CARACAS (AP) — Venezuelan opposition leader Edmundo González, recognized as the elected president of Venezuela in several countries and who claims his electoral victory against Nicolás Maduro, denounced on Tuesday that his son-in-law was kidnapped by hooded men.
Three days before the new Venezuelan president takes office, tension is felt in the atmosphere in the country with the greatest police and military presence in the streets of Caracas, given González’s intention to return to the country to take office. The planned official ceremony contemplates the investiture of Maduro as president for the next six years.
In a message on intercepted by “hooded men” dressed in black who “put him in a gold-colored truck, license plate AA54E2C, and took him away.” He did not give more details.
Venezuelan authorities did not immediately respond to the matter.
Uncertainty was felt in the Venezuelan capital on Tuesday about the country’s political future, after more than two decades of economic and social collapse that has caused more than seven million people to leave the country.
Despite it being the first day of school after the holidays, there was no greater presence of children on the streets.
“There is tension, as soon as it gets dark the city is like a ghost town. It doesn’t give us confidence to see so many police officers. I’m afraid that a mess will form and grab me in the middle of the street, I think many people have that feeling,” Mari Jiménez, a 32-year-old office worker, told AP. On Thursday and Friday “I’m not even going to show my nose in the street as a joke.”
Merchants waited cautiously to replenish their inventories and traffic remained congested due to the closure of streets and the installation of improvised police checkpoints. The deployment of security agents, many of them masked and armed with rifles, was noticeable in Caracas since days before the inauguration.
While President Nicolás Maduro prepares to assume a new six-year term before the National Assembly, with a pro-government majority, opposition leader Edmundo González announced that he intends to return from exile to take office as elected president.
It is unknown, however, when and how it will enter Venezuela.
“Everyone is waiting for January 10 to see what happens or to see what happens or to see what is decided or to see who calls for something to be done or how this whole situation ends up somehow, let’s say, having an outcome,” he said. to The Associated Press Benigno Alarcón, political scientist and director of the Center for Political and Government Studies at the Andrés Bello Catholic University.
Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello has warned that González will be arrested if he returns to the country and that Maduro will be sworn in on Friday.
Meanwhile, opposition leader María Corina Machado, driving force behind González’s candidacy, has called for a national protest on the eve of the inauguration.
The widespread discontent prompted the opposition to opt for the electoral route and, after avoiding the numerous obstacles imposed by the government – including the intervention of parties and the disqualification of the most popular opposition candidates such as Machado – it finally managed to nominate González as a unitary candidate for the July 28 elections.
But the initial enthusiasm of the opposition and its supporters after the elections was diluted when the National Electoral Council (CNE), a collegiate body with a pro-government majority, declared that Maduro had obtained 6.4 million votes compared to the 5.3 million that received González. The opposition maintains that 83.5% of the minutes in its possession show a 2 to 1 victory for its candidate.
Many still have vivid memories of the protests rejecting the proclamation of Maduro as winner in which more than 2,400 people were arrested. Although the government announced in recent weeks the release of 1,515 detainees, the non-governmental organization Foro Penal states that some 1,795 people remain in prison for “political reasons.”
Marta Valiñas, head of the mission of independent experts of the highest UN human rights body, in charge of investigating and documenting alleged human rights violations and possible crimes against humanity in Venezuela, urged the security forces to “behave with the strictest international standards regarding the use of force.”
Maduro has defied calls from the United States, the European Union and even regional allies such as Brazil, Colombia and Mexico to release voting records supporting his alleged electoral victory. More than five months after the elections, the results sheets remain unpublished.
González, for his part, fled into exile after Spain granted him political asylum in September following the arrest and criminal investigation order opened by the Venezuelan authorities for several crimes, including conspiracy. And Machado remains in hiding while she is criminally investigated for alleged instigation of insurrection.
Throughout 25 years of socialist government, Venezuela has been mired in a severe crisis marked by high inflation, low wages and high prices that are based on their value in dollars. The minimum wage that millions of Venezuelans receive is 130 bolivars per month, about 2.45 dollars, while the average income in the private sector is about 110 dollars per month. Citizens’ distrust in police officers has intensified along with the increase in repression in recent years.
“I ask God that whatever happens they have mercy on the people, we do not deserve to live so badly,” said Jiménez.
This article was published by JORGE RUEDA on 2025-01-07 12:42:00
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