On Monday, July 29, hundreds of protesters filled the streets of Caracas, the capital of Venezuela, after Nicolas Maduro's victory in the presidential election was announced. People believed that the results were falsified.
France 24 reported on this.
Demonstrations in Caracas
Thousands of people took to the streets in several areas of Caracas, chanting: Freedom, freedom!, This government will fall!
Now watching
People set tires on fire on highways. In some areas, posters of President Maduro were torn down and burned, and cars and trash were set on fire. Armed police, soldiers, and leftist paramilitaries sympathetic to the government clashed with protesters and blocked many roads in the city center.
Venezuela's National Guard fired tear gas canisters and rubber bullets at protesters. People responded by throwing stones.
Venezuela's attorney general has warned that blocking roads or any other violations related to the unrest will be dealt with to the fullest extent of the law. Thirty-two people have been arrested on charges ranging from destroying election materials to inciting violence.
Getty Images
The country's Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez wrote on the social network X that 23 servicemen were injured, some from firearms.
He said that the authorities did not will allow Venezuela to repeat the events of 2014, 2017 and 2019, when mass protests led to deaths.
Maduro's re-election
Maduro, 61, attended the meeting at which the National Electoral Council confirmed his re-election as head of state for a six-year term until 2031. This is already Nicolas Maduro's third reelection.
He rejected international criticism and doubts that the elections were allegedly falsified, saying that Venezuela is being dragged into a coup d'etat that is fascist and counterrevolutionary in nature.
At the same time, opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, citing voting records, said that Edmundo González Urrutia should become the next president of Venezuela.
According to her, González Urrutia has 6.27 million votes against Maduro's only 2.75 million.
Early Monday morning, the National Electoral Council reported that Maduro had won 51.2 percent of the vote against 44.2 percent for González Urrutia.
The results of the Venezuelan presidential election have raised concerns among the UN, the US, the European Union and a number of Latin American countries.
At the same time, Venezuela's allies, including China, Russia and Cuba, have congratulated Maduro.
