LIVE UPDATES
Venezuelan authorities has ratified Nicolas Maduro’s election victory as a growing number of nations recognized his opposition rival as the true winner of the presidential election.
Following controversy regarding the presidential vote and announcement of result, the nation braced for fresh protests as both Maduro and the opposition called for their supporters to demonstrate this weekend.
Argentina, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Panama and Uruguay on Friday recognized opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia as the president-elect of Venezuela, joining the United States and Peru in rejecting the official results.
Venezuela’s election authority meanwhile ratified Maduro’s win with 52 percent of the vote and said Gonzalez Urrutia had garnered 43 percent of ballots.
Maduro, 61, has reacted fiercely to criticism of his victory and threatened opposition leader Maria Corina Machado and her presidential candidate Gonzalez Urrutia, saying they “should be behind bars.”
Gonzalez Urrutia did not show up to a hearing at the Supreme Court after Maduro requested the tribunal investigate and certify the election result.
However, other opposition candidates summoned to the hearing called for a detailed vote count to be made public.
Voting records “are fundamental for transparency, they are fundamental for peace,” said Enrique Marquez, who also ran against Maduro, as part of a smaller opposition group.
Machado, who had been barred from running herself, wrote in the Wall Street Journal that she was in hiding and “fearing for my life,” along with other opposition leaders.
She called on supporters to gather on Saturday in cities across the country to “assert the truth” about the opposition’s victory.
“We have the evidence and the world already recognizes it,” Machado wrote on social media platform X.
Maduro, for his part, has called for daily mobilization, with “the mother of all marches to celebrate the victory of peace” to be held Saturday.
He accused the opposition of plotting “an attack” and ordered police to protect Caracas “and these areas that are under threat.”
The crackdown on Venezuela protests has sparked fear among opposition supporters.
“We have dead, wounded, detainees, missing people… People know it. They are afraid. They know they are going to find themselves facing armed people … ferocious wolves,” said Katiusca Camargo, an activist in the Petare slum in eastern Caracas."
