A close ally of President Nicolás Maduro, the attorney general of Venezuela has declared that he is looking into opposition leaders Edmundo González and María Corina Machado for possible “incitement to insurrection.”
“Investigative court case opened against opposition leaders in Venezuela”
Prior to this, the leaders of the opposition had urged the security forces to “side with the people” and defy any directives to quell anti-government demonstrations.Since Mr. Maduro was declared the winner by the closely allied electoral authority without disclosing the precise vote totals to the public, tensions have been running high.Copies of the voting tallies have been uploaded by the opposition as proof that Mr. González, not President Maduro, was the election winner.
The opposition gathered more than 23,000 tally sheets, or 80% of the voting machines in Venezuela, according to a report published by the Washington Post on Sunday.
In a statement released on X on Monday, the opposition claimed that Mr. González had received 67% of the vote, while Mr. Maduro had received 30%.Both Mr. González and Ms. Machado signed the statement, which declared that the opposition had won “overwhelmingly.”It contradicts the results declared by the CNE, which is controlled by the government, which showed Mr. Maduro as the winner with 52% of the vote compared to Mr. González’s 43%.
Attorney General Tarek William Saab responded to the opposition statement right away, accusing the two of “falsely announcing an election winner different to the one proclaimed by the National Electoral Council (CNE)”.Additionally, according to him, the statement “openly incited officials from the police and military to disobey the laws.”Mr. Saab continued by saying he had made the decision to launch a criminal investigation into the opposition leaders.Since last week, Mr. González and Ms. Machado have been living in hiding after a high-ranking government official stated they ought to be imprisoned.
On Saturday, Ms. Machado momentarily came out of hiding to speak at a large Opposition rally in the capital city of Caracas, declaring that the Maduro government had “lost all legitimacy.””Freedom, freedom” was how her supporters greeted her.
In response to Mr. Saab’s remarks, the European Union asked Venezuela to stop intimidating the opposition on Tuesday.
“This must end. An EU spokesperson stated, “We are pleading with the authorities to end this campaign of intimidation against the opposition and judicial intimidation.
Previously, the European Union had demanded that the Venezuelan government “release all political prisoners and put an end to arbitrary detentions, repression, and violent rhetoric against members of the opposition and civil society.”
(BBC)
