Edmundo González Urrutia

María Corina Machado and Edmundo González Urrutia called for participation in a “global protest” on August 17 to show the electoral records that, they insist, show their victory in the July 28 elections, whose official result ratified Nicolás Maduro.

Through social media, González Urrutia, the candidate of the Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD) in the last elections, spread an image in which he announces a “great protest for the truth” inside and outside Venezuela, and asked his supporters to stay tuned for details of the activity, which will be announced on Sunday at 6:00 p.m. local time (22:00 GMT).

For her part, Machado, González Urrutia’s main supporter, said that on that day Venezuelans will unite “anywhere in the world” to “raise their voices for the truth.”

«Find the voting certificate from your center, print it and take it to the rally in your city. Let the world see, with the certificates in hand, that we will not let ourselves be robbed. Share this image with all your Venezuelan friends because that day we will unite inside and outside Venezuela», indicated the former deputy in X.

Machado is referring to the minutes that are available on a website created by the opposition, where they published the results of “83.5%” of the voting tables, which – according to the PUD – shows that González Urrutia won the elections against Maduro by a margin of 37%.

The National Electoral Council (CNE), which says it suffered a cyber attack on election day, has yet to publish disaggregated results confirming Maduro’s victory, a silence that has been questioned by numerous countries and organizations, including the Carter Center, which participated as an observer in the elections.

Meanwhile, Maduro has denounced that 80% of the records published by the opposition are false and insists that a “cyber coup” is underway to disavow his victory at the polls, for which reason he has called for “extreme” police and military control in the country.

Opposition candidate Edmundo González Urrutia, rival of President Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela’s July 28 presidential election, urged him on Saturday to stop “violence and persecution” against demonstrators who came out to protest amid allegations of fraud.

“Mr. Nicolás Maduro, I call on you on behalf of all Venezuelans to stop the violence and persecution and immediately release all compatriots arbitrarily detained,” González Urrutia said in a video posted on his social media.

“Demanding that our Constitution be complied with is not a crime, peacefully protesting to enforce the will of millions of Venezuelans is not a crime, acting as an electoral witness, taking care of the records and making them public is not a crime,” stressed González Urrutia, a discreet diplomat who replaced the disqualified opposition leader María Corina Machado.

Maduro himself, who refers to the protesters as “terrorists,” has said there are more than 2,200 people arrested following the post-election protests.

“It is a crime to disappear, persecute, imprison and unjustly condemn hundreds of innocent citizens; it is a crime to savagely repress peaceful protesters,” added the opposition leader who claims to have won the elections with 67% of the votes.

They denounce persecution “at inhuman levels”

Venezuela’s main opposition coalition, the Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD), denounced on Saturday that political persecution “on an inhuman level” has been unleashed in the country following the July 28 elections that anti-Chavez supporters view as fraudulent.

“In recent days, repression and political persecution have reached inhuman and critical levels, with dozens of teenagers and hundreds of women and men being kidnapped for expressing their desire for change and a better future,” the bloc warned through X.

The coalition was referring to the more than 2,400 arrests that, according to the government of Nicolás Maduro, have been carried out in the last 13 days, in the context of post-election protests, as well as in police and military operations on public roads and searches for people in their homes.

Speaking to El Diario, human rights defender Koddy Campos reported that intelligence elements tried to enter his home, located in the El Carmen sector of La Vega, Caracas, without a search warrant.

According to the NGO Foro Penal, which leads the defense of those considered political prisoners in the country, as of Saturday there are still 1,303 verified arrests, produced in the post-electoral situation, which includes 170 women, 116 adolescents, 14 indigenous people and 16 people with disabilities.

The protests were marked by acts of violence and vandalism, resulting in 24 civilian deaths – according to the NGO Provea – as well as two military personnel deaths and nearly a hundred security agents injured.

• The Prosecutor’s Office has asked the anti-terrorism control court to arrest the standard-bearer of the Democratic Unitary Platform for the alleged charges of usurpation of functions, forgery of public documents and instigation to disobedience of the law, as well as sabotage and conspiracy | Photo: EFE

On Monday, September 2, the Public Prosecutor’s Office requested that a court specializing in “terrorism” crimes issue an “arrest warrant” against the standard-bearer of the Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD), Edmundo González Urrutia, for his “alleged commission of crimes of usurpation of functions” and “forgery of public documents,” in relation to the electoral records of the presidential elections of July 28.

The request is made after the Prosecutor’s Office summoned González Urrutia on three occasions and he decided not to appear, as he did not know in what capacity he should appear and did not acknowledge the crimes that the Public Prosecutor’s Office attributes to him.

According to a document from the public prosecutor’s office dated September 2, the PUD candidate is also accused of “instigating disobedience of laws,” “conspiracy,” “sabotage to damage systems and association (to commit crimes).”

The research

The investigation into González Urrutia is related to the publication of a website in which the PUD claims to have uploaded “83.5% of the electoral records” collected by witnesses and members of the table on the night of the election to support its claim of fraud in the presidential elections.

The opposition coalition released these records, which the Executive calls “false,” after the National Electoral Council (CNE) declared Nicolás Maduro the winner of the elections, which has been questioned by numerous countries, some of which support González Urrutia’s victory by a wide margin.

Last Thursday, when the third summons was made public, the Prosecutor’s Office warned that if he did not appear again, “an arrest warrant would be issued” considering that he “is at risk of flight.”

Edmundo Gonzalez answers

On August 25 —the date on which the first summons was issued—, through a video posted on social media, González Urrutia stated that the Public Prosecutor’s Office “intends to subject him to an interview without specifying the condition under which he is expected to appear and pre-qualifying crimes not committed.”

In his opinion, the Attorney General, Tarek William Saab, “has repeatedly behaved like a political accuser,” since —he asserted— “he condemns in advance and now promotes a summons without guarantees of independence and due process.”

With information from EFE

Related news