The opposition leader leads a protest in Caracas against “Maduro’s fraud”
EFE (via 14ymedio), Caracas, 28 August 2024 — You “know what you have to do at this time,” Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado called on the country’s military on Wednesday, one month after the presidential elections, whose official result – which favored Nicolás Maduro – is fraudulent according to the former deputy, as well as for a large part of the international community.
“They know the truth, which is what they must do in compliance with the Constitution. That is what Venezuela and the world expects: respect for the Constitution, for their sacred oath to the flag,” said the former deputy in front of thousands of supporters in Caracas, where she led a demonstration against Maduro’s reelection.
She said that the candidate of the largest opposition alliance, the Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD), former foreign minister Edmundo González Urrutia, won the presidential elections on July 28 even in the voting centers that were set up inside prisons and military barracks.
That is what Venezuela and the world expect, respect for the Constitution, for its sacred oath before the flag
“Faced with this evidence, the regime opted for two strategies: one, to try to save face and seek legitimacy through the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ),” she said, referring to the validation that the Court, controlled by magistrates close to Chavez, gave to Maduro’s reelection.
“The other (strategy) was the repression that began that same night,” Machado continued, referring to the arrests made amid post-election protests and police operations that left more than 2,400 people detained.
In her message, she also stated that “not a single democratic government in the world has recognized” Maduro’s reelection.
“Not a single democratic government in the world has recognized Maduro’s fraud. Venezuela voted for change and Edmundo González Urrutia is our elected president,” she insisted
Under the slogan ’acta mata sentencia’ [’The record kills the judgment’] the opposition gathered to defend the voting records published by the PUD – according to which González Urrutia won the Presidency by a wide margin – against the TSJ ruling.
“They believed that with this decision, which cannot even be called a ruling, they were going to deceive some countries or give them excuses so that with this vagabondage someone would recognize the fraud of the CNE (National Electoral Council). Nobody accepted this trick,” continued the opposition figure, who described the support given by the court to the Chavista leader as an “aberration.”
Opponents gathered to defend the voting vouchers published by the PUD
“They made the TSJ an arm of repression and political persecution,” she stressed.
One month after the accusation of electoral fraud, and while Maduro has the support of all institutions, despite international criticism, Machado reiterated that the PUD has “a robust strategy” that “is working,” without giving details in this regard.
“We are going to make the government (which is defending Maduro’s victory) yield, and yielding means respecting the will expressed by the people on July 28,” she stressed
Numerous countries and international organizations have refused to recognize Maduro’s victory and have asked the CNE to publish the disaggregated results, as established in the election schedule. In contrast, Chavismo claims that more than 60 nations “have welcomed Maduro’s victory,” including China, Iran and Russia, as well as Cuba and Nicaragua.
Although the National Electoral Council (CNE) declared Maduro the winner, it has not published the disaggregated results of the elections, as established in the schedule, while the PUD released “83.5% of the voting records” collected by witnesses and table members on the night of July 28, which, they claim, demonstrate the victory of their standard-bearer, which has the support of several countries and various national and international organizations.
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