Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado says President Nicolas Maduro is becoming ‘more isolated’ after election.
Opponents of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro have taken to the streets in an attempt to revive protests against him as he tightens his grip on power following last month’s disputed election.
The demonstration in the capital, Caracas, on Wednesday came one month after the fraught July 28 vote in which Maduro was declared the winner despite the protests of opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez and international condemnation that the vote lacked transparency.
Wednesday’s protest was smaller than previous demonstrations. Groups of Venezuelans also gathered in other Latin American capitals.
Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, who along with Gonzalez went into hiding following the election, re-emerged to attend Wednesday’s rally, waving a Venezuelan flag and hugging small children from the back of a truck as supporters shouted “Freedom.”
Banned from running against Maduro, the conservative politician crisscrossed the nation for weeks to help elect Gonzalez, a previously little-known former diplomat.
Acknowledging the steep challenge of forcing Maduro from power, Machado said the movement she leads will be strategic about calling for additional demonstrations. But she said the international pressure on Maduro is unlikely to cease any time soon.
“Those who say the passage of time favours Maduro are wrong,” Machado said to throngs of supporters who filled an avenue in Caracas. “Every day. he’s more isolated, more toxic.”
Opposition figure Biaggio Pilieri was arrested after Wednesday’s protest, the Reuters news agency reported.
In weeks of demonstrations, the opposition’s rallying cry has been constant but so far ineffective in removing Maduro from power. Opponents have demanded that officials publish results from each polling station that they say would expose Maduro’s attempts to steal the election.
“Voting records kill sentence,” is how the opposition billed the latest protest, referring to the thousands of tally sheets it collected and posted online that contradict a recent sentence written by the loyalist Supreme Court certifying Maduro’s purported victory.
Maduro’s supporters also planned to hold their own rallies on Wednesday, pledging to “defend” his victory against what they claim is an attempt to sow unrest throughout the South American country.
Reporting from neighbouring Colombia, Al Jazeera’s Alessandro Rampietti said it has become “increasingly difficult” for the Venezuelan opposition to organise huge rallies due to the crackdown and campaign of arrests against activists by the government.
“The feeling is that the hope of a major popular mobilisation against the Maduro regime might be slowly fading away,” Rampietti said.
According to the human rights group Foro Penal, approximately 1,780 people are being detained as political prisoners in Venezuela.
Madura has defied international calls – including by left-leaning leaders in South America – to release the voting tallies or hold a new election.
Instead, he reshuffled his cabinet earlier this week, promoting close loyalists to key positions in the government.
Maduro rose to power after the death of left-wing leader Hugo Chavez in 2013. His tenure has been marred by economic and political crises, as well as accusations of authoritarianism.
In 2019, the United States and several of its allies in the Western Hemisphere recognised opposition leader Juan Guaido as the legitimate president of Venezuela.
That same year, Washington expanded the sweeping sanctions against Caracas, deepening Venezuela’s economic woes, which have prompted millions of people to leave the country.
Last month’s elections offered the opposition hope of peacefully toppling Maduro, but the incumbent was quick to declare victory, claiming that he won 51 percent of the votes. The country’s electoral authorities have sided with Maduro.
But the opposition has released its own tallies, saying that Gonzalez won by a large margin.