Tear gas fired at protesters against Nicolas Maduro’s re-election

Nicolas Maduro was officially proclaimed president of Venezuela on Monday by the National Electoral Council (CNE), while the opposition also claimed victory.

The situation is tense in the Venezuelan capital. Police fired tear gas in Caracas on Monday, July 29, to disperse demonstrators protesting against the re-election of Nicolas Maduro as president of Venezuela. Equipped with riot gear, police advanced on the stone-throwing demonstrators, firing tear gas grenades, in the Chacao neighborhood.

“Let him hand over power now,” thousands of protesters have been unleashed in several poor neighborhoods of Caracas, some burning posters bearing the president’s image, AFP journalists observed. “People are angry. This is the most massive fraud in the world.”for example, protested Luis Garcia, 23, in the crowd of protesters in Petare, in the east of Caracas.

Nicolas Maduro was officially proclaimed president of Venezuela on Monday by the National Electoral Council (CNE). “Venezuelans expressed their absolute will by electing Nicolas Maduro”said its president, Elvis Amoroso. In his speech before the CNE, brushing aside criticism from the opposition and the international community, the Venezuelan head of state denounced an attempt to impose a “fascist and counter-revolutionary coup in Venezuela”.

According to the results of the CNE, the heir to former President Hugo Chavez was re-elected for a third consecutive six-year term with 51.2% of the vote. However, theThe opposition also claimed victory, rejecting the result, which it attributes to numerous irregularities.

While Nicolas Maduro has received support from Russia and China as well as from his other usual allies – Cuba, Nicaragua, Honduras and Bolivia – negative or skeptical reactions have poured in from the international community. Nine Latin American countries (Argentina, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Dominican Republic, Uruguay) thus called on Monday in a joint statement for a “complete review with the presence of independent election observers”.

In response, Venezuela announced on Monday the withdrawal of its diplomatic personnel from seven Latin American countries in protest “interference” of their governments, according to a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Caracas considers that the position of these governments (Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, Panama, Peru, Dominican Republic and Uruguay) “undermines national sovereignty” and demanded that their diplomats leave the country.