By REGINA GARCIA CANO, Related Press
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro was sworn in Friday to serve a 3rd six-year time period, extending his more and more repressive rule till 2031 regardless of protests and credible proof that his opponent gained the election.
Venezuela’s legislative palace, the place he was sworn in, was closely guarded by police, navy and intelligence officers. Crowds of individuals, many sporting pro-Maduro T-shirts, gathered in adjoining streets and a close-by plaza.
Standing earlier than officers, Maduro cited historic figures together with his predecessor, Hugo Chávez.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his spouse Cilia Flores arrive on the Nationwide Meeting for his swear-in ceremony for a 3rd time period in Caracas, Venezuela, Friday, Jan. 10, 2025. (AP Picture/Matias Delacroix)
“I swear by history, I swear by my life,” Maduro mentioned. His followers erupted into cheers.
One in every of them was Maricarmen Ruiz, 18, who couldn’t maintain again her tears.
“I don’t have words to express my emotion, I’m happy,” she mentioned, expressing reduction that opposition chief Edmundo González wasn’t “imposed” as a substitute as president.
The opposition collected tally sheets from greater than 80% of digital voting machines following the July 28 election, posted the tallies on-line and mentioned they present González gained twice as many votes as Maduro.
On Thursday, as a whole bunch of anti-Maduro protesters took to the streets of the capital, Caracas, aides to opposition chief María Corina Machado mentioned she was briefly detained by safety forces and coerced into recording movies.
The favored former lawmaker, whom the federal government has barred from working for workplace, had emerged from months of hiding to affix the rally to demand González be sworn in as a substitute of Maduro.
Machado addressed the rally then left on a bike together with her safety convoy. Machado’s press crew later introduced on social media that safety forces “violently intercepted” her convoy. Her aides confirmed to The Related Press that the opposition hardliner was detained.
Leaders within the Americas and Europe condemned the federal government for suppressing opposition voices and demanded her launch. U.S. President-elect Donald Trump expressed his assist for Machado and González.
“These freedom fighters should not be harmed, and MUST stay SAFE and ALIVE!” Trump mentioned on Reality Social.
Opponents of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro maintain a banner that reads in Spanish: “Venezuela, you’re not alone” at Plaza de Mayo in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025, the day earlier than Maduro’s inauguration for a 3rd time period. (AP Picture/Natacha Pisarenko)
The brouhaha forward of Maduro’s inauguration added to the litany of allegations of electoral fraud and brutal repression to silence dissent.
Electoral authorities loyal to the ruling occasion declared Maduro the winner hours after polls closed on July 28, however in contrast to in earlier presidential elections, they didn’t present detailed vote counts.
International condemnation over the dearth of transparency prompted Maduro to ask the nation’s excessive court docket — additionally full of allies of his United Socialist Get together of Venezuela — to audit the election outcomes. The court docket reaffirmed Maduro’s victory with out offering thorough proof and inspired the electoral council to launch the vote counts. However neither the council nor the ruling occasion produced any proof that Maduro had gained, despite the fact that their voting heart representatives additionally had been entitled to tally sheets from each voting machine.
The U.S.-based Carter Middle, which noticed the election on the federal government’s invitation, declared the opposition-published tallies professional. Different election consultants that the federal government allowed to witness the vote mentioned polling information revealed on-line by the opposition faction seem to exhibit the entire authentic security measures.
The dispute over the outcomes prompted worldwide outrage and nationwide protests. The federal government responded with full power, arresting greater than 2,000 demonstrators and inspiring Venezuelans to report anybody they think to be a ruling-party adversary. Greater than 20 individuals had been killed throughout the unrest and lots of protesters reported being tortured in custody.
In a speech following his swearing in, Maduro mentioned his authorities has “complied with the constitution,” regardless of little proof that he gained the election and worldwide claims of fraud. He accused exterior powers of “attacking” Venezuela, particularly the U.S. authorities, and promised to ensure “peace and national sovereignty.”
“Today more than ever I feel the weight of commitment, the power that I represent, the power that the constitution grants me,” he mentioned. “I have not been made president by the government of the United States, nor by the pro-imperialist governments of Latin America.”
It’s unclear what number of heads of state attended Friday’s inauguration ceremony hosted by the ruling party-controlled Nationwide Meeting. Cameras confirmed Nicaragua’s Daniel Ortega and Cuba’s Miguel Diaz-Canel, and Maduro greeted delegates from what he mentioned numbered greater than 120 nations.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro, an in depth Maduro ally, mentioned he would skip the occasion citing the detentions earlier within the week of one other longtime Venezuelan opposition member and a human rights defender.
Maduro’s final inauguration, in 2019, was attended by Cuba’s President Miguel Diaz-Canel and then-Bolivian President Evo Morales. The 2018 election was extensively thought of a sham after his authorities banned main opposition events from taking part.
And it stays unclear if González, who left for exile in Spain in September, will fulfill his promise to return to Venezuela by Friday.
Authorities officers have repeatedly threatened González with arrest ought to he step on Venezuelan soil. On Tuesday, González mentioned his son-in-law Rafael Tudares had been kidnapped in Caracas. González’s daughter, Mariana González de Tudares, prompt in an announcement that the federal government was behind her husband’s disappearance.
“At what point did being related to Edmundo González Urrutia become a crime?” she mentioned.
Related Press author Jorge Rueda contributed.
