{"id":74062,"date":"2024-08-04T06:08:02","date_gmt":"2024-08-04T06:08:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/index.php\/2024\/08\/04\/venezuela-opposition-leader-emerges-despite-arrest-threat\/"},"modified":"2024-08-04T06:08:02","modified_gmt":"2024-08-04T06:08:02","slug":"venezuela-opposition-leader-emerges-despite-arrest-threat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/venezuela-opposition-leader-emerges-despite-arrest-threat\/","title":{"rendered":"Venezuela opposition leader emerges despite arrest threat"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado has addressed a mass rally in the capital Caracas, defying government calls for her arrest.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ms Machado went into hiding earlier this week after accusing President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro of defrauding the opposition candidate, Edmundo Gonzalez, of a clear victory in the presidential election.<\/p>\n

The president in turn has promised \u201cmaximum punishment\u201d for anti-government demonstrators who say his re-election was rigged.<\/p>\n

The electoral commission \u2013 controlled by allies of Mr Maduro \u2013 has insisted he won with 52% of last Sunday\u2019s vote, but independent observers have said it lacked transparency.<\/p>\n

The commission has not published the full breakdown of results. The opposition has said its own vote tally shows it won the election by a wide margin. Opinion polls ahead of the election had suggested a clear victory for the challenger.<\/p>\n

On Saturday Ms Machado addressed thousands of her supporters in Caracas from a truck bearing a banner reading \u201cVenezuela has won\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have never been so strong as today,\u201d she told the crowd, adding that \u201cthe regime has never been weaker\u2026 It has lost all legitimacy\u201d.<\/p>\n

The opposition leader, who was blocked from running in the election, has spent days in hiding.<\/p>\n

Earlier this week, Ms Machado wrote in The Wall Street Journal that she had been left \u201cfearing for my life,\u201d along with other opposition leaders.<\/p>\n

She was greeted by cheers of \u201cfreedom, freedom\u201d and was accompanied by several other opposition leaders \u2013 but not Mr Gonzales.<\/p>\n

In a separate a video message he urged supporters to \u201crespond to the regime\u2019s attacks with hope, harmony, and peace\u201d.<\/p>\n

Security forces in Venezuela have spent the past several days trying to contain mass protests. At least 11 people have died in clashes with police.<\/p>\n

Speaking to supporters in Caracas on Saturday, Mr Maduro said around \u201c2,000 prisoners\u201d had been detained since the election a week ago.<\/p>\n

He promised \u201cmaximum punishment\u201d for them, adding: \u201cThis time there will be no forgiveness.\u201d<\/p>\n

The government is coming under increasing international pressure. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Friday that there was \u201coverwhelming evidence\u201d that Mr Gonzalez had won the election.<\/p>\n

His intervention comes as the presidents of Brazil, Mexico and Colombia all called on Venezuela to release detailed election results.<\/p>\n

Other regional governments, including Argentine, Costa Rica, Panama and Uruguay have all raised concern over the vote.<\/p>\n

But Mr Maduro has been backed by his allies in Russia, China and Cuba.<\/p>\n

He has asked Venezuela\u2019s top court to audit the voting tallies with a view to confirming the results, which handed him another six-year term in power.<\/p>\n

The opposition says the court is in the hands of government loyalists who will delay the publication of the tallies. Mr Gonzalez boycotted court proceedings on Friday.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The post Venezuela opposition leader emerges despite arrest threat<\/a> first appeared on KBC<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado has addressed a mass rally in the capital Caracas, defying government calls for her arrest. Ms Machado went into hiding earlier this week after accusing President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro of defrauding the opposition candidate, Edmundo Gonzalez, of a clear victory in the presidential election. The president in turn has promised […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-74062","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74062","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74062"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74062\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74062"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74062"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74062"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}