,” he added.
Maduro has presided over an economic collapse that has seen Venezuela’s gross domestic product fall by more than 73 percent since 2013, according to researchers from the Institute for Advanced Management Studies in Caracas.
At Miraflores Palace after a pro-government rally, Maduro promised 8% growth this year and lashed out at international critics and the opposition.
“We have won the right to create any future we want in Venezuela, whatever we want, and no one can stick their nose in Venezuela,” he told a crowd waving Venezuelan flags. “I don’t go around telling anyone in the world what to do with this country or that country… the door will be slammed shut on anyone who sticks their nose in Venezuela.”
The opposition is still pushing for recognition of its victory, but its options are narrowing as international attention shifts elsewhere, opposition sources and analysts told Reuters this week.
Many Western countries have called for the full results to be released, while Russia, China and others have congratulated Maduro on his victory.
Washington, which tightened oil sanctions in April on the OPEC member over what it said was Maduro’s failure to comply with an agreement on election conditions, and other Western countries are showing no signs of acting quickly or firmly against what many of them denounce as electoral fraud.
Latin American leaders will discuss the crisis this weekend as many gather in the Dominican Republic for the inauguration of the country’s new president, Panama’s president said.
