Caracas, Aug 17 (EFE).- Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado said Saturday that “the greatest civic feat in the history” of the country was carried out by the anti-Chavez movement through the candidate of the Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD), Edmundo González Urrutia, who – she said – “swept” the presidential elections, despite the official result giving victory to President Nicolás Maduro.
“They thought that by persecuting our witnesses we were not going to get our records, but within 24 hours we had the records digitalized,” said Machado during a demonstration in Caracas, where thousands of people gathered in defense of the victory of González Urrutia, who – the anti-Chavez supporters insist – won the presidential election.
The opposition claims that it collected, through witnesses and members of the voting table, “83.5%” of the minutes, which it later uploaded to a website, where any citizen can check the result with their ID number.
Machado’s speech
Machado announced, during his speech with which The protest ended, a “fifth stage” that consists of “collecting” González Urrutia’s victory and ensuring that “every vote is respected.”
“There is nothing above the voice of the sovereign and the sovereign spoke in Venezuela (…). Let the world and everyone within Venezuela recognize that the president-elect is Edmundo González Urrutia,” he said.
He also said that when Maduro saw himself “defeated and discovered,” he opted for the “cruelest of all policies.” This was “to entrench himself in a group of the high military command and order a campaign of repression. It has been the most horrible and cruelest in the history of Venezuela.” This is in reference to the actions of state security forces during the post-election protests.
Machado and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
Machado recalled that this week the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) and its Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression condemned the practices being carried out by the Maduro government, describing them as “state terrorism.”
“The Commission has never said this since the military dictatorshipss of the Southern Cone. This is something else (…) and the world has expressed itself, it denounces it,” Machado said.
According to the Executive, the post-election protests have left more than 2,400 people arrested and 25 dead.
On Friday, 22 countries, including Spain and the European Union (EU), called on the Venezuelan authorities to end the “violence” and to release “all those who were detained, including representatives of the opposition.”
This call was joined by that of the Permanent Council of the OAS, which approved a resolution by consensus. This call is to respect “human rights and fundamental freedoms.”
