Opposition mobilizes in the streets to claim victory

“Peaceful protest is our right,” opposition leader Maria Corina Machado told a crowd at a rally in Caracas on Saturday.

With flags and minutes in hand, the Venezuelan opposition took to the streets to demand its “victory” in the July presidential election, Saturday August 17, against President Nicolas Maduro, who was declared the winner. “This is a historic day (…). We must remain firm and united”opposition leader Maria Corina Machado said on social media before the rally. Thousands of people greeted her arrival at the rally in eastern Caracas, Venezuela, on Saturday.

“We will not abandon the streets… With intelligence, with prudence, with resilience, with audacity and peacefully, because violence suits them… Peaceful protest is our right”she told the crowd. Many of the protesters were waving Venezuelan flags or copies of polling station “minutes,” which the opposition and part of the international community are demanding be published.

The National Electoral Council (CNE) ratified Nicolas Maduro’s presidential victory in early August, with 52% of the vote, without providing the exact count or the minutes of the polling stations, claiming to have been the victim of computer hacking. The opposition and many observers question the reality of this hacking. According to the opposition, which has made public the electoral documents obtained through its scrutineers, candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, who had replaced Maria Corina Machado who was declared ineligible, won 67% of the vote.

The announcement of Nicolas Maduro’s re-election sparked spontaneous protests, which were brutally repressed. According to official sources, 25 people died, 192 were injured and 2,400 arrested.

On Saturday, the opposition also called for large demonstrations abroad. The kick-off was given in Sydney and Melbourne (Australia). On social networks, photos of rallies are pouring in from all over the world.

The government, for its part, has planned a “Great National March for Peace” in Caracas in the afternoon.