Thousands marched through the capital of Venezuela on Saturday, waving the national flag and singing the anthem to support an opposition candidate they believe won the presidential election by a landslide.
Despite declaring President Nicolás Maduro the winner of last Sunday’s election, authorities have not provided voting tallies as evidence.
Instead, they have arrested hundreds of opposition supporters who protested the disputed results and have threatened to imprison opposition leader María Corina Machado and her chosen candidate, Edmundo González.
On Saturday, Machado, who has been barred from running for office for 15 years and was in hiding since Tuesday due to threats to her life and freedom, arrived at a rally in Caracas where supporters chanted and sang.
The previous day, masked assailants had vandalized the opposition’s headquarters, stealing documents and causing damage.
At the rally, Machado raised a Venezuelan flag and declared that the regime responsible for forcing millions to flee was nearing its end.
“We have overcome all barriers and knocked them down,” she proclaimed. “Never has the regime been so weak.” Despite fears of government retaliation, 57-year-old street vendor Carmen Elena García attended the rally.
“They must respect me and all Venezuelans who voted against this government,” García said. “We will not tolerate them stealing our votes. They have to honor our decision.”
During a Friday news conference, Maduro claimed that opposition members were plotting an attack in a Caracas neighborhood near the location of Machado’s rally on Saturday.
He stated that he had ordered the armed forces to secure the area and encouraged his followers to join “the mother of all rallies” elsewhere in Caracas.
On Saturday, the Organization of American States called for “reconciliation and justice” in Venezuela.
“May all Venezuelans who express themselves in the streets encounter only an echo of peace, a peace that embodies the spirit of democracy,” the OAS stated.
González, a 74-year-old former diplomat, and Machado claimed that tally sheets from polling centers nationwide indicate Maduro lost his bid for a third term by a significant margin.
An Associated Press analysis of vote tally sheets from Venezuela’s main opposition showed González received far more votes than officially reported, raising doubts about the official declaration of Maduro’s victory.
On Friday evening, the Supreme Justice Tribunal instructed Maduro’s National Electoral Council to release the precinct vote count sheets within three days.
Various governments, including Maduro’s regional allies, have urged Venezuela’s electoral authorities to release these tallies as they have in past elections.
The AP analysed nearly 24,000 images of tally sheets, covering results from 79% of voting machines.
Each sheet had vote counts encoded in QR codes, which the AP decoded and processed, revealing a total of 10.26 million votes.
According to these figures, González obtained 6.89 million votes, about 500,000 more than the government’s reported count for Maduro.
The tally also indicated Maduro received 3.13 million votes. In contrast, the National Electoral Council reported Friday that, based on 96.87% of tally sheets, Maduro had obtained 6.4 million votes and González 5.3 million.
National Electoral Council President Elvis Amoroso cited “massive attacks” on the “technological infrastructure” for the delay in updating the results.
In Venezuela, “actas” are detailed printouts akin to receipts and are regarded as definitive proof of election results.
The authenticity of the 24,532 tally sheets provided by the opposition could not be independently verified by the AP, but data from 96% of them was successfully extracted; the remaining 4% were unreadable.
The Biden administration has endorsed the opposition’s stance, acknowledging González as the winner and challenging the official results from the National Electoral Council.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated, “The overwhelming evidence makes it clear to the United States, and most importantly to the Venezuelan people, that Edmundo González Urrutia won the most votes in Venezuela’s July 28 presidential election.”
González thanked the U.S. on X for acknowledging the Venezuelan people’s will and supporting the restoration of democratic norms. In response, Maduro declared that the U.S. should refrain from interfering in Venezuela’s political affairs.
Since Maduro took power in 2013, Venezuela, which has the world’s largest proven crude oil reserves and was once the most advanced economy in Latin America, has faced a severe crisis marked by 130,000% hyperinflation and widespread shortages.
Over 7.7 million Venezuelans have left since 2014, creating the largest emigration in recent Latin American history.
The crisis has been worsened by U.S. oil sanctions, and the Biden administration, which had been lessening these constraints, might put back them if Maduro does not agree to a transition.
Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico have been working to persuade Maduro to allow an impartial vote audit. On Thursday, the three countries published a joint proclamation urging Venezuela’s electoral authorities to quickly and transparently release detailed voting data.
Maduro and his campaign manager, National Assembly President Jorge Rodriguez, on Friday, aimed to refute the opposition’s online tally sheets, emphasising the lack of signatures from electoral council representatives, poll workers, and party representatives.
They overlooked the fact that on Sunday, soldiers, civilian militia, police, and United Socialist Party loyalists prevented some opposition representatives from entering polling stations, observing the vote, and obtaining tally sheets.
After the government announced Maduro’s victory, thousands of opposition supporters protested on Monday, leading to a severe crackdown with 11 deaths and approximately 1,200 detentions, as reported by civic groups.
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