Protests in Venezuela against Maduro spread, opposition says it has proof it won election
- Protesters gathered in towns and cities across Venezuela after President Nicolas Maduro claimed victory in a tense weekend election
Opponents and supporters of Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro planned to rally on Tuesday as protests and clashes spread after a weekend election was awarded to the long-ruling socialist despite opposition claims of a landslide victory.
Renewed instability in the South America oil producer brought divided international reaction: the United States said Maduro’s re-election had no credibility and was mulling more sanctions, while China and Russia congratulated him.
Protests began after the election board declared on Monday that Maduro had won a third term with 51 per cent of votes to extend his “Chavista” movement’s quarter-century rule.
The opposition, which considers the election body in the pockets of a dictatorial government, said the 73 per cent of vote tallies to which it has access showed its candidate Edmundo Gonzalez had more than twice as many votes as Maduro.
Many Venezuelans staged cacerolazos, a traditional Latin American protest where people bang pots and pans in anger.
Some blocked roads, lit fires and threw petrol bombs at police as protests proliferated, including near the Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas.
