Since the recent contested presidential election in Venezuela, the country has been rocked by violence. Citizens are taking to the streets to protest the alleged victory of socialist candidate and incumbent president Nicolas Maduro, whom nearly everyone in the international community believes did not win the election.
That includes U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who said he has seen “overwhelming evidence” that the opposition candidate, Edmundo Gonzalez, was the true winner. Gonzalez was a last-minute-replacement for the country’s leading opposition candidate, Maria Machado, who was forced to stand down as a candidate by the Maduro government.
The streets of the capital city of Caracas looks like a war zone, with rioters setting fire to cars while police fire rubber bullets and tear gas canisters at citizens.
Blinken said it was obvious that Gonzalez won the majority of the votes cast on July 28. Other world leaders such as the heads of Colombia, Mexico, and Brazil, are all urging the Maduro government to release all the records and vote tallies from the election.
On Sunday, July 28, the nation’s electoral council—it’s important to note that Maduro’s government controls this body—announced that Maduro had won a third term. Maduro was the hand-picked successor to socialist president Hugo Chavez, who died in 2013. Chavez’ financial policies ruined the nation, driving inflation up to an almost impossible 130,000 percent, rendering the currency worthless.
Anger at the once-popular Chavez and his policies has driven citizens to topple at least two statues depicting the dead leader.
The opposition party quickly disputed the electoral council’s claims, citing the tabulations from electronic voting machines that indicated that the opposition won, not Maduro. And it was not a narrow victory, said the opposition camp, but a landslide in favor of Gonzalez. If true, this would track with opinion polls of likely voters in the run-up to the July 28 election.
Still, some countries are recognizing and validating the “victory” claimed by Maduro, including China, Russia, and Iran.
Blinken sent a strong message to the Latin American country, stating that it was time to “begin discussions” about peacefully transferring power from Maduro to the new government in accordance with the express wishes of voters.
