Riot cops use tear gas & blast Venezuela protesters with rubber bullets after Putin crony Maduro’s ‘rigged’ election win
RIOT cops have used tear gas and blasted protesters with rubber bullets after Putin’s Venezuelan crony Nicolas Maduro won a “rigged” election.
The opposition have also claimed victory in the disputed vote with thousands of protesters now taking to the streets against the South American autocrat.
Footage posted to social media showed protesters burn armoured vehicles, shoot guns at cops, and even chase National Guardsmen through the streets.
Cops fired back at protesters, reportedly using live ammunition to disperse them, as well as tear gas and rubber bullets.
A 16-year-old protester was reportedly shot in the neck by police and later died.
Protesters brought down statues of former president and revolutionary Hugo Chavez in scenes reminiscent of the overthrow of Saddam Hussein.
Others threw Molotov cocktails at the heavily protected cops and lit fires on the streets
Footage even appeared to show protesters surrounding some police units and forcing them to hand over their weapons.
Other protesters in the capital Caracas set fire to mobile police booths and rolled them down the streets.
Ruthless gangs called on armed forces to act peacefully and stay inside their commands, or threatened they would attack officials.
Protesters also stripped campaign posters and Maduro propaganda down.
Maduro shot back against protesters saying criminal gangs were behind the violence.
In a televised address, he said: “An attempt is being made to impose a coup d’état in Venezuela again of a fascist and counterrevolutionary nature.”
Before the vote, dictator Maduro threatened a “bloodbath” if he lost.
He now claims the result is “irreversible”.
But the opposition claims it has “proof” their candidate Gonzalez won Sunday’s vote with 70 per cent of ballots – double of what tyrant Maduro received.
Gonzalez said: “We have in our hands the tally sheets that demonstrate our categorical and mathematically irreversible victory.”
Another opposition leader, María Corina Machado, said Maduro should “understand” he was defeated, in an interview with The Guardian.
“I would say his departure is irreversible,” she said, declaring Gonzalez president-elect.
Venezuelan electoral authorities, controlled by Maduro’s cronies, declared that Maduro had won the vote with 51 per cent after polls closed.
Why is Venezuela's election so important?
Venezuela’s election could prove a pivotal moment in the country’s history.
For the last 25 years, the South American country has been ruled by a socialist party that has kept a tight grip on the country.
But the United Socialist Party of Venezuela and its leader Nicolas Maduro has overseen a massive decline in living standards in the country during his 11-year rule.
Prices have soared in a bout of hyperinflation – with the increase hitting 360 per cent in 2023.
Poverty in the country had skyrocketed and 8million people have fled to neighbouring states over the past few years.
Maduro is an ally of Vladimir Putin’s and has received help from the dictator to keep his regime afloat.
Venezuela also has the largest oil reserves in the world, even larger than Saudi Arabia, with offshore deposits thought to hold over 300million barrels.
The National Electoral Council handed him a third six-year term as the leader of an economy recovering from collapse and a population desperate for change.
The opposition also claimed they were prevented from scrutinising many polling stations with.
They also claimed people were forced out of polling stations as riot cops made a fortified human barrier at the entrance.
The main opposition leader Machado was banned from running back in January, despite winning a primary last year.
She claimed an “overwhelming” victory and that Venezuelan’s “knew” the opposition had won.
We have in our hands the tally sheets that demonstrate our categorical and mathematically irreversible victory
Edmundo Gonzalez
“Not only did we defeat him [Maduro], politically, morally and spiritually, we defeated him with votes throughout Venezuela.”
Neighbouring countries have also cast doubt on Maduro’s win.
Argentina’s President Javier Milei posted on X, formerly Twitter, saying that Maduro was a dictator and he should go.
He said: “Venezuelans have chosen to end the communist dictatorship of Nicolas Maduro.
“The data announce a crushing victory for the opposition and the world is waiting for him to recognize the defeat after years of socialism, misery, decadence and death.
“Argentina will not recognize another fraud, and expects the Armed Forces to defend democracy and the popular will this time. Freedom Advances in Latin America.”
Maduro shot back at the chainsaw-wielding Argentinian calling him a “sociopath… who enjoys inflicting pain” and mocking his looks.
Neighbour Colombia called for a total count and an independent audit of votes.
Chilean President Gabriel Boric says the results are “hard to believe” and they will not “will not recognise any result that is not verifiable”.
Costa Rican President Rodrigo Chaves rejected the results outright and said they considered them “fraud”.
Who is Putin's man in South America?
Nicolas Maduro started out life as a bus driver in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas.
But, he became a trade union official and started to get involved with hard left-wing politics.
At 24 he shifted to Cuba and underwent training with other South American leftist groups.
Maduro became a supporter of Hugo Chavez and campaigned to release him after Chavez was arrested for a failed coup in 1992.
Chavez became president in 1999 and went about wrecking the democratic institutions, checks and balances, and strengthening his own cronies and carrying out a “socialist revolution” in the country.
In 1998, aged 36, Maduro was elected to the country’s parliament, the National Assembly, where he became speaker from 2005 to 2006.
In 2006, Chavez appointed Maduro as foreign minister.
In 2012, he became vice president, but more importantly, in 2011 he had been designated by Chavez as his successor.
Elected by a narrow margin in March, 2013, Maduro has presided over the country for year as its problems skyrocket.
As his country suffered and starved, Maduro lived a life of luxury and reportedly racked up a fortune of £220million.
In 2018, he sparked outrage after being pictured enjoying a lavish meat banquet hosted by celebrity chef Salt Bae in Istanbul.
While Venezuelans can barely afford fresh meat, the president tucked into the infamous gold-crusted steaks.
“This is a once in a lifetime moment,” the president said as puffed on a cigar and ignored the widespread food shortage raging in his country.
Opposition leader Julio Borges, who fled Venezuela for fear of arrest, tweeted: “While Venezuelans suffer and die of hunger, Nicolás Maduro and Cilia Flores have a good time in one of the most expensive restaurants in the world, all with money stolen from the Venezuelan people.”
Only a few months earlier, his two stepsons Yoswal Gavidia Flores and Walter Gavidia Flores managed to blow £36,000 on an extravagant 18-night stay at the Ritz hotel in Paris.
The bill was equivalent to the monthly wages of 2,000 Venezuelans – a casual two weeks for the pair who frequently parade themselves around Europe’s most expensive restaurants and hotels.
And back at home, the president and his family can escape the chaos of their own making by hiding out in his luxury enclave in the capital, complete with its own bowling alley, swimming pools, lakes and restaurants.
Maduro and his so-called “dirty dozen” of top lieutenants live in fabulous estates which would not look out of place in the hills of Hollywood.
The five star bolthole is guarded by seven successive checkpoints and hundreds of heavily armed troops.
While Guatemalan President Bernardo Arevalo said they had “many doubts” about the results.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the results were not accurate, while on a visit to Japan.
He said: “We have serious concerns that the result announced does not reflect the will or the votes of the Venezuelan people.”
China, Cuba, Honduras, and Bolivia have backed the autocrat and sent Maduro their congratulations.
Vladimir Putin also congratulated his pal saying: “Remember that you are always a welcome guest on Russian soil.”
I would say his [Maduro’s] departure is irreversible
María Corina Machado
Maduro faced a crisis following his last election win in 2018 – which was widely accepted as being fraudulent.
The leader survived mass protests, a Rambo-style coup run by ex-US special forces, and 57 countries, including the UK and US, recognising Juan Guaido as the legitimate president.
Polls for this election showed Maduro well behind as the country’s economy shrunk 80 percent in a decade, has seen massive hyperinflation and also skyrocketing poverty.
A whopping eight million Venezuelans have fled the country and the dire living conditions under Maduro’s rule.
Maduro is an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who experts say could step in and provide the Venezuelan with the support to keep him in power.
The country sits atop the worlds largest oil reserves and once boasted Latin America’s most advanced economy.
But after Maduro took the helm, it tumbled into a free fall marked by plummeting oil prices, widespread shortages of basic goods and hyperinflation of 130,000%.
Kingpin of Caracas
In 2020, the US charged Maduro and his cronies with narco terrorism, corruption, drug trafficking and a whole host of other criminal charges.
It landed Maduro with a $15million (£12.5million) bounty planted on his head by The Trump Administration.
Other sordid officials charged included the country’s defence minister and the supreme court chief justice.
The US has long opposed what they call his corrupt and unlawful regime and placed sanctions on Venezuela’s oil industry.
The US charges stated that Maduro and other senior officials helped run a drug trafficking organisation called Cartel de Los Soles (cartel of the suns, named for the sun-shaped stars on military officer’s uniforms).
Washington accused them of “flooding” the US with cocaine and using the drug as a “weapon against America”.
Two of Maduro’s wife’s nephews had previously been arrested for drug trafficking in 2015 in Haiti’s capital of Port-au-Prince.
Efraín Antonio Campo Flores and Francisco Flores de Freitas were caught attempting to smuggle 800kg of cocaine into the US with the cash allegedly destined to help their family stay in power.
Known as the Narcosobrinos affair, it finally drew to a close when the nephews were returned to Venezuela in a prisoner swap in October, 2022.
