‘This is a sad day for my country’ – protests and sanctions in Venezuela as Maduro is sworn in
Nicolás Maduro has been sworn in for a third term as Venezuelan President in spite of accusations of stealing the election, 11th-hour protests across the world, and a new reward for information leading to his arrest.
Maduro, who has been in power for 12 years, has overseen an economic crisis that has prompted the exodus of hundreds of thousands of compatriots. Since July, he has also faced international criticism over a presidential election that observers claim was stolen and ignored calls for him to stand down.
On the eve of his inauguration on Friday, thousands protested across Venezuela and similar demonstrations were held in Spain, the United States and other countries.
Announcing new sanctions on 15 senior Venezuelan officials including judges and military officials, the UK Foreign Secretary, David Lammy, called Maduro’s presidency “fraudulent” and said the outcome of July’s election “was neither free nor fair and his regime does not represent the will of the Venezuelan people”.
Britain, like many other Western countries, did not send any representative to Maduro’s inauguration. The Cuban and Nicaraguan presidents were the only leaders present.
On Friday the US increased a reward for information leading to the arrest Maduro and other ministers in his government to $25 million (£20.4m), up from a previous $15m.
Maduro, 62, was declared the winner of the 28 July election by both Venezuela’s electoral authority and top court. However, detailed tallies confirming his victory have never been published and international election observers said the vote was unfair.
Venezuela’s opposition collected 80 per cent of the nation’s electronic voting machines and posted them online. The results showed a landslide win for its former candidate, Edmundo González, 75, who is recognised as president-elect by governments including that of the United States, many European countries and South American states.
On Friday, Maduro took the oath before parliament, declaring: “This new presidential term will be the period of peace, prosperity, equality, and the new democracy. I swear by history, I swear by my life, and I will fulfil it.”
Maria Laura Marquez, 29, is the niece of Dignora Hernandez, a leader in the opposition party Vente Venezuela who was arrested last year. Ms Marquez left her country two months ago to live in Spain, where there are about 400,000 Venezuelans.
“My aunt was stopped in the street by two cars, one without registration plates. We did not hear from her for eight days. Then we got an anonymous message saying she was in prison,” she told The i Paper.
“I felt I had to leave even if it meant leaving the whole family and my job as a lawyer behind. This is a sad day for my country but we must keep resisting.”
Carleth Morales, 53, a journalist, went into exile in 2000 under threat from the authorities but hopes the pressure of international action will topple Maduro.
“In the past decade Maduro has become more repressive. Today he is notorious because he does not care about arresting and killing not just opposition figures but students and young people,” she said.
“But us Venezuelans will rise up because we have experienced 25 years of repression [by Maduro and his predecessor, Hugo Chávez] and we know that the alternative is democracy and liberty.”
Clavel Rangel, a media analyst who left Venezuela to live in the US after facing legal action brought by authorities, said today was the “most historic moment” since the death of Chávez in 2013.
“Today there is a firm will to change an authoritarian regime that confiscated all freedoms, that persecutes and tortures dissidents and that is being investigated for crimes against humanity,” she told The i Paper.
González fled to Spain in September and the Venezuelan government has issued a warrant for his arrest. His ally opposition leader María Corina Machado, who was barred from running for election, went into hiding in Venezuela soon after the election.
Machado, 57, was briefly arrested after coming out of hiding to join a rally in Caracas on Thursday.
Opposition parties condemned the arrest of a leading opposition politician and a press freedom campaigner, among others, in a crackdown.
Meanwhile González, who has been on a tour of the Americas this week, has said he will return to Venezuela to take up the mantle of president but has called for the support of the military.
Caracas has said González will be arrested if he returns and put up wanted posters offering a $100,000 reward for information leading to his capture in the Venezuelan capital.
Both González and Machado are being investigated by the attorney general’s office for alleged conspiracy, but only González has a public warrant out for his arrest.
Machado’s Vente Venezuela political movement said guns were fired and Machado was knocked off the motorcycle on which she was leaving the rally on Thursday. She was then held and forced to film several videos, it said.
“I am now in a safe place and with more determination than ever before to continue with you until the end!” Machado said in a post on the social media platform X after her release.
The opposition, non-governmental organisations and international bodies such as the United Nations have for years condemned increasing repression against opposition political parties, activists and independent media in Venezuela.
The US president-elect Donald Trump has said the country is being run by a dictator.
Meanwhile the government has repeatedly accused the opposition of plotting with foreign governments and agencies including the US Central Intelligence Agency to commit acts of sabotage and terrorism.
The government said this week it had detained seven “mercenaries,” including a high-ranking FBI official and a US military official.
About 2,000 people, including teenagers, were arrested at protests following the election in the summer. The government said this week it has released 1,515 of them. González, 75, said his son-in-law was kidnapped on Tuesday while taking his children to school.
