US says Maduro lost Venezuela election as opposition leader says she’s in hiding

By Alfredo Meza, Stefano Pozzebon and Abel Alvarado, CNN

(CNN) — The United States has said “it is clear” that President Nicolas Maduro lost the popular vote in Venezuela’s election last week, as a key opposition leader said she is in hiding in fear for her life.

“Given the overwhelming evidence, it is clear to the United States and, most importantly, to the Venezuelan people that Edmundo González Urrutia won the most votes in Venezuela’s July 28 presidential election,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement.

“In addition, the United States rejects Maduro’s unsubstantiated allegations against opposition leaders. Maduro and his representatives’ threats to arrest opposition leaders, including Edmundo González and María Corina Machado, are an undemocratic attempt to repress political participation and retain power,” Blinken added.

Maduro’s government has rejected the US statement as “ridiculous,” with Venezuela’s Foreign Minister Yvan Gil accusing the United States of attempting to orchestrate a coup.

Protests broke out across Venezuela earlier this week after the country’s electoral body, which is stacked with regime allies, announced Maduro as the winner with 51% of the votes.

The election was seen as the most consequential in years, with Venezuela’s stalling democracy and hopes of recovering its shattered economy on the line. Many young opposition supporters said they would leave the country if Maduro was re-elected, pointing to the devastating collapse of Venezuela’s economy and violent repression under his rule.

An energized opposition movement – which overcame their divisions to form a coalition and coalesce around presidential candidate Edmundo Gonzalez – enjoyed strong polling figures prior to the vote. It had been seen as the ruling establishment’s toughest challenge in 25 years.

On Tuesday after the vote, National Assembly President Jorge Rodriguez, who is a member of Maduro’s inner circle, called for the arrest of both Machado and Gonzalez. Though the country’s Public Ministry later clarified that no arrest warrant had been issued for either opposition figure, fears remain that they could be targeted by the state.

“I am writing this from hiding, fearing for my life, my freedom,” Machado wrote in an opinion editorial published Thursday by The Wall Street Journal. “I could be captured as I write these words.” A source from Machado’s campaign told CNN that she is currently “sheltered.”

The opposition leader also said “most” of her team were currently in hiding, and that some, including those in the Argentine Embassy fear an “imminent raid.”

Allegations of foul play

Though Maduro had promised free and fair elections, the process was marred with allegations of foul play – with opposition figures arrested, their key leader Machado banned from running, opposition witnesses allegedly denied access to the centralized vote count, and overseas Venezuelans largely unable to cast ballots.

The Carter Center, one of the few independent institutions allowed to monitor the vote, said Tuesday that “Venezuela’s electoral process did not meet international standards of electoral integrity at any of its stages and violated numerous provisions of its own national laws.”

Machado says she can prove that Maduro didn’t win. “He lost in a landslide to Edmundo González, 67% to 30%,” she wrote in the WSJ.

“I know this to be true because I can prove it,” she claimed. “I have receipts obtained directly from more than 80% of the nation’s polling stations,” she wrote, claiming to have known Maduro’s government “was going to cheat.”

Venezuela’s National Electoral Council (CNE) is controlled by Maduro. On Friday, the CNE released a bulletin with updated results of Venezuela’s presidential elections, five days after the process ended. With 96.87% of the ballots transmitted, Maduro obtained 51.95% of the votes while opposition candidate Edmundo González reached 43.18%, CNE President Elvis Amoroso claimed.

According to the Organization of American States (OAS), the five-day delay in publishing these electoral records is the longest in the history of the region. The OAS said Friday that the records should have been made public on Sunday night.

The OAS statement also emphasized the need to verify voting records to corroborate the vote results.

Also on Friday afternoon, Venezuela’s Supreme Justice Tribunal (TSJ), the highest court in the country, took control of the electoral process. The tribunal asked all ten presidential candidates and the CNE to hand over “legal documents of judicial relevance” so that it could investigate and certify the election results, in a statement from the court’s President Caryslia Rodríguez.

According to a Venezuelan non-governmental organization, Access to Justice, nearly all members of the TSJ’s board have proven links to Maduro’s governing socialist party.

On Tuesday, Machado posted on X a link to what she says are the results from Sunday’s election. CNN has not independently confirmed the election data posted by Machado.

“We have known for years what tricks the regime uses, and we are well aware that the National Electoral Council is entirely under its control. It was unthinkable that Mr. Maduro would concede defeat,” she wrote.

Machado also called on the international community to get involved, warning in her op-ed that the world must decide whether it will “tolerate a demonstrably illegitimate government.”

In his statement on Friday, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Gil asserted that Venezuela has one of the “most robust democracies in the world.”

“The Venezuelan people spoke, exercised their right and reiterated their inalienable path of sovereignty, peace and the construction of socialism to guarantee the greatest sum of happiness,” he said.

The CNE has yet to issue final vote tallies.

‘The repression must stop’

Deadly protests in Venezuela have seen more than 1,000 people detained, according to Venezuelan authorities.

According to Human Rights Watch, there are at least 20 “credible reports” of deaths related to the protests that broke out after the elections results were announced by the CNE. Local NGO Foro Penal has confirmed 11 deaths linked to the protests.

Maduro pledged to release all voting data in a private conversation Monday with Brazilian foreign policy envoy Celso Amorim, according to a source with knowledge of the conversation.

But on Wednesday, the strongman filed an appeal before the Electoral Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice to carry out an expert appraisal and certify the results of Sunday’s presidential election.

He also warned that he would not hesitate to call on the population for a “new revolution” if forced by what he called “North American imperialism and fascist criminals.”

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